Los Angeles, CA Sundance Institute today announced the participants for its weeklong Creative Film Producing Initiative at the Sundance Resort in Utah, July 27 August 3, including nine feature film and documentary projects for the Creative Producing Labs and more than 50 industry leaders for the Creative Producing Summit. The Institute's Creative Producing Initiative encompasses a year-round series of Labs, Fellowships, granting and events focusing on nurturing the next generation of independent producers and renewing the community of veteran producers who sustain the vibrancy and vitality of independent film.The Feature Film Creative Producing Lab (July 27 July 31) identifies emerging producers and, under the guidance of Creative Advisors, allows them to develop their creative instincts and evolve their communicating and problem-solving skills at all stages of their feature film project. This year's Creative Advisors include producers Lindsay Doran (Sense and Sensibility), Lynette Howell Taylor (The Place Beyond the Pines), Gina Kwon (Me You and Everyone We Know), Paul Mezey (Beasts of the Southern Wild), Jay Van Hoy (Beginners) and director Matthew Ross (28 Hotel Rooms).
The Documentary Film Creative Producing Lab (July 27 August 1) brings together documentarians with award-winning Advisors to focus on their current projects to explore the wide range of creative approaches to distribution, outreach and impact strategies. This year's Creative Advisors include producers Julie Goldman (Best of Enemies), Bonni Cohen (3 1/2 Minutes, 10 Bullets), Ryan Werner (Cinetic), Maxyne Franklin (Britdoc), and Wendy Cohen (Picture Motion).
The Creative Producing Summit takes place immediately following the Labs, July 31 August 3. More than 50 industry leaders will participate in a series of curated panels, case studies, roundtables, and one-on-one meetings addressing critical issues producers face including financing, distribution, audience engagement, marketing and sustainability. Panelists this year include Len Amato (HBO Films), Michael Barker (Sony Pictures Classics), Dori Begley (Magnolia Pictures), Josh Braun (Submarine), Dan Cogan (Impact Partners), Victoria S. Cook (Frankfurt Kurnit), Danielle Di Giacomo (The Orchard), Fred Dust (IDEO), Ted Hope (Amazon), Micah Green (CAA), John Hoffman (Discovery Channel), Marcus Hu (Strand Releasing), Charles King (MACRO), Jessica Lacy (ICM Partners), Stephanie Langhoff (Duplass Brothers), David Magdael (TCDM Associates), Victor Moyers (Broad Green), Annie Roney (ro*co Films), John Sloss (Cinetic Media), Graham Taylor (William Morris Endeavor), and Jay Van Hoy (Parts & Labor).
The Fellows and projects selected for the 2015 Feature Film Creative Producing Lab are:
50 Miles From Boomtown
Producing Fellow: Alex Scharfman
After years of saving for her hard-earned dream, the only woman working on the fracking fields of North Dakota can finally quit but unexpectedly finds herself falling in love with the young man shes training to take her place. (writer/director Flo Linus Baumann).
Alex Scharfman is a New York-based producer whose past feature credits include The Heart Machine and Lyle, as well as the short film Superior, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2015, and the WGA Award-nominated webseries F to 7th. He is an executive at Parts & Labor Films where he worked on films including Keep The Lights On and Loitering with Intent. He has also produced content for Vice, Google, the Ford Foundation, and AT&T. Alex received his BA from Cornell University, is a former MFA candidate from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, and received his MBA from NYU's Stern School of Business.
Bexar County
Mark Silverman Honorees and Producing Fellows: Blake Pickens and Stephen Love Jr.
In sunny San Antonio, Texas, where nothing ever changes, a town is turned on its head when a delusional Texas housewife accidentally poisons her son's fianc e, learning that killing people is an efficient way to solve her problems. (Co-writer/director Catherine Grieve, co-writer Dylan Slocum)
Blake Pickens is from the south side of Oklahoma City, from a neighborhood known as the Flats. Despite the community's rampant drug use and gang wars, Blake found his way into storytelling with a writing position at National Lampoon. He later attended the Peter Stark Producing Program at USC where he and his producing partner, Stephen Love Jr., formed their company BS Pictures. They are currently in pre-production on the Steven Caple Jr.'s film The Land and in development on The Friendship Nine with producer Nina Yang Bongiovi. Blake's aspirations are to tell the stories that make people laugh, cry, and ultimately impact their lives.
Stephen Love Jr. grew up in the rural towns of Filbert and Bennettsville, South Carolina. During his time as a business major at Morehouse College, Love founded the Morehouse Filmmakers Association, for which Spike Lee is the honorary advisor. He also received his MFA from USC's Peter Stark Producing Program and formed BS Pictures with fellow graduate Blake Pickens. Love's primary career goal is to produce film and television that gives a voice to the voiceless while challenging the confines of the business of filmmaking.
Dolores
Producing Fellow: Drew Houpt
A restless teenager becomes obsessed with a mysterious Colombian woman who exploits his desire and lures him into her plot for revenge. (Writer/director Mary Ang lica Molina)
Drew Houpt is an independent producer based in Brooklyn. For over ten years he was the head of operations at Mike Zoss Productions, Joel and Ethan Coen's Tribeca-based production company. During that time he worked on the Academy Award-winning No Country For Old Men and the Academy Award-nominated A Serious Man and True Grit. He served as Associate Producer on the Coens'
