Telling the Story of Your Creative Work
This workshop is designed to help filmmakers write about their projects in a way that lands with grant readers, labs, and institutions. We’ll sharpen your narrative voice within the application itself.
Featuring case studies drawn from successful applications to prominent institutional programs, this 90-minute virtual workshop focuses on how to translate your project proposal or work-in-progress into language that immerses the reader in the world of your story while also positioning you as a unique and capable vessel for the work.
From the perspective of a festival programmer, grant reader, and participant of programs such as the Sundance Writers and Directors Lab, Tribeca Through Her Lens Program, Film Independent Amplifier Fellowship, SF Film Rainin Grant, and more, we’ll discuss:
Core components of project applications
What makes a project stand out
How to use your application to demonstrate your storytelling capabilities
Common misconceptions about what gets accepted
Juggling applications, time management, and more
This is a live session with time reserved for Q&A, so you can get your specific questions answered. The workshop will be recorded and shared with all registrants. One participating attendee will also be selected to receive a free scholarship to the Excavate the Wound series in the fall of 2026.
This workshop is offered on a sliding scale to balance accessibility with the labor and expertise involved in teaching these tools; the higher tiers help sustain my work and make lower-cost access possible for others. Please pay what you can afford.
Meet Your Facilitator
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 recent 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.