A good time, despite the dead children
I’m back from Utah, where I was working as an advisor at the Sundance Screenwriters Lab. I had five projects in three days, which made for a lot of reading and meeting, picking-apart and putting-back-together.
The scripts this year were as emotionally challenging as ever — of the projects I covered, three involved the rape or death of children. 1 Only one was set in the U.S., with the others coming from the U.K., South Africa, Brazil and China. My meeting with Chinese filmmakers involved a translator, as the six things I can say in Mandarin couldn’t suffice.2 My longest meeting — the one American project — went 4 1/2 hours, flipping pages and cutting scenes.
It was an exhausting but exhilarating couple of days. It’s great to work with writers focused on making projects more honest rather than more commercial.
- To be fair, the one with the highest body count was a comedy. ↩
- “Hello,” “Thanks,” “I speak a little Chinese,” “Slippers,” “Snow,” and “Jump!” The first three are courtesy Pimsleur
. The last three come from watching [Ni Hao, Kai-Lan](http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewTVSeason?id=272227550&s=143441) with my daughter. ↩
Articles
June 25th, 2008 at 1:16 pm
What exactly is the Sundance Screenwriters Lab? Is it a competition that aspiring writers win and they get to have their scripts reviewed by pros, such as yourself?
June 25th, 2008 at 1:26 pm
@Hector:
Not really a competition, but otherwise, yes. I added a link to the page on the Sundance site.
June 25th, 2008 at 5:19 pm
“It’s great to work with writers focused on making projects more honest rather than more commercial.”
i didn’t know commercial and honest were mutually exclusive qualities of filmmaking.
June 25th, 2008 at 6:46 pm
I think the point is they often times are.
June 25th, 2008 at 6:47 pm
Or perhaps honest to the writers own feelings/thoughts/themes, instead of being intended for the widest possible audience.
June 25th, 2008 at 11:28 pm
i’m just bitter because if john’s feelings any indication of the other sundance folk then the script i submitted for the next screenwriter’s lab might as well get tossed out now. :)
June 26th, 2008 at 5:06 am
I love the title of this post.
June 26th, 2008 at 8:28 am
Hello John.My name is Michael Costelo.I am 14 years old and was trying to contact you to ask you about me auditioning for the role of Billy Batson in your upcoming movie Shazam.I am a big fan of the comics and would love to audition.
Thank you so much sir.
June 26th, 2008 at 8:30 am
@James Patrick Joyce:
I use the same phrase to describe Blindfolded Commute Fridays.
June 26th, 2008 at 9:49 am
Hey John,
Just returned last week from the director’s lab…this was my 5th year working on crew. I worked with Dee Rees and Moon Molson this time around, but last year it seems we had the same projects: Cold Souls & Water and Power.
I heard Sophie was coming to the screenwriter’s lab to screen the completed version of Cold Souls (with Paul Giamatti). Did she actually make it there and screen it? If so, did you see it?
Sounds like the lab went well…I’m drinking coffee out of my blue mug right now.
Jeremy
June 26th, 2008 at 11:49 am
@Gumby:
I didn’t have Dee’s project, though I read it during the year. And Moon’s scenes were terrific.
Sophie was there briefly, but I didn’t get to see her movie. She looked better than a director in post should be allowed to look.
@Michael Costello:
We’re not even close to thinking about casting, but I admire your dedication.
@Christopher:
Sundance lab projects are almost always “difficult,” either in subject matter or approach. It’s not simply about the quality of the writing. A decently-written script about an unexplored issue would be much more likely to get picked than a terrific but more-conventional one.
“Urgent” is a word I heard used this year, which I think sums it up. They want projects that speak to passion and crisis.
June 27th, 2008 at 7:46 am
Sophie told me she just screened it for Michelle Satter, I guess.
I liked how Moon’s night drowning scene turned out, considering we shot it in bright sunlight in the dirt.
Anyway, I won’t use up this space for this convo. Perhaps we’ll meet in Utah someday…
June 27th, 2008 at 11:21 am
Do you have any insight as to how writers, directors, or projects are chosen for the workshop?
June 27th, 2008 at 1:15 pm
Hey Sam–
I’ve been working at the Director’s Lab for several years, the screenwriter’s lab comes before and after that (there are several others that take place throughout the summer, including a Documentary Edit lab, Composers lab, Theater lab, and a new Producers lab).
Anyway, usually selection begins with the first Screenwriters lab, which happens just after the film festival. Scripts are chosen either because the writer/director had a short that played at the festival and/or they submitted their script through the Sundance website and made it all the way through the screening process. I’m not entirely certain how many they choose, but it’s only about 10 or 12 out of thousands. The content isn’t limited to anything in particular, necessarily, as far as what they’re looking for–although in the 5 years I’ve attended the labs, there does seem to be a certain Sundance Flavor that keeps seasoning the scripts. (Any third world or Native American coming of age and/or coming out stories told with a personal slant seem to pop up quite a bit…)
Then, depending on many things, 8 of those writers (if they are also aspiring directors) will attend the Directors lab, which is one month long, usually in June. There they get to shoot a few scenes from their scripts in a workshop environment where they’re encouraged to take risks and find their voice…it’s a free pass to make mistakes as a director because the results aren’t seen by anyone outside the lab, really.
After the Directors lab, they attend Screenwriters Lab Part 2, where they re-work the material again now that they’ve had a shot at filming some scenes. This second writing lab is where our friend, Mr. August, frequents as a creative advisor to the writers.
Basically, as he mentioned earlier, they usually search for projects that were written with passion and have a distinctive point of view…not necessarily projects that have the best stories. It’s less about What the scripts are about, and more about How they are about it. (if that makes any sense)
This year, there were actually 9 filmmankers at the directors lab because one project was being co-directed by a team. Almost all of the projects were pretty dark and heavy, with a slant towards child abuse and baby rape. One project was a weird comedy, but even that dealt with a messed up evil baby of some sort. As depressing as it all sounds, each project was really interesting and full of life, and the filmmakers had nothing particular in common other than a willingness to truly take a chance and be themselves as writers.
Many of us who want to be screenwriters might forget how important this is: Put yourself (or your view of the world) on the page. Sounds easy, but it takes time to nurture.
June 27th, 2008 at 1:53 pm
“I speak a little Chinese�
If you know only six phrases, wouldn’t it be more useful (and honest) to learn something like “I don’t speak Chinese” or “Find someone who speaks english”?
June 27th, 2008 at 2:16 pm
Wow, Gumby. That was truly helpful. Thank you. As a writer who also wants to direct (and therefore participate in the directing lab), it sounds like getting your short into the festival is pretty important, if not vital?
June 28th, 2008 at 4:17 pm
I’ve long been fascinated with the wave-like flow of ideas in our culture. Your post shows me that I, too, am a part of this particular one as I’m currently shopping my first novel which is about a child who has been locked away in a room for several years. I didn’t sit down and think to myself, “hmmm, what’s hot right now?” or “what will everyone be talking about in a few years? Hey, now! Extreme child abuse! That’s a sure winner!” In fact, I didn’t really know my subject until a year or so into the project. Similarly, my husband is prepping a film he began development on years ago that is about a superhero’s regular-guy life. We all know that subject is everywhere at the moment.
No subject matter is new, really, but it’s curious how it comes about that large numbers of people begin to think about and actively birth projects of such singularity all at one point in history. After all, these things take years to grow. Makes one believe in some higher form of communication, no?
No doubt we’ll see several books and movies featuring the aforementioned dead children in the new year. Not a bad thing at all.
/diane http://www.fatbrain.ca
June 29th, 2008 at 9:37 am
Sam–I think getting your short into the festival might help, but isn’t vital. There are at least a few lab fellows each year who were selected from the application process. That takes a bit longer: I think you have to have your script submitted up to a year before the first screenwriter’s lab. Also, most of the writer’s who are at the screenwriter’s lab only are selected from that process, too. There will always be people who Sundance comes and finds, however, who might not have applied at all, but had previous interesting work somewhere that they saw potential in.
June 30th, 2008 at 6:34 pm
John, I submitted a screenplay to the Labs last year and made it to the “second phase” but wasn’t selected to join the lab. I submitted again this year and after my submission I read that most applicants have, not only the “Sundance Flavor” but that they also have something significant on their resume. It’s a bit depressing because I have no award-winning-shorts, low budget feature, or documentary on my resume as of yet. I was wondering if any of the writers you have worked with have had resumes similar to mine, or is the Sundance Lab their launching pad for their “next” project? Thanks.
July 1st, 2008 at 9:39 am
Gumby!
Thanks so much for explaining this, and so well and thorough too. I wouldn’t doubt that a lot of our present and future applicants frequent this site.
A couple tiny pieces of clarification (for anyone that’s interested).
The January Screenwriters Lab actually happens just before the festival, rather than after it.
The fellows that attend the June Directors Lab come from any previous Screenwriters Lab (not just the one that year). This year, one of our projects came from the January Screenwriters Lab that happened in 2007.
The Sundance Feature Film Program (umbrella that the Screenwriters, Directors, and Producers Labs are under) is entirely separate from the Sundance Film Festival. While we definitely look at the short films that play the festival, it’s really only one of many places where we do our outreach. Many times we actually select a project for our January Screenwriters Lab, only to find out that the festival programmers have independently programmed that same filmmakers’ short film. It actually happened this year with a filmmaker named John Magary (who I think you can download his most excellent short film “The Second Line” from the sundance website).
If anybody out there has any questions about the Labs, I’m more than happy to field them. I know that Sundance seems like a big weird mystery to a lot of people out there, so please just email me at mike_mohan [at] sundance.org and I’ll do what I can to help y’all out.
Hope this helps! Thanks John!
Mike
July 2nd, 2008 at 9:18 am
Hey Mike!
Yeah, I was attempting to be as accurate as possible–thanks for clearing up a point or two. I knew I was gonna find out that I thought I knew something that I didn’t or didn’t have all the facts for.
By the way, was that you up above with the advice about a better phrase to know in Chinese? Very funny.
Glad to know we all enjoy the same good advice. Thanks to John!
later,
gumby