The Sundance Institute has selected 11 fellows for its 2026 Screenwriters Lab and 13 for the Screenwriters Intensive from over 3,800 submissions. The lab begins this weekend at Sundance Mountain Resort in Utah, honoring founder Robert Redford's legacy. Creative advisors including Barry Jenkins and Lulu Wang will guide the participants.
The Sundance Institute's Screenwriters Lab, which originated in 1981, starts on Saturday at the Sundance Mountain Resort in Utah. This year's session celebrates the mission and legacy of founder Robert Redford. Michelle Satter, founding senior director of the institute's Artist Programs, leads the lab with Ilyse McKimmie, deputy director of the Feature Film Program, and artistic director Jessie Nelson. Creative advisors include Michael Arndt, Scott Z. Burns, Barry Jenkins, Meg LeFauve, Tarell Alvin McCraney, Lulu Wang, and Doug Wright.
"We’re excited to champion this new cohort of bold filmmakers developing their original stories in our January Screenwriters Lab," Satter said. "These 11 fellows will hone their screenwriting skills while immersed in the collaborative creative community we envisioned and established to sustain the future of independent filmmakers."
The lab fellows are Sarah Friedland, Aditi Brennan Kapil, Taylor Sanghyun Lee, Naishe Nyamubaya, Bec Pecaut, Joanna Rothkopf, Philip Thompson, George Watsky, Cecelia Wheeler, Said Zagha, and Renee Zhan.
The Screenwriters Intensive, an online program from March 5-6, supports 13 writers across nine first-feature projects. Fellows include Nicole Daddona and Adam Wilder, Julien Figueroa, Allison Janae Hamilton, Gulet Isse, Daeil Kim and Don Cabreana, Esteban Pedraza, Matthew Rosenbaum and Nicolette Johnson, Samina Saifee, and Sylvie Weber and Anouk Shad. Past intensive alumni feature Reinaldo Marcus Green ("Monsters and Men"), Laurel Parmet ("The Starling Girl"), and Vuk Lungulov-Klotz ("Mutt").
"The artists and projects included in this year’s Screenwriters Intensive comprise an impressively wide range of singular perspectives and storytelling styles," McKimmie said. "What they have in common is unforgettable cinematic vision, and we couldn’t be more excited to support them every step of the way."
For decades, the Feature Film Program has nurtured independent talent. In 2025, directors like Paul Thomas Anderson ("One Battle After Another"), Ryan Coogler ("Sinners"), Chloé Zhao ("Hamnet"), and Nia DaCosta ("Hedda") released films developed at the labs. Notable alumni include Quentin Tarantino ("Reservoir Dogs"), Robert Eggers ("The Witch"), and Gina Prince-Bythewood ("Love & Basketball").
Five program-supported projects will premiere at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival, including Beth de Araújo’s “Josephine” and Walter Thompson-Hernández’s “If I Go Will They Miss Me.” Internationally, Hasan Hadi’s “The President’s Cake” won the Caméra d’Or at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival and served as Iraq’s Oscar submission, while Diego Céspedes’ “The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo” took the Un Certain Regard prize and represented Chile.
