In the words of Engy Samir: “I’m confident that now I have the knowledge and skillset to excel in the field I love”

After graduating with a law degree, 32-year-old Engy Samir worked in the field for a year before realizing it wasn’t what she was passionate about. During a self-discovery break, she reconnected with her love for writing and decided to pursue it through self-learning, searching for trainings and courses that would equip her with the adequate skills. That’s when she decided to enroll in a scriptwriting training offered by UN Women.

“Ever since I was young, I’ve always loved writing. I would jot down my thoughts in diaries or through poetry. So, I decided to turn my passion into a career and enrolled in several workshops to learn more about the profession through online platforms.

With the knowledge I gained from the workshops and my personal experimentation, I started applying to copywriting jobs. Soon, I started working full-time as a copywriter at a marketing agency and taking on freelance work. I also got interested in scriptwriting after seeing my colleagues working on video scripts.

When I heard about UN Women’s scriptwriting training, I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to expand my portfolio even more and learn scriptwriting professionally. The training offered rich content and valuable knowledge, through which I learned the full process of scriptwriting and how to structure a plot. I also learned how to build my characters and describe their features in-depth, which is essential for any story. Even better, I had the chance to practice writing my own scripts during the training. This hands-on experience profoundly enhanced my skills.

Throughout the years, I’d gathered bits and pieces of information on writing skills that were scattered. However, this training gave me much more context and knowledge in an organized and structured manner. I have a passion for writing and the training helped me channel it correctly. I also gained the confidence I need to continue practicing and pursuing scriptwriting because I’m confident that now I have the knowledge and skillset to excel in the field I love. Currently, I’m practicing scriptwriting and brainstorming different movie ideas. I also look forward to one day writing my own short film and seeing it on a cinema screen.”

The scriptwriting training Engy joined was part of a wider set of creative industry trainings delivered by Arascope, in cooperation with Media-Arts for Development. It falls under the regional joint programme “Promoting Productive Employment and Decent Work for Women in Egypt, Jordan and Palestine,” which is implemented by UN Women and the International Labour Organization, in partnership with the National Council for Women and the Ministry of Manpower, with the support of the Swedish International Development Agency.

Engy was among the 100 distinguished women trainees who received internship opportunities. In addition, 30 selected trainees were divided into teams that produced three women-led documentaries for a competition on portraying stories through women’s eyes. The documentaries have been submitted to the upcoming edition of the Aswan International Women’s Film Festival.