Sundance Collab

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Sundance Collab Sundance Collab is a global digital learning and community platform of the Sundance Institute.

10/07/2026

Join filmmaker and producer Summer Shelton for How to Schedule, Budget, and Prepare Your Production for Financing, a four-week live online course designed to help you build the practical foundation your feature needs to move from script to pre-production.

Learn how to approach the essential building blocks of feature film development, from creating a schedule and budget to scouting locations, casting, and preparing your project for potential investors.

What you’ll learn:

💰 Schedule & budget your feature film
📍 Scout locations with production, financing & tax incentives in mind
🎭 Build a path toward casting your film
🎬 Prepare materials for talent & potential investors

Whether you have an active screenplay in development or simply want to understand what comes after the script, you’ll walk away with practical tools to help prepare a project for production.

🗓️ October 14–November 4
🎟️ Tuition: $395

👉 Tap the link in our bio to join Summer in class.

How do you capture an intimate documentary story when you’re the entire crew?For many documentary filmmakers, going solo...
10/07/2026

How do you capture an intimate documentary story when you’re the entire crew?

For many documentary filmmakers, going solo means becoming the director, producer, camera operator, sound recordist, and more, all while staying present with the people and stories unfolding in front of you.

Join Oscar nominee Bing Liu (Minding the Gap) and Sundance Directing Award winner Luke Lorentzen (Midnight Family, A Still Small Voice) for an online weekend intensive exploring the creative and technical craft of solo documentary filmmaking.

Through case studies from their acclaimed films, Liu and Lorentzen will break down how they work with a small footprint, navigate deeply personal and high-stakes environments, and build the trust needed to capture extraordinary nonfiction moments.

What you’ll learn:

🎥 Capture broadcast-quality picture & multi-track audio with a solo rig
🎙️ Shoot interviews, vérité footage & B-roll on your own
🤝 Balance technical ex*****on with authentic connection
👀 Anticipate action and know when to stay with a moment
🎬 Shape unscripted footage into a compelling cinematic arc

Learn how to do more with less while staying connected to the story happening right in front of you.

👉 Tap the link in our bio to enroll.

10/06/2026

Join filmmaker, author, and educator Peter Markham and learn to speak the language of the screen.

In Visual Storytelling: The Shot, the Image & the Camera, Peter invites directors to take a closer look at how composition, framing, camera placement, movement, and mise-en-scène shape what an audience sees and feels.

Over four weeks, analyze scenes across genres and styles and discover new ways to approach the moving image while developing your own unique visual language.

What you’ll learn:

🎥 Make intentional choices with shot size, framing & composition
📐 Explore how camera placement, angles & movement shape a scene
🎬 Understand different camera functions, from observational to participatory
⏱️ Use images to convey time, movement & the flow of energy
👁️ Develop a stronger command of your own visual style

Drawing from Peter’s experience as a second unit director on Martin Scorsese’s Gangs of New York and Anthony Minghella’s The English Patient, this live online course is designed for directors ready to look at filmmaking through a new lens.

👉 Tap the link in our bio to join Peter in class.

You’ve got the idea. You’ve built the outline. Now it’s time to write the pilot.Take your original TV series from outlin...
10/06/2026

You’ve got the idea. You’ve built the outline. Now it’s time to write the pilot.

Take your original TV series from outline to a completed pilot script in TV Writing: From Outline to First Draft of Your Pilot, a self-paced course designed to help you develop a compelling script while getting individualized feedback along the way.

Through short video lectures, assignments, written feedback, and live sessions with an experienced TV writer, you’ll sharpen your characters, strengthen your story engine, and learn how to approach your pilot like a professional writers’ room.

What you’ll learn:

📺 Build strong A/B/C storylines and episodic structure
✍️ Sharpen characters, conflict & dialogue
⚙️ Strengthen pacing and your pilot’s story engine
🔄 Rewrite, re-break & adjust your script
🎬 Explore season and series arcs, pitch decks, look books & sizzle reels

Plus, receive written feedback from a Sundance Collab Advisor at three points throughout the course and join six live class meetings, including four sessions that put you through the process of building an episode for an existing show, much like you would in a professional writers’ room.

👉 Tap the link in our bio to start turning your outline into a finished pilot.

October is stacked with scary good courses and events to help you sharpen your craft, strengthen your projects, and mayb...
10/03/2026

October is stacked with scary good courses and events to help you sharpen your craft, strengthen your projects, and maybe write a nightmare or two. 🎃

Your October Guide is here:

✅ October 5: Crafting Your Short Film Screenplay
✅ October 5: Directing Actors
✅ October 5: Screenwriting: Core Elements
✅ October 5: Anatomy of a Nightmare: Writing Your Horror Feature
✅ October 5: Forming Strategic Brand Partnerships with Festival Darling Cookie Queens
✅ October 6: Recharging and Sustaining Your Entertainment Career
✅ October 12: TV Writing: From Outline to First Draft of Your Pilot
✅ October 12: Visual Storytelling: The Shot, the Image, & the Camera
✅ October 12: How to Schedule, Budget, & Prepare Production for Financing
✅ October 14: Independent Filmmaking in the Rockies: Production in Colorado
✅ October 20: From Sundance Film Festival Short to Feature with Liz Sargent (TAKE ME HOME)
✅ October 21: Solo Documentary Filmmaking with Bing Liu and Luke Lorentzen
✅ October 23: Inside the Edit with BIPOC Doc Editors: NATCHEZ
✅ October 30: Film Club: THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT

Ready to get to work? Register for October courses and events at Sundance Collab. 👻

A finished pilot draft is just the beginning. The real work is crafting a series that buyers want to greenlight. Startin...
09/24/2026

A finished pilot draft is just the beginning. The real work is crafting a series that buyers want to greenlight.

Starting September 29, join us for our advanced 8-week online course: Rewriting Your TV Pilot and Crafting Your Pitch with veteran showrunner Phil Klemmer (Veronica Mars, Chuck).

Refine your script with a structured revision schedule, weekly cohort sessions, and two 45-minute 1-on-1 script and pitch consultations with your instructor.

What You'll Master:
- Refining series architecture, pilot pacing, and character arcs
- Deconstructing notes to execute a targeted rewrite
- Building pitch decks and practicing a formal TV pitch
- Preparing your project materials for network and studio meetings

Dates: September 29 – November 29, 2026
Registration Deadline: September 27, 2026
Course Fee: $750
Link in Bio: Reserve your spot at our link in bio!

Go deeper into the creative decisions behind visual storytelling, from choosing the right lens and placing the camera wi...
09/23/2026

Go deeper into the creative decisions behind visual storytelling, from choosing the right lens and placing the camera with purpose to building a visual strategy and communicating your vision with your cinematographer.

Starting October 1, join us for our intermediate four-week online course: HOW TO EFFECTIVELY COLLABORATE WITH YOUR CINEMATOGRAPHER with cinematographer and educator Tal Lazar.

What You'll Learn:
- The vocabulary needed to collaborate with professional cinematographers.
- Methods to create a visual language that engages your audience and effectively brings your story to life.
- The ability to create a visual strategy rather than just shot-listing.
- How to break down a screenplay from both a creative and logistical standpoint
- How to make choices in pre-production: aspect ratio, camera (resolution), and more
- How to pick the right lens for a scene, place the camera purposefully to tell the story, and prepare for color grading/color correction.

Reserve your spot at our link in bio!

Dates: October 1–22, 2026
Registration Date: September 30
Course Fee: $395

You don’t need an active screenplay or project to participate, just some filmmaking experience and a desire to take your visual storytelling further.

09/23/2026

Don’t miss this four-week online course with cinematographer and educator Tal Lazar. 🎥

HOW TO EFFECTIVELY COLLABORATE WITH YOUR CINEMATOGRAPHER is designed to help directors and producers build a stronger visual language and lead creative collaborations with confidence.

Learn how to communicate what you want to say, make purposeful choices behind the camera, and work more effectively with your cinematographer.

Dates: October 1 – 22
Registration Deadline: September 30
Course Fee: $395

Reserve your spot at our link in bio.

FilmDirector IndieFilm

Go behind the journey of the Camera d’Or-winning THE PRESIDENT’S CAKE with writer/director Hasan Hadi and producer Leah ...
09/18/2026

Go behind the journey of the Camera d’Or-winning THE PRESIDENT’S CAKE with writer/director Hasan Hadi and producer Leah Chen Baker.

Presented by Sundance Collab and Projeto Paradiso, this free online conversation explores the making of a first feature, the importance of the director-producer relationship, and the evolving landscape of financing international productions.

Joining the conversation are Joséphine Bourgois, Executive Director of Projeto Paradiso, and Matthew Takata, Assistant Director of the Sundance Institute Feature Film Program.

📅 September 29
⏰ 7:00–8:30 AM PT
💻 Online + Free

https://bit.ly/3UYIGAK

⏰ Registration reminder for writers!Two Sundance Collab writing courses are coming up, designed to help you strengthen y...
09/15/2026

⏰ Registration reminder for writers!

Two Sundance Collab writing courses are coming up, designed to help you strengthen your script and get ready to pitch.

🎬 REWRITING YOUR SCREENPLAY AND CRAFTING YOUR PITCH SESSION
Led by acclaimed screenwriter and dramaturg Q. Terah Jackson (Rustin), this advanced course will help you elevate your feature screenplay, strengthen your story and characters, and develop a compelling elevator pitch.

📅 Starts October 2
⏳ Register by September 17
🔗 https://bit.ly/4xqMoAq

📺 REWRITING YOUR TV PILOT AND CRAFTING YOUR PITCH
Led by Phil Klemmer (Veronica Mars, Chuck, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow)
📅 Starts September 29
⏳ Register by September 27
🔗 https://bit.ly/4Ah2aAF

Both 8-week live online courses include dedicated 1-on-1 instructor feedback, weekly cohort meetings, and guidance to take your work from rewrite to pitch.

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Los Angeles, CA

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