Sundance Institute
/OVERVIEW: The Sundance Institute has a multitude of fellowships, grants, and awards that support filmmakers of all types at different stages in their careers and both narrative and documentary projects at various stages of production.
IP TAKE: The Sundance Institute says that its support for filmmaking “has gained a new urgency” in recent years, and this is reflected in its funding programs. While some of Sundance’s fellowships are open to the public, there are many more funding opportunities available only to alumni of its screenwriting, producing, and directing labs (the latter of which is only available to projects coming out of the screenwriting lab). Getting into one of these labs is key to securing further funding. Many of Sundance’s open fellowships do provide avenues into these labs. Additionally, many of its fellowships and grants have vastly different criteria, so grant seekers should be sure to read through each specific set of guidelines thoroughly. This is an otherwise expansive and accessible funder that is eager to make an impact in its fields.
PROFILE: Founded in 1981 by Robert Redford, the Sundance Institute is “dedicated to the discovery and development of independent artists and audiences.” It “seeks to discover, support, and inspire independent film and theater artists from the United States and around the world, and to introduce audiences to their new work.” Though modest, this funder’s grants are among the most prestigious in its fields. Sundance is a regrantor, and its patrons include the Emerson Collective, Will and Jada Smith Family Foundation, and the MacArthur, Knight, Mellon and W.K. Kellogg foundations. The Sundance Institute offers “labs, grants, intensives, mentorships with accomplished professionals, and ongoing support to advance the development, production, and completion of independent work.”
Grants for Journalism
Sundance’s Documentary Film Program offers a number of different grant opportunities for nonfiction filmmakers working to make “cinematic documentaries on contemporary themes”:
Sandbox Fund provides grants up to $50,000 and is conducted in partnership with Sandbox Films to support feature-length documentaries interrogating the relationship between science and culture.
Documentary Fund supports independent documentaries with budgets under $1 million. Grants are up to $40,000 for development and $100,000 for post-production.
Documentary Edit and Story Lab enables director and editor teams to attend an eight-day residential retreat at the Sundance Mountain Resort in Utah.
Documentary Film Producers Track is a “yearlong program designed to nurture emerging producers with project-specific support,” mentorship, and professional development.
Grants for Film
The Sundance Institute offers a range of grants and fellowships for filmmakers and those involved in film production.
Sundance funds documentaries through the Documentary Fund. Grants are accepted on a rolling basis for development (up to $40,000) and production/post-production (up to $100,000).
The Feature Film Program supports independent filmmakers in various ways. Several of the opportunities it offers are open to applications, but there are also many others (not listed here) available only to alumni of Sundance labs. In particular, the Screenwriters Lab is an entry point for the Directors Lab (which is by invitation only), and thus can provide access to many future sources of funding and other support.
Screenwriters Lab is a five-day workshop for independent screenwriters to develop feature length projects.
Screenwriters Intensive is an online two-day concentrated workshop for up to 12 writers.
The Sundance Institute Comedy Fellowship supports diverse, culturally relevant comedic voices. It is a pipeline to the January Screenwriters Lab or Screenwriters Intensive and includes a mentorship from Feature Film Program staff and an unrestricted grant.
The Sundance Institute Horror Fellowship supports filmmakers from traditionally underrepresented groups developing independent horror feature films. Like the Comedy fellowship, recipients participate in the January Screenwriters Lab or Screenwriters Intensive, and it includes a mentorship from Feature Film Program staff and an unrestricted grant.
Alfred P. Sloan Commissioning Grant & Fellowship – In partnership with the Sloan Foundation, these grants and fellowships support the development of screenplays with science or technology themes (but not science fiction). Only completed screenplays will be considered for the fellowship.
The Catalyst financing program seeks to connect independent investors and filmmakers to help provide funding for new independent films. Applications are accepted by invitation only.
Sundance Ignite supports filmmakers ages 18 to 24 through the Sundance Ignite x Adobe Fellowship Program, a professional development program that provides a year of mentorship and other opportunities, including Sundance Ignite traveling programs.
The Producers Program supports both fiction and nonfiction producers at all stages of their feature-length projects and their careers with labs, fellowships, networking events, funding, and educational resource opportunities.
Sundance runs two labs for what it calls episodic storytelling, focused on writers developing work for television and online platforms. Details are provided below:
Episodic Story Lab — This lab supports first time writers in a variety of media, including features, documentaries, theater, and fiction, who are developing an episodic series. Applicants must have a completed pilot script and an overview of the development of the series, and they cannot have pitched to a studio or sold a pilot that has been produced. Writers from communities that have been underrepresented in the television industry are given priority.
Sundance Institute | YouTube New Voices Lab — This lab supports writers working on new episodic story projects through mentorship and workshopping with experienced creators, showrunners, and producers.
Grants for Racial Justice and Indigenous Rights, Women and Girls, and BIPOC
The Sundance Institute’s support for equity and inclusion is pervasive and permeates all of its programming and grantmaking; however, it does provide a handful of programs that specifically benefit underrepresented groups.
The Indigenous Program supports Native and Indigenous-created stories worldwide and works to decolonize filmmaking and uplift Indigenous artists’ voices through a series of fellowships and labs.
The Women at Sundance program offers several fellowships that work to advance gender equity in filmmaking and increase women’s access to opportunities as storytellers in media.
The Momentum Fellowship program supports members of underrepresented groups, including those “who identify as women, nonbinary, and transgender; artists of color; and artists with disabilities,” through mentorship, professional development, and artist sustainability grants.
The Sundance Institute’s Artist Accelerator program provides professional development opportunities and access to funding for artists from underrepresented groups.
Sundance Institute Asian American Foundation Fellowship and Scholarship — This fellowship supports an Asian-American writer or writer/director working on his or her first or second narrative feature film through participation in a screenwriting or producing lab.
Sundance Institute Latine Fellowship and Collab Scholarship — This fellowship supports a US-based Latino writer or writer/director working on his or her first or second narrative feature film through participation in a screenwriting lab. There is also a small, unrestricted cash grant.
The Sundance Institute | The Walt Disney Company Project Advancement and Completion Fund – This fund supports fiction directors from traditionally underrepresented communities with a $25,000 grant.
Sundance Institute Completion Fund – supports BIPOC and Women filmmakers whose film premiere is imminent with an unrestricted grant. This fund is invitation only.
The institute’s Sundance Collab digital platform provides fellows with a variety of benefits, including access to online courses, a video library and Sundance-created and curated articles, podcasts, worksheets and toolkits to help users expand their filmmaking practice. It also provides a handful of programs focused on groups underrepresented in filmmaking.
The Sundance Institute | Graton Collab Artist Opportunity is a career development program that gives “artists from federally and nonfederally recognized California Indian tribes” the opportunity “to tell their stories through film.”
The Trans Possibilities Intensive is a nomination only career development program for transgender artists who also identify as Black, Indigenous, and/or a person of color.
Grants for Theater
The Sundance Institute supports theater through its Theater Program. Sundance funds a handful of labs, retreats and residencies for theater, two of which are open to applications from the public:
Theatre Lab at the Sundance Resort — This lab is open to playwrights, directors, composers and librettists from the US, the Middle East, and North Africa with projects in any stage of development. Each Fellow receives a $1,200 honorarium and, if applicable, a company of actors for rehearsing the project under development, as well as support and mentoring.
MENA Playwrights Residency in Berlin — This residency is for playwrights from the Middle East, especially Syria, and North Africa who have been based in Europe for five years or less. Applicants must submit a script, written in Arabic (classical or dialect), a project summary, and an artistic statement.
Sundance’s theater program also includes the Theatre Lab at MASS MoCA, the Sundance Institute | LUMA Foundation Theatre Directors Retreat in Arles, and the Playwrights & Composers Retreat at Ucross Foundation, all of which are by invitation only. Participation in Sundance’s Theatre Lab may provide a way in, however.
Additionally, actors interested in performing in the acting company for the Theatre Lab at the Sundance Resort can submit a headshot and resume.
Important Grant Details:
Grants and fellowships range from $1,000 to $100,000. In a recent year, the institute provided $3.1 million in grants. Grantseekers may review the foundation’s Digital Archive for more information on the kind of work it tends to support.
Sundance accepts applications and submissions through its online portal. Deadlines and requirements may vary by program.
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