Join Film Fatales on Friday, October 8th at 2pm PT for an interactive workshop about applying for an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Film Grant with Rebecca Katz, the current Sloan Consultant at Sundance Institute and Film Independent. Moderated by Film Fatales member and Sloan grant recipient Annie Howell (Co-director, Small Beautifully Moving Parts).
Launched in 1996, the Sloan Film Program aims to influence the next generation of filmmakers to tackle science and technology themes and characters, increase visibility for feature films that depict this subject matter, and develop new work that can be produced and released theatrically. Sloan's Film program has awarded grants to over 700 film projects from some of the nation's most innovative filmmakers and has created a film development pipeline of multiple program partners. Over the past 15 years, the Foundation has partnered with six of the top film schools in the country–including AFI, Carnegie Mellon, Columbia, NYU, UCLA, and USC– and established annual awards in screenwriting and film production. The Foundation also supports artist development programs at the Sundance Institute, the Tribeca Film Institute, the Black List, SFFILM, the Athena Film Festival, and Film Independent.
Bring your burning questions and come hear inside details about the selection process and criteria for applying for these amazing opportunities. This interactive workshop will be accessible with live captioning.
RSVP HERE
Rebecca Katz has over a decade of experience in scripted and unscripted storytelling as a development executive and producer for independent film production companies and arts organizations in Los Angeles and New York. Her core work revolves around fostering and collaborating with underrepresented content creators to bring culturally significant stories to global audiences. She is currently a Consultant in the Artist Development department at Film Independent, where she helps run the scripted labs and Sloan Foundation initiatives, and she works as the Sloan Consultant at Sundance Institute. She also is a Partner and serves as Head of Talent Development at Wscripted, an international startup aimed to connect women and non-binary writers with decision-makers in the entertainment and literary industries. She spent 6 years at Sundance Institute as Manager of Creative Producing & Artist Support in the Feature Film Program where she helped identify and cultivate emerging writing and producing talent in the independent film space. She was also part of the Programming team for the Sundance Film Festival. Rebecca received her MFA from the Peter Stark Producing Program at USC.
Annie J. Howell is a screenwriter and director. Her most recent credit is for the film YELLOW ROSE (2019), starring Tony-nominee Eva Noblezada ("Hadestown"), which she wrote with director Diane Paragas. That film is the recipient of eight Grand Jury Prizes for Best Narrative Feature as well as two Audience Prizes, awarded at Urbanworld Film Festival and the Hawaii International Film Festival. The Hollywood Reporter called the film heartfelt, provocative and "affecting on almost every level," while Character Media called it "the immigration film of our times." YELLOW ROSE was distributed theatrically by Sony Pictures Worldwide and is now streaming. Howell also wrote the screenplay for LITTLE BOXES, starring Melanie Lynskey and the late Nelsan Ellis, which premiered at Tribeca 2016 and sold to Netflix. She has co-written and co-directed two features with Lisa Robinson: SMALL, BEAUTIFULLY MOVING PARTS (2012, starring Anna Margaret Hollyman) and CLAIRE IN MOTION (2017, starring Betsy Brandt). Each film premiered at SXSW and played festivals and select theaters. She is the recipient of the Sloan Feature Film Prize, an IFP Emerging Narrative Award for Best Feature, a Nantucket Screenwriters Colony residency, and a San Francisco Film Society/Rainin Foundation grant, amongst other awards. She has taught at institutions such as Duke University, The New School, Ohio University, NYU's Tisch School of the Arts and The City College of New York. She lives in New York with her husband and two sons.