Hamptons Film Festival Names Mentors for Screenwriters Lab

The Hamptons International Film Festival (HIFF) has locked in the group of filmmakers that will serve as mentors for the fest’s 17th annual Screenwriters Lab, with a roster of participants including including Robin Swicord (pictured above), screenwriter of “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” and “Wakefield”; David Siegel, the co-writer, producer, and director of the indie-film “Uncertainty”; and Ted Griffin, co-writer of “Ocean’s Eleven” and producer of “The Wolf of Wall Street.”

Screenwriter and producer Michael H. Weber (“500 Days of Summer,” “The Fault in Our Stars”), who served as a mentor at last year’s festival, will speak at a Master Class during the lab, set to run over three days in April.

The Hamptons Lab pairs up-and-coming scribes with established screenwriters, directors and producers for a weekend of one-on-one mentoring sessions. For this year’s program, HIFF chose three screenplays, including Annabelle Attanasio’s “Mickey and the Bear,” about a teenage girl seeking independence from her controlling father; Jess dela Merced’s “Chickensh*t,” about an 11-year-old girl on a quest to save her Detroit neighborhood from arsonists; and Andrew Semans’ “Resurrection,” about a mother who stalks and kills an older man in Manhattan.

This year’s Lab will be supported by the Melissa Mathison Fund, named after the late screenwriter of “E.T.” and “The Black Stallion” and focused on fostering female writers in the industry and supporting their continued development.

The Screenwriting Lab will take place April 7-9 in East Hampton. The festival itself runs Oct. 5-9.

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