Borealis Script Lab 2027
Borealis Script Lab is a five-day script development lab in Hibbing, Minnesota that will serve 4-6 emerging Minnesotan fiction filmmakers through workshopping their feature-length projects with a professional script consultant mentor and peers. The lab will include group feedback sessions, one-on-one consultations with the script mentor, guest lectures with visiting filmmakers, screenings and individual writing time. An online follow-up session will also be scheduled for two months after the 5-day lab.
The lab participants will reside together for the five day workshop, giving them the opportunity to network and connect with other filmmakers outside of the structured session times.
Application Due Date: January 19, 2027, 5 PM CST
Notification Date: March 1, 2027
Lab Dates: May 29 - June 4, 2027
There will be a $100 participation fee. Scholarships are available to those who ask!
Script Lab Mentor
Jessie Keyt
Jessie Keyt is a writer, film scholar, and consultant for writers, filmmakers, and production companies in the US, UK, Europe, and India. Clients have included Working Title, Nickelodeon, 9 Story Media, and Alicia Keys. She co-authored Alternative Scriptwriting: Contemporary Storytelling for the Screen, and co-wrote the award-winning feature film, SKIN, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and received worldwide theatrical release. Jessie holds an MFA in Nonfiction Writing from Columbia’s School of the Arts, an MFA in Dramatic Writing from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, and a BA in Literature and Drama from Dartmouth College. She is the Area Head of Screenwriting and an Associate Arts Professor in the Department of Dramatic Writing at NYU, has taught screenwriting at Columbia University, Sundance, and La Fémis, the French national film school, and mentored for Mexico-based Cine Qua Non Film Lab, the Amplifier Fellowship (Netflix/Film Independent), and the Torino Film Lab in Italy.
Script Lab Director
Elizabeth Chatelain
Born and raised in Fargo, North Dakota, Elizabeth Chatelain is an award-winning documentary and narrative filmmaker with a focus on working class women's perspectives in the rural Midwest. Her short documentary MY SISTER SARAH won the International Documentary Association’s Award for Best Student Documentary and was a Student Academy Award Finalist. Her films have screened at 40+ festivals across the world, including SXSW and Interfilm Berlin. She recently completed her second narrative feature, LOVED ONE, which participated in the Women in Film/Sundance Institute Financing Intensive and is supported by SFFilm.
Her past projects have participated in the Berlinale Script Station, Stowe Story Labs, Hedgebrook, and the Almanack Screenwriters Residency. She is a Showtime Tony Cox Screenplay Competition Winner, a Jerome Hill Artist Fellow and an NRDC/Black List Climate Storytelling Fellow. She holds an MFA in Film and Video Production from UT-Austin and an MFA in Dramatic Writing from NYU-Tisch. She currently resides on the Iron Range of Minnesota.
