Albantsho Limited, the creative technology start-up has returned for the 2nd edition of its annual screenwriting workshop aimed at bridging the gap between producers and writers.
The workshop serves to train and equip beginner to intermediate writers on best industry practises for bringing scripts to life, while also serving producers by delivering ready-to-shoot scripts.
Albantsho, in collaboration with the Film Rats Club, announced the initial call for entries that kicked off at the end of March and ran till April 10, 2023 but with increasing demand for the opportunity, the deadline has been extended to April 24, 2023.
The workshop is open to budding scriptwriters as well as beginners to make the art and business of scriptwriting profitable. Later this year, the 'Griot' panel that kicks off the event will feature some of Nollywood’s finest Executives, and creative bigwigs as well as industry experts who will serve as facilitators including- Ololade Okedare, Chucko Esiri, Amanda Moresco, Ifeanyi Chidi Barbara, Emil Garba,Jamil and Nikita Mokgware.
The 8-week long workshop will combine a hybrid format taking it away from its initial virtual style, to create a more interactive and hands-on experience during the masterclass and mentorship sessions. During the workshop, in-depth training targeted to teach writers all aspects of development from ideation, to pitch will be covered. At the end of the term, the writers would have production-ready screen plays available for purchase for our buying partners.
Creating a more competitive advantage for applicants, this year’s iDraft 2.0 selection process will be tiered in three stages over a period of two weeks and tasks for applicants, after which a shot list of successful cohorts will be published for the workshop supported by Talentx. Africa, TrinoStudios, Multichoice Talent Factory, Writers Guild Foundation, and Screenwriters Guild of Nigeria.
Julie Ako, CEO/Co-founder Albantsho stated, "it’s imperative that writers in Africa are better positioned to tell our stories in the best way, with the best tools. At Albantsho we want to create solutions that fit this narrative. Our ability to combine technology and serve creative investors while mining our African stories, is the reason why we continue to push for the industry’’.
Also speaking, the Programme co-ordinator iDraft by Albantsho, Daphne Atsutse expressed the teams’ readiness to host the 2023 cohorts saying, ‘’We are very excited to have a pool of talented writers from across the continent for our 2nd edition. Kicking off from our previous yea, we have improved and hope that participants this year can really enjoy the benefits of our stellar curriculum and the mentor/mentee access the facilitators will bring’’.
The Film Rats Club, a community of cinephile enthusiasts seeking to create change in the film industry and headline partners, in a statement by Chukwu Marin said "…Working with a tech driven and industry passionate brand like Albantsho affords communities like ours and filmmakers/enthusiasts the chance to save time and resources searching for good stories, as they ensure programs like, iDraft, create a bedrock of writers that production companies are in dire need of, and to set the standards for screenplays in Africa and beyond."
Albantsho is a creative tech company with a goal to showcase the potential of African storytelling, foster authentic content representative of a burgeoning Africa, and empower the creatives right at the heart of it. Its product allows film producers and screenwriters to interact better on story acquisition using a bidding system and intuitive scriptwriting software which generally promotes better story structure. Albantsho comes to life as a blend of two words: ‘Albasa’, the Hausa word for onion, and the Setswana word for black, ‘Ntsho’. This translates to Black Onion which speaks loudly of our vision to leverage technologically to unfold the many layers of African storytelling left untapped.