Just A Couple New Fellowship & Workshop Links
The Sundance Episodic Lab, The Native American TV Writers Lab & The DAF Onion Workshop.
Happy New Years, everyone!
While I was compiling that 2023 Guide To TV and Film Fellowships, a couple of upcoming deadlines/opportunities popped up and I didn’t want to wait till the next newsletter to send them out. Enjoy!
THE SUNDANCE EPISODIC LAB
The legendary film festival offers an Utah-based writing lab where participants spend 6 days workshopping an existing TV pilot script and develop their pitching skills to “showrunners, producers & executives.”
APPLICATIONS OPEN: 2/8/23
DEADLINE: 3/8/2023
DATES: Fall 2023 (6-day program)
LINK: https://www.sundance.org/programs/episodic-storytelling/
COST: $40 processing fee
ELIGIBILITY:
Must be 18 or older.
Sample must be writer’s original creation or adapted from optioned source material.
Project should be new, or materially different from any previous Sundance submission.
It can’t have been sold to a third party or distributed online.
Applicants can’t have sold an episodic project (pilot or pitch), and which has been shot, to a studio or network.
SUBMISSION PACKET:
Original pilot script
Bio (250 words max)
Series logline (50 words max)
Pilot Synopsis (500 words max)
Series overview (500 words max)
Personal statement (250 words max)
Thematic statement (250 words max)
Additional creative questions
Links to samples of previous works. (Optional)
THE NATIVE AMERICAN TV WRITERS LAB
Online multi-week intensive scriptwriting program that prepares Native Americans for network writing careers. Each of 10 selected fellows will complete an original pilot during the program, receiving feedback from peers and an experienced writing instructor.
APPLICATIONS OPEN: Now
DEADLINE:
Early Deadline: 1/16/2023
Regular Deadline: 1/30/2023
Final Deadline: 2/13/2023
DATES: April through May 2023. (Meets
LINK: https://nama.media/8th-annual-virtual-native-american-tv-writers-lab-call-for-applications/
COST: Varies by deadline:
Early Deadline: $50
Regular Deadline: $60
Final Deadline: $70
ELIGIBILITY:
Applicants should be “seasoned writers who are capable of writing at least a one half-hour comedy or a one-hour dramatic television script in English within a five-week period of time.”
Writing teams are ineligible.
Must be 18 or over to apply.
All submitted material must be original. And all rights owned by the writer. (NOTE: However, the submission info does say they will accept TV spec scripts as a sample.)
Must be Native American. (I mean, they don’t actually list it in the eligibility requirements, but they do say that it’s the NATIVE AMERICAN TV WRITERS LAB in all caps. So, you do the math.)
SUBMISSION PACKET:
Completed release form
Writing sample - can include a feature film, play, TV pilot or TV spec in PDF format. (TV scripts preferred.)
THE DAF ONION WORKSHOP
The annual Diverse As Fuck Comedy Festival is offering an online workshop for writers looking to learn the The Onion’s writing style and to create “opportunities for comedy writers from historically- excluded groups to learn from an established comedic institution without financial barriers.”
NOTE: In past years, this workshop has led to opportunities to submit as a writer for The Onion, but that isn’t specifically mentioned or guaranteed in this year’s workshop info. (I took last year’s workshop and definitely recommend it. Even if you never want to write for them, it’s a great workshop on how to write “subtext-based humor.”)
APPLICATIONS OPEN: Now
DEADLINE: 1/17/23
DATES: (May only apply for in person or virtual, not both.)
In Person (Chicago): 3/25/23 & 3/26/23
Virtual: 3/25/23 & 3/26/23
LINK: https://www.diverseasfuck.com/workshops2023
COST: $0
ELIGIBILITY: No requirements listed, but the submission info does say the program is intended for “people who have historically been systematically excluded from opportunities in the comedy industry, specifically people of color, women, members of the LGBTQIA+ community, people with disabilities and people 40+ years old.”
Also, it’s the “Diverse As Fuck” comedy festival.
SUBMISSION PACKET:
Essay: “Statement of Purpose” - Why you are drawn to this workshop and what do you want to get out of it?
Essay: In what ways would you contribute diversity and perspective to this workshop?
Ten Onion-style headlines.
GOOD LUCK!