Programme

Please note this programme is subject to change.

October 1st

  • 19:00 – 21:00
    Welcome Drinks at The Dean Hotel, 80 Prospect Hill, Galway

October 2nd

  • 09:00 – 10:00
    Registration
  • 10:00 – 10:20
    OPENING REMARKS – Jennifer Davidson, Chair WGI

    Speakers

  • 10:20 – 10:45
    KEYNOTE SPEECH  
  • 10:45 – 11:00
    Coffee break
  • 11:00 – 12:00
    Irish Retrospective We bring together a panel of some key players in the building of the Writers Guild of Ireland for a lively discussion on its origins, the long austerity years, and the current brighter climate

    Speakers

  • 12:00 – 13:00
    Freedom of Artistic Expression Across the world, an increasing number of political parties are coming to government, with limitations on freedom of expression as a clear goal, intended primarily to help them stay in power once elected.  Screenwriters and other creators are increasingly self-censoring, proposing projects likely to get support and suppressing those likely to be refused. What is happening and how can we defend ourselves from this assault on our right to freedom of artistic expression?

    Speakers

  • 13:00 – 14:00
    LUNCH
  • 14:00 – 15:00
    Building Creative Relationships An in-conversation session with Element Picture’s Emma Norton, exploring their long term relationships with writers

    Speakers

  • 15:00 – 16:00
    Soaps in the Era of Prestige TV Soaps have traditionally propped up local production ecosystems, draw huge audiences and fulfill an important public service remit. But they often don’t get respect. With the demise of shows like BBCs Doctors, the cutting back of episodes and budgets for soaps globally, can they survive?

    Speakers

  • 16:00 – 16:15
    COFFEE BREAK
  • 16:15 – 17:15
    Cultural Diversity in an International Marketplace The advent of streaming has turned the television industry into an international marketplace – the next big hit could come from anywhere! But are audiences getting genuine local stories or are writers being asked to pander to stereotypes to maximize global viewership? A panel of writers from around the world discuss how to stay true to one’s own story and language when shows are expected to travel easily.
    TG4 logo Le tacaíocht ó TG4 / Sponsored by TG4

    Speakers

  • 17:15 – 18:00
    The Power of Stories: Screenwriters Tackling Global Issues Join us for an exploration into the dynamic role of screenwriters in driving social, environmental, and political change through their storytelling. This panel will delve into how screenwriters harness the power of narrative to address pressing issues such as climate change, social injustice, and political upheaval. Gain insights into the intersection of art and activism as we analyse the impact of screenwriting on shaping public consciousness and inspiring action towards a better future.

    Speakers

  • 18:00
    Drinks
Image for Jennifer Davidson

Jennifer Davidson

Chair of the Writers Guild of Ireland (WGI) since 2020, Jennifer writes for Ireland’s national soap opera, Fair City. Since 2023, she is also Chair of the International Affiliation of Writers’ Guilds (IAWG). She is currently developing a Screen Ireland funded original Rom Com series entitled Meet Cute with Wildfire Films, and in 2023 founded her own production company: HeartFelt Drama. Having begun her career in documentaries, her years spent encouraging other people to have their stories told on screen informs her work as a writer. A fierce advocate for Irish writers through her work with the Guild, she has originated and run a wide number of training and development initiatives for new writers.

Image for Thomas McLaughlin

Thomas McLaughlin

Thomas has written radio plays for BBC and RTÉ and won the Prix Futura in Berlin for best new radio drama for the play Fingertips. His radio play Crackin’ America was RTÉ’s contribution to the Worldplay series. He was front man and songwriter with the rock band Light A Big Fire and has played an intergalactic pirate in the film Space Truckers. He is one of the principal writers of RTÉ’s Fair City and won the WGI Zebbie award for best continuing drama. He has served as Chair of the Writers Guild of Ireland (WGI) and of the International Affiliation of Writers Guild (IAWG).

Image for John Lynch

John Lynch

A successful writer across film, television and theatre, John is a founder member of The Irish Writers’ Centre and served as Chairperson of the Board. He was for many years Chair of The Society of Irish Playwrights (now the Writers’ Guild of Ireland) and a Shareholder at the Abbey Theatre. He was elected to the Advisory Committee to the Board of the Abbey Theatre on the nomination of the Writers’ Guild of Ireland, where he is also currently a member of the Board.

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Sean Moffatt

A former Chair of the Irish Playwrights and Screenwriters Guild (now the Writers’ Guild of Ireland), the bulk of Sean’s full-time scriptwriting work has been for RTÉ’s Fair City, including a short stint as Story Editor, as well as being regularly commissioned to write numerous dramas for RTÉ and BBC Radio 4. He was Co-Creator/Editor of the First World War on-going drama series Homefront, also for BBC Radio 4. He has also been commissioned by a number of theatre companies including: Blackbox; Team Theatre; and Gallowglass.

Image for Joe O'Byrne

Joe O’Byrne

Joe O’Byrne has written and directed for film, television, radio and theatre. He wrote the screenplay for Korea and his own film Pete’s Meteor. He was a writer on An Brontanas, an Irish language film/tv project.  In theatre his plays have included En Suite at the Abbey/Peacock. He directed Frank Pig Says Hello by Pat McCabe and The Woman Who Walked Into Doors by Roddy Doyle. He directed the filmed versions of The Aran Islands by J.M. Synge and Marina Carr’s The Cordelia Dream. For RTE Radio he has written and directed Yardstick and What Next for Hedy Lamarr.  

Image for Carolin Otto

Carolin Otto

A screenwriter and director, Carolin is currently President of the Federation of Screenwriters in Europe (FSE), having held that position since 2019. She studied documentary film and scriptwriting at the Munich Film Academy (HFF) and received her doctorate (PHD) at the Bauhaus University in Weimar. Carolin has worked as a scriptwriter for many popular series and films, such as Bier Royal. She was Author, Director and Producer of the feature films Aphrodite’s Night and The White Raven. Her first novel, Berchtesgaden, will be published in early 2025.

Image for Maciej Sobczyk

Maciej Sobczyk

Maciej is a screenwriter with 20 years of experience and countless episodes of television series to his name including: The Clan; Barwy Szczęścia (Bars of Happiness); Policjantki i Policjanci (Policewomen and Policemen); and Sprawiedliwi. Wydział kryminalny (Righteous. Criminal Department). As one of the Lead Scriptwriters, he co-created the popular Plebania (Rectory), as well as the series Wszystko przed nami (Everything Ahead of Us). He was the creator and Lead Scriptwriter of the award-winning documentary series Lombard. Życie podzastaw (Pawnshop. Life on Pledge) and is currently the Headwriter of the series Barwy szczęścia and Chairman of the Board of the Polish Screenwriters’ Guild.

Image for Anjum Rajabali

Anjum Rajabali

Anjum’s screenwriting career spans 32 years, with a dozen film credits, and several more as a Script Consultant. In 2004, he founded the screenplay writing department at India’s national film school, serving as its Head for 12 years. Since 2006, he has been the Founder-Head of Screenwriting at Whistling Woods International, Mumbai. He regularly conducts screenwriting workshops, has convened national conferences, script labs, and contests. In 2019, he received the Leading International Teacher award by CILECT, the association of 180 major film schools worldwide. In 2006, he founded the Progressive Writers Group which has steered the Screenwriters Association (SWA) since then.

Image for Martin Salinas

Martin Salinas

Under Secretary General of the Argentine Writers’ Union (SADA), Martin Salinas is a seasoned Screenwriter/Director of the feature films Ni un hombre más (No More Men) and Lunáticos (Lunatics). He has written over 20 features, including Un Embrujo (Under a Spell), which was selected by the Mexican Academy for the Oscars, and Nicotina (Nicotine), which won Best Original Screenplay from the Mexican Film Academy. His television credits include the Italian mini-series Chiamatemi Francesco (Call Me Francis) for Mediaset-Netflix, and the Argentine series Tiempofinal. Martin is also a member of the boards of the Film Council of Argentina’s Collection Society and Argentina’s Film Academy.

Image for Francesca Romana Massaro

Francesca Romana Massaro

Francesca is a journalist, screenwriter and Writers Guild Italia’s vice president. She has written three books including The Golden Age. The Véronique Case, from which she adapted the screenplay for L’etá d’oro the feature film directed by Emanuela Piovano. She worked on the sets of Sergio Citti and Marco Filiberti and has written Cambio destinazione d’uso directed by Edoardo Siravo,  Bocche inutili by Claudio Uberti, Forse by Renato Zero, Rido perché ti amo by Paolo Ruffini, and the animated TV series Il viaggio di Dantino supervised by Enzo D’Aló. She also wrote and directed the documentary ‘Nun ve trattengo’, on the singer Franco Califano.

Image for Emma Norton

Emma Norton

Emma joined Element Pictures in 2008 as a Development Executive and later Head of Development, before becoming a Producer in 2017 when she produced Paddy Breathnach’s feature film Rosie, starring Sarah Greene and written by Roddy Doyle.  Emma has since exec produced two series of Nancy Harris’ original comedy drama The Dry (ITVX/ RTE), the adaptations of Sally Rooney’s novels, Conversations With Friends, and the critically acclaimed Normal People, both directed by Lenny Abrahamson (BBC/HULU); and Shane Meadows’ period drama The Gallows Pole (BBC/A24). Emma is currently producing Harry Lighton’s feature directorial debut Pillion.   

Image for Michele Mulroney

Michele Mulroney

A Los Angeles-based Screenwriter/Director, Michele is Board President of the LA non-profit ManifestWorks and the Vice President of the Writers Guild of America West (WGAW). She is a graduate of the Royal Central School of Speech & Drama, the University of London, and an alumna of the Sundance Writers & Directors Labs. Her past projects include: Wishbone  for PBS;  Paper Man (Co-writer/Director); Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows; Power Rangers, and the oft-blogged-about Justice League: Mortal with George Miller. She’s currently developing Big Thunder Mountain and Blockbuster for Disney, Land of the Lost for Netflix, and the indie directing project Fox Hills.

Image for Carl Austin

Carl Austin

Carl is an American film and television writer best known for writing the UK feature films Provoked (starring Miranda Richardson and Robbie Coltrane) and Shoot On Sight (starring Brian Cox and Greta Scacchi). His television work includes episodes of ITV’s The Bill and RTE’s long-running drama series Fair City. He is currently developing 18th century crime drama Welcome To Hell for RedTed Media as well as the noir detective drama Black Irish with Tri Moon Films. He currently resides in Dublin, Ireland, and is the Deputy Chair of the Writers Guild of Ireland (WGI)

Image for Peter Mattessi

Peter Mattessi

Peter is President of the Australian Writers’ Guild (AWG). As a writer he is the co-creator and Executive Producer of Return To Paradise, an Australian spin-off of the global hit Death In Paradise, which will be broadcast on ABC and BBC One in 2024. Prior to that he was Co-Executive Producer for Season 2 of Ms Fisher’s Modern Murder Mysteries for Acorn and Seven. In the UK he was on the EastEnders core writing team for over ten years, and in Australia worked on The Heights for the ABC and BBC One from the very early stages of development, as well as many years with Neighbours. 

Image for Damon Rochefort

Damon Rochefort

Damon is a songwriter, producer, presenter and scriptwriter. Moving into scriptwriting in 1996, he’s written for numerous shows including Birds of A Feather, Benidorm, and over 300 episodes of Coronation Street, including its 10,000th episode. Damon wrote and presented his own live chat show Damon Rochefort Tonight for BBC Wales, script-edited the BBC NHS comedy Getting On and took several members of the Corrie cast to Mombasa to produce the ITV doc series Corrie Goes To Kenya highlighting the HIV and FGM work he’s involved with for arts charity ‘SAFE.’ He has several new projects currently in development.

Image for Busiswe Ntintili

Busiswe Ntintili

Chairperson of the Writers Guild South Africa (WGSA), with a career spanning 25 years, Busisiwe is a multi-award-winning writer, director and producer. Her career highlights include writing the box office hit film Happiness is a Four Letter Word and writing and producing Netflix’s 3rd original African drama series JIVA!  She is proud to have started her career in soapies with Isidingo and then Generations, and became the first black Head Writer of a daily for Generations before branching out with her own production company: The Ntintili Factory.

Image for Siobhán Ní Ghadhra

Siobhán Ní Ghadhra

Siobhán Ní Ghadhra is a two-time EMMY Award Winner and has numerous credits for both animation and live-action productions throughout her career.  She began her career at Roger Corman’s Irish film studios in 1998 and after working with various production companies, established Danú Media along with John Brady in 2014. She is currently Executive Producer on Ros na Rún, one of Irelands’ longest running TV drama series. Siobhán produced the Tween Drama Series entitled Saol Ella for TG4 / Coimisún na Meán in 2022, and is in post-production on a new Cine 4 film entitled Báite, due to be released in 2025.  

Image for Sheena Lambert

Sheena Lambert

Sheena Lambert is a novelist, playwright and screenwriter from Dublin. Her Irish language feature film Báite is currently in post-production and she has a number of other Irish language projects in development. Two English language features, Who Do You Think You Are? and The Blue Girl are currently in pre-production with Irish and UK producers. Her stage play Cosima had a sold-out run at Smock Alley theatre in July 2024 and will tour in 2025. Sheena was selected by Screen Ireland to participate in MediaXchange’s Showrunner Programme in LA in March 2024 and completed the Writers’ Guild of Ireland/Screen Ireland’s Writer as Executive Producer programme in 2023.

Image for Anna Fregonese

Anna Fregonese

Anna Fregonese is a French scriptwriter who has been working mostly for TV, creating several successful series in France. Since 2023, she has served as the President of the French Guild: La Guilde française des scénaristes.

Image for Alex Haridi

Alex Haridi

Alex started his career at the age of 19 when he was hired as a Staff Writer on a popular soap in his native Sweden. Versatile in both format and genre, he has written novels, feature films, radio drama and opera, but he is first and foremost known for his work in television. His credits include: Real Humans; Quicksand; Love & Anarchy; and Deliver Me. He is the Chair of the Writer’s Guild of Sweden. 

Image for Teresa de Rosendo

Teresa de Rosendo

Teresa’s debut feature film as a screenwriter in 2015 was the horror movie Sweet Home. A writer on Alma, a supernatural teen Netflix show created by the Goya winner Sergio G. Sánchez, she also co-wrote the movie Nowhere (Netflix). She was Co-Showrunner on the second season of the Netflix TV show The Neighbour and Associate Producer on Mentiras Pasajeras for Sky Showtime. She co-wrote the book Objetivo Writers’ Room, comparing US and Spanish writers rooms, and is co-writing a second book of interviews with European television writers with Josep Gatell. She is now Head of Development of Cinema at Mediaset Spain.

Image for David Donoghue

David Donoghue

David Donoghue has been the Chair of the Board of Screen Producers Ireland since 2021. A former Irish diplomat, he was involved in the negotiation of the Good Friday Agreement and is the author of One Good Day (2022), a detailed account of those negotiations. As Ireland’s Ambassador to the United Nations, he led the 2015 negotiations which resulted in new global Sustainable Development Goals. David is a passionate supporter of Ireland’s film and TV industry in all its dimensions. He is a brother of Emma Donoghue, an Oscar nominee for the screenplay she created from her best-selling novel Room.

Image for Terry George

Terry George

Terry’s first play, The Tunnel, was staged at the Irish Arts Center in New York in 1986, the first of numerous collaborations with writer/director Jim Sheridan. In 1992, George and Sheridan wrote In the Name of the Father, nominated for seven Academy Awards including Best Screenplay. Since then, he has written and/or directed numerous feature films including: The Boxer; A Bright Shining Lie; Hart’s War; Reservation Road; The Promise; and Hotel Rwanda. Television credits include The District and HBO’s Luck. Terry has been a Writers Guild of America East (WGAE) member since 1992, served for several years on the WGAE council and was part of the WGA negotiating team during the 2007 contract strike.

Image for Nicola Guaglianone

Nicola Guaglianone

Nicola’s recent projects include: Sono Tornato; Travelling with Adele, director Alessandro Capitani’s debut film produced by Paco Cinematografica; We Just Have to Crime; La Befana Vien di Notte; La Befana Vien di Notte 2; Benedetta Follia; the blockbuster The first Christmas di Ficarra e Picone; and Freaks Out which was presented at the 78th Venice Film Festival. He is also the Creator of the Amazon Original TV series Vita da Carlo. With his company, Miyagi Entertainment, Nicola is developing films, TV shows and podcasts. He teaches screenwriting at the Writing School for Cinema & Television/LUISS University, and the Accademia d’arte Drammatica Silvio D’amico.

Image for Marianne Wendt

Marianne Wendt

Marianne Wendt is creator/showrunner of the first Swiss drama series New Heights (8×45 min, SRF/Zodiac Pictures), which is broadcast worldwide on Netflix. Over the course of three seasons, the series tells the story of a family which is struggling for the survival of their farm and has to deal with the complex challenges of a globalized agriculture. Her new 6-part drama series Today For Tomorrow  (ARD/Viafilm) was aired in November 2023 and shows climate activists in generation conflict with their parents. Together with Edward Berger, she was creator of the 6-part drama series Eden (SWR/Arte France) about the European refugee crisis.

Image for Fiona Samuel

Fiona Samuel

Fiona Samuel is an award-winning writer and director for television and film, known in her home country of New Zealand for a body of work that puts the female experience front and centre. She is also Co-Chair of the New Zealand Writers Guild (NZWG). Her most recent drama is the feature film Pike River, starring Melanie Lynskey and Robyn Malcolm, set in the aftermath of NZ’s worst coal mine explosion in a century; the true story of two extraordinary ‘ordinary’ women fighting for justice for the 29 men who perished and forging a friendship that helped save their lives.