As reported by Deadline, MPI filmmaker Toby Fell-Holden has been selected to participate in the inaugural 1497 Writers Lab. Toby’s script White Lies is one of four feature film screenplays which will be workshopped during the Lab under the guidance of veteran filmmaker and screenwriter Adrienne Weiss and writer/director Maryam Keshavarz (Circumstance, Viper Club).

Founded by Adeel Ahmed, Kamran Khan, and Lipica Shah, 1497 aims to support and uplift talent of South Asian descent.

Toby got his start as an MPI intern in 2010 and developed Little Shadow, his thesis film, with an MPI filmmaker grant. The film was long-listed for a British Academy of Film and Television Arts award and nominated by the Casting Society of America for an Artios. He developed his short film Balcony in a 2015 MPI Screenwriting Workshop and produced it with the assistance of an MPI fellowship. Balcony won a Crystal Bear at the 66th Berlinale, was long-listed for the Academy Awards, and received a nomination for Best British Short at the British Independent Film Awards. It has played at over 100 film festivals and won over 30 awards.

Earlier this year, Toby co-led the MPI Dramatic Shorts Screenwriting Workshop and the MPI Directing Workshop, which are a part of the MPI Short Film Creative Development and Production Lab—a comprehensive Lab that provides our filmmakers with hands-on training and mentoring to take their initial film concepts through the process of developing, producing, and releasing a short film. 

MPI is pleased to congratulate Toby on his continued success!