Created by showrunner Dan Erickson, Apple TV+’s dystopian workplace psychological thriller was nominated for three Spirit Awards in its first season, including Best New Scripted Series. One of its Executive Producers is Spirit Awards alum Ben Stiller, who directed 11 of the 19 episodes. Now in its sophomore year, the most nominated show this year with 27 Emmy nominations has won six prizes so far, after last weekend’s 77th Creative Arts Emmy Awards. One of the newly-minted Emmy winners is production designer Jeremy Hindle (Top Gun: Maverick, Zero Dark Thirty), who credits the absolute creative freedom on the set for the success of the show. “It’s not just that it’s collaborative, we all trust each other’s opinions and instincts, which is rare. I think that’s why the show works so well. Nobody’s trying to do something that someone else wants; we’re all doing what we feel is right. Everybody’s bringing their A-plus-plus-plus game and Ben creates a place where we can all do that.”

Centered around the fictional Lumon Industries, the series follows employees who have chosen a surgical procedure to permanently “sever” their work memories (“innies”) from their true selves (“outies”). Spirit Award nominee Adam Scott plays Mark, who finds himself stuck working on the Macrodata Refinement (“MDR”) team on the Severed Floor with colleagues Helly (Britt Lower), Irving (John Turturro) and Dylan (Zach Cherry). Delving deeper into Lumon’s history and its founder, Kier Eagan, this season, amongst the bizarre revelations include the Mammalians Nurturable department, where goats are raised for sacrifice rituals that purport to guide deceased humans “to Kier’s door,” and the creepy mural that greets everyone in the lobby.

We’re here to talk about Severance, but I just have to start by saying how much fun I had with Top Gun: Maverick!

Wow, thank you! During COVID, IMAX and Paramount gave my wife and kids a private screening in their IMAX theater a year before it was out. That was the best day!

That movie made me so happy. After I walked out of the theater, for about three minutes, it felt like all was good in the world. Not many movies can do that, and I watch movies for a living.

It’s such a fun movie! My kids are in their 20s, and they loved it too.

In Severance, the décor at Lumon has a 1970s feel. How did that idea come about?

It was described as just an office in the script, so I asked Ben for two days to come up with a distinct look. The first image in my lookbook was of [the film] Fargo, when William H Macy’s going to his car in the snow on the rooftop; it was insanely isolated and he’s very tiny, because we’re all tiny in this world. I wanted it to always be winter outside Lumon. For the interior, I used references for the stunning John Deere building in Chicago, which were designed by Eero Saarinen and Kevin Roche. If they’re only working for eight hours a day, as opposed to 16, all they need is a pen, pencil, computer, one photograph. It creates this workplace the way it used to be, which was beautiful and made people inspired to work, and not involve their family at work. That’s the theory behind the ’60s/’70s look.

What inspired the 1980s computers in the MDR cubicles?

If the innies ever escaped and tried to describe what it’s like, it would make no sense. So, everything had to make no sense to anyone in their right mind. That’s why the computers look really old even though they have modern features like touch screens and a track ball. When you first see Helly, she was lying on the boardroom table – why? Dan said it’s the birthplace of the office, it’s basically the womb of the office. So, we treated them like kindergarten children — the desks are playful and the carpets were green. Some of it was based on the 1967 movie, Playtime.

What inspired the look of the break room, where the innies are forced to watch that uprising video in Episode 1.

It was originally written as surveillance footage, but I thought since they’re children, let’s make one of those videos of David and Goliath or Burl Ives and use stop motion. I storyboarded it and Ben loved it. I’m good friends with [stop-motion animation director] Duke Johnson (Anomalisa) and got him to do it. To keep it in the same vein as instructional kids videos, the chairs and everything’s a little low, and we had the balloon lights. This is their playroom, so there’s a chocolate bar vending machine and the handball table with paddles that look like hands. It was hilarious and so much fun to come up with.

I really like the little white, purple chairs. What was behind that look?

The Nimrod chairs by Marc Newsom are new this season. They reminded me of the ones I had in kindergarten in northern Ontario. They’re just playful. We made multiples and picked the ones we liked and camera-tested everything. The show’s aesthetic is so particular that rarely does anything go on without being camera-tested.

Those chairs reminded me of the 1980s cartoon, The Jetsons.

Absolutely. All the stuff you grew up on eventually comes out of you, it’s all nostalgia. There’s a freedom now to just do what we like, and that’s usually based on our memories, right? This season is more like that for me, but season one was tricky because it was hard to know if this was going to work.

The show was mostly shot in Upstate New York?

Yes, and the soundstage was in the Bronx. We’re always hunting for something that no one’s ever seen, which is hard in a place that’s been shot a million times. It needs to be vastly dissimilar to what people have seen, say in Law & Order, because we can’t have things that could take you out of the story. The Utica train station where Burt and Irving say goodbye was four hours north where no one’s shot before. We filmed the Salt’s Neck episode (S2 E8) in Fogo Island, Newfoundland, when we got into the Kier Eagan lore and [former manager of the Severed Floor] Cobel’s (Spirit Awards alum, Patricia Arquette) backstory.

Was most of your team based in the Tri-State area?

They’re almost all from New York—construction, costumes, props, set decorators, buyers, painters. Only four of us are from L.A., me, one concept artist, a researcher, and one of our shoppers.

It’s very interesting that it’s crucial for the look of the show that it not be easily identifiable as any particular place — it can’t look like Chicago or New York.

Before we found Newfoundland, we looked at Iceland and Norway, anywhere that’s visually interesting but not easily recognizable. If you see something familiar, your brain starts to fill in the gaps, but we’re trying to make viewers put the pieces together. That’s why I wanted to design most of the stuff on the Severed Floor — in Gemma’s (Dichen Lachman) office, we custom-designed everything from the chairs, sofa, the fluoroscope, her bed, to the showers. So, it feels like something we’ve never seen before. The only way Lumon can keep this secret is to build most of it onsite. Wouldn’t it be fun if some day if we see where they built all this stuff (in the show)?

Did some of the props actually work?

Yes, we try to make them functional. All the computers on the MDR are functional, the keypads, trackball, touch screen and the program they use – they all work. That’s what makes it so believable because the actors can really engage with it. They’re not faking it.

One of the most notable pieces this season is the “Kier Pardons His Betrayers” mural, where four people—bloodied and sweating—are buried up to their necks in sand. It greets the innies as they exit the elevator. How did that idea begin? 

What Dan wrote was “four people with their heads above the sand,” and I crafted some backstory with Ben. Some of it’s Lumon’s history and we stylistically added things to tell more of the backstory. It was created by [New York-based illustrator and storyboard artist] Daniel Aviles. He started as a PA on Season One before realizing he could draw. So, he started doing some storyboards – the kid’s a genius. Most of Season One’s original paintings were done by [concept artist] Hugh Sicotte.

Once you have the concept, what was the process to produce these intricate art pieces?

First, we created the paintings digitally to tell the story with Ben. Once we love it, I sit with the painters to make it feel as three-dimensional as possible, making sure their eyelines are correct, etc. Especially the one when they’re all in the waterfall at the end, the layout and story we’re trying to tell are very particular. These are 12-foot paintings that are hand-painted, so we really got into the details, especially with lighting.

Designing the Mammalians Nurturable space must have been wild!

The word “mammalians” sounds ridiculous and hysterical to me. So, it’s a huge room because it’s ridiculous. You’ve got to be able to walk in and go, ‘What the heck is this?’ That really cues the design. The birthing cabin is another great one, it had two ceramic sculptures on the fireplace. When I asked Dan [Erickson] what the two sculptures would be in his imagination, he instantly said ‘Mrs. Kier pregnant and Mr. Kier pregnant,’ that’s it! He always has amazing answers because his head is full of these bonkers ideas.

Wow! What reactions did you get when the cast first saw them?

Nobody knew I was making them! Patricia just started laughing hysterically. She loved them, gravitated right to them and touched his belly. I’m always thinking of how to create a mood for the actors to play with that hopefully helps bring out honesty in their performances.

What were some of your inspirations and references to create this dreadful and isolated environment?

Since we’re underground, the office feels like a Kubrick spaceship in a weird way. We created the feeling of confined spaces with windowless rooms that feel claustrophobic. But it’s also about making people kinetically respond to things, not just mentally, but physically.

What are some signature pieces that you want to highlight from this season?

I loved doing the retreat in Episode 4, where we designed those tents. It was originally written for Irving to open his eyes in a forest. But what if he wakes up on a frozen lake instead? To me, that’s funnier. We probably scouted for 15-20 days, crafting that story on-location to make it feel like they really went on this journey. Even though it’s just on the backside of the office, it’s the biggest waterfall in the world. The bonding retreat is not comfortable at all because Lumon is always playing with their mental state. So, we designed things that were aesthetically pleasing but not comfortable — the benches they’re sitting on around the fire are made of steel. It’s that fine line of being a little torturous.

Were there any stark differences between the seasons?

It’s a bit more sophisticated this season. Gemma’s floor changes — the ceilings are higher, hallways wider, and other spaces bigger — because she’s now the main priority on this prison floor. Her space feels more clinical, not like an office anymore.

What inspired the aesthetics on the Testing Floor, where various experiments were performed on her?

The DP Jessica Lee Gagné (who also won an Emmy this year) also directed this episode—her first one—which is focused on Gemma and deals with loss, birth, and death. We had the luxury of having a year to come up with this. Originally, the plane [in the flight simulation room] was going to be full-size. But I thought it’d be funnier if they built a mini plane. Color-wise, each room has to be visually dominant so that anyone should be able to remember it. But the second she walks out, she doesn’t remember anything, which is why the chip works.

What is the real point of the Testing Floor and how does the décor tie in with that?

The Testing Floor is where they examine if her memories would leak into each other [between the outie and the innie]. The more absurd they are, the more you’d expect her to remember them. She handwrites Christmas letters hundreds of times every day and gets her teeth drilled every day. So how do we create a space that feels medical and prison-like? To survive in this windowless space, she’s got this UV light. We thought of every way she could survive for a few years but it also needs to be an attractive environment for us to watch. When she escapes, we lit more from the floor, whereas the lighting was all in the ceiling in MDR. When it gets into emergency mode, it comes out of the vents on the bottom. We tried to create contrast so you knew where you are at all times.

All episodes of Severance are streaming on Apple TV+.

And in a blink of an eye, we move from summer’s blockbusters (refreshingly scary this year), to the beginnings of award season once again. You know it’s really September when half of Hollywood escapes the late summer heat by heading to Colorado, to get a sneak peek of the next year’s Spirit Award winners at Telluride.

But have no fear, if you didn’t grab your gondola ticket to the fest, September still has plenty of indie gems for you. Let’s take a look at what you can look forward to at a theater near you this month.

PREPARATION FOR THE NEXT LIFE

When You Can Watch: August 25

Where You Can Watch: Film Independent Presents

Director: Bing Liu

Cast: Sebiye Behtiyar, Fred Hechinger, Alicher Adill

Why We’re Excited: Based on the 2014 novel by Atticus Lish, Preparation is a drama from Spirit Award winning documentarian Bing Liu (Minding the Gap). This romance pairs kitchen worker Aishe (Sebiye Behtiyar, Kill the Roses) with an American soldier named Skinner (Fred Hechinger, Thelma) on the streets of New York City. As they learn more about each other, their commonalities, trauma and concerns for the future rise to the surface. In an interview with IndieWire, Liu notes the similarity between his mother’s story and Aishe, crediting casting director Jen Venditti (Uncut Gems, Euphoria) for finding first year grad student Behtiyar. “Sometimes, you just see somebody who just has something that’s so watchable and magnetic, and that was very true of her. She has a hard time of not making it real, and so we recognized that right away.” Produced by Film Independent Members Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner, edited by Anne McCabe.

 

 

THE BALTIMORONS

When You Can Watch: September 3

Where You Can Watch: Film Independent Presents

Director: Jay Duplass

Cast: Michael Strassner, Liz Larsen, Olivia Luccardi

Why We’re Excited: A Christmas movie in September! In this romantic comedy co-written by Film Independent Member and Spirit Award nominee Jay Duplass (The Puffy Chair) and lead actor Michael Strassner (Modern Family), Cliff (Strassner) breaks a tooth on Christmas Eve. Under the care of an attractive, no-nonsense dentist (Liz Larsen, Madoff), Cliff finds relief as well as a ride to pick up his towed car. As the unlikely pair faces a locked impound lot, their stories begin trickling out, instigating a series of misadventures around Baltimore. Despite the age gap – he’s in his 30’s and she’s a grandma – the two click, helping each other face unique difficulties in their respective lives, from a wedding celebration for Didi’s ex to a comedy show performed by Cliff’s friend, which poses a temptation for Cliff’s sobriety. THR’s David Rooney calls it “a stealth charmer with a low-key ‘After Hours’ vibe.” Film Independent Members Jay Deuby edited and Mel Eslyn was Executive Producer.

 

 

HIGHEST 2 LOWEST

When You Can Watch: September 5

Where You Can Watch: Streaming (Apple TV+)

Director: Spike Lee

Cast: Denzel Washington, Jeffrey Wright, Ilfenesh Hadera

Why we’re excited: This crime thriller is the fifth collaboration between Spirit Award winner Spike Lee (She’s Gotta Have It) and Denzel Washington (Spirit Award nominee The Piano Lesson), following bazillionaire record CEO David King (Washington) as his battle to regain control of his music company is interrupted by a kidnapping. Descending to the chaotic streets and subways of New York to deliver the ransom to Yung Felon (A$AP Rocky, Dope), we see the side of King that is a little past it – out of touch, missing the spark of the music that ignited his massive success. The music kicks in as King pursues and confronts the young villain and a rap battle ensues. “Some actors,” said Lee in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, “they freeze up when they’ve got to go against the greatest of the great. But Rocky, he’s from Harlem.”

 

 

A SAVAGE ART: THE LIFE AND CARTOONS OF PAT OLIPHANT

When You Can Watch: September 5

Where You Can Watch: Theaters

Director: Bill Banowsky

Cast: Tom Udall, Pat Oliphant, Adam Zyglis

Why we’re excited: Magnolia Pictures founder Bill Banowsky (Starving the Beast) takes his first turn in the director’s seat to showcase the work of Australian political cartoonist Patrick Oliphant (Writer/Animator, Choice Stakes). With interviews and a whole lot of cartoons, Art covers 50 years of Oliphant’s witty observations and critical eye, as well as the history of all political cartoons and their role in public discourse. Variety quotes Banowsky, “More than just the story of Pat’s life and extraordinary career, the film is a call to arms for journalists and citizens alike to speak truth to power in whatever ways they can.”

 

 

THE HISTORY OF SOUND

When You Can Watch: September 12

Where You Can Watch: Theaters

Director: Oliver Hermanus

Cast: Paul Mescal, Josh O’Connor, Chris Cooper

Why we’re excited: A mutual love for folk music brings together a Kentucky farmer turned opera singer, Lionel (Spirit Award nominee Paul Mescal, Aftersun) and upper crust musicologist David (Emmy winner Josh O’Connor, The Crown). As the two young men troop through Maine countryside in search of traditional songs, recording them on wax cylinders, along with the voices and stories of the people in the region. What starts as a beautiful project becomes a romance David and Lionel’s bond deepens. “It’s my attempt at a reflexive love story,” says director Oliver Hermanus, in an interview with Ellie Calnan at ScreenDaily.com. Hermanus was inspired by movies like The English Patient and Days Of Heaven. 

 

 

SUNFISH (& OTHER STORIES ON GREEN LAKE) – PROGRAMMER’S PICK

When You Can Watch: September 12

Where You Can Watch: Theaters

Writer/Director: Sierra Falconer

Cast: Marceline Hugot, Adam LeFevre, Maren Heary

Why we’re excited: From Film Independent Lead Programmer Jenn Wilson:

Do you think about the lives of the people who live on the lake in Summertime?  The year-round residents and the newcomers?  Sierra Falconer’s debut film started on its journey earlier this year at Sundance.  It’s an anthology film in four parts with different characters but all the action is based around the same Michigan lake.  The first section is about a teenage girl who gets dumped with her grandparents after her mom suddenly runs off and marries a new man.  She’s pretty unhappy about it until she discovers her grandpa’s little Sunfish sailboat, and once he teaches her the basics, she pretty much teaches herself the rest.  The next vignette is about a stressed out teen music student who is studying at Interlochen, the arts camp, the third is about a man obsessed with catching the lake’s elusive giant fish, and the last one, a bittersweet tale of two sisters, the younger of which is about to lose her older sister who is leaving for school.  All sections are so well cast, acted, and directed that it’s a pleasure to watch it all play out.

Film Independent Members: Sierra Falconer, Writer/Director/Producer; Marcus Patterson, Cinematographer

 

 

HIM

When You Can Watch: September 19

Where You Can Watch: Theaters

Director: Justin Tipping

Cast: Julia Fox, Marlon Wayans, Tyriq Withers

Why we’re excited: Oo, a football biopic! No? No. Justin Tipping’s second feature (after Kicks) is a horror movie that mixes thriller and mystery with an extreme pursuit of greatness. Cameron Cade (former college wide receiver Tyriq Withers, I Know What You Did Last Summer) is a dedicated quarterback recovering from a major injury. When celebrity football player Isaiah (Marlon Wayans, White Chicks) and his wife Elsie (Julia Fox, Uncut Gems) offer to train Cameron, things go beautifully. At first. But Cameron’s hopes unravel as he gets closer to Isaiah and what drives him. As Fox put it in a panel discussion reported by Complex, “… if you’re not into sports, you can relate to yearning and wanting… and wanting something so bad and getting it and being like wait.”

 

 

XENO

When You Can Watch: September 19

Where You Can Watch: Theaters

Writer/Director: Matthew Loren Oates

Cast: Lulu Wilson, Josh Cooke, Wrenn Schmidt

Why we’re excited: Film Independent Member Andrew Carlberg is an Executive Producer on this first feature from Writer/Director Matthew Loren Oates. Jim Henson Productions created the biological machine discovered by teenager Renee Rowen (Lulu Wilson, The Haunting on Hill House), who befriends the massive extraterrestrial and hides it in her basement. But unlike Elliott’s E.T.,  it turns out this is not the only other-worldly being who’s crash landed on earth. Jonathan Keyes (Omar Hardwick, Kick-Ass) tries to make Renee face the reality that her new buddy poses a desperate threat to humanity. But what Keyes doesn’t realize is that the threats Renee is already facing are a much more present danger.

 

 

CHAIN REACTIONS

When You Can Watch: September 19

Where You Can Watch: Theaters

Writer/Director: Alexandre O. Philippe

Cast: Patton Oswalt, Takashi Miike, Alexandra Heller-Nicholas

Why we’re excited: If your appreciation of the horror genre stems from The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, then you’re in for a treat. The love for Tobe Hooper’s 1974 classic is richly explored in this unique approach to documentary filmmaking. In addition to clips from the movie and behind the scenes footage, Alexandre O. Philippe (Leap of Faith: William Friedkin on The Exorcist) gives his five interview subjects the space to tell their stories all the way through – one after the other. To Nadine Whitney at The Curb, Philippe said, “… Stephen King almost becomes really giddy when he says, ‘I admire it so much,’ and you can see for a few seconds he looks like a little boy who has just discovered something pretty cool.” 

DEAD OF WINTER

When You Can Watch: September 26

Where You Can Watch: Theaters

Director: Brian Kirk

Cast: Emma Thompson, Judy Greer, Marc Menchaca

Why we’re excited: This northern Minnesota thriller shows new sides of Spirit Award nominee Emma Thompson (Much Ado About Nothing) and Judy Greer (Jurassic World), each known for their comedic chops. In Winter, we get to see Thompson as an action hero disguised as a grieving widow (Barb) revisiting an important place from her marriage. When she crosses paths with a couple of kidnappers, Thompson goes up against Greer’s desperate villain in a way that The Guardian describes as, “quite outrageously enjoyable.” Like Liam Neeson’s Bryan Mills, Barb also has a special set of skills, though they originate from a very different sequence of life experiences. Leveraging familiarity with the Minnesota winters and outdoor sports like fishing and hunting, Barb is ready to bring the pain.

 

 

KEY

Film Independent Fellow or Member

Film Independent Presents Screening, Q&A

Microbudget

Filmmaker or Lead Characters of Color

Film Independent Spirit Award Winner or Nominee

Female Filmmaker

LGBT Filmmaker or Lead LGBT Characters

First-time Filmmaker

LA Film Festival Winner or Nominee

 

 

For over 40 years, Film Independent has helped filmmakers get their projects made and seen. The nonprofit organization’s core mission is to champion creative independence in visual storytelling in all its forms, and to foster a culture of inclusion. We support a global community of artists and audiences who embody diversity, innovation, curiosity and uniqueness of vision. To support our mission with a donation, click here.

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Welcome to Fiscal Spotlight, a special monthly round up of projects—at all stages of production—working their way through Film Independent’s Fiscal Sponsorship pipeline. Enjoy!

***

When you’re a woman in a patriarchal world, just existing means you’re outside the norm. It’s easy to turn to the supernatural when the world outside seems so… unnatural. A break with reality can sometimes be the only way to face it, but sometimes it can lead to ruin.

The women in the three films in this month’s Fiscal Spotlight are at their breaking points– and desperate times call for unique solutions. In The Scream of the Butterfly, a woman is taken to a prison and finds that her only way to see a way out is the eye that was gouged out while she was taken captive. In Peach Fuzz, our hero manifests a sinister caterpillar who threatens to sabotage her final exam at culinary school. Finally in No One Likes A Mad Woman, memories of a dead ‘witch’ haunt two women in a puritanical colony.

Through Fiscal Sponsorship, independent filmmakers and media artists gain access to nonprofit funding, helping bring their unique visions to life. These projects embrace diversity, push creative boundaries, and showcase the power of independent storytelling. Want to explore the full lineup of sponsored projects? Head over to our Sponsored Projects page and take a look!

Keep reading to learn more, including how you can support these projects.

 

THE SCREAM OF THE BUTTERFLY

Project type: Fiction Short
Project status: Development
Co-Writer/Director: Ariya Akhavan
Co-Writer/Producer: Anjini Taneja Azhar

About the Project: In the midst of a brutal revolution, an Iranian woman taken to an otherworldly prison with only her dismembered eye as a method of sight transforms into a symbol of hope and resistance against a totalitarian regime in a harrowing journey of defiance.

Meet the Filmmaker: Ariya Akhavan received an MA in Dramatic Arts from the world-renowned Central Saint Martins in London, England. Upon graduating, he was pulled into photography where he perfected art direction, storytelling within a frame, and painting with light.

Anjini Taneja Azhar is a producer, screenwriter, and director based in Los Angeles. She began as an actor in 2011, with roles in films such as JJ Abrams’ Star Trek Into Darkness and TV such as HBO’s The Brink. At her time on Star Trek, she was allowed to observe Mr. Abrams’ directing when she discovered her passion for filmmaking. Since then, she has written and directed multiple award-winning shorts and produced for Fortune 500 companies. Anjini has been featured for her work in Forbes, Women Cinemakers, and Ladygunn Magazine.

Project Page

 

PEACH FUZZ

Project type: Fiction Short
Project status: Development
Writer/Director: Hannah Sperling
Producer: Fiona Hardingham

About the Project: On her 21st birthday, Mia struggles under the mounting pressure of her final week in culinary school, facing one of the most demanding recipes in her class while battling a destructive eating disorder – manifested as a cunning and sinister caterpillar only she can see. As the day unfolds, she must confront her deepest fears and the deadly grip of her illness before it consumes her entirely.

Meet the Filmmaker: Hannah Sperling is a senior at NYU, studying Film and TV. Hannah has worked across the industry, with experience at NEON, Saturday Night Live, Bleecker Street, Peacock, Maven Screen Media, and American High. She spent last year abroad, studying at both the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and the National Film and Television School in London, further honing her voice as a filmmaker. Her most recent short, Meek, premiered at the Montclair Film Festival and was featured in Variety, Gold Derby, and Yahoo Entertainment. She is passionate about telling women’s stories with honesty, intensity, and care, and is building a team that shares that vision through Peach Fuzz.

Project Page

 

NO ONE LIKES A MAD WOMAN

Project type: Fiction Feature
Project status: Development
Director: Kim Caicedo
Writer/Producer: Teresa Catherine

About the Project: In a Puritan town consumed by paranoia, a young mother, haunted by her friend’s execution, must navigate growing suspicion to protect her daughter from a similar fate.

Meet the Filmmaker: Colombian-American director Kim Caicedo brings over a decade of experience in New York advertising and production to her films. She holds a master’s degree in film directing from the American Film Institute, where her thesis film Francis won the DGA Student Jury Prize in the Latino category.

Teresa Catherine is the executive producer and screenwriter of No One Likes a Mad Woman, and the founder of Maid & Prince Productions. Teresa is an award-winning filmmaker – her short film Only the Dead won Best Horror at Raindance NYC, her short film interiorem pueri made the Hot List at Cleveland International Film Festival, and her feature length scripts Dissent and No One Likes a Mad Woman were Semifinalists in Screenwriting at the Oscar qualifying Flickers’ Rhode Island International Film Festival.

Project Page

 

Learn more about Fiscal Sponsorship, including its benefits and eligibility requirements by visiting our website. See which projects are currently being supported via our Sponsored Projects page.

Film Independent Artist Development promotes unique independent voices by helping filmmakers create and advance new work. To support our work with a donation, please click here. Become a Member of Film Independent here.

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“It doesn’t have to be a big idea. It could start small.”

For writer/director HIKARI, the truth to an idea is far more important than the size of one. The Screenwriting Lab Fellow believes that finding a story that you feel passionate about is the key to success.

“It takes time to make movies… and if I make it, it has to be very special.” For HIKARI, it’s critical to be making the story she feels like she’s supposed to be making. With her latest film, Rental Family, that story is a fish-out-of-water tale about an American actor who starts working for a Japanese rental family service, played by Brenden Fraser in his first role since winning the Academy Award for Best Actor in 2023. These services hire actors to stand in for a missing or nonexistent person in real people’s lives.

The feeling of disconnection of both Fraser’s character and the people who needed the human connection that rental services provide spoke to HIKARI. “I came to America when I was 18… Being a foreigner in a culture where you don’t feel like you belong, there’s instant loneliness, right? There’s nobody who looks like you, who speak your language, who understand what you’re all about.

“Also, the world we live in now where everybody uses devices as tools to communicate, there’s far less physical connection and interaction amongst people, even friends,” she said. “That’s something that I was figuring out, like, how can we close those gaps between the people without the devices? What can we do to make people feel more connected?”

HIKARI credits Film Independent for helping find her community in the film ecosystem. She helped a friend on a Project Involve set as a producer, and it opened up a new world for her. After seeing the Artist Development Labs in action, she applied and was accepted to take her first script through the Screenwriting Lab.

“Having all the fellow giving you feedback and meeting the mentors, who have read our scripts and provide us their thoughts, or just even learn about their experiences, that was just more than anything that I could ask for.” She recalled talks from Sean Baker (Anora), and Matt Ross (Captain Fantastic), as amazing learning opportunities and credited the Lab with helping her see a career beyond just the film she was working on.

The script she developed, 37 Seconds, is the story of a young Japanese woman with cerebral palsy who dreams of being a manga artist but struggles with her family’s and outside world’s expectations. She hoped to inspire people to take a second look at the world around them.

“We could give in and live passively, or if you listen to your instinct and follow your heart, there’s always a road to a new world. Anything is possible That was a message I wanted to share for 37 Seconds.” The film went on to premiere at the Berlinale, receiving Panorama Audience Award and CICAE Art Cinema Award.

When it comes to advice for filmmakers who’d want to apply to the Screenwriting Lab, she said simply to find your own story. “Don’t judge yourself. Write what you know. Write what your heart tells you, what you want to share with the world.”

“If you have a goal, don’t think anything else… Live in the moment, as if you’ve already reached that goal. And no matter what other people say, don’t listen to it. Don’t even doubt yourself for a second, because the doubt is an energy that would pull you down,” she said.

“All you have to do is focus on that goal, your vision, and you’ll get there– and then the future will open up.”

Applications for the Film Independent Screenwriting Lab are now open. The deadline for non-Members is August 25^th, while Film Independent Members have until September 8^th.

Film Independent Artist Development promotes unique independent voices by helping filmmakers create and advance new work. To become a Member of Film Independent, just click here. To support us with a donation, click here.

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It all started with a text from a friend that simply said ‘Congrats.’

“I was like, congrats for what?” recalled Ante Cheng. That’s how Cheng found out about his Emmy nomination for cinematography on AppleTV’s Pachinko. After it all sunk in, he recalled having some “happy tears.”

“It’s an honor to be recognized for the work my team and I have done. And Production Designer Ruth [Ammon] and her team was also nominated and recognized. It’s a great feeling”

 

Cheng had a history of working on indie projects as a cinematographer, including many with Pachinko season one director Justin Chon, but moving to a prestige streaming series was a step up for him “to learn quickly and adapt how to work at a bigger scale.”

Despite working with a larger crew, bigger set builds and shooting multicam, Cheng and Chon wanted to stay true to their indie roots.

“We approached it like how we would in with our previous movies, which kept it nimble because it was a very ambitious schedule. We’re trying to get scenes in dusk or sunrise in a very short amount of time,” he said.

When he returned for season two, he had more large-scale projects like Marvel’s Ironheart miniseries and another Justin Chon collaboration, Jamojaya. “I think I’ve grown and both, you know, as a DP and as a person quite a bit during those two projects…. the characters have grown, matured and so Soo [Hugh, showrunner] and I really wanted to elevate and refine the work.”

Rather than use different color grades to show the different time periods the show portrays, the creative team chose to lens the eras differently. “In the 80s, the height of economic boom in Japan, we used really aggressively tuned anamorphic lenses from Panavision. And on the other hand, in the 40s, during World War II, I was working with Zero Optic to rehouse some of my favorite Leica M lenses from the era… and for the 50s post-war rebuild, Dan Sasaki at Panavision tuned the spherical VA lenses for us.”

When it came to format, the team also was inspired by Japanese tatami-rooms, whose architecture mirrors the proportions of tatami mats. “We also tested a few different aspect ratios and we found the 2:1 could be fitting. And it happens to be the aspect ratio of tatamis… the proportions would line up perfectly if you’re in 2:1,” he said. “All [season 2] is now set in Japan. So there was a lot of tatami mats.”

Cheng, a 2018 Project Involve alum, credits the program for helping him build his career as he came out of grad school. (Project Involve is still going strong, getting a record number of applications for its 2026 program.)

“It was the perfect program to go into. I think the best part was that you’re in a small group of other fellows that are in the same stage of their careers as you,” he said. “We can group together, make a short film and have the masterclasses and mentorship. They are all invaluable.”

The community that he found with his other fellows was just as important. He went on to make many projects with Project Involve alums including the feature Death of Nintendo in from writer producer Valerie Martinez.

Up next for Cheng is a collaboration with another Film Independent Fellow, Bing Liu, on his first narrative feature Preparation for the Next Life, coming out this fall.

 

Film Independent promotes unique independent voices by helping filmmakers create and advance new work. To become a Member of Film Independent, just click here. To support us with a donation, click here.

Photos via Ante Cheng

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“When I applied, I was very stuck.” said Naomi Iwamoto.  “I was really looking for a cohort to give me fresh eyes and honest opinions on my script. The [Screenwriting] Lab helped me clarify what I wanted to say and the core of my story,” expanded Iwamoto, a writer-director, Film Independent Fellow, and guest speaker at last week’s Spotlight Your Story panel.

Hosted by Associate Director of Fiction Programs Dea Vazquez and Fiction Programs Manager Ashley Flores, the ‘Spotlight Your Story: Applying to Film Independent’s Artist Development Programs’ virtual information session featured an overview of the Screenwriting Lab and the Episodic Directing Intensive, informing prospective applicants on what to expect and how to make their applications stand out . Joining them were accomplished fellows Mary Dauterman (Fast Track 2023, Screenwriting Lab 2024, Episodic Directing Intensive 2025), Erin Lau (Project Involve 2021, Episodic Directing 2022), and Naomi Iwamoto (Screenwriting Lab 2024).

THE PROGRAMS

The Screenwriting Lab

The talk covered the Screenwriting Lab through which  Film Independent selects six feature-length projects for this fully in-person two-week workshop. This Lab connects writers with creative advisors (an established writer or writer/director) and allows them to workshop their script and a 5-minute project pitch with a supportive group of fellows.

Film Independent is looking for bold stories told from an authentic point of view and a strong sense of voice, theme, and character. Writers can submit projects of all genres, and aside from a completed draft, the main requirement, Vazquez says, is that “This is the project that you really want to make. You can’t move forward as a film maker until you’ve made this project.”

Iwamoto, whose project revolved around a high school girl who loses her best friend and learns to love her mother, said the Lab impacted her script in infinite ways, helping her clarify what she wanted to say. The Lab “reminds you why you want to tell  your specific story,” added Dauterman, who fondly recounted lunch breaks spent workshopping one another’s projects and how she felt reinvigorated with her project by the program’s end. The two also noted the Lab’s impact on their writing and scripts. While Iwamoto said, “You really need community to make your script better,” Dauterman lauded the advice from her story editor mentor, a connection she maintains to this day.

The Episodic Lab

The Episodic Directing Intensive  is a three-day virtual program, consisting of panels with veteran TV directors, showrunners, executives, actors, and other crew members to prepare directors for a career in scripted episodic television. The program selects six directors with experience in fiction short films, fiction features, or commercial directing. Selected fellows become lifelong Fellows with year-round support from Film Independent.

“If you’re a visiting director or it’s not your show, you are fitting into a system that is already working,” says Dauterman, so “[getting] to talk to DPs and editors, talking to keys that would be your collaborators, was really interesting to learn what you can bring as a director and what can you learn and when should you listen.” And for Lau, learning how to take an interview, what expectations a showrunner has, and common mistakes for new directors, helped her when she directed her first episode: “I went back and looked at my notes before I had my interview for the show and when I was in prep.”

GRANTS

Applicants can also be considered for grants in both programs should they or their project qualify. The first is the Climate Entertainment Development Grant, a $25,000 grant developed by Plot Shift Media and Film Independent awarded to one filmmaker—accepted into the Screenwriting Lab or Fast Track Program—with a project elevating the climate crisis. $5,000 must be put toward packaging the project, and the grant committee will prioritize projects that “inspire feelings of possibility and agency when it comes to climate solutions, especially through characters and genres not traditionally associated with ‘climate stories.’”

Applicants for the Screenwriting Lab and the Episodic Directing Intensive can also apply to the Cayton Goldrich Family Foundation Fellowship, which provides $10,000 grants to two Jewish filmmakers accepted into any Artist Development Program, or the MPAC Hollywood Bureau Fellowship, which awards $10,000 grants to two Muslim-American filmmakers accepted into any Artist Development Program.

WHAT MAKES A STRONG APPLICATION

With hundreds of applications to each program, how can you ensure your application stands out? Vazquez and Flores emphasized the importance of the cover letter and artistic statement, where applicants can underscore why this project, this program, and why now as well as who they are and how they envision the project. They also emphasized the importance of professionality, copyediting, and utilizing all the real estate of the application to show readers who you are. When asked if a great script could be denied given a so-so application, Vazquez pitched in: “[The application] is a reflection of how seriously you’re going to take the program.”

The fellows also gave their advice on applying:

Dauterman: “It’s useful to say what you want help with. You’re applying to this program with a project you love, but you know it’s not perfect. If you can articulate, ‘Here’s what I think I would get out of the program,’ it will help you have clarity.”

Lau: “Being specific is really important, not only in telling your individual story but also in [answering] why this program. Really do your homework… You can tell when there’s a copy and paste answer versus how this specific program will benefit [someone] where they’re at.”

Iwamoto: “In application, you’re showing your ability to be a storyteller. Even when you’re talking about yourself, it’s an opportunity to show your storytelling skills.

WHEN TO APPLY

Both applications are now open. For the Screenwriting Lab, applications close on August 25, 2025, for Non-Members and September 8, 2025, for Members. For the Episodic Directing Intensive, applications are due for Non-Members on September 22, 2025, while the Member deadline is October 6, 2025.

More importantly, though, writers should apply for the Screenwriting Lab when they have “a script that [they’re] really passionate about and want guidance on,” says Iwamoto. The Lab is also great for those who have worked in TV or commercials and are now hoping to move to the feature world.

Directors should apply for the Episodic Directing Intensive after they’ve gained experience managing a large crew and have developed a strong body of work. Vazquez recommended 3-5 shorts but emphasized that all directorial fiction samples were welcome. While episodic samples are also welcome, this Intensive is mainly for those transitioning into the scripted episodic world. For example, Dauterman had done commercials and even made her first feature, but she was eager to dip her toe into the storytelling prowess of TV. Lau had been a PA for various TV shows but noted “it’s very elusive finding that entry point, and TV directing is its own artform. [The Intensive] was really really helpful.”

So, if you’re eager to collaborate with other talented filmmakers, take the next step with your script, or learn more about the film and television landscape, make sure to apply. These programs provide invaluable feedback and lifelong relationships, and, as Iwamoto noted, “Being a part of the bigger Film Independent family has been amazing; it really does feel like you’re a part of something bigger.”

 

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Songs From the Hole, which premieres today on Netflix, is rooted in music. It’s the story of James ‘JJ’88’ Jacobs, a Long Beach musician who, at age 15, took the life of a young man. Three days later, Jacobs and his family experienced their own tragedy when James’s brother Victor was murdered.

For his crime, Jacobs was sentenced to 40 years to life plus life. In the California prison system, he came to face what he did, and what happened to him. While in solitary confinement, he turned to music and wrote about his journey as a way to heal, share his story, and learn to live with the worst thing he’s ever done.

The film Songs From the Hole follows Jacobs, now in his 30s, as he and his family attempt to navigate the system to reduce his sentence. The film, directed by Film Independent Amplifier Fellow Contessa Gayles, tells the story through his music as JJ’88, with compelling and aethereal visuals. Each song shows a different side of Jacobs, like his despair and anger, his regret or his faith, and unveils a new part of the story.

“I hope that folks see in 88’s story and in his family’s story another offering for what we can do and how we can respond when violent harm happens, that the answer to violence doesn’t have to be more violence.” Gayles said. “Also on the systemic level, the answer to people causing harm does not have to be introducing more harm of incarceration.”

She came across Jacobs and his story while shooting her first feature film, the CNN produced The Feminist on Cellblock Y. Jacobs was a group member of the feminist self-help group led by another incarcerated man, richie reseda, who is now a producer on Songs From the Hole. “88 shared just a little bit of his story of meeting Jamaal [the man who killed his brother] and forgiving Jamaal and how transformative that was,” she said. “I saw how powerfully it resonated with those guys in that context.”

When the three decided to make a film together, Jacobs already had written treatments for music videos to go along with each song he wrote. He and Gayles went back and forth over the phone and in handwritten letters developing them and incorporating parts of Jacob’s life.

“During production, richie was taking screenshots of some of the dailies and sending them as printed out photos in the mail so 88 could see some of what was like physically manifesting on set from some of the things that he had wrote, which was powerful. Sometimes we could time it right where 88 could call while we were on set and he could just say ‘hi’ to the crew and the actors and interact for a little bit.”

Gayles, whose background is in documentary, saw shooting those music videos as an opportunity to grow creatively. “That’s his art, and he was putting it into my hands to interpret and bring to life in a lot of ways. And that really pushed me creatively to know that I didn’t want to let him down, knowing what a testimony it is,” she said.

“It was an opportunity to do something that felt culturally impactful because the art is so strong. I just didn’t want to disappoint.

“So I made the decision then, ‘let me bring my A game’.

Gayles took Songs From the Hole through our inaugural Amplifier Fellowship which was sponsored by Netflix, so the film having its worldwide release on the streaming platform felt like a full-circle moment for her. She said how working with fellows who were working on narrative projects also sharpened the music video work. She also credited the mentorship for helping her career long-term. “Brenda Robinson came in as my mentor, and that was amazing. She’s been such a supporter of us in this film and me and my career.”Once the film was completed and making the rounds on the festival circuit, the team also started screening the film for prisons, jails, and child prisons. “Just to make our impact dollars really work for us, anywhere that we were already going for a film festival screening, we decided to plug in with a community partner and bring the film to directly impacted communities,” Gayles said. “So we did that basically in every city that we had a festival screening, and we did nearly 40  impact screenings outside of festival locations, as well.”

Beyond screening the film, there were live performances of the music, and guided discussion circles that covered healing and accountability.

“richie and 88 developed a more extended version of a curriculum that is more specific to using art as a tool for healing and artistic practice as a tool for healing, and that is available in California state prisons, along with the film and folks can watch the film, go through the curriculum and earn some time off their sentence for that,” she said.

In terms of what she hopes people take away, Gayles said “I made this film because I want to help people heal, and I believe this film and the way that we made it, and this story and the way we’ve told it, has the power to do that.”

 

Film Independent promotes unique independent voices by helping filmmakers create and advance new work. To become a Member of Film Independent, just click here. To support us with a donation, click here.

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If you’ve ever tried to break into the world of writing for television, you know that it takes more than a great idea and some luck. It takes mentorship, guidance, industry connections — and yeah, still luck. If you already have your four-leafed clover, then Film Independent’s Episodic Lab has you covered for everything else.

This August, six talented writers will gather in Los Angeles for an intensive two-week program designed to help them refine their pilots and navigate the ever-changing television landscape.

Over the course of the program, they’ll receive personalized feedback from seasoned showrunners, creative producers, and executives, building the skills (and the relationships) needed to take their projects to the next level. This year Lab Creative Advisors and Guest Speakers include Christian Alvarez, KJ Booze, Wendy Calhoun, Sera Gamble, Emmeline Yang Hankins, Eric Heisserer, Anil Kurian, Marvin Lemus, Kyle Lau, Felischa Marye, Dani Melia, Caroline Mak, Marc Mounier, Adriana Nassar, Van B. Nguyen, Robbie Pickering, Erica Rosbe, Jasmine Russ, Eddie Quintana, Loretta Ramos, Gina Reyes, Beth Schacter and Ellen Shanman.

Netflix, the Lab’s Founding Sponsor, is back again to provide Fellows with unparalleled access to top executives and showrunners. And thanks to the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Fellow Lilian T. Mehrel will receive a $20,000 grant to support her pilot, Baddies, a romantic comedy set inside the world of a tech company making a dating app.

Amidst the changing landscape for television writers, we’re honored to have the opportunity to uplift such bold and innovative voices in the Episodic Lab,” said Dea Vazquez, Associate Director of Fiction Programs. “We’re thrilled to work with these writers in the program where we will nurture the development of their projects and careers and cannot wait to continue to support them as they progress forward in the television industry.”

The Lab will conclude with the Fellows pitching their work to studios and network executives, giving them and their projects a head start to get that illusive greenlight. Past Lab alums have gone on to write for shows like Fargo, The Morning Show, and Will Trent — proving the Lab is more than a workshop; it’s a launchpad.

Strap in as we meet this year’s Episodic Lab Fellows.

Meet the Fellows & Their Projects

Lilian T. Mehrel

Lilian T. Mehrel is an award-winning writer & director with a visionary sense of feeling and humor. She won the Tribeca AT&T Untold Stories Award for her debut feature, Honeyjoon, which premiered at Tribeca. She was selected for the SFFILM Rainin Grant, TorinoFilmLab, CineQuaNonLab, Warner Media/TFI Co/Lab, and a Sony Pictures Classics / Marcie Bloom Fellowship. Her films have also premiered at Clermont-Ferrand and the American Pavilion Emerging Filmmaker Showcase at Cannes. She earned her MFA from NYU Tisch Grad Film with a PDS Fellowship, and her BA from Dartmouth with a Senior Fellowship.

Project: Baddies

A (romantic) comedy series about the team who works at Baddies — a dating app using behavioral science to undo their bad rap, beat the competition, oh and help people find love. If they can figure it out for themselves first.

 

Leah Sarbib

Leah Sarbib is an American and French Algerian writer based in New York. She has worked as a writers’ assistant on series including Super Pumped and The Morning Show, and was showrunners’ assistant on Billions. Her original play, Roadkill, premiered at the NY Fringe Festival. Sarbib began her career at the Tribeca Festival, where she created the audio department, produced podcasts including Tribeca Talks and Fierce (iHeart), and launched the audio festival Vertical (sponsored by Audible). She recently produced her fiction podcast, This Is Not A Love Story, and co-wrote her first feature.

Project: Cycle Four

In The Domain, where nobody dies or gives birth, Miriam’s visions prove to be memories of an erased past that can no longer be ignored.

Ida Yazdi

Ida Yazdi is an Iranian American filmmaker and former architect, raised between Isfahan, Iran and Birmingham, Alabama. She writes character-driven dramedies and dramas that explore identity, ambition, and family through morally complex characters. She’s an alum of the NBC TV Writers Program, the STARZ Writers’ Intensive, and the Women in Film Writing Fellowship. Her work was also featured on the2021–22 Muslim List created in partnership with the Black List. She was a writer on the NBC series Extended Family and has also worked on City on Fire (Apple TV+) and Girls on the Bus (HBO Max).

Project: Golden

A rebellious, young Iranian immigrant shakes off family traditions and becomes a sugar baby to the wealthy women of Tehrangeles. In a whirlwind of wealth, desire, and eccentric clients, he carves out his own path to the American Dream.

Bryce Cracknell

Bryce Cracknell is a writer, filmmaker, and journalist from North Carolina based in Los Angeles. As a storyteller, Cracknell seeks to elevate narratives, histories, and experiences that are overlooked, cast aside, or forgotten. He was a Staff Writer on Season 6 of CBS procedural FBI: Most Wanted and is in production on his directorial debut, a hybrid-documentary on climate justice, produced by Effie T. Brown. He is a graduate of Duke University where he earned a B.A. in Public Policy and was a member of the 2024 NBC TV Writers Program.

 

Project: Lacuna

A haunted soldier is conscripted into a secret mission inside the Lacuna, a surreal, perilous realm where myths are real, time is unstable, and his past awaits.

 

Spencer Jamison

 Spencer Jamison is a Richmond, VA native whose work is rooted in care, curiosity, and community. She holds an MFA in Acting from the Yale School of Drama and a BA in Musical Theatre from James Madison University. Jamison writes ensemble-driven narratives across genres, centering the humor, depth, and complexity of Black womanhood. She is currently developing her debut feature, an expansion of her audience award–winning romantic comedy short At Capacity. She is a 2025 WIF Writer Fellow, a member of the inaugural Broadway Advocacy Coalition Artivism Fellowship cohort and is immensely grateful to be supported by Film Independent.

Project: Subpar

After a public meltdown, a disgraced LPGA golfer returns home, where coaching her half-sister’s struggling golf team may be her only shot at redemption.

Rom Lotan

Rom Lotan served for a decade in Israeli intelligence and later worked in the tech scene between Tel-Aviv and the States, before pursuing writing. Most recently, Lotan ran the writers’ room for his new show for BBC Studios and Amazon UK. Lotan has developed with Chris Brancato at MGM, 20th Television, The Ink Factory, eOne, and more. He staffed on an AMC spy show and is a Sundance Episodic Lab Fellow. Lotan holds an MFA from USC’s Stark Program, an MA in International Relations, and a BSc in Computer Science. He is represented by IAG, Writ Large, and LGNA.

Project: Zer0 Trust

When high-powered companies are hacked and every second costs millions, elite cybersecurity expert Amelia Hayes and her response team are called in to contain the breach. However, the most dangerous vulnerabilities aren’t in the code- they’re in people’s blind spots.

 

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Our ongoing Member Lens feature spotlights current Film Independent Members to see how they got started, where they are now and what being part of Film Independent means to them. This month: Casting Director Nicole Arbusto.

***

Nicole Arbusto loved theater & studied acting, but realized quickly that acting wasn’t for her. Still determined to be in the drama business, she worked at a theater in New York where she was introduced to casting. It was a perfect fit for someone who loved the art of acting and actors. 

Throughout the years she’s worked in TV and film and fostered a relationship with director Azazel Jacobs, that started with 2011’s Terri, and most recently His Three Daughters (2024) which won her and her cast the Robert Altman Award at this year’s Independent Spirit Awards. 

We spoke with her earlier this month about the award, the importance of casting smaller roles, and why she loves to share her experiences with the Film Independent community. 

Let’s start with your background. Where are you from, and what drew you to film in the first place?

I’m from New York originally, and I got interested in casting when I was working at a theater in New York. When I started working in casting, I originally worked at a studio for a casting director named Wally Nicita who worked only in film. So it happened naturally

And how did you get the theater bug?

I was a theater major in college and started out I had done some acting in high school and a little bit in college  I realized pretty quickly that I didn’t want to be an actor, and I couldn’t really figure out where I would fit in that world. After college I was working in a literary department at a theater, and it was during the summer when it was pretty quiet in the lit department, but they did do a lot of play readings. And I ended up talking to the casting director a lot about who was going to be in the readings and how that process worked, and how did he decide on who was going to be in the readings, and that’s how I got interested.

And then when did you first become aware of Film Independent?

Oh, gosh. I mean, definitely 20 years ago or so. 

When Josh passed, I was trying to think of how long I had known Josh for, and I definitely found emails from him from 2005. So a long time.

And how did you first come across Film Independent? Was it through Josh or through something else?

I’m not sure how I initially became a member, to be honest.

I’ve been a member for a really long time, and I think in the early days, I was just going to screenings and going to events, and I think Josh was the first person that reached out and asked me to either do a panel or help with Project Involve, casting somebody’s short.

You’ve done so much work with us, from working with Project Involved to even last year when you were on a panel with us. What appeals to you about fostering a new generation of filmmakers?

Well, I just think that, like any industry, there’s a little bit of gatekeeping, and I think anything you can do to sort of demystify that is important. When I first started in the business, the way I met my first boss and got my first job in casting with Wally Nicita was through somebody who knew somebody who knew her. You know, it’s those kinds of relationships that kind of give you your start.

And meeting other people in the business and having the freedom to ask them questions or how things work, that’s how you learn. There are certain things you’re going to learn in school or in college, but other things, they’re a little bit immutable and you’re going to kind of learn them from being able to ask somebody in the business questions.

Yeah, and you’re right. It’s great that people like you are willing to reach out and help people with that. So thank you.

I’d love to ask you a couple questions about your Spirit Award-winning film, His Three Daughters. What was it like getting that cast together?

Well, I think in the process with His Three Daughters was very different from other films that I’ve worked on with Azazel Jacobs. Because this was the first film that we worked on together where he wrote the parts specifically for those three women. So it wasn’t a traditional casting process for the leads. It was always going to be those three women and that’s it.

So luckily there were already relationships in place, basically, with each of them. That was more about just getting them the script and seeing if they responded and then working out sort of the timing for three busy actresses. 

Tell me what it felt like when you heard that you won the Spirit Award because obviously the Altman Award is one of the few awards out there for casting, so it’s unique in that way.

Well, it was just incredibly surprising and I think the thing that’s so nice about the Altman Award, it’s a great honor, but I love that it includes an ensemble because even with a film like His Three Daughters with a really small cast, for me, it’s the supporting roles really impact a film and those are always the parts that I really enjoy casting the most. 

When I go to see a film, I’m always looking at the person that played the waiter or the person that played the teacher, the roles that really create the world of the film. Even with something like His Three Daughters where you’re really inside most of the film, we spent a fair amount of time casting the role of Victor (played by Jose Febus), the building manager who only interacts with Natasha, who’s always smoking pot outside on the building property. I think a part like that becomes really important because he’s one of the only people you see on the streets of New York. So, a part like that becomes really important because he’s representative of the city and of the other inhabitants of the building.

So what was great about winning The Altman is to have really everybody included. Especially since, you know, filmmaking is such a collaborative effort.

Absolutely. 

What is one of your favorite parts about being a Film Independent member?

Well, I love going to the screenings and hearing the Q&As after. The last one I went to was for Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight, and it’s a really interesting film with incredible performances, especially from the young girl who plays the youngest daughter.

But it was fascinating to hear Embeth Davidtz talk about her process, especially since I know her so well as an actress, and to hear her talk about her work as a director and her connection to the material and how she developed it and working with actors. It’s just great to have that kind of insight into a process.

That’s great. Thank you so much. I really enjoyed speaking with you today.

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It’s time to get real in the August edition of Don’t Miss Indies, with three of our selections featuring non-professional actors in pursuit of authenticity. Whether it’s the New Zealand choir kids in Tinā, the Guinean cyclist delivering lunch to Parisians in Souleymane’s Story or badass Badlands ranchers in East of Wall, these films wrap a story around the humans onscreen, touching on everything they embody in life. Let’s watch it.

 

SOULEYMANE’S STORY

When You Can Watch: August 1

Where You Can Watch: Theaters (Limited)

Director: Boris Lojkine

Stars: Abou Sangare, Alpha Oumar Sow, Nina Meurisse

Why We’re Excited: As a Guinean immigrant (first-timer Abou Sangare) cycles frantically through the streets of Paris on various food delivery jobs, he prepares for a crucial immigration asylum interview. The challenges he encounters along the way are inspired by interviews that French filmmaker Boris Lojkine (Camille, Hope) and casting director Aline Dalbis (Camille) conducted with Paris food delivery workers. Their experiences with scams, finding places to stay, and navigating the asylum process all help shape “a political fable with all the grit and urgency of a thriller,” according to Rory O’Connor, The Film Stage. To heighten the authenticity of these real-life experiences, Lojkine cast non-professional actors, tailoring the script around their natural movements and speech patterns.

 

 

SKETCH

When You Can Watch: August 6

Where You Can Watch: Theaters (Limited)

Director: Seth Worley

Stars: Tony Hale, D’Arcy Carden, Bianca Belle

Why We’re Excited: What do you do when your kid’s drawings come to life – and not in a sweet, charming way? This is the plight of single dad Taylor (Emmy winner Tony Hale, Veep) when his daughter Amber (Bianca Belle, Lady in the Lake) exorcises her painful feelings via monster sketches that then begin terrorizing the whole town. In an ambitious swing for his first feature, Seth Worley mixes kids, stunts and animation for a whimsical approach to grief that blends “the wide-eyed wonder of a Steven Spielberg, the impish mischief of a Joe Dante, plus the vibrant visuals of prime Pixar,” as Michael Rechtschaffen puts it in his THR review. 

 

 

EAST OF WALL

When You Can Watch: August 6

Where You Can Watch: Film Independent Presents

Director: Kate Beecroft

Stars: Porshia Zimiga, Tabatha Zimiga, Scoot McNairy

Why We’re Excited: In Kate Beecroft’s first feature, newcomers Tabatha and Porshia Zimiga star in a fictionalized version of their own lives, lending a sense of realism to the South Dakota ranch film. The story follows new widow Tabatha through financial problems as she rescues horses in the Badlands while also offering shelter to teenagers looking for a fresh start. East of Wall won the Audience Award in the Next section at Sundance, and promises to be a completely fresh take on the spirit of the American west. Beecroft met Zimiga while driving through Colorado, Nebraska and South Dakota in search of fascinating faces and compelling people. Looks like she got what she came for. Executive Produced by Film Independent members Alex Engemann and Ryan Hawkins.

 

 

MY MOTHER’S WEDDING

When You Can Watch: August 8

Where You Can Watch: Theaters (Limited)

Director: Kristin Scott Thomas

Stars: Scarlett Johansson, Sienna Miller, Emily Beecham

Why We’re Excited: In her directorial debut, BAFTA Award winner Kristin Scott Thomas (Four Weddings and a Funeral) plays the titular “mother” – in a story she created to explore her own childhood loss of two fathers. This film follows the aftermath of widowhood and orphanhood as Diana (Thomas) prepares for her third wedding, instigating a family reunion and some unwelcome trips down memory lane. Thomas explains the compound losses that inspired the screenplay in an interview with Lee Cowan, CBSNews. “I know that a lot of the time when I was a younger woman, I had this feeling of something missing, this piece of my puzzle missing having grown up with only one parent.” Exploring how that puzzle shapes her three fictional daughters (which include Spirit nominees Scarlett Johansson and Sienna Miller) offers an opportunity for all four women to face the future with fresh eyes.Edited by Film Independent member Joan Sobel. 

 

 

SPLITSVILLE

When You Can Watch: August 18

Where You Can Watch: Film Independent Presents

Director: Michael Angelo Covino

Stars: Dakota Johnson, Adria Arjona, Kyle Marvin

Why We’re Excited: In this second collaboration by Spirit Award nominated writing team Michael Angelo Covino and Kyle Marvin (The Climb), the two star as friends Paul and Carey. Carey’s wife Ashley (Adria Arjona, Father of the Bride) has just asked for a divorce, while Paul’s wife Julie (Dakota Johnson, Spirit Award-winning Suspiria) comes on to Carey because Paul and Carey have an open marriage – the secret to true happiness. Except that it isn’t, apparently. At least not in this movie. “The goal was to make something wildly entertaining and emotionally honest,” says Covino in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. “Something that feels familiar in the setup but constantly surprises in the execution.” As Carey tries to adopt the “anything goes” philosophy he thinks Paul is advocating, it cracks open the pretense for both friends to face reality.Produced by Film Independent members Jason Wald (EP), Jennifer Westin (EP), and Jeff Deutchman (Producer). 

 

 

RELAY

When You Can Watch: August 22

Where You Can Watch: Theaters

Director: David Mackenzie

Stars: Riz Ahmed, Lily James, Sam Worthington

Why We’re Excited: Communication is the theme of this psychological thriller that plays with the medium of message relay through third party services, connecting strangers Sarah (Lily James, Cinderella) and a nameless world-class fixer (Riz Ahmed, Sound of Metal) in a way that is equally protective and disconcerting. Ahmed’s character breaks his own rules to help this new client, a whistleblower seeking protection, but the blowback from her powerful enemies knocks everyone off their game. A far cry from any of his previous films in theme and genre, David Mackenzie (Hell or High Water) explains to IndieWire, “I’m always interested in outsider characters, and Riz’s character is a pretty extreme outsider character.”

 

 

THE TOXIC AVENGER

When You Can Watch: August 29

Where You Can Watch: Theaters (Limited)

Director: Macon Blair

Stars: Peter Dinklage, Jacob Tremblay, Taylour Paige

Why We’re Excited: Spirit Award nominee Peter Dinklage (Game of Thrones) leads this crowd-pleaser remake of the 1984 toxic accident comedy directed by Macon Blair (I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore), except instead of a nerdy kid trying to get dates, Winston is having a hard time connecting with his son (Jacob Tremblay, Room). As a janitor for an evil corporation, his toxic transformation equips him with superhuman strength and a glowing mop. To save his son, Winston has to go up against the gloriously power-hungry Bob Garbinger (Spirit Award nominee Kevin Bacon, The Woodsman) and all that corporate greed represents. “I think the best way to approach certain serious topics is through satire and comedy,” says Dinklage in SuperHeroHype, “and [Macon] nails it every time.”

 

 

TINĀ

When You Can Watch: August 29

Where You Can Watch: Theaters

Director: Miki Magasiva

Stars: Anapela Polataivao, Antonia Robinson, Beulah Koale

Why We’re Excited: New Zealand choir teacher Mareta (Anapela Polataivao, Our Flag Means Death) is grieving the sudden loss of her daughter while contending with uppity attitudes from students and leadership at her new school. But the music sees her through. Director Miki Magasiva explains to Dale Husband at E-Tangata, “All the kids that we used in the film are choir kids. None of them were actors … What I had to do was connect the story to what they were doing, and tell them how we were connecting the songs to the story that I was trying to tell. And once I did that, I had full buy-in emotionally from them.”

 

 

TWINLESS

When You Can Watch: August 27

Where You Can Watch: Film Independent Presents

Director: James Sweeney

Stars: Dylan O’Brien, Lauren Graham, Arkira Chantaratananond

Why We’re Excited: This is a dark comedy about two men whose twin brothers have died, which played at Tribeca and premiered at Sundance. As Roman (Dylan O’Brien, Teen Wolf) forms an earnest bromance with Dennis (writer and director James Sweeney, who also wrote, directed and starred in Spirit Award nominee Straight Up), it seems their friendship could be headed for something more, but secrets emerge – early reviews are hush-hush to avoid spoiling the details, but apparently it’s all very bold, surprising and twisty. Though IndieWire’s David Ehrlich is kind enough to hint, “that story makes a sharp and shrewdly executed swerve away from Apatow and towards Almodóvar or De Palma.” Sounds like fun.

 

 

PROGRAMMER’S PICK: IT’S NEVER OVER, JEFF BUCKLEY

When You Can Watch: August 8

Where You Can Watch: Theaters (Limited)

Director: Amy Berg

Stars: Jeff Buckley Mary Guibert, Ben Harper

Why We’re Excited:From Senior Programmer Jenn Wilson: For die-hard Jeff Buckley fans, Amy Berg’s documentary on the enigmatic young musician has been a long-time coming.  That’s because the musician died in a drowning accident at only age 30 in between making his first and second albums and never got the chance to reach the zenith of his career.  As such, fans never got to know much about Buckley’s life. Known for his show-stopping vocals and live performances, the movie blesses us with footage from several live performances including ones from Sin-é Café where Buckley worked and first started to take the stage and make his name as a singer.  The movie also finally fills out the missing details of his life, his estrangement from his dad (folk singer Tim Buckley) and his extremely close relationship with his mom whom he cherished.  Blessed with a vocal range that spanned four octaves, Buckley literally had the voice of an angel, and this film matches the sweet and gentle tones of his voice and too-short life.Produced by Film Independent members Jennifer Westin (Executive Producer), Jenna Cedicci (Co-Producer) and filmed by Jenna Rosher, Cinematographer.

 

 

KEY

Film Independent Fellow or Member

Film Independent Presents Screening, Q&A

Microbudget

Filmmaker or Lead Characters of Color

Film Independent Spirit Award Winner or Nominee

Female Filmmaker

LGBT Filmmaker or Lead LGBT Characters

First-time Filmmaker

LA Film Festival Winner or Nominee

 

 

For over 40 years, Film Independent has helped filmmakers get their projects made and seen. The nonprofit organization’s core mission is to champion creative independence in visual storytelling in all its forms, and to foster a culture of inclusion. We support a global community of artists and audiences who embody diversity, innovation, curiosity and uniqueness of vision. To support our mission with a donation, click here.

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Welcome to Fiscal Spotlight, a special monthly round up of projects—at all stages of production—working their way through Film Independent’s Fiscal Sponsorship pipeline. Enjoy!

***

Some of our most treasured memories as we come into adulthood are times with our friends. They can be laughing till midnight about nonsense or being there when family doesn’t understand.

Friendship is most strongly felt as we emerge from the expectations put on us from the outside world. That can be at adolescence, or a turning point in our life later. It’s where we model our identity outside of the family. It’s a training ground for becoming the ‘you’ that you want to become. That’s why so many classic coming-of-age stories are about friendship (Stand By Me, Swingers, Booksmarts etc).

As we grow, we find how to become ourselves within our families, and we create our own. The life-and-death feeling fades, but we still need our friends. Mature friendships keep us sane, keep us honest, and help us to continue to grow.

This month’s Fiscal Sponsorship projects all deal with friendships at these pivitol stages, whether it’s the deep friendship that’s tested when new options and opportunities arise like in Salt the Fields, or the unlikely friendship of disparate youth in a dangerous world that forces them together as in Tribe. There’s also a friendship that I think most Film Independent readers can relate to, finding your people at the movies like in Popcorn Prophets.

Keep reading to learn more, including how you can support these projects.

 

TRIBE

Project type: Animation
Project status: Development
Writer/Director/Executive Producer: Tendayi Nyeke
Producer: Kaydee de Villiers

About the Project: When Timba, an overlooked and restless servant’s rare ability to unlock magic in others is discovered, she must find the courage to do what she most fears: be vulnerable, lean on unlikely companions, and defy powerful people intent on exploiting her gift.

Meet the Filmmaker: Annie Award-winning and Children’s Emmy-nominated producer Tendayi Nyeke has over 15 years of experience in live-action writing, directing, and producing, which has earned her global recognition. She became a development executive at Emmy-winning Triggerfish Animation, where she led story development for shorts, series, and features in collaboration with international partners.

Project Page

 

SALT THE FIELDS

Project type: Fiction Short
Project status: Development
Writer/Director: Zoe Salicrup Junco
Producer: Quetzali Lopez

About the Project: Two inseparable best friends dream of a way out of a world that offers them little choice. But when a birth control pill program arrives at their factory, the choices they make for freedom threaten to destroy their bond, and their futures. Inspired by the real and illegal contraceptive trials in 1950s Puerto Rico.

Meet the Filmmaker: Born and raised in Puerto Rico, Zoé is an award-winning director, writer, and producer. A graduate of NYU Tisch (BFA, Film & TV) and Columbia University (MFA, Screenwriting & Directing), she crafts stories that defy Latino clichés, replace tropes with truth, and reimagine characters with purpose and emotional weight. Her short film Marisol won the HuffPost Social Impact Award and was acquired by HBO, with other narrative work screening at Tribeca, Palm Springs, Clermont-Ferrand, Urbanworld, and the HBO NY Latino Film Festival.

Project Page

 

POPCORN PROPHETS

Project type: Fiction Feature
Project status: Development
Writer/Producer: Reynaldo Leal

About the Project: Jonah’s mother finds salvation in religion. He finds it at the movies. In 1990s South Texas, a grieving teen skips church each Sunday to chase his own piece of cinema heaven.

Meet the Filmmaker: Reynaldo Leal is a South Texas-based writer and Marine Corps veteran. He served with the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines during Operation Phantom Fury in Fallujah and was awarded the Bronze Star with “V” device for valor. After his military service, he earned degrees in Environmental Science and Mass Communications from the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. His screenwriting has received national recognition. His script A Band of Wolves was featured on the annual 2024 Black List. He is also a 2023 Slamdance Screenwriting Competition finalist and a 2024 WGA Veterans Writing Project mentee. Popcorn Prophets is his first feature film and is personal, inspired by his own experiences growing up in the Rio Grande Valley after the loss of his father. Through this story, he honors the quiet resilience of working-class families and the healing power of cinema.

Project Page

 

Learn more about Fiscal Sponsorship, including its benefits and eligibility requirements by visiting our website. See which projects are currently being supported via our Sponsored Projects page.

Film Independent Artist Development promotes unique independent voices by helping filmmakers create and advance new work. To support our work with a donation, please click here. Become a Member of Film Independent here.

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In this ever-evolving digital age where a plethora of information—accurate and inaccurate—continues to be added and trafficked, it can be an overwhelming space to explore for both creators and viewers. It can also be an incredibly rewarding space, so is the case in the rich cyber world of science. At the 2025 Sloan Film Summit, the triennial collaborative art-science event between Film independent and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, we had the privilege of gathering some of the most accomplished and up-in-coming science communicators for the New Media Panel, where they shared some of their personal experiences and insights related to contemporary science communication. Moderated by Ali Vanderkruyk, the panelists included: Emily Graslie (The Brain Scoop), Dr. Kiki Sanford (This Week in Science), Lindsay Nikole (Zoology Science Communicator), Latif Nasser (Radiolab), and Isaias Hernandez (Queer Brown Vegan).

On what drew them to science communication on digital platforms rather than more traditional media—academic journals, traditional science, etc.—for Graslie and Hernandez, representation was a huge factor that motivated them to get into the online science community. “I got into science because I didn’t see any women on YouTube,” Graslie said, “I might not be the best, but I’m going to show up first.” She was someone who went against the grain—studied for a fine arts degree rather than a science degree. Regardless, she and her support system believed in amplifying the natural curiosity and valuable knowledge of a non-scientist, seeing as a majority of people are not scientists themselves. Through The Brain Scoop, she “became a conduit for the audience.” Hernandez recalled not seeing anyone in the world of science who reflected him growing up, someone Brown and of the LGBTQ+ identity. While studying environmental science in college, he admitted to not being able to name at least “five Indigenous environmentalists” or “five Latino environmentalists,” which he viewed as a red flag. This motivated him to perform his absolute best, because he believed in the value of his lived experience represented in the world of science. Back in Tumblr’s heyday, he had a private blog where he talked about spirituality, climate, and education, and kept his identity anonymous until a friend inspired (or well-intentionally forced) him to create a public account. Queer Brown Vegan was the result. Also, science educators who positioned themselves as strict authoritative figures were all too common for him. It was important for Hernandez to “talk about environmentalism through a working-class lens.” This aspect in his approach helped him navigate how to “use communication not as a tool for authority, but rather empowerment.”

Dr. Sanford was also creating videos on YouTube, but not in the same way as Graslie or other creators. Instead, she found her footing in “podcasting before podcasting was podcasting.” She started This Week in Science as a college radio show, motivated by the very minimal science coverage on college radio at the time. “I was recording the show on cassette tape, and then technology advanced”—MP3 recorders, minidisks, etc. Then, in the early 2000s, she uploaded her MP3s on her website. Soon people started downloading and subscribing by the numbers, and Apple’s introduction of iPods and the podcast feature was almost heaven sent. “Suddenly I was talking to people around the world,” she said, “it became this really amazing opportunity…to be able to actually have this voice that was beyond terrestrial radio.” These new avenues of mass communication widened the door for quick, accessible, and unlimited topics of discussion. One of her biggest career takeaways is being able to adapt to new technologies, something we’ll no doubt continue to see more of.

Fresh out of college during the COVID-19 pandemic, Nikole lived with her parents and happily shared all the facts she learned in school. “Can you tell somebody else?” she recalled her parents joking, and in fact she did on the short-form social media platform TikTok. “It was really cool to just be able to upload a video from my room talking about everything that I learned in college, and reach an audience of any varying size.” She quickly noticed that people were more interested in “freaky creatures that went viral” over complex concepts. In response, Nikole gained a following by creating content based on what people were looking for. She later made her way to the long-form platform YouTube, where she was able to expand on the content that gained attention on TikTok.

Latif Nasser initially studied to become a playwright, but was “too timid” and went to grad school where he took a course on the history of science. “All the people in my grad student program—the professors and students—acted like they already knew this stuff and it wasn’t that interesting,” adding to his frustration, “how is it so obvious and boring to you, and not obvious and—if you frame it right—not boring to other people.” He pursued one of the traditional ways of science communication through writing scholarly articles, only to be constantly rejected from publications. “I wasn’t following the format or I wanted to keep in a stupid joke or whatever it was,” he said, pointing to the restrictions of traditional science communication; professional and formal over personal and casual. Radiolab was one of the first podcast’s he ever heard, and connected with its format—“it’s funny and it’s dumb, but it’s smart.” After much trial and error, he made his way to the podcast that suited his scientific approach, and thank goodness for that. “I felt intellectually constipated,” he said, which is probably more relatable than we want it to be.

In discussing how social media helps develop a conversation around complex topics that may be overlooked in mainstream science education, Instagram gave Hernandez a place to write out all his thoughts piece by piece. He was seeing science communicators discuss interesting concepts that were accessible to him as a college graduate in science, but noticed a missing “cultural component.” Terms and meanings truly aren’t enough to understand the functioning and impact of any given thing. “I can’t just talk about these…terminologies that are coming from academia,” for example something like petro-masculinity; the study of socially-supported patriarchal power to the fossil fuel industry and its harmful effects. He believes that approaching science communication in this way has the ability to inspire greater empathy in people for each other and the planet, and the intimate-like atmosphere between the viewer and social media already exists to help achieve these greater goals. “We can’t save one another without each other.”

Lindsay approaches her content by positioning herself as a friend, learning with the viewer as she goes along. Through a friendly disposition when educating or communicating, people can learn new things without shame of not already knowing. Additionally, she considers long-form content as a great format for being able to say “I’m not really sure about how I’m telling you this information right now…but you can make your own opinion based on what I just presented to you.” This attitude is difficult for her to navigate in short-form content, but when done right one of this format’s perks is the ability to deliver the main message simply and immediately. It’s no secret that digital media today seems to cater towards short-attention spans, which is why TikTok and YouTube Shorts continue to grow in popularity. Nevertheless, long-form and short-form content offer variety for different audiences to enjoy.

Dr. Sanford leads her podcast with conversation rather than attention-grabbing antics—it’s embedded in the conversation itself. She and her co-hosts each hold their own expertise, and the show’s format is mindful of the audience through engagement practices. “Part of the process of what we do is rooted in the studies, the methods, the results, but the conversation is all about the questions,” adding, “we want to be a credible source of information, but we also want to be the radio DJ for science!” She affirms that serious conversations are had and absolutely should be, but there should be room for humor and levity; examples of which have even existed before social media (Bill Nye the Science Guy just entered the chat). Nasser gleefully expresses how spontaneous theories and hypotheticals are embraced on his show. Although he thinks it’s perfectly fine “to do the scientifically accurate thing” and accept the facts about whatever topic as they are, he conquers that it’s a lot more interesting and exciting to imagine the what-ifs; “It’s so de-centering to imagine the world from a bird’s eye view.” Radiolab’s sound design greatly adds to the experience, with original composers creating captivating sounds to compliment each episode. All of these factors—the science, the levity, the sounds—which may seem like an unlikely bunch on paper can indeed work well together and be equally educational.

Then, there’s the relationship between traditional scientific authorities and independent creators. A topic that Graslie knows all too well. Shortly after launching The Brain Scoop, Chicago’s Field Museum “snatched her up to get her before anyone else could.” She recalled her recruitment happening during a transitioning period within the museum between “old guard and new guard.” It was primarily the younger staff and women who advocated for her involvement and supported her work. As a young painter-turned-YouTuber, Graslie was viewed outside the mold of an acceptable science museum staff member by senior staff and curators. Tasked with communicating the museum’s information through contemporary media, the tension between “old guard and new guard” was felt. These adjustments weren’t easy for everyone, but proved to be positively impactful. By the end of her contract with the museum, the show she poured into wholeheartedly belonged to them, leaving her no choice but to have to start a new project from scratch. “It was like a reset,” she said. Then, in 2023, a fan of her work inspired her to again try to obtain the show rights. Coincidently, a marketing head who actively refused to let Graslie have the show was let go. Simultaneously, there was a new hire in the museum’s legal team who sympathized with her case, and helped her acquire the rights to the show within a few months. “I got my credibility back.”

The digital science communication sphere, like other spheres in the digital space, is consistently reshaping and competing. With plenty of science communicators producing content, of varying backgrounds and formats, algorithmic content competition becomes a tricky thing to navigate. It’s one of those things that no passionate science communicator necessarily wants to deal with, but many do in the goal of reaching an audience and the benefits that come with that. Algorithms are obstacles that creators navigate at their own pace. Dr. Sanford chooses to ignore the algorithms. “Every time I’ve tried to focus on those aspects of creating…it’s taken away from the conversation and what I actually want to do.” So, she happily marches to the beat of her own drum. In response, Graslie stresses the value of having a team—even if it’s small—where each person can better focus on their part of the project, because creating can be quite “soul-sucking” as an independent creator. It can be exhausting having to build a project and simultaneously reach an audience on many platforms out there. That’s why for some creators locking in on one or two is the best way to go. It’s about “how your skill set can be applied to the best outlet.”

On the current state of contemporary science communication, Hernandez has observed a rise in corporations rewarding “pretty privilege” in the next generation of science communicators. “The amount of pretty privilege you need to have in this space now where brands are…going to put you in Vogue…and make you the next public figure luminair,” as he put it, is problematic behavior in its attention to the superficial and the imperious messages that it sends. “We’re in a new world that’s measuring us not just on how well we can speak and how much we know,” he goes on to say. Good-looks and attractive aesthetics could then be viewed as developing additional invisible requirements for aspiring science communicators. However, it’s safe to say that we still live in a society that values substantial science over sexy scientists.

Graslie would like to see more museum content out there. “I want to see every museum collection,” and in order for that to happen there has to be a better infrastructure in place to support the creators who would like to make that possible. Dr. Sanford addressed the increased interest in unpacking science as it’s been primarily constructed through a colonial lens. “It’s still an old man’s club,” she said. The panelists would love to continue to see support for independent creators and collectives, a near-urgent call stemming from an increasingly lack of federal and organizational financial support. “We as a media landscape are really losing to so much misinformation and disinformation,” lamented Hernandez. False information is a self-explanatory disservice to all. As Graslie passionately put it, the new media panelists remain optimistic that the public won’t “undermine the critical value that [they] have with [their] platforms.” New media science communicators are not traditional science educators, and that’s the idea. Perhaps an argument is to be made about how this current science communication ought to be packaged and delivered, but there’s no question that the presence of science in the Digital Age is valuable. Luckily, we have educated and creative people such as these nurturing that space.

Where to find them:

Emily Graslie (The Brain Scoop): YouTube

Dr. Kiki Sanford (This Week in Science): Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Spotify

Lindsay Nikole (Zoology Science Communicator): Instagram, TikTok, YouTube

Latif Nasser (Radiolab): Apple Podcasts, Instagram, Spotify, YouTube

Isaias Hernandez (Queer Brown Vegan): Instagram, TikTok, YouTube

The Sloan Film Summit, launched in 1999, is part of Sloan’s greater efforts through its Public Understanding of Science and Technology initiative. Celebrating eight iterations, this year’s Summit (the fourth consecutive one produced by Film Independent) is a celebration of the program’s wide-ranging success supporting emerging filmmakers, while also bringing together a new group of artists and scientists to highlight how art and science interact and collaborate.

We’re thrilled to celebrate the arts and sciences with inspiring minds in both fields.

For over 40 years, Film Independent has helped filmmakers get their projects made and seen. The nonprofit organization’s core mission is to champion creative independence in visual storytelling in all its forms, and to foster a culture of inclusion. We support a global community of artists and audiences who embody diversity, innovation, curiosity and uniqueness of vision. To support our mission with a donation, click here.

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