Summer Sundance
I’m up at Sundance for the summer filmmakers’ lab, where I’ve worked as an advisor for the past seven years.
For those unfamiliar with the labs, it’s a workshop in which newer filmmakers (generally writer-directors) meet with established screenwriters in one-on-one sessions to sort out issues in their scripts. There’s a winter lab, which occurs right before the festival in January, and a summer lab, which includes a three-week directing component before the week-long screenwriting portion. Many notable films have come out of the Sundance labs, including PARADISE NOW, BOYS DON’T CRY, and HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH.
This year, there are 13 projects, five of which I’m reading. This morning, I met with James Ponsoldt on his script REFRESH, REFRESH. In the afternoon, I met with JJ Lask on THIS IS NOT A PIPE. They were both challenging projects, and great meetings.
What I love about the labs is that it’s a completely safe place. There are no agendas, no secret motivations. The advisers all genuinely want to help the fellows make the best movies they choose to make, with no “shoulds” or “oughtas.” There’s not a single movie up here that I would have written, yet they’re all fascinating, original, and deeply personal. You end up learning as much about the filmmaker as the script.
I have a hunch that an unusually high percentage of the films in development at this year’s lab will make it to the screen. You can see a complete list of the projects here.
Articles
June 24th, 2007 at 4:20 pm
A couple of months ago I was renting a place in Tallinn that had an extensive library with some old copies of Fantasy & Science Fiction (the magazine) and by chance I picked up a copy where the editorial was about the Clarion workshop.
If I remember correctly then the editorial claimed that the majority of successful US sci-fi writers as well as the majority of award-winning sci-fi writers had all attended Clarion at some point. Clearly there’s something great and useful about workshops where established writers work closely with those who want to become established writers.
I wonder, what is the filmmaking equivalent of Clarion? Some workshop that a large portion of award-winning filmmakers have attended? Are Sundance labs it?
June 25th, 2007 at 5:39 am
Maybe I’ll see you there in January???? Keeping my fingers crossed…
June 25th, 2007 at 10:34 am
Question:
Does anyone have a prayer of making it into the Sundance Institute without a resume and/or connections? I have an indie character drama that was a finalist in the Slamdance Screenplay Competition this past year, but that’s pretty much the only achievement I listed on my Sundance app.
That’s not enough, is it? Be honest. :)
June 25th, 2007 at 11:03 am
A lot of the projects in the screenwriting labs come from filmmakers who had a feature (or a short) in the festival. Others came through the submission process on the website, or through international contacts/festivals.
They’re not looking for the “best” scripts in the way traditional screenwriting competitions would. Rather, they focus on new voices and under-explored terrain. A difficult and personal story about Thai prostitutes or Iranian lesbianism would be a good contender.
June 25th, 2007 at 12:02 pm
So I actually have a chance! Woooooooo! I entered my screenplay about a Thai prostitute who has a lesbian affair with an Iranian woman for the ‘08 lab.
This might be my year!
June 25th, 2007 at 5:12 pm
You bastard! You ripped off my screenplay about a Thai prostitute from the future who travels back through time to stop an Iranian lesbian cyborg killing machine from destroying the mother of the future leader of the human rebellion.
And yes, it involves ping pong balls.
June 25th, 2007 at 7:02 pm
On a more serious note, now that the dialog us open here, what exactly do you discuss at Sundance?
What are the goals for the Lab? They’re entering with completed scripts, which I assume are perfect to them at the beginning, so where to next?
Are there major re-writes by the time the scripts come this far?
If you participate in the Screenwriting Lab are you automatically given a Director’s Lab spot, if that is what you so choose to do with your completed work?
Curious to know. Thanks.
June 25th, 2007 at 7:04 pm
Feel like such an idiot when it comes to typos…which basically means I’m feeling that alott. Should have been, “now that the dialog IS open here.”
June 25th, 2007 at 8:03 pm
Yeah but my Thai lesbian prostitute was a failed abortion, a scientologist, and handicapped in a wheelchair. She is also in love with a native american who moved to Darfur and witnessed all the killings.
I think I’ve covered every hot button Sundance requires for entry…
June 26th, 2007 at 8:49 am
John,
If you get bored (not a chance) and need some local “flavor” while you’re at Sundance, email me. I’d love to see you.
Kristin
June 26th, 2007 at 2:00 pm
Hey Kristin (#10):
They’re working us pretty hard up here so I don’t think I’ll have the chance. But strangely enough, there’s another Fairview grad up here (from ‘93). People say USC runs Hollywood, but Fairview runs indie film.
June 27th, 2007 at 6:29 am
I wanted to circle back to Jeff’s question (#3) about how much experience plays into the selection criteria. Say you’ve got a rock-solid script with both Thai prostitutes and Iranian lesbians (which I don’t) but don’t actually have any substantive credits to your name, what are the chances that you would be selected? How far do they really go to find “new voices”? It seems that, from the biographies of the previous participants, all had film-related experience or prior credits. Thanks!
June 27th, 2007 at 10:35 pm
Michelle (#12):
There does seem to be a slant towards filmmakers who’ve proven something with a previous short or indie feature — understandably, since it indicates how serious they are about the craft — but there are always a few Fellows who simply submitted a script that got the love and attention of the lab organizers, without any previous credits.
June 28th, 2007 at 8:28 am
The Sundance website says that about 50% of scripts selected come from open submissions. That doesn’t mean they’re total newbies. However, few if any have “big” careers by Hollywood standards. What they do have is the drive to work all angles to advance their careers (the festival circuit, competition, mainstream hollywood, which includes all the “indie” studios, etc). There’s also a good chance that those who’ve gotten a bit of a foot in the door are talented, professional, etc. — all things that correspond with success at Sundance or otherwise. I’d argue that Sundance’s committment to new voices is evidenced by the projects they select.
Sundance is just one of many tools for advancing your career and, perhaps more importantly, for getting the kind of feedback that you rarely get in Hollywood — feedback aimed at helping you develop your unique creative voice.
Btw, I know filmmakers whose projects were not selected by Sundance but were produced around the same time through Hollywood’s indie studio system (or who were hired by Hollywood studios or production companies to write or direct for hire). I also know filmmakers who were selected for the Sundance Lab but who haven’t worked since. The later group was secretly hoping that Sundance, etc. would make their careers, while the former group, relying on their own efforts, kept knocking on doors until one opened. These people had agents, I should point out, but they got an agent through their own efforts. For example, by meeting producers at panel discussions and asking them to read their work and, if they liked it, make an agent referal. Or, by calling everyone they’ve ever known to see who has a Hollywood contact. Or by winning a screenwriting competition. You get the drift.