Women in Film and Television UK (WFTV) has opened the application process for the 2025 Kay Mellor Screenwriters’ Lab.

The lab, an annual event dedicated to nurturing and empowering female screenwriters, offers writers an opportunity to develop their scripts in a focused, supportive environment, with access to leading industry professionals.

The announcement comes as the cohort from the 2024 lab led by screenwriter Lisa Holdsworth (Fat Friends, Call the Midwife, Waterloo Road) and producer Carol Harding (Black Ops, The Confessions of Frannie Langton, My Name is Leon) showcased their writing, read by professional actors from the WFTV membership at the annual Kay Mellor Screenwriters’ Lab Script Showcase in London last week.

This year’s programme will return to The Hurst in Shropshire, bringing together a new cohort of emerging writers for a week of intensive workshops, mentorship, and industry insight in September 2025.

Katie Bailiff, CEO at WFTV UK, says: “Kay Mellor’s legacy as a champion for women in film and television and commitment to nurturing new talent endures in the annual screenwriters’ labs. WFTV takes pride in being able to foster emerging writers and playing a small role in their sparkling futures. Seeing the 2024 cohorts’ writing performed at the Script Showcase was a brilliant experience and we are looking forward to seeing what the 2025 cohort brings.”

Applications for the Kay Mellor Screenwriters’ Lab 2025 are open now, apply via https://www.wftv.org.uk/screenwriterslab. Application closing date is 5pm on Monday 12 May.