Element Pictures Launches Irish Screenwriting Festival

Storyhouse, a new Irish screenwriting festival created by Element Pictures, has revealed its first raft of speakers.

The event is set to be held on March 21 and 22. Contributors will include Tony McNamara (Poor Things, The Favourite, The Great) and Arthur Harari (Anatomy of a Fall), along with new voices Molly Manning Walker (How to Have Sex) and Charlotte Regan (Scrapper). David Nicholls (One Day, Patrick Melrose) and Ali Abbasi (Holy Spider, Border) have also been tapped.

Storyhouse is set to reveal more speakers in the coming weeks. Tickets will go on sale on February 26.

In parallel with the main event, Storyhouse is also issuing a call out to new and developing screenwriters, inviting them to apply to take part in Storyhouse Lab, the first iteration of a unique interactive program.

Ed Guiney, Storyhouse founder and Element co-CEO, said: “I have long nurtured the idea of establishing an annual festival of screenwriting in Dublin – bringing the best writers and screen storytellers in the world to our city. I’m delighted with our initial line-up of amazing talent and I hope that the participants at Storyhouse will be inspired and emboldened by first-hand accounts of the joys and challenges of writing and making brilliant scripts. I also believe there is an incredible opportunity for Ireland—given its rich literary heritage – to become a world centre of excellence for screenwriting and I hope the festival will help inspire, empower and catalyse a new and diverse generation of Irish based writers to create, develop and produce their stories for a global audience.”

Colman Farrell, Screen Ireland’s head of skills and professional development, commented: “We are delighted to support the inaugural edition of the Storyhouse festival and Lab through our Screen Stakeholders fund. Screen Ireland is committed to nurturing the talent and skills that are central to our ambition of sustained creative excellence in Irish storytelling on screen. This event will provide a unique opportunity for Irish creatives to gain insight into the working processes, experience and expertise of
some of the industry’s most exciting award-winning screenwriters. The focus on emerging talent will help foster new connections and empower aspiring screenwriters to develop their storytelling craft. We look forward to seeing their progress and wish them every success.”

Fremantle’s Christian Vesper added: “We are extremely proud to support Element’s exciting Storyhouse festival. The importance of championing and nurturing screenwriters cannot be overstated, and this annual event will support established and next-generation writers alike. Ed and his team have assembled a stellar line-up of writers providing a snapshot of the incredible breadth of contemporary screenwriting.”