Cinema Studies

The Oberlin Screenwriters Intensive

January 11–13, 2024

The Oberlin Screenwriters Intensive is a three-day immersive experience for aspiring screenwriters in film and television.

2023 OSI fellows Hyacinth Parker and Rachel Leighson
2023 OSI fellows Hyacinth Parker '17 and Rachel Leighson '13
Photo credit: Yevhen Gulenko

The Oberlin Screenwriters Intensive (OSI) invites highly motivated alumni and students to workshop a feature-length screenplay or episodic pilot script in one-on-one sessions with established writers and dedicated mentors. With the goal of cultivating industry-ready storytellers, OSI also includes group workshops, industry panels, and community events, as well as follow-up support after the intensive is completed.  

For OSI 2024, eight Obies will be selected to work with six mentors. The intensive takes place on campus over Winter Term in various locations including Peters Hall, Oberlin Center for Convergence (StudiOC), and the Apollo Studios.

Application Process

The Oberlin Screenwriters Intensive is open to current Oberlin students and alumni who graduated after 2004. Participants must have a feature-length narrative screenplay or an episodic pilot script (half-hour or hour-long) with a brief overview of the first season. The application is a two-part process. 

  1. Due September 1: the applicant’s bio, cover letter, logline, synopsis, and first five pages of their feature length narrative screenplay or episodic pilot script. More details are provided on the application.

  2. Due November 15: finalists will be asked to submit a full script.

The OSI application will go live June 1st.

Sterlin Harjo leads an intensive on the art of the rewrite.
Sterlin Harjo leads an intensive on the art of the rewrite.
(Photo credit: Yevhen Gulenko)

OSI and Obiewood

The architects of OSI are members of Obiewood: Oberlin Entertainment Network, an organization dedicated to helping Oberlin students succeed in the entertainment industry, working in conjunction with professors of cinema studies Geoff Pingree and Joshua Sperling, as well as Associate Dean Laura Baudot. With the only undergraduate free-standing creative writing program in the country and one of the few stand-alone cinema studies programs, Oberlin is a destination school for students dedicated to the art of storytelling through word and image. OSI enriches this tradition by cultivating the skills, camaraderie, and savvy that emerging artists need for their voices to be heard.

Founding Director and Mentor Bios

Michele and Kieran Mulroney are Los Angeles based writer/director/producers with over 20 years experience in the industry. They are alumni of the 2004 Sundance Writers and Directors Labs where they developed their debut feature Paper Man. Paper Man (starring Emma Stone, Jeff Daniels, Ryan Reynolds, Kieran Culkin) was released in 2010 and was the opening night selection of the LA Film Festival.

Writing credits include Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, starring Robert Downey, Jr. and Jude Law, and Power Rangers. Current projects include Big Thunder Mountain for Disney, This One’s for You for Warner Bros. (writer/producer), and Second You for Amblin (writer/producer). They are developing a feminist vigilante feature with Kroll & Co. and casting their second feature directing project Fox Hills with Berlanti-Schechter. 

The Mulroneys have worked extensively as script doctors on over 30 films. They are currently developing multiple projects for television as writer/producers.

Michele is the Vice President of the WGA West.