The Orchard Project Announces Advisors for New Episodic Lab

The Orchard Project, a nationally renowned theater development laboratory, today announced the roster of leading TV industry professionals who will advise writers selected to participate in the first ever Orchard Project Episodic Lab. Advisors will help create this new world-class program and provide advice and mentorship to participants as they elevate the level of their TV pilots.

Current Orchard Project Episodic Lab advisors for Summer 2018 include:

Warren Leight (Showrunner, Law & Order, SVU; Showrunner, In Treatment)

David Mandel (Showrunner, Veep; Seinfeld, SNL)

Becca Brunstetter (Executive Producer, This is Us)

Theresa Rebeck (Creator and Showrunner, Smash)

Etan Frankel (Executive Producer, Shameless; Executive Producer, Get Shorty)

Dan Dietz (Co-Producer, BULL; Writer, Person of Interest; Executive Story Editor, Westworld)

Jamie Pachino (Co-Executive Producer, The Brave; Co-Producer, Halt and Catch Fire)

Robert Schenkkan (Writer, The Pacific; Hacksaw Ridge; All the Way)

Andrew Guest (Consulting Producer, Brooklyn Nine-Nine)

Gabrielle Allan (Co-Executive Producer, Veep; Co-Executive Producer, Scrubs)

Jennifer Crittenden (Co-Executive Producer, Veep; Consulting Producer, Arrested Development)

"We're so excited about the roster of industry leaders who will be advising us and the first class of OP Episodic Lab writers," Orchard Project Artistic Director Ari Edelson said. "The enthusiasm of these advisors is contagious. I can't see what happens when we combine their vast insights and experience with the creative, impressive writers and projects in the Lab."

The Orchard Project Episodic Lab will be a two-week long accelerator program for 6-8 writers, selected through a competitive application process. Writers will arrive to the Episodic Lab in Saratoga Springs, NY with a draft pilot script and leave with a refined draft and a show bible. Industry professionals, including television and film producers, directors, and show-runners culled from the program's advisory committee, will be matched with each participant to read scripts and provide ongoing feedback and mentorship. The program's dates are July 10-23 and first-round applications are due by April 13, 2018.

For more than ten years, The Orchard Project has become the go-to development workshop for many of America's boldest theatre companies and artists to create new work. To date, the Orchard Project has supported more than 1,000 artists and 200 shows, and work created at the Orchard Project been seen by at least 2,000,000 people in New York, Boston, London, Tokyo, Stockholm, Washington D.C., and beyond. From All the Way to Amelie, The Musical and from 33 Variations to Posh, the Orchard Project has played a significant role in the development of new works that have been, or will be, produced on and off Broadway and at theaters including St. Ann's Warehouse, MCC Theatre, BAM, Arena Stage, Philly Live Arts, PS122, The Public Theatre, Atlantic Theater Company, the Edinburgh Festival, La Jolla Playhouse, Yale Rep, the Royal Court, and beyond. Work created at the Orchard Project also been turned into films distributed through HBO Films (All The Way), Universal (The Riot Club), and optioned into television projects at HBO, Netflix, and AMC Networks.