While the world came to a standstill just over a year ago, podcasting as an artform has continued to thrive. Interview someone in your life about a significant experience or challenge that they’ve overcome during this past year. Create a short-form podcast episode using sound bites from this interview to create a compelling audio story.
While the world came to a standstill just over a year ago, podcasting as an artform has continued to thrive. Interview someone in your life about a significant experience or challenge that they’ve overcome during this past year. Create a short-form podcast episode using sound bites from this interview to create a compelling audio story. You should briefly introduce the person, dive into their unique story, and conclude with how this experience has shaped them moving forward. Feel free to use narration, music, and sound effects to heighten emotion, and/or to advance the story for the listener as-needed. The interview should be recorded remotely (i.e. over the phone or Zoom) or safely with those who are part of your quarantine pod. The audio podcast you submit should be no longer than 10 minutes long, and hit all the right notes as a powerful listening experience for an audience.
SUBMISSION LIMITS
Podcast should be no longer than 10 minutes long.
Accepted audio file formats include: AIFF, ACC, FLAC, MP3, MP4, OGA, OGG, and WAV
Deadline to submit: May 28 , 2021 at 2PM PT.
CHALLENGE RULES
Our monthly challenges are open to everyone in the Sundance Collab community. One entry per person, per challenge. All submissions will be viewable to the community. All submissions will be given equal consideration and the final winner will be determined by the consensus of the designated Sundance judges.
Only those submissions that meet the criteria outlined in the submission guidelines can be selected as the winner.
The challenge closes on May 28, 2021 at 2PM PT.
If you have questions regarding the challenge, please email collab@sundance.org. Please do not contact members of the jury directly.
PRIZES
Winner will receive:
- The winner will have their work featured on Sundance Collab
- One-on-one mentorship session with a Sundance Advisor
- Sundance Collab Annual Creator Membership (12 months) which includes:
- Invitation to monthly Member-only Advisor Q&A Live webinar
- Opportunity to receive feedback from a Sundance Advisor on work-in-progress you post to Share Your Work
- Eligible to participate in online Writing Groups (coming soon)
- Final Draft screenwriting software (12-month license)
Runners-up (two will be selected) - Sundance Collab Annual Creator Membership (12 months)
Team
Caroline Hoover
Juror
Caroline Hoover is a screenwriter, mother, and feminist. She has a Master’s in Writing for Film and Television from the University of Southern California, and has worked for HBO Films in development, as well as for a variety of independent film producers. She has twice been a Nicholl Quarterfinalist, has made the LaunchPad Top 10 twice, and won the Virginia Film Festival Screenwriting Competition two years in a row. She and her husband and children live in Los Angeles.
Caroline joined Sundance Co//ab during the isolation of the COVID-19 pandemic in hopes of connecting with other writers and filmmakers. A strong community is a vital asset for filmmaking, and the people at Sundance Co//ab have been incredibly supportive during this crazy time. She hopes to continue to give back to her fellow Co//ab members by providing constructive criticism on their projects, and to keep learning and growing as a filmmaker.
RECOMMENDED RESOURCES
Podcasts and web series:
Scriptnotes podcast with John August and Craig Mazin - the undisputed classic of the craft and business of screenwriting
Lessons From The Screenplay YouTube channel with Michael Tucker (and Beyond The Screenplay podcast) - Great YouTube series that explores a different aspect of screenwriting with each episode and includes multiple examples from a different film each time. The podcast is also good, but the YouTube channel episodes I can watch over and over, especially when I’m struggling with a certain part of a project; often watching a LFTS episode will jog something loose that helps me overcome the roadblock.
Children of Tendu podcast with Javier Grillo-Marxuach and Jose Molina - a great general intro to the world of writing for television from two friends and veteran TV scribes.
Hollywood 101 with Gloria Calderón-Kellett - in-depth look at writing for television from the creator/showrunner of the One Day At A Time reboot.
Books:
How To Write A Movie in 21 Days by Viki King
My first drafts often tend toward the overwritten, overstuffed, everything-but-the-kitchen-sink end of the spectrum, and this well-worn little book helps me rein it in and keep to a speedier approach.
Screenwriting: The Sequence Approach by Paul Joseph Gulino
For people who, like me, have trouble breaking the process of writing a script down into more manageable pieces. You can use the sequence approach for reading, writing, and critiquing screenplays.
Story Maps: TV Drama by Daniel P. Calvisi
A good beginner-level primer on conceiving and writing your one-hour drama pilot
Creating Character Arcs by K.M. Weiland
Very helpful guide to finding the emotional center of your story and your characters so you’re not left wondering what they would do when you hit a story roadblock.
The Screenwriter’s Bible by Dave Trottier
For all your formatting questions. “How do I write it when two characters speak at once?” “What are my options for how to format a montage or sequence of shots?” “What exactly goes in the slug line?” This isn’t the place for in-depth explorations of the writing process, but it’s a fantastic reference when you have a nagging questions like those above that you have to KNOW the answer to before you can keep writing.
Natalie Metzger
Juror
Natalie Metzger is an award-winning producer, director, and writer, who explores the dark, surreal side of human nature with her visually rich and thoughtful work.
She is a Spirit Award nominated producer whose credits include the upcoming WEREWOLVES WITHIN (which will be premiering at the Tribeca Film Festival and distributed by IFC Films), THE BETA TEST (Berlin Film Festival, Tribeca Film Festival), THE WOLF OF SNOW HOLLOW (MGM/Orion), GREENER GRASS (Sundance Film Festival), THUNDER ROAD (Grand Jury Award - SXSW), THE ROBBERY (Sundance Film Festival), MATPAT’S GAME LAB (Streamy Award), and Lil Dicky’s FREAKY FRIDAY (over 664 million views), among numerous others. Metzger is currently in post-production on a new sci-fi series as well as Yogi Berra documentary IT AIN’T OVER.
Metzger's feature writing/directing credits include LGBTQ sports documentary ALONE IN THE GAME (AFI Docs, Outfest) and healthcare documentary SPECIAL BLOOD, which won the Dolores Huerta Award for Best Director at Long Beach Indie Festival and Best Feature Documentary at California Women’s Film Festival. She was also selected for CoverFly’s Endorsed Writers Program and for Eastern Oregon’s Filmmaker Residency. Her feature script IMMORTAL won the Gold Prize at the Page International Screenwriting Awards, was a finalist in the Nashville Film Festival Screenwriting Competition and a semifinalist in Screencraft’s Drama Competition, and is on the top 10 sci-fi of Coverfly’s Red List.
She has directed numerous award-winning commercials and short films, including a short film adaptation of IMMORTAL, which won Best Narrative Short at Eastern Oregon Film Festival, Best Set Design at Trans Stellar Film Festival, and screened at 17 film festivals including the Oscar-Qualifying HollyShorts Film Festival and psa TOPLESS WOMEN TALK NFL which was featured in the Washington Post and Huffington Post and won an Aurora Award (Platinum Best of Show) and a Telly Award.
Metzger holds a Master of Fine Arts from California Institute of the Arts and is a Summa Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Emory University, where she received the Sudler Award in the Arts and the Pioneer Award. www.nataliemetz.com
Eboni Zamani
Juror
Eboni Zamani is a filmmaker, photographer and writer hailing from Philadelphia. She got her start in filmmaking in high school with a documentary about youth in the military. Visual and written storytelling became her outlet of choice. She is currently writing and producing films and various media projects via her production company, Pearl’s Girl Productions.
RECOMMENDED RESOURCES
Wong Kar-Wai by Peter Brunette
Seed&Spark
seedandspark.com - a great place to get assistance with film funding, to understand film funding and indie distribution.
Nofilmschool
Nofilmschool.com
A great resource for beginner filmmakers even if you just listen to their podcast.
Film Blackness: American Cinema and the Idea of Black Film by Michael Gillespie
Women's Weekend Film Challenge
Their virtual workshop series, that I believe can be viewed on Youtube as well as their virtual space is really great for women looking to break into the industry or are emerging artists.