Screen Buzz Launches in Riyadh in Partnership with Rotana

CAIRO – 18 March 2019: Powered by America Abroad Media (AAM), Screen Buzz announced that its latest workshop will take place at the end of April 2019 in the Saudi capital of Riyadh in partnership with Rotana.

Top Hollywood writers and producers will lead sessions on both screenwriting for TV and scriptwriting for features in this unprecedented workshop in Saudi Arabia. Riyadh will be the newest location to play host to the unique workshop series which has previously taken place in cities throughout the region, including Amman, Jordan; Beirut, Lebanon; and most recently, Cairo, Egypt.

While the workshop will target burgeoning Saudi creative talents, anyone from the Arab World is eligible to apply.

Launched in 2018, Screen Buzz is an innovative series of creative workshops bringing top Hollywood writers, directors and producers to the Arab world to support local storytellers in the creation of original, purpose driven content for global audiences.

The workshops provide access to leading Hollywood experts to help develop the most promising Arab writers, directors and producers in the entertainment industry. The curriculum includes interactive sessions which encourage professional collaboration between the Hollywood mentors and local participants, critical thinking and the exchange of ideas.

In addition, the workshop participants have the opportunity to attend one-on-one meetings with the mentors to pitch their scripts.

Assem Badr, director of operations at Rotana, said, “Discovering up-and-coming talent is one of Rotana’s top priorities. We are proud to foster the entertainment industry in the KSA and partner with Screen Buzz to launch this unique screenwriting workshop in Riyadh. The script is the cornerstone of any content creation process in the world and we believe in order to develop the best content for film and television we must work with the leading experts in the field."

Aaron Lobel, founder and president of AAM, commented, "AAM is excited to partner with Rotana to bring leading Hollywood talent to Riyadh for this workshop as part of our Screen Buzz initiative. Through Screen Buzz, we aim to support purpose-driven content and amplify local voices across the Middle East, and we’ve been delighted with the reception to our workshops around the region. We believe there is tremendous, untapped creative talent in the KSA and an incredible number of rich stories waiting to be shared with the world."

Previous Screen Buzz mentors include, director Jack Bender (Game of Thrones |The Sopranos); executive producer Lindsay Goffman (The Good Doctor); writer and producer Mark Goffman (The Umbrella Academy | The West Wing); and writer and producer Daniel Knauf (Carnivàle| The Black List). The most recent workshop in Cairo, Egypt, was led by Mark Goffman; screenwriter Samuel Baum (HBO's The Wizard of Lies | Lie to Me); and writer and producer Jessica Mecklenburg (Netflix’s Stranger Things | Gypsy) as part of the 40th Cairo International Film Festival.

Screen Buzz workshops are held under the supervision of a Middle East Advisory Council, which includes the most prominent Arab figures in the film and TV industry: H.E. NouraAl Kaabi, UAE Minister of Culture and Knowledge Development (UAE); HRH Princess Rym Ali, Founder of the Jordan Media Institute and Board Member of the Royal Film Commission (Jordan); actress and director Nadine Labaki(Lebanon); actress and producer Saba Mubarak (Jordan); actress Yousra (Egypt); actress Hend Sabry (Tunisia); and actress Nelly Karim (Egypt).

Screen Buzz partners with the Arab Cinema Center and MAD Solutions handles its distribution in the region.

The submission window to apply for the Screen Buzz workshop in Riyadh is open now through Sunday, April 7, 2019.

Apply here: http://screenbuzz.org/rules_regulations.php

Rotana is one of the oldest and largest media companies in the Arab world. The Rotana group comprises several specialized and general TV channels and owns the biggest film and television archive in the Arab world. The company has several online platforms, including rotana.net.

AAM champions global storytelling through the power of entertainment. Their vision is to bring together the best of Hollywood with the creative community in the Middle East to empower a new generation of storytellers in the region to produce original content that promotes positive change and shared universal values.