Insider Session: Applying to the Ignite Challenge
About this Event Recording
Sundance Insider Sessions provide behind-the-scenes information and guidance on our Labs, grants and festivals. Sundance Institute staff will be on-hand to answer frequently asked questions and help guide you through discovering and applying to the many programs and funds that the Institute offers.
Sundance Insider Sessions provide behind-the-scenes information and guidance on our Labs, grants and festivals. Sundance Institute staff answer frequently asked questions and help guide you through discovering and applying to the many programs and funds that the Institute offers.
The Sundance Ignite program identifies and supports new voices and talent from the next generation of filmmakers by providing artistic and professional development to advance filmmakers to the next stage in their career. The yearlong Sundance Ignite x Adobe Fellowship is open to emerging documentary and fiction filmmakers between ages 18 and 25. In this session, Toby Brooks, Assistant Director of the Ignite Program, provides tips on how to make your work stand out. The deadline to submit your project is February 14, 2025 at 11am PT.
Sundance Ignite is supported by Adobe and Arison Arts Foundation.
Event RecordingTeam
Toby Brooks
Assistant Director, Ignite Program
Toby Brooks is the Assistant Director of the Sundance Institute Ignite Program, which cultivates and supports a new generation of filmmakers. Brooks has worked for Sundance Institute since 2012, first as the Assistant to the Director of the Sundance Film Festival. From 2012-2017, Brooks was a member of the Emerging Leaders Council at Outfest, a Los Angeles film non-profit that promotes LGBT equality by creating, sharing and protecting LGBT stories on the screen. A native of the San Francisco Bay Area, he received his B.A. from UCLA.
Erica Elson
Moderator | Digital Course & Event Producer
Erica Elson is a Producer, Writer and Educator based in the mountains outside Los Angeles. Her short film, WING NIGHT, premiered at Method Fest in Los Angeles. She is the co-author of the book THE AWKWARD HUMAN SURVIVAL GUIDE and co-hosted a podcast by the same name on the 5by5 network for five years. Elson's articles have been published by HuffPost, Lifehacker, and Reader's Digest. Prior to working in education, she worked in television development and writers’ rooms such as VH1’s HINDSIGHT, where she had the chance to write for the spinoff web series PLANET SEBASTIAN.
Elson joined the Sundance Collab team in October 2021 and produces courses, Master Classes, and events in the areas of screenwriting, television writing, directing, producing, and documentary filmmaking. She has moderated conversations with Sofia Coppola, Richard Linklater, Alexander Payne, and Susannah Grant, among others.
Prior to Sundance, Elson was the Thesis Production Supervisor at the American Film Institute for five years. She oversaw several award-winning graduate thesis films, notably the 2021 BAFTA student film winner APART, TOGETHER and the 2023 Sundance Film Festival short WE WERE MEANT TO. While at AFI, Elson developed a passion for sustainable production and created the Green Film School Alliance, which includes forty schools on four continents. She holds a BA in Communication and Film Studies from Concordia University and an MFA in Screenwriting from the American Film Institute.