Stories drawn from the depths of you.
What is The Storywell?
The Storywell is an educational platform founded by writer and director Zandashé Brown to resource emerging writers and storytellers with the educational, somatic, and practical tools needed to transmute personal experience into creative fiction.
The platform offers live online and in-person workshops, downloadable self-guided workshops and templates, and free weekly content on holistic storytelling practices via Instagram and Substack.
Meet Your Instructor
Zandashé Brown is a storyteller and writer/director born-and-bred in the thinly-veiled womb of southern Louisiana.
As a daughter of the abandoned American South, she blends Black Southern introspection and spirituality with surrealistic horror to tell stories about neglected places and peoples.
Brown is a current SFFilm Rainin Grant Recipient, an alum of the 2024 Film Independent Amplifier Fellowship, the 2022 Sundance Screenwriters Lab and Directors Lab, and of the 2021 Tribeca Chanel Women’s Filmmaker Program.
She was named one of Filmmaker Magazine’s 25 New Faces of Independent Film for 2022. As a film programmer, Zandashé has curated films for the Academy Award-qualifying New Orleans Film Festival since 2019, where she also served as Artist Engagement and Programming Manager. She has designed and led artist development initiatives, including the NOFF Filmmaker Summit, South Summit, and the 2023 Emerging Voices Director’s Lab.
Additionally, she has served as a reader and panelist for national grants, pitch competitions, and creative development labs.
On Spiraling
There are countless bits of wisdom I wish I had been privy to when I first set off on the journey of being an artist. But paramount to almost all of them is the basic understanding of the creative act as a vital means of (self) exploration and excavation.
I have both attended and coordinated dozens of filmmaker panels, webinars, and workshops around the usual topics like pitching, fundraising, festival strategy, and more filled with eager-to-learn, passion-fueled filmmakers like myself who just know that this breakdown of knowledge will be the thing to get them the resources they need to make standout films that will capture the attention of others.
And while all of this is very essential knowledge, thick in the same air of passion and opportunity that imbues these spaces is the unspoken awareness held by some that all the tools in the world cannot remedy a project whose maker is unable to see it.
Artists can become so product-focused that we forget the thing we are making is an extension of ourselves. We are instruments that require care.
Too few of us spend enough time with ourselves exploring the tools we have or the means with which we intend to use them. Instead, we see this as extracurricular esoteric work and choose to simply hammer away, trying to emulate the next person’s creation believing it will bring us the same blessings.
Many of us are reasonably afraid of what we will find if we look inward. Terrified by what horrors we might unearth in pursuit of the gold inside of us. But all of it is worthy, valuable material waiting to be reconstructed and witnessed.
I believe that part of our work is to excavate parts of ourselves and offer them back to the world as stories. To touch hearts and souls that will touch more hearts and souls. To realize ourselves to our fullest potential and help others do the same by inspiring them, affirming them, challenging them, and being a witness to the fullness of this human experience we are on.
The Storywell is my vehicle for sharing what I’ve learned about transmuting personal experience, trauma, curiosity, and observation into fiction that touches hearts and bears witness to our internal and external worlds.
I hope that my offerings can be a resource for your own inward spiral and a gentle roadmap back to the surface.
Happy spiraling 🌀🐚
Zandashé Brown
Founder, The Storywell
What People Are Saying
“You were among a few individuals who helped to shape my project through time spent on mentor calls, reviewing funding applications, decks, pitch materials, and more. After much hard work I am proud to report that Reel South has acquired my film and will broadcast nationally on PBS and their respective platforms for the next three years. Your support is much appreciated, and I wanted to share that I truly feel your impact in shaping this moment.
— Maaliyah
“I have been thinking about your Story Development workshop and how incredibly helpful it was for me. I mentioned it to one of my friends who also attended the BlackStar Seminar at Stanford recently. Thank you for offering such a gift. You helped me to level up my applications which brought a lot of opportunities over the last year and a half. I hope you continue to offer this incredible resource to emerging artists and storytellers.”
— Jahmil
“This year I told myself that I would take any workshop I saw valuable and support other artists as much as I could. Since I've taken your workshop and dug deeper into my obsession and interconnections of my writings, I was shocked to discover my subconscious through my writings. These are my real vulnerable films that I haven't produced yet; and that may be holding me back from a lot.”