The 18th Atlantic Film Festival, Sept. 18-26, will feature four up-and-coming Atlantic scriptwriters at the third annual Script Development Workshop. The four winning writers and their scripts, selected from a record 49 submissions for this year, are Nova Scotia’s Don Aker, The Invitation; Catherine Banks, Back from Australia; and Ian Johnston, Kitty Killer; and Newfoundland’s Donna Morrissey, The Clothesline Patch.

Beginning July 17, the scriptwriters will participate in three weekend-long sessions with story editor Allan Magee, who is a Canadian Film Centre resident.

The workshop is offered as part of the fest’s Industry Program as a continued effort towards drama development in Atlantic Canada and is sponsored by the cbc Maritimes, the Harold Greenberg Fund (Astral) and deluxe toronto.