The Owl Screenwriting Workshop and Industry Days is attracting international writers and industry to Athens

The third annual Owl Screenwriting Workshop and the inaugural Owl Industry Days 2024 will unfold from October 1 - 4, supported by the Athens Film Office and the City of Athens.

The Workshop looks for writers with international ambitions who have enjoyed early-career success, and scripts that explore escapist storytelling and themes that can draw filmmakers to Greece to shoot and collaborate with Greek partners.   

Eleven international film and television writers are gearing up to take part in the 2024 edition.

Film writers

The five film screenwriters are Irish novelist and screenwriter Denise Deegan with the thriller Thought I Knew You, about a novelist who follows clues left behind by her dead twin to find out how she died; US actor, screenwriter and producer Grant Rosenmeyer with a comedy drama called Love Tap about a struggling thirty-something whose life spirals out of control after a late-night parking mishap; and London-based Lara Celenza, who is working on a genre script called Malanoctem, about a girl with no memories who awakens a centuries old horror.

Also preparing for the Owl workshop is UK journalist turned screenwriter Jonathan Socrates, whose credits include the screenplay for Trespassers, an English and French-language thriller that is being directed b Vanessa Filho and will star Vanessa Paradis. Socrates has been selected to take part with his new, Greece- set political thriller On The Trail, about a journalist’s investigation into a neo-Nazi party.

Australian writer-director Madeleine Parry will also be in Athens, with a script called Ελευθερία , inspired by her Greek grandmother . It is about a woman whose chance meeting with a six-year old girl prompts her to evaluate her own life.

TV writers

The six writers attending with TV scripts are: US writer-filmmaker-actor Ali Vingiano, who has written for Apple TV+’s The Morning Show. Her script Liquid Gold is about a woman who launches an international, mafia-adjacent olive oil scam; and Aspa Kalliani, a homegrown writer from Greece who has written several stage plays. Her latest script, with the working title The Net, is about five women who use their psychic abilities to mount a resistance to sinister forces. 

From the UK is Daniel Brierley who has multiple writing credits including the six-part series Trigger Point for ITV, starring Vicky McClure. He will be at the Owl Screenwriting Workshop with a script about a con artist who convinces a wealthy Greek family she is their long-lost daughter. 

Lebanese writer-director Farah Chaya has made several shorts and series and is now working on a script about an old Lebanese leader, who is on the verge of losing his power when he meets, a 10-year-old boy who claims to be the reincarnation of his father, the famous politician Mansour Nader.

Also in Athens will be the UK’s Rachel Flowerday, who has multiple credits for the BBC including Enid Blyton’s Malory Towers and mystery series Father Brown. Her new script is about a couple grappling with the unexpected arrival of two children into their lives following a tragedy.

The 11^th participant will be Greek-born, Lisbon-based Themis Gyrtis, an experienced writer who is now working on a project about a successful 30-year-old influencer who wakes up to a very strange day.

International focus

The Owl Screenwriting Workshop, taking place at the St. George Lycabettus Hotel, will be led for the third time by Scott Myers of DePaul University, author of ‘The Protagonist’s Journey: An Introduction to Character-Driven Screenwriting and Storytelling’. Myers is a veteran screenwriting mentor with experience from the Blacklist seminars and credits on over 30 major projects including K-9, Alaska and Trojan War.

The mentors include producer Kurban Kassam from the UK’s Pulse Films Mirela Nastase, director, drama at Germany’s ZDF Studios, Erik Pack, svp of global sales and co-production at the UK’s Boat Rocker , Carlo Dusi, of Turning Point and executive producer of Vienna Blood, Julien Leroux, of London and Los Angeles-based Paper Entertainment and Paris-based Rose Bosch of Renaissance Images.

The Workshop is augmented for the first time the by the Owl Industry Days, a two-day summit featuring panels, meetings and a pitching forum for the writers from the 2023 Workshop with professionals from around the world and potential partners from the Greek industry. A jury will award prizes to the best feature and best TV pilot pitch project.

The international executives attending the Industry Days include producer Esther Agrasso from Spain’s Plano A Plano, Ferdinand Dohna, head of content and coproduction at Germany’s Beta Film and Noel Hedges, EVP international acquisitions and coproductions, TV, at Lionsgate.

Giulio Rizzo and Wiktor Piątkowski are two of the returning 2023 writers. “The Workshop offers a unique opportunity to revise your screenplay, thanks to diverse feedback from a team of highly skilled tutors who are keen to understand your vision and help you articulate it in the best way possible,” says Rizzo, who will be pitching his feature script 13-Bis, about a young boy caught pickpocketing on the hottest day of summer.

Piątkowski will be back with his pilot script for a TV drama series set on a Greek island called Ice Cream And Murder. He describes the Owl as more than just another workshop.

“Great mentors, inspiring programme, supportive colleagues, perfect organisation and all taking place in one of the most beautiful and meaningful places in the world,” he says. 

The two Owl events run in parallel with the Athens International Film Festival, allowing for joint screenings and activities