Film student Aisha Amin was recently selected to participate in the The Black List and Women in Films (WIF) 2024 Episodic Lab, which took place over two weeks in March. The intensive lab prepares women writers and writers of underrepresented genders for a career in television writing.
“Coming out of an incredibly challenging year for our industry, the Black List and WIF are dedicated to ensuring talented writers of all genders still have the opportunities they need to be discovered, supported, and most importantly hired in the world of television,” said Megan Halpern, Senior Vice President at The Black List.
Amin worked on the development of her project South Bay, set in a rural Texas town where two teenagers commit suicide after being hypnotized by their high school principal. Their ambitious classmate, Caro, decides to take up her own investigation into the incident that slowly begins to divide her small town.
"Participating in the Women in Film/Black List episodic lab over the last couple weeks has been a really enlightening experience," said Amin. "It's really a masterclass in understanding what it's like to be in a writers room, and also what it's like to navigate the TV industry as a newcomer. I'm surrounded by such talented women writers, and meeting really accomplished, smart and generous showrunners who are offering their time to teach us the ins and outs of writing for TV. I highly recommend it for any female writers looking to break into television writing."
Amin, of Pakistani and Kenyan descent, works across narrative and documentary forms. She is interested in telling stories from the perspectives of young women who are the heroes of their own journeys. She is a 2023 Cine Qua Non-Screenwriting Lab fellow and received the NYFA Women’s Fund in 2022. She is also a recipient of The Shed’s Open Call Fellowship, during which she expanded her practice into installation art.
