Crafting Your Short Film Screenplay
Session: June 2026
About this Self-Paced Course
Short films are a great way to showcase your voice, talent, and storytelling skill. In this eight-week self-paced online course, you will learn the fundamentals of screenwriting and develop your original story idea into a short screenplay with accomplished filmmakers as your guides. Designated homework assignments are reviewed by a Sundance Collab Advisor and designed to move you closer to your completed short screenplay (5-15 pages).
This is a self-paced course. Self-paced courses allow you to watch pre-recorded lectures at your own pace, while working on deadlines to get individualized feedback on your work.
What you bring to the course:
- an idea for a short screenplay that you plan to work on throughout the course.
What you’ll get from the course:
- An application of industry-standard screenplay formatting.
- An understanding of the short film format, including different structures, lengths and genres.
- A shaping of your creative voice and vision.
- An understanding of how to write a scene.
- How to develop and reveal your protagonist, antagonist, and supporting characters.
- How to construct the world and tone for your short screenplay.
- How to craft the structure for your short screenplay.
- How to write action and dialogue.
- How to take notes and approach a rewrite.
This course will:
- offer opportunities for designated homework to be reviewed by a Sundance Collab Advisor. The work is designed to move your project idea through to a draft of your short screenplay.
- analyze a variety of short films across genres and styles.
You will submit your work to a Sundance Advisor for written feedback at two points throughout the 8-week course. For an additional fee, you may elect to meet with your advisor for a 60-minute 1-on-1 session during the course term.
A limited number of need-based scholarships are available and are considered on a rolling basis as they are received. Those who apply earlier will have a greater chance of getting support. To apply for a scholarship, please complete the course registration form.
Sundance Collab provides accommodations and support services to participants with disabilities. Accommodations and services are designed to meet the needs of each participant. Please email us at accessibility@sundance.org to arrange for services.
Self-Paced CourseScholarships
Sundance Collab offers a limited number of full and partial need-based scholarships for individuals who need assistance.
Due to limited scholarship funds available, we prioritize one course scholarship per participant in a 12-month period. Scholarship applications are available up to one week before the registration deadline and do not stack with discounts or promotions, including early registration.
Outline
Topics covered include:
- Key Elements of Story & Structure
- Effective Approaches to Short Films
- Writing a Logline
- Outlining and Formatting
Topics covered include:
- Introduction to Character
- The Protagonist, Their Wants, & Needs
- Supporting Characters
- Building The World
Topics covered include:
- Dramatic Problems
- Types of Conflict
- Building Tension
Topics covered include:
- Objectives, Obstacles & Given Circumstances
- Scene Transitions
- Conveying Tone on the Page
Topics covered include:
- Beat Shifts
- Intention vs. Tactic
- Dialogue
- Exposition & Subtext
Topics covered include:
- Opening & Closing Images
- Beginnings
- Endings
Topics covered include:
- Visual Storytelling on the Page
- Story Arcs Through Visual Shifts
- Creating a Lookbook
Topics covered include:
- Receiving Feedback
- Rewriting Process
- Revising Your Logline
- Preparing An Elevator Pitch
- Final Thoughts
Team
Asher Jelinsky
Instructor
Asher Jelinsky is a Los Angeles based director and writer originally from the San Francisco Bay Area. Their perspective as a nonbinary filmmaker fuels a passion for character-driven stories about outsiders and the resilient quest for connection. Asher's short film MILLER & SON was shortlisted for the 92nd Academy Awards and won the gold medal Student Academy Award, the BAFTA Student Film Award, and the Cannes Lions Young Director Award. Overall, Asher’s shorts have garnered awards and nominations at over 70 film festivals around the world including Clermont-Ferrand, BFI London, Ashland, and Seattle.
Currently, Asher is developing their debut feature, JULIAN, which received support from the SFFILM Rainin Grant, the California Arts Council Fellowship, and the Cine Qua Non Lab. They earned an MFA in Directing from the American Film Institute, and received the Franklin J. Schaffner Fellow Award for Directing, presented by AFI Fest. They also hold a BA with honors in Media Studies and Public Health from Pitzer College. In addition to their professional practice, Asher often mentors filmmakers at Sundance Collab and Temple University.
Gabi Grossman
Advisor
Gabi Grossman is a film programmer, writer, and director. She is currently the Applications Manager at Lilly Wachowski's Anarchists United Foundation, where she is managing the Writers Discovery Fellowship, as well as the Programming Manager at Outfest and a Film and Industry Programmer at Frameline's 50th edition. Recently, she was the Program Manager at the Transgender Film Center, where she produced and curated the inaugural Career Development Lab, a twelve week artist development program designed to support emerging filmmakers. Before that, she helped program and/or produce for the Film Independent Spirit Awards, the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival, The Gotham's Documentary Development Initiative and Gotham Week Spotlight on Documentaries, Rooftop Films, and the New York Jewish Film Festival. She also served as a Program Consultant for New York's Jewish Museum’s exhibit “Television and Beyond.” She received her MFA in Screenwriting from Columbia University and her BA in English Literature from the University of Chicago.
Kate Rebecca Phillips
Advisor
Kate Rebecca Phillips is a filmmaker, writer, performer, and educator from Houston, Texas. Over her career, she has directed, written, produced, edited, and acted in more than 30 short films, and been a part of feature and digital filmmaking working across production, development, and post-production in Houston, Austin, New York, and Los Angeles for two decades.
Kate’s short films have millions of online views and are featured on her YouTube channel @krpstories. These low-budget, often genre and homegrown-in-Texas short films have reached wide international viewership online. In 2025, A Noble Gentleman, her period romantic drama, gained more than 4 million YouTube views. Her post-apocalyptic western Where the Shadows Fall was licensed by DUST’s Sci-Fi short film YouTube channel in 2016 and was the first film premiered on the platform, attracting hundreds of thousands of views and reposts. Many of her other short films have screened at festivals and events across Texas and the U.S.
As a lifelong indie filmmaker and artist, Kate believes in the community and opportunity that can be nurtured by filmmaking and storytelling. She integrates her creative and educational endeavors as a member of the Filmmaking faculty at Houston Community College where she teaches short and feature film writing as well as providing hands-on training in directing, acting, and film production. She also teaches community workshops across Houston and the world in short-film screenwriting, performance and directing. Her filmmaking and performance work have been supported by the Houston Arts Alliance and the Southwest Alternate Media Project. She is an active Board member of the Southwest Alternate Media Project and Advisory Board member of the Houston Cinema Arts Society.
Constance Tsang
Advisor
Constance Tsang is a Chinese American filmmaker based in New York. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Individualized Study from New York University and a Master’s of Fine Arts in Screenwriting and Directing from Columbia University. Her first feature, Blue Sun Palace, premiered in Semaine de la Critique in Cannes in 2024, where it won the French Touch Prize of the Jury. It went on to earn four Independent Spirit Award nominations and a Gotham Award nomination for Breakthrough Director. Her next feature, My Mother and Yours, was developed during her time at La Résidence du Festival de Cannes.
FAQ
Sundance Collab’s Self-paced courses provide flexibility to complete the work on your own time, but also within a structured timeline that helps you to advance your project. You will travel through the course with a cohort of creators like yourself, and - if applicable - are given assignments with due dates during key weeks of the course:
- Each week you will view pre-recorded lectures by the instructor structured around key topics.
- Post-Video Activities after each session are designed to apply concepts to your own work, and move your project to the next stage.
- If assigned, a course advisor will give you feedback on elements of your work.
- You will have the opportunity to join live class exercises or group office hours, hosted by Sundance Collab Advisors, at critical points in the course to ask questions and discuss concepts.
- In some courses, you will have the opportunity to purchase a 1-on-1 Zoom session with your assigned course advisor.
All members of the Sundance Collab community are welcome to take Sundance Collab Self-paced courses. Please review the course description to ensure the course is a good fit. If you have any questions about a course, please email collab_courses@sundance.org.
Note that each Self-paced course has a registration deadline, so please check the date and time to ensure you don’t miss the cut-off. If the registration window is open, you will see a "Register” button on the course page.
We do not allow creative partners to do our Self-paced courses as a team. However, both creators can individually register for the course.
We often offer a limited number of need-based, full or partial scholarships. Check the course description to see if that course currently has scholarships available. Scholarships are prioritized for one per person per year (from the date of issue). Scholarship applications are available up to one week before the registration deadline. To apply for a scholarship, complete the registration form by clicking the REGISTER button above and selecting the scholarship option, if available.
Applicants will be notified about their scholarship decision prior to the first day of the course. Due to the volume of applicants, we are not always able to provide a scholarship, but we may still offer a spot in the course.In this case, depending on the course, payment plans may be available and can be selected at checkout.
Yes, we offer two or three-part payment plans for Self-paced courses, depending on the length of the course. In all cases, the first payment is due at the point of registration. The remaining payment(s) are spread out throughout the course term. For specific payment plan dates for a course, please reach out to our team at: collab_courses@sundance.org.
In courses with live class exercises or group office hours, the sessions are recorded and usually made available within two business days. The videos will also contain the chat and transcript from the session, viewable in the video playbar.
Participants will have access to the lecture recordings and course materials for one year following the last class session.
All participants will receive a Certificate of Completion. The certificate will include the name associated with your Collab account.
You can find any courses that you are enrolled in or have already completed in the profile section of your Collab account under “Courses.”
You can access the course videos via a computer or mobile device. All of our live class exercises and group office hour sessions are conducted via Zoom.
Download and set up the Zoom software (https://zoom.us/download) and make sure you have the latest update. Here are some great resources from Zoom’s Knowledge Base to take a deeper dive into using Zoom:
- Watch Zoom's Video Tutorials or review training materials on the Getting Started page
- Join a Live Training from Zoom
If you have any further questions, please email collab_courses@sundance.org.
Sundance Collab provides accommodations and support services to participants with disabilities. Please contact us at (435) 776-7790 or email us at accessibility@sundance.org to ask any questions or to discuss your specific needs after you have been accepted into the course.