Emine Dursun

Teaches at New York International Screenplay Awards

Emine Dursun is a Screenwriter, who has recognition across the globe.

She is the first person who has won international screenplay awards in Turkey, with her unproduced screenplay, back in days.

Having that great success and being the pioneer in her field, motivated her to guide other emerging screenwriters on how to create their own path in international areas.

After working on numerous international projects and prestigious film festivals, she founded the New york International Screenplay Awards - NYISA in 2015, then Golden Draft Awards in 2022, and, New York Screenwriting Awards in 2023.

NYISA is in the Top 100 Screenplay competitions by the Filmfreeway. 

NYISA’s valued sponsors are InkTip, Creaturs Vault, Script Mailer, Final Draft Inc., Uplift Script, Virtual Pitch Fest- VPF, and the Script Readers pro, as well as the Cultured Focused Magazine. 

She is leading workshops named “How To Write An Award Winning Screenplay”, “Character Creation”, “Building A Strong Structure”, “Efficient Moving Dialogue Writing”, and “Creative Writing”. 

To enroll in her classes/private lessons, click on the links, or email [email protected]

She is one of the jury members of The Writers Lab -US , The Writers Lab – EU, and The Writers Lab - UK+Ireland, since the beginning of 2019.

The Writers Lab is supported by Meryl Streep and Nicole Kidman and is produced by New York Women in Film & Television, with co-founders Elizabeth Kaiden and Nitza Wilon. It is presented in collaboration with the Writers Guild America, East, with in-kind support from The Black List, Film Fatales, Tribeca Film Institute, Roadmap Writers, Relativity Ventures, and Stony Brook Southampton + Manhattan.

Emine is a Sundance Institute alumni Screenwriter. (Sundance Screenwriting Lab winner, 2013)

Sundance Institute is founded by Robert Redford in 1981, to foster independence, risk-taking, and new voices in American film. The Sundance Institute is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the discovery and development of independent artists and audiences. 

Her mentors are, who she developed her project and then her career in the U.S. with;

NAOMI FONER – Oscar Nominated, Golden Globe and Pen winner Screenwriter and Producer; “Donnie Darko”, “Running on Empty”, “Very Good Girls”, “Moonflower Of Flying Tigers”

PAUL FEDERBUSH – Former Warner Bros Senior Vice President of Production; “Slumdog Millionaire”, “March Of The Penguins”, “Paradise Now”, “Donnie Darko”, and Academy Award Winners “Shine”, “The Sweet Hereafter”, “Dancer in The Dark”

KATHERINE DIECKMANN - Writer, and Director K. Dieckmann made, “Motherhood” in 2009, with Uma Thurman, Minnie Driver, and Anthony Edwards. “Diggers” 2007, with Paul Rudd, Maura Tierney, Ron Elgard, Sarah Paulson, and Lauren Ambrose. “A Good Baby” 2000, with Henry Thomas, David Strathairn. She directed music videos for R.E.M., Aimee Mann, Wilco, and Everything But The Girl.

HOWARD A. RODMAN- He is the Vice President of the Writers Guild Of America- West; Professor and Former Chair of The Writing Division At the USC School Of Dramatic Arts; an artistic director of the Sundance Institute Screenwriting Labs; a member of the Executive Committee of the Writers branch of The Academy of The Motion Picture Arts and science. “Fallen Angels”, and “The Hunger”; Rodman also wrote a pilot for HBO, Entitled 213 producers George Clooney, Grant Heslov, and Steven Soderbergh.

Emine is selectively doing Screenwriting, Script Doctoring, Creative Consulting, and Script Analysis for special projects.

She teaches Creative Writing and Screenwriting, to any level of writers.

Emine lives with her husband and her dog, works at her own Creative Media Company, MAE Media House, in New York.