Screenwriter
Big or small, understated or eccentric, inside or outside the lines: it doesn’t matter to me, as long as a story makes you feel and experience something. A good story transcends its genre. That is what I want to achieve as a writer as well; to make people feel and experience.
I feel at home in many facets of writing for film and television, but my heart lies with adapting, developing, rewriting, and script doctoring. Taking a script or book apart and putting it back together is pure entertainment for me, and I learn something new every time. I have been working as a writer and story editor for thirteen years now. I am now also working as lead writer and I oversee projects.
I do not shy away from any genre and I am happy to change course if something isn’t working. A clear vision gives me a framework, and within that framework, I like to push the boundaries. Thanks to my time as a production assistant, I know what happens on set. As a result, I write within budget and make scripts ready for set without compromising on quality. I spent my teenage years in England, so I write just as easily in English as in Dutch.
In addition to my work for Meerkat Stories, I am available as a freelance scriptwriter for producers, broadcasters, and streaming services.
What I do
- Writing treatments, pitch documents, and scripts
- Developing original projects
- Contributing as a screenwriter within larger writing teams
- (Co-)developing series and films from idea to strong foundation
Background
Eva Aben (1975) moved to England with her family at the age of eleven. After a teacher at the European School advised her to watch as much TV as possible to master the English language quickly, she watched every episode of Fawlty Towers until she understood every joke. This is where her love for TV and film originated.
In 1993, she moved back to the Netherlands to study Cultural Anthropology. It turned out to be a short detour. A practice-oriented course in camera direction at the media academy in Hilversum suited her much better. What followed were twelve years as an assistant director on series across all genres, including Westenwind, Meiden van de Wit, Voetbalvrouwen, and Flikken Maastricht.
In 2010, she completed two script editing courses, for beginners and advanced students, at the BBC in London. Two years later, she worked as a screenwriter adapting jokes for three seasons of Komt een Man bij de Dokter. Since then, as a script editor and screenwriter, she has worked not only on major series such as Heer & Meester, Celblok H, and the comedic ratings hit De Luizenmoeder, but also on numerous children’s series, including Het Verborgen Eiland, Het Geheim van Eyck, and Verborgen Verhalen.
In 2021, no fewer than three new series aired on television that Eva contributed to as a screenwriter: Swanenburg (KRONCRV), Adem In Adem Uit (Net5), and Tenminste Houdbaar Tot (AVROTROS).
In 2024, the second season of Tenminste Houdbaar Tot aired on AVROTROS. In 2025, KRONCRV the four-part series Ik Val Niet Ik Dans, for which Eva wrote the script.