Black List x WIF Episodic Lab
Lab · 2027Prestige 74/100Feedback included
Four weeks of pilot development in Los Angeles, then a year as a WIF Fellow. No money attached.
Deadlines & fees
- Submission deadlineNext deadline
Dates and fees checked against the official site 10 Aug 2026.
Key facts
- Formats
- TV Pilot
- Eligibility
- Women & nonbinaryNon-professional
- Open to
- United States
- Required materials
- Half-hour or one-hour pilot, hosted on the Black List with at least one evaluation attached (or submitted directly through WIF) · If longlisted: a one-page personal statement and professional resume, delivered within five days of notification · If shortlisted: a brief series of essay-based questions · Zoom interview
Applicants must be the sole and exclusive author of the submitted pilot and of an underrepresented gender, which the programme defines as women, non-binary or gender non-conforming, trans and others. There is a compensation cap rather than an income cap: you must not have received more than 25,000 US dollars in aggregate to date as compensation for television writing work. Only half-hour or one-hour pilots are accepted; feature screenplays will not be considered. The lab is Los Angeles based and the organisers request that writers living outside the area withhold their submission, since selected participants must attend all sessions in person across the four weeks. Writers with cis male writing partners may still apply, though the partner cannot participate in sessions. Multiple scripts may be submitted but writers are selected on a single script, and you must workshop the script that got you in.
Prizes
No grant, prize or cash award of any kind, which is the sharpest difference between this and the other Black List fellowships. What you get is the four-week lab, master classes and industry sessions, and the yearlong WIF Fellowship afterwards. No stipend, travel or accommodation support is mentioned, and attendance is in person in Los Angeles across four weeks, so living costs fall on the writer. The Black List describes participants as invited to join the WIF Fellowship while WIF describes it as automatic; that gap is unresolved.
Judging
Applications run through either The Black List or WIF directly. From Black List submissions up to 24 writers are invited to submit a personal statement and resume, and up to 12 are shortlisted; WIF generates its own shortlist of up to 12. From those 24, up to 15 are interviewed over Zoom and six are selected. WIF's preliminary jury includes agents, managers, writers, associates, executives and WIF staff. No mentors or selectors are named for 2027; past advisors are listed by series rather than by name. Shortlisted writers have five days to deliver their personal statement. Note the organisers mark the whole date ladder as subject to change.
The PreList verdict
Four weeks in a room in Los Angeles with five other writers, a mock writers' room, master classes and roundtables with working writers and executives, then a year as a WIF Fellow. Supported by the Golden Globe Foundation and ShivHans Pictures. As a route into television for a writer who has not yet been paid much for it, the structure is genuinely good, and the selection funnel is unusually transparent: 24 writers give statements, 15 interview, six get in.
The honest part: there is no money at all. No grant, no prize, no stipend, and no travel or accommodation support, which matters because attendance is in person in Los Angeles for four weeks and the organisers ask writers outside the area not to apply. That is a real relocation cost carried entirely by the writer, against a programme aimed at people who have earned under 25,000 dollars from television writing. It is the one Black List programme where the benefit is purely access.
One practical thing worth knowing, because it can halve your cost of entry. You can apply through The Black List, which requires hosting plus an evaluation at around 100 to 130 dollars with no dedicated waiver for this lab, or you can apply to WIF directly, which charged 40 dollars per script last cycle with no hosting or evaluation required. WIF opens its own applications in autumn 2026. Same lab, two doors, very different prices. Also note that no submission agreement is published for this programme, so unlike the other Black List fellowships we cannot tell you what the rights terms are.
Dylian Salvatore, Founder of The PreList · Updated 2 Sept 2026
Frequently asked questions
Is there any money?
None. No grant, prize or stipend, and no travel or accommodation support, despite four weeks of mandatory in-person attendance in Los Angeles. The benefit is the lab itself plus the yearlong WIF Fellowship afterwards.
What is the cheapest way to apply?
Through WIF directly rather than The Black List. The Black List route requires hosting plus at least one evaluation, around 100 to 130 dollars, with no fee waiver specific to this lab. WIF charged 40 dollars per script last cycle with no hosting or evaluation needed. WIF applications open in autumn 2026, and the 2027 fee is not yet confirmed.
Do I have to live in Los Angeles?
In practice yes. The organisers ask writers living outside the Los Angeles area to withhold their submissions, and selected participants must attend every session in person across the four weeks, twice weekly on Tuesday and Thursday evenings plus mandatory weekend sessions.
Who is eligible?
Sole authors of a half-hour or one-hour pilot who are of an underrepresented gender, defined as women, non-binary or gender non-conforming, trans and others, and who have received no more than 25,000 US dollars in aggregate for television writing work to date. Features are not accepted.
Is your script right for Black List x WIF Episodic Lab?
Upload your screenplay and The PreList scores how well it fits this lab: genre, format, eligibility and readiness, before you spend anything.
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