Danú Media, in association with Greasán na Meán Skillnet and National Talent Academy for Film & TV Drama are delighted to partner with Philip Shelley and bring Greenlight Screenwriting Lab back in 2025 for it’s third year running!
In 2023, Galway based production company Danú Media launched a new Script Writing Development Programme – Greenlight Screenwriting Lab. Course Director, Philip Shelley, has run the Channel 4 Screenwriting Course for 15 years and through that has worked with much of the best new talent in UK screenwriting.
Greenlight Screenwriting provides support and up-skilling opportunities to a new generation of emerging script writers and script editors through hands on industry-led training and mentoring, and will contribute to and enhance the Irish screen Industry. The course was launched in 2023, when six talented writers and three shadow script editors were mentored over the course of six months. The course ran again in 2024, with a whole new diverse roster of writers and shadow editors. During their six-month development period, writers had industry-led talks and workshops with people such as Peter McKenna (Kin, Hidden Assets), Des Doyle (The Art of Running a TV Show), Sam Atwell (Producer, Northern Lights), Heather Larmour (BBC Commissioning Executive), Ray Lawlor (Obituary) and Ursula Rani Sarma (Smother, Red Rock). The course ended with an industry networking event, where writers had the opportunity to meet producers and discuss their developed projects.
Here are what some of our 2024 participants had to say!
"I participated in the Greenlight Screenwriting Scheme as a shadow script editor with the hope of learning more about writing for television and came away with so much more. The mentors and Philip really helped shape my process for giving notes and how I communicate with screenwriters. The course really instilled in me a confidence that I have the tools to step up in my role and created a supportive environment to freely discuss the work. Being afforded the opportunity to meet emerging writers and make connections throughout the course has been invaluable to me and helped me build a broader community within the industry."
- Norma Howard, Shadow Script Editor
Greenlight Screenwriting Lab immersed me in the process of television script development. The brilliant Philip Shelley challenged me to rework my story in many different ways and every version lead to new discoveries. I grew as a writer. I hope that Danú Media continue this fantastic initiative for many years to come. The Greenlight Screenwriting Lab weekends were wonderful. All the industry professionals who took part were so generous with their time and constructive with their feedback. Reading other writers’ scripts and seeing their ideas brought to life was illuminating. It was such a diverse and talented group of writers. I was delighted to be one of them.
- Fiana Toibin, Screenwriter
The Greenlight Lab was an invaluable opportunity to get real script editing experience under the guidance of an excellent Script Editor, giving notes to talented writers. The 6 month programme was incredibly collaborative and practical, watching writers realise stories from concept to script, and gave me real insight into working as part of a professional TV development outfit.
- Aidan White, Shadow Script Editor
With the support of National Talent Academy for Film & TV Drama and Greasán na Meán Skillnet, Greenlight Screenwriting Lab will return in 2025 and offer an opportunity for six new script writers to be mentored by Philip and other industry professionals to develop a new TV drama series. In addition to this, the programme will also offer shadow opportunities for three people interested in script editing. Nadine Flynn who works with Danú Media as Development Executive will be heavily involved in the course, with experience as a script editor herself. “We’re delighted to be bringing Greenlight Screenwriting Lab back for another year. The last two years have been transformative for our participants, and it’s been incredibly special to be part of that journey, and see how they’ve continued to develop after the course. It’s important to us that we continue to support our industry, and we’re confident that Greenlight Screenwriting Lab will do just that.” – Nadine Flynn
While Greenlight Screenwriting Lab focuses on an initial six month period, we have seen many participants continue to grow and flourish within an industry setting. Lee-Loi, a 2023 writer is continuing development of his script, after gaining loads of insight from the weekend table read. He has since written the Erotic Thriller "Never Kill a Femboy on the First Date" directed by Oonagh Kearney (RTÉ/Hulu Obituary) for Virgin Media Television and Screen Ireland. It premiered at the Dublin International Film Festival to a sold out crowd, and was highlighted by The Irish Times as one of the best things to watch on TV the week of broadcast. He's also worked in a Writers' Room to adapt a novel by Susan Ryan "The King of Lavender Square" into an 8x60 TV Drama that's currently in early development with Screen Ireland.
Also, Matthew McDevitt, another writer from 2023 has gone on to write an episode of Casualty, (due for broadcast 1st march 2025) and developed his script Preservation with Gaze/Anton. He also has further projects in development with Conker, Hat Trick, Wild Atlantic and a second project with Gaze.
Greenlight Screenwriting Lab will be open to any writers resident on the Island of Ireland and also any Irish writers who may be resident overseas. Criteria around Diversity, Equality and Inclusion will also be taken into account when short-listing writers for interview.
The working language of the training will be English; however, we particularly welcome writers who are fluent in Irish and wish to write material in Irish.
The script submission window for applications will open on February 14th until March 3rd. Full details will be available on HERE . Please refer to the FAQ section here before applying.
The National Talent Academy for Film & TV Dramais an initiative of Screen Ireland and is managed by Ardán.
Gréasán na Meán Skillnet Ireland is funded from the National Training Fund through the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science.