residency

Source: Sama Kai / Nina Photography

Tolu Stedford of Story Compound; Nadine Marsh-Edwards, Amanda Jenks of Greenacre Films

The Residency, the talent incubator for genre screenwriters in feature development, has selected 10 projects for its inaugural edition.

The projects include I Killed Your Dog written by Rye Lane star Vivian Oparah, a thriller following a charismatic leader living on an isolated farmland with a subservient partner and strange surrogate daughter, who welcomes a troubled young man to partake in a programme of radical healing. 

Scroll down for the full list of projects

Further projects include Jasmer Gill’s Last Ride, an action title centred around an undocumented migrant Uber driver; Nat McCleary’s dystopian thriller The Custodians of the Fridge; and Sid Sagar’s football-themed action title Boy Done Good.

The Residency is divided into two phases. Phase one runs from now until December, and will see the UK-based screenwriters participate in online masterclasses and pitch coaching from pitching expert Sasha Damjanovski. 

The writers will then pitch their ideas to Greenacre Films and Story Compound, who run The Residency. Four screenwriters will be taken through to the second phase of the programme, that will involve dedicated feedback from a script editor over six weeks, and pitches to industry executives. All 10 project teams will be invited to a closing event in March 2025.

Executives giving masterclasses include Juno Studios’ Fiona Lamptey, Sky Studios’ Janay Carrott and Amy Lotherington, and filmmakers Jesse Quinones, Mo Ali, Daniel Fajemisin-Duncan and Marlon Smith.

The Residency was established earlier this year, funded by the BFI National Lottery Creative Challenge Fund

The Residency 2024/25 projects

Last Ride, wri. Jasmer Gill

The Custodians of the Fridge, wri. Nat McCleary

Boy Done Good, wri. Sid Sagar

Auto, wri. Karim Flint

Volatile, wri. Sumerah Srivastava

He, Who Is Without Sin, wri. Jessikah Wilson

The Last Four Black Women Alive and the Black Messiah Baby, wri. Kofi Kofuor

Year of the Rat, wris. Kit Hui, Catherine McGrotty

I Killed Your Dog, wri. Vivian Oparah

Split, wri. Chloe Ewart