Sundance Institute Announces 2024 Screenwriters Lab and Screenwriters Intensive
- Details
- Category: Entertainment News
- Published on Friday, 12 January 2024 10:48
- Written by A&E Contributing Editor
Sundance Institute announced the fellows selected for its 2024 Screenwriters Lab and Screenwriters Intensive programs, which provide emerging artists with a creative and nurturing space to develop their first and second independent features.
Out of over 3,400 submissions, 12 projects were selected for the annual Screenwriters Lab, where 16 fellows will further develop their scripts under the guidance of experienced creative advisors. The Screenwriters Lab will take place from January 13–17 at the Sundance Mountain Resort in Utah.
2024 Sundance Film Festival Adds to the Feature Film Program; Reveals Beyond Film Lineup
The lab will be led by Michelle Satter (Founding Senior Director, Sundance Institute's Artist Programs) and Ilyse McKimmie (Deputy Director, Feature Film Program), with Artistic Director Jessie Nelson and creative advisors Ritesh Batra, Linda Yvette Chávez, Scott Frank, Phil Hay, Marielle Heller, Walter Mosley, Nicole Perlman, Kemp Powers, Dee Rees, Howard Rodman, Dana Stevens, Joan Tewkesbury, Bill Wheeler, Tyger Williams, Virgil Williams, and Doug Wright.
"We are excited to welcome this cohort to our global community of bold, visionary artists, developing stories that are a powerful force for empathy, vital culture-changing conversations, and audience engagement," said Michelle Satter, Founding Senior Director, Sundance Institute's Artist Programs. "The Screenwriters Lab is just the beginning of our connection to the 16 selected artists. Each artist is provided with year-round customized creative and strategic support throughout the journey of getting their films made. It is a privilege to watch their projects take seed at the Labs in the mountains of Utah and ultimately evolve into some of the world's groundbreaking films."
The Screenwriters Intensive will bring 11 writers across eight projects to a two-day online workshop, held February 29–March 1, where they will develop their first fiction features. Alumni of the Screenwriters Intensive include Roger Ross Williams (Cassandro), Laurel Parmet (The Starling Girl), and Vuk Lungulov-Klotz (Mutt).
2024 Sundance Film Festival Names Jury Members
"We're thrilled to be spotlighting such a varied group of exciting new voices, who each skillfully build the world of their stories with specificity and originality," said Ilyse McKimmie, Deputy Director of the Feature Film Program. "The Screenwriters Intensive will provide critical creative support and vital momentum to these artists as they traverse the path toward bringing their debut features to life."
For 40 years, the Feature Film Program (FFP) Labs have supported and championed an exciting and groundbreaking array of independent filmmakers, including The Daniels (Swiss Army Man), A.V. Rockwell (A Thousand and One), Charlotte Wells (Aftersun), Nikyatu Jusu (Nanny), Lyle Corbine Jr. (Wild Indian), Radha Blank (The 40-Year-Old Version), Lulu Wang (The Farewell), Chloé Zhao (Songs My Brother Taught Me), Eliza Hittman (Beach Rats), Marielle Heller (The Diary of a Teenage Girl), Fernando Frias de la Parra (I'm No Longer Here), Cary Fukunaga (Sin Nombre), Damien Chazelle (Whiplash), Ryan Coogler (Fruitvale Station), Dee Rees (Pariah), Nia DaCosta (Little Woods), Ritesh Batra (The Lunchbox), Benh Zeitlin and Lucy Alibar (Beasts of the Southern Wild), Gina Prince-Bythewood (Love & Basketball), Paul T. Anderson (Hard Eight), and Quentin Tarantino (Reservoir Dogs), among many others.
Three projects supported by the Feature Film Program will premiere at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival: Kobi Libii's The American Society of Magical Negroes, Sean Wang's Dìdi (弟弟), and Sam Zuchero and Andy Zuchero's Love Me. In addition, FFP alumni with films premiering in this year's Festival include Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden, Susanna Fogel, and Haley Elizabeth Anderson.
Hollywood Week: BAFTA Hint at Oscars Noms, Rape Culture Exposed, Christian Oliver, 2023 Memoriam
The Sundance Institute Feature Film Program is supported by explore.org, a direct charitable activity of the Annenberg Foundation; Alfred P. Sloan Foundation; The Asian American Foundation (TAAF); United Airlines; Hartbeat; The Walt Disney Company; Maja Kristin; Salman Al-Rashid; Kimberly Steward—K Period Media; NBCUniversal; Golden Globe Foundation; Ray and Dagmar Dolby Fund; National Endowment for the Arts; NHK/NHK Enterprises, Inc.; Levantine Films; Max Rifkind-Barron; Directors Guild of America (DGA); SAGIndie; Spotlight on San Francisco; T-Street Productions; Rosalie Swedlin and Robert Cort; Lam T. Nguyen; Deborah Reinisch and Michael Theodore Fund; Octavia Spencer; Scott and Jennifer Frank.
Sundance Institute
As a champion and curator of independent stories, the nonprofit Sundance Institute provides and preserves the space for artists across storytelling media to create and thrive. Founded in 1981 by Robert Redford, the Institute's signature labs, granting, and mentorship programs, dedicated to developing new work, take place throughout the year in the U.S. and internationally.
2024 BAFTA Film Awards Announce Longlist
Sundance Collab, a digital community platform, brings a global cohort of working artists together to learn from Sundance advisors and connect with each other in a creative space, developing and sharing works in progress. The Sundance Film Festival and other public programs connect audiences and artists to ignite new ideas, discover original voices, and build a community dedicated to independent storytelling.
Through the Sundance Institute artist programs, we have supported such projects as Beasts of the Southern Wild, The Big Sick, Bottle Rocket, Boys Don't Cry, Boys State, Call Me by Your Name, Clemency, CODA, Drunktown's Finest, The Farewell, Fire of Love, Flee, The Forty-Year-Old Version, Fruitvale Station, Get Out, Half Nelson, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Hereditary, Honeyland, The Infiltrators, The Last Black Man in San Francisco, Little Woods, Love & Basketball, Me and You and Everyone We Know, Mudbound, Nanny, Navalny, O.J.: Made in America, One Child Nation, Pariah, Raising Victor Vargas, Requiem for a Dream, Reservoir Dogs, RBG, Sin Nombre, Sorry to Bother You, The Souvenir, Strong Island, Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised), Swiss Army Man, Sydney, A Thousand and One, Top of the Lake, Walking and Talking, Won't You Be My Neighbor?, and Zola.
Sundance 2024: Short Films, 40th Edition Celebration Screenings, Events
Through year-round artist programs, the Institute also nurtured the early careers of such artists as Paul Thomas Anderson, Wes Anderson, Gregg Araki, Darren Aronofsky, Lisa Cholodenko, Ryan Coogler, Nia DaCosta, The Daniels, David Gordon Green, Miranda July, James Mangold, John Cameron Mitchell, Kimberly Peirce, Boots Riley, Ira Sachs, Quentin Tarantino, Taika Waititi, Lulu Wang, and Chloé Zhao. Support Sundance Institute in our commitment to uplifting bold artists and powerful storytelling globally by making a donation at sundance.org/donate. Join Sundance Institute on Facebook, Instagram,//www.tiktok.com/@sundanceorg" target="_blank">TikTok, X (formerly Twitter), and YouTube.
