eQuinoxe Europe

The International Screenwriters' Workshops is a unique experience for independent filmmakers. An international jury selects nine talented screenwriters per Workshop. During the one-week Workshop, the screenwriters meet in one-to-one discussions with nine advisors - internationally known and experienced writers, directors and producers - from all over the world. At the end of the Workshops, a one-day Master Class with a renowned writer will be held for the participants and the local film community.

Thanks to an agreement between eQuinoxe Europe e.V. and FOCAL, one screenwriter living in Switzerland or Swiss screenwriter living abroad can participate in this Workshop once a year. The candidates must have a minimum of one produced feature length script. Screenplays are recommended to be at an advanced stage of development (third draft) and have a producer attached to the project.

On the last day of the Workshop, the producers of the projects are invited to take part in an extensive wrap-up discussion about their script with their screenwriter and three advisors.

"In the eQuinoxe programme, I met the most professional, experienced, humorous, strict, and constructive advisers who any author could dream of having as sparing partners." Petra Volpe

Application material and selection process

• Script for the cinema (3rd draft, no more than 135 pages)
• CVs of the writer and the producer attached to the project
• Motivation letter

The application material has to be sent to info@focal.ch.

FOCAL pre-selects two projects for the Workshop. For this pre-selection, the scripts may be submitted in French, German or English.

These two projects (and some additional application material) must then be delivered in English or German for the international jury, which will select one of the two projects by mid-April. The selected project must be translated into English for the Workshop itself.