Advisor Studio: A Director’s Guide Through Pre-Production with Robert Mandel
About this Advisor Studio
In Advisor Studio sessions, Sundance Collab Advisors share field experiences and insights into their specific areas of craft, including writing, directing, documentary filmmaking, and producing for film and TV.
As a director, prepping your film can be just as daunting as making it. Pre-production takes time, a focused schedule, experienced producer and the right team to get everything in place. And once you have the team, you want to ensure that you all share the same creative and story vision. In this Advisor Studio, director Robert Mandel (F/X, SCHOOL TIES, THE X-FILES) discusses how to effectively communicate with your team - from the casting director to the stunt coordinator. You will also walk away with the tools to be a better leader, and to ensure that the first day you walk onto set will be a harmonious, collaborative experience.
Advisor StudioTeam
Robert Mandel
Panelist
Robert Mandel is an award-winning film and television director with credits including F/X (Orion), SCHOOL TIES (Paramount), BIG SHOTS (Universal) and THE SUBSTITUTE (Orion). He has directed numerous television movies for HBO, Fox, ESPN, Lifetime and A&E, as well as episodic television such as THE X-FILES (pilot), LOST and PRISON BREAK. Robert won an Emmy Award for his first after-school special, ANDREA'S STORY and has since worked with major creative talent such as Sherry Lansing, Brendan Fraser, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Tom Berenger, Mia Farrow and Michael Keaton. In 2006, he took a nine-year hiatus from directing to serve as the Dean of the American Film Institute and later directed more episodic television.
After directing his first feature INDEPENDENCE DAY, with Kathleen Quinlan and Diane Wiest, he was invited to serve as a Directing Mentor at the Sundance Institute and returned after directing SCHOOL TIES. He received the Alfred Hitchcock Award when he was at AFI and his thesis film, NIGHT AT O'REARS, received First Prize at Filmex in Los Angeles, First Prize at USA Film Festival in Dallas, and was shown as one of three short films selected by the New York Film Festival at Lincoln Center. He is the recipient of the 2009 Special Educator Award given by The LA Caucus for Producers, Writers & Directors.
Mandel began his career as a stage director, with productions in New York at The Manhattan Theatre Club, The Roundabout and The Public Theatre — where Joseph Papp was his mentor. He continued to direct regional theatre at Trinity Square in Providence, the Folger in Washington DC, and Syracuse Stage while teaching Acting and Directing at City College of New York. Mandel has MFA degrees from both Columbia University and AFI.
Katherine Street
Moderator | Digital Course & Event Producer
Katherine "Kat" Street is an LA-based award-winning filmmaker and Philadelphia native. A cinephile at heart, she writes female-driven stories with complex (oftentimes damaged) main characters, centered around self-discovery, self-love, and belonging.
She has written numerous short-form projects, including original shorts, pilots, and features. She wrote and directed the dramatic short film “Cycles,” which received festival recognition in both acting and best romantic short. She also created her award-winning flagship web series "The New Adult,” which is currently streaming on Kweli TV.
Kat is a Stowe Story Lab SAGIndie Fellow and a participant in the BlackMagic Collective Emerging Filmmakers Initiative. In 2021, she founded the Black Film Challenge, a project that showcases filmmakers of African descent and the movies they create.
She earned her BFA from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts with a concentration in Cinematography and has literary representation with Yak Yak Mgmt.