Mapping Your Directing Career with Rob Spera
Session: July 2026
About this Weekend Intensive
The film industry is ever-changing. How do you cut through the noise and create a career plan that works for you?
In this weekend intensive, director, author, and educator Rob Spera (The Sweet Life, Fathers and Sons, Criminal Minds) will help you find your compass. Through targeted exercises to better understand more about yourself as an artist and business professional, you will leave this intensive with a personalized multi-year career roadmap that will guide you for years to come. You will gain a deeper understanding of how the industry works and how to best position yourself as a creative.
This intensive will:
- Empower filmmakers with the tools needed to take proactive steps to success rather than wait for permission
- Create a multi-year, tangible, step-by-step roadmap tailored to your specific artistic and professional goals
- Gain a clear-eyed understanding of the current film and television landscape
- Examine case studies of successful directing careers to find a model that fits you
- Learn strategies for creating a financial framework for working directors
This intensive is ideal for:
- Aspiring directors looking for a realistic, practical blueprint for breaking into the industry
- Emerging filmmakers in the early stages of their careers who want to transition to larger projects
- Mid-level directors seeking a strategic reset to reshape their career goals and realign with their original creative voice
Dates and Times:
- Day 1: Friday, July 24
- Kick-Off Session: 4–6 p.m. PT
- Day 2: Saturday, July 25
- Session 1: 9 a.m.–12 p.m. PT
- Session 2: 1–4 p.m. PT
- Day 3: Sunday, July 26
- Session 3: 9 a.m.–12 p.m. PT
- Session 4: 1–4:30 p.m. PT
Weekend IntensiveAccessibility
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.
Scholarships
Sundance Collab offers a limited number of need-based, partial and full scholarships. Scholarship applications can be submitted until one week before the registration deadline and do not stack with discounts or promotions, including early registration. 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.
Team
Rob Spera
Instructor
Rob Spera has a broad background in film, television, and theatre. His credits include the feature films The Sweet Life, Fathers and Sons, the cult classic Leprechaun in the Hood, and the TV shows Criminal Minds, Supernatural, Suspect Behavior, and Army Wives.
During four seasons as Resident Director at the Tony Award-winning Actors Theatre of Louisville, he directed over 75 productions. His play Tracks enjoyed a successful run in Los Angeles, where it was hailed as “Chilling” by Variety, “Haunting long after leaving the theatre” by the Daily News, and “a comic horrific dance of death...in a world somewhere between Samuel Beckett and Full Metal Jacket” by The Los Angeles Times.
Rob’s teaching credits include 20 years at the American Film Institute Conservatory, as well as contributions to AFI’s Directing Workshop for Women, the Sundance Collab, the Feirstein Graduate School of Cinema at Brooklyn College, and numerous others. His students regularly earn top honors at festivals worldwide, as well as awards and nominations from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.
He is currently the Head of Directing at Rideback RISE in Los Angeles, a fellowship program for mid-career filmmakers from POC and underrepresented groups.
His recently published book, Film/TV Directors’ Field Manual: Seventy Maxims to Change Your Filmmaking, has become an instant must-read for students and professionals and is available on Amazon. His other works include Actors Write For Actors, Encore, and The Field.
For additional information, please visit: www.robspera.com
FAQ
In Sundance Collab’s Intensives, participants attend live, virtual class sessions in a condensed time period. These sessions are led by an instructor and supported by the Sundance Collab courses team.
All members of the Sundance Collab community are welcome to register for Sundance Collab Intensives. Some Intensives require an application. Please review the description and any eligibility requirements to ensure the Intensive is a good fit. If you have any questions, please email collab_courses@sundance.org.
For application-based Intensives, note that space is limited. Applications are considered as they are received and applicants are accepted on a rolling basis until the Intensive is full or the deadline has passed, whichever comes first. If the application window is open, you will see an “Apply” button on the course page.
We send our application acceptance notifications on a rolling basis, starting after the application deadline. You will be notified of your acceptance status no later than three days before the first session. At any point, you can check the status of a course that you have applied to by logging into Sundance Collab and visiting the course page. You’ll see a purple bar there indicating your status.
When reviewing applications for an Intensive, the Sundance Collab team evaluates the needs and expectations of each applicant. We are also looking to convene a diverse group of participants who will work well together and support each other throughout the Intensive. Finally, we will confirm that the applicant can meet the time commitment necessary and has a strong interest and readiness to complete the Intensive and meaningfully contribute to the group process.
We do not offer any combined applications or discounts for Sundance Collab Intensives.
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 and selecting the option to apply for a scholarship, 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.
We may offer the option of either a two or three-part payment plan for Intensives. If offered, the first payment will be due at the time of registration and the last payment will be due before the halfway point of the Intensive. Due to the length of Intensives, a payment plan option may not be available closer to the registration deadline. For specific payment plan dates, please reach out to our team at: collab_courses@sundance.org.
Yes, you are welcome to take a live, online Intensive even if you can’t make the live sessions. Recordings of each session are available online within two business days.
All 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 recordings for one year following the last session.
All participants will receive a Certificate of Completion. The certificate will include the name associated with your Sundance Collab account.
You can join a course via a computer or mobile device. All of our Intensives are conducted via Zoom.
Download and set up the Zoom software 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.