In Advisor Studio sessions, Sundance Collab Advisors share field experiences and insights into their specific areas of craft, including writing, directing and producing for TV and film.

Hear filmmakers Kelly O’Sullivan and Alex Thompson in an inspired conversation about the making of their second feature, Ghostlight, which premiered to critical and audience acclaim at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival. Keith Kupferer stars as Dan, a melancholic construction worker who finds himself drifting from his wife and daughter. Through a chance meeting with Rita, played by Dolly De Leon, he discovers community and purpose in a local theater’s production of Romeo and Juliet. As the drama onstage starts to mirror his own life, he and his family are forced to confront a personal loss.

Kelly O’Sullivan wrote and starred in Saint Frances, which was directed and produced by Alex Thompson and premiered at SXSW in 2019. It won a Special Jury Prize for "Breakthrough Voice" and the Audience Award for Narrative Feature. Kelly received a Gotham Award nomination for Breakthrough Actor, a John Cassavetes nomination from the Independent Spirit Awards and was also named one of Filmmaker Magazine's "25 New Faces of Independent Film."

In this Advisor Studio, O’Sullivan and Thompson discuss casting a real life family, working with a theater ensemble, the importance of emotional renewal through art, and working together as multi-hyphenates.