Stowe Story Labs Pleased to Announce 1st Final Draft Fellowship
Stowe Story Labs is pleased to announce the winner of the 2018 Final Draft Fellowship to the Labs is Michael Berlind, Brooklyn, NY (Drama/TV, COASTAL SHELF) with Honorable Mention to Ted Campbell, Los Angeles, CA (Crime Thriller/Feature, UNDERGROUND).
COASTAL SHELF follows teenage Sophia and her little sister Miranda as they cope with their daily existence in the grips of their controlling, narcissistic parents. The well-respected couple seek to preserve their power and status, while Sophia, still living with the memory of a traumatic event from years earlier, forms a rapport with Claire, an abused child from the other side of the tracks.
Michael Berlind grew up in France as a film buff with a love of classic cinema and storytelling. By the time he finished attending film school in Boston, he realized that his main interest lay in the writing process and creating compelling, human characters. He is especially drawn to the television format as he believes it is the best medium for long-form theme and character development. Over the last several years he has focused on writing several one-hour pilots, which he believes have the potential to be developed into compelling series. After graduating from Emerson College, he lived in Los Angeles for four years, and moved to New York City this past January.
Ted Campbell's compelling thriller UNDERGROUND tracks disgruntled Boston MBTA worker Gerry McCaffery as he aspires to live up to his gangster father’s legacy uses his extensive knowledge of the abandoned tunnels under the city of Boston to pull off a diamond heist.
Ted, originally from Boston, is a screenwriter and director who specializes in thoughtful, character driven thrillers. His neo-noir, thriller BLUE MOTEL won the Grand Prize in ScriptShark's Insider Screenplay contest. He has been invited to officially join ISA’s Development Program with UNDERGROUND, and finds inspiration in the works of the great noir writers Dasheill Hammett, Raymond Chandler and Ross MacDonald as well as screenwriting idols Scott Frank, Shane Black, Tony Gilroy and Richard Wenk. A twenty-year veteran of the film industry, Ted has worked as a First Assistant Director on over fifty independent feature films.
“We are excited to announce Michael as the Final Draft Fellow to the 2018 Stowe Story Lab," said Scott McMenamin, President of Final Draft. "Michael’s work is compelling and grounded and Stowe Story Labs will be a great place to foster Michael as a writer and artist,” he said.
"We are tremendously proud to be partnering with Final Draft to offer this fellowship to the Labs," said David Rocchio, President and Founder of Stowe Story Labs. "Final Draft is all about breaking down barriers to turning wonderful ideas into brilliant scripts. We are aligned with this mission and Final Draft has helped us tremendously in our search for the world's top emerging screenwriters, and in Michael and Ted we have found two," he said.
