DUBAI: Netflix and the Middle East Media Initiative have joined forces to offer four grants of $30,000 to writers that participated in the MEMI Summer Program, to help them develop their projects.
“As we work to tell more stories from the Arab world that can be loved globally, we’re collaborating with industry partners to equip storytellers with the tools they need to tell the best version of their stories,” said Deana Nassar Fernandez, Netflix’s Grow Creative Manager for MENA.
Each year, MEMI selects 12 or more mid-career or up-and-coming writers from the region and invites them to spend five weeks in Los Angeles workshopping their ideas for TV series in a writer’s room overseen by a professional American showrunner.
As part of its ongoing partnership with MEMI, Netflix chose Sultan Tamer and Summer Shesha from Saudi Arabia, Ahmed Essam Elsayed from Egypt, and writing partners Karim Ariqat and Mohammad Ali Al-Nablsea from Jordan to receive the grants.
They will have six months to use the funding either to assemble a writer’s room, extend their stay in the US so that they can continue to work with MEMI instructors, or hire a Netflix-approved consultant to advise them on the continued development of their series. At the end of that time they will have the opportunity to pitch their fully developed projects to Netflix.
“Together with our creative partners, we want to do more to invest in and empower those in the industry, and those on the cusp of breaking through. This partnership is an important milestone in helping us identify the next generation of writers from the Arab world,” said Fernandez.
Netflix has a longstanding partnership with MEMI. It has hosted masterclasses for MEMI alumni on creative writing and pitching and each year it also offers graduates of the Summer Program an annual opportunity to pitch projects to Netflix executives.
“What makes both MEMI and Netflix MENA unique is their access to top global resources, combined with the expertise of their Arab executives, many of who come from grassroots movements of the creative economy,” said Hisham Fageeh, head of MEMI.
Some of the region’s most successful writers and filmmakers, including Sarah Taibah from Saudi Arabia and Egyptians Amr Salama, Tamer Mohsen and Mariam Naoum, have participated in the MEMI program.
