Frank Spotnitz’s Big Light Productions reveals writers’ apprenticeship recipient
Frank Spotnitz’s Big Light Productions in the UK has chosen Israeli screenwriter and director Dekel Nitzan as the recipient of its seventh writers’ apprenticeship programme.
Dekel Nitzan
Designed to support emerging screenwriters, the annual apprenticeship aims to help writing talent master their craft and gain insight into the industry through a three-month programme that provides practical experience in a writers’ room, collaborating on local and international projects and new series development.
Nitzan will join Big Light, the prodco behind The Man in the High Castle and Leonardo, for three months from January. He is currently based in Germany, where he completed the Serial Eyes postgraduate television training programme for television writers at the German Film and Television Academy Berlin.
Prior to joining the Serial Eyes programme, Nitzan graduated from the Steve Tisch School of Film and TV at Tel Aviv University. He has a BA in film studies, specialising in directing, and an MA in screenwriting.
Nitzan started out as an independent filmmaker in Israel, writing and directing four short films, which have screened at multiple film festivals, including Shanghai, Montreal and Flickers: Rhode Island, and Tel Aviv Cinematheque. He picked up a nomination at Israeli’s Ophir Awards and is a Berlinale Talents alumnus. He also worked as a video editor for news and commercials in his early career.
More recently, Nitzan worked with Koda Communications to write an episode on the first season of TV crime drama HaShotrim (Line in the Sand) for Israeli broadcaster Keshet 12 and as a staff writer on a yet-to-be-announced MoviePlus Productions’ drama series for HOT Cable Communication.
He also worked with Spider in the Web production company Topia Communications as a writer, developing proposals and series bibles alongside film director Eran Riklis (The Lemon Tree, The Syrian Bride, Zaytoun).