I got my acceptance yesterday with the rest of the international crew and promised myself that, if I got in, I'd share as much of my application materials as I could (
click here for application log).
I know Supporting Memberships are what makes this site possible and I hope everyone who can afford it subscribes, but I also know that the cost can be prohibitive for some folks (the USD exchange rate is brutal!). So, I also wanted to share a very brief description of the materials I sent in in hopes that it will be helpful for future applicants (Chris, let me know if this isn't alright and I'll take it down).
- Autobiographical Character Sketch: I talked about my relationship to stories, literature, and the act of storytelling through the lens of all the languages I've acquired in my life.
- Creative Challenge A: the infamous elevator scene! I wrote about a trans woman and drag queen getting stuck with an uptight businessman. They talk about unhappiness, understanding/acceptance, and how you just have to give things (and people) time. Whether the businessman is the trans woman's former self, or just someone who strongly resembles the person she once was, is left ambiguous.
- Creative Challenge B: At the end of the world (literally—Earth is about to be destroyed), a teenage girl tries to sneak out so she can lose her virginity at a party. Her dad isn't pleased. She thinks he's stifled her; he thinks he's just protecting her from the world. They argue/talk it out and eventually reach a truce.
- Most Challenging Moment: I used a tabletop roleplaying game as a framing device for a deeply emotional (and arguably traumatic?) experience.
- Writing Sample: A one-page summary followed by the last 10 pages of a feature script. I figured I'd already shown with the creative challenges that I could set up a good story; I wanted to demonstrate instead how I could pull together multiple storylines and character arcs into one big, explosive climax.
Best of luck to everyone still waiting for a decision! I hope this helps, if not this year's cohort of applicants, then the next.