Variety has released this year’s list of 10 Screenwriters to Watch. The Mill Valley Film Festival will hold a conversation on Oct. 17 with the honorees. The magazine will also honor Italian helmer-scribe Paolo Sorrentino (“Hand of God”) with the Creative Impact in Screenwriting Award.
The 10 to Watch program recognizes outstanding screenwriters, directors, actors, comics and animators as well as producers, producers, and cinematographers. Some of the screenwriters are being honored for films that have already premiered and received critical acclaim, like “King Richard,” while others, like “Tick, Tick … Boom!,” remain highly anticipated. A minimum of half the films were affected by the pandemic and had their release dates or production schedules altered.
The class of 2021’s 10 Screenwriters to Watch includes eight solo honorees and two pairs. Variety will publish interviews with the 2021 class of 10 Screenwriters to Watch in its Oct. 6 issue.
This year, 10 Screenwriters To Watch will celebrate in person in Mill Valley. The event was held virtually in 2020. The event will also feature a panel discussion Oct. 17 with the honorees, moderated by Variety‘s Malina Saval.
Mill Valley Film Festival was established in 1977. It hosted the 2019 and 2020 10 Screenwriters to Watch events. The Whistler Film Festival hosted the event in the previous seven years.
Last year’s list included Andy Siara (“Palm Springs”) and Emma Seligman (“Shiva Baby”), while previous years honored now-acclaimed screenwriters such as Charlie Kaufman (“Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”), Jennifer Lee (“Frozen”) and Julian Fellowes (“Gosford Park,” “Downton Abbey”).
Variety‘s 2021 class of 10 Screenwriters to Watch are listed below.
Jeremy O. Harris, “Zola”
Zach Baylin, “King Richard”
Camilla Blackett, “Queen”
Akela Cooper, “Malignant”
Randy McKinnon, “Notes from a Young Black Chef”
Steven Levenson, “Tick, Tick…Boom!”
Julia Cox, “Nyad”
Ron Mael and Russell Mael, “Annette”
Jessica Knoll, “Luckiest Girl Alive”
Mikey Day and Streeter Seidel, “Home Sweet Home Alone”