FILM INDEPENDENT'S PRODUCERS LAB AND SLOAN GRANT (FALL)

Deadline: 12 July 2010

Application Fee: $55 Members, $75 Non-members

WHAT IS THE PRODUCERS LAB?

Designed to help filmmakers develop skills as creative independent producers, the Producers Lab is an intensive seven-week program running two evenings a week in Los Angeles in October and November. During the Lab, Fellows develop a strategy and action plan for bringing their projects to fruition, including a detailed budget, schedule, and business plan.

A secondary goal of the program is to help advance the careers of the Lab Fellows by introducing them to film professionals who can advise them on both the craft and business of independent producing. Lab Fellows have one-on-one meetings with established independent producers and other industry professionals who act as advisors on the Fellows' projects.

A maximum of ten projects are selected. Producing teams are welcome to apply.

Producers Lab Fellows receive:
A one-year membership with Film Independent
A pass to the Filmmaker Forum, which kicks off the Producers Lab
A pass to the Los Angeles Film Festival
A pass to the American Film Market
One-on-one consultations with Film Independent's Filmmaker Advisor
Year-round support from Film Independent

Past Producers Lab projects include Suzi Yoonessi's Dear Lemon Lima, premiering at the 2009 Los Angeles Film Festival, Tina Mabry's Mississippi Damned, which premiered at the 2009 Slamdance Film Festival and won the Grand Jury Award for Outstanding US Dramatic Feature at the 2009 Outfest Film Festival; Scott Prendergast's debut feature Kabluey, which premiered at the 2007 Los Angeles Film Festival; Dark Matter, which premiered at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival and won the Sloan Prize there; IFC's American Gun, which was nominated for three 2007 Spirit Awards including best Picture; So Yong Kim's In Between Days, which premiered at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival and was released theatrically through Kino International; and Jessica Sanders' award-winning documentary After Innocence, which was short-listed for the Oscars in 2006.

Past Producers Lab instructors include Ram Bergman (Brick, The Brothers Bloom), Effie Brown (Rocket Science, In the Cut), Eric d'Arbeloff (Lovely and Amazing), Matthew Greenfield (The Good Girl), Jasmine Kosovic (D.E.B.S.), Gina Kwon (Me and You and Everyone We Know), and Shelby Stone (Lackawanna Blues).

Past guest speakers include Stephanie Allain (Black Snake Moan, Hustle and Flow), Nicole Arbusto (casting director), Michael Donaldson (Fearless Negotiating), Craig Emanuel (Loeb & Loeb), Debra Grieco (The Assassination of Richard Nixon), Amy Israel (Shall We Dance, Hysterical Blindness), Sam Kitt (Future Films), Julie Lynn (Passengers, The Jane Austen Book Club), and Peggy Rajski (Bee Season, Little Man Tate), and Janet Yang (Dark Matter),

HOW TO APPLY

To be eligible, applicants must submit a completed online application form including a cover letter explaining one's interest in the Producers Lab, one feature-length script, a logline and short synopsis of the script (no more than two pages), bios of other key people attached to the project, if any, production status and history, a budget outline and finance plan, a DVD of director's prior work (if applicable), and a non-refundable application fee.

Documentary projects are eligible to apply. In lieu of a script, a detailed treatment is required.

WHAT SELECTION CRITERIA ARE USED IN EVALUATING PRODUCERS LAB SUBMISSIONS?

We are looking for talented filmmakers who have feature length film projects — narrative fiction films as well as feature length documentaries — that are compelling and original, and are seeking financing. We prefer projects that have directors attached, but will consider projects that don't. We do not require that the project have any financing in place, but want to see evidence that the creative team has given serious thought to the budget and can articulate why they have budgeted the film at a particular level. We are looking for compelling, original projects that demonstrate a filmmaker's uniqueness of vision.

WHAT DOES IT COST TO PARTICIPATE IN THE PROGRAM?

Aside from the application fee, there is no tuition to attend Film Independent's Talent Development Programs.

Film Independent offers the Filmmaker Labs as an intensive program in which writers, directors, and producers can develop their craft as well as their projects. We ask that once completed, films that have been supported by the Labs include the end credit "Developed with the help of the Film Independent Filmmaker Labs" with the Film Independent logo.

For more information, please contact Filmmaker Labs Associate Jennifer Kushner at 310.432.1275 or JKushner@filmindependent.org.

Got questions? We've got answers.

Click here for Filmmaker Labs FAQs.

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SLOAN PRODUCERS GRANT

The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation will award one participant of Film Independent's Producers Lab the annual Sloan Producers Grant. The recipient will receive a $25,000 development grant, admission to Film Independent's Producers Lab, and year-round support from Film Independent.

The grant is funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, which seeks to create and develop new scripts and films about science and technology and to see them into commercial production with national and international distribution. It has screenplay development programs with the Tribeca, Sundance, and Hamptons Film Festivals, as well as other select independent partners and film schools.

To apply for the Sloan Producers Grant, the filmmaker must apply to the Producers Lab and indicate in their letter that they wish to be considered for the Sloan Grant. To be eligible for the Sloan grant the applicant must be attached as producer and possess the rights to the script with which they are applying. The screenplay should have a scientific, mathematical, and/or technological theme and storyline or have a leading character who is a scientist, engineer, or mathematician.

Documentaries are not eligible for the Sloan Producers Grant.

For more information regarding the Sloan Producers Grant and/or the Lab, please contact Filmmaker Labs Associate, Jennifer Kushner, at 310.432.1275 or JKushner@filmindependent.org

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