Andrea Ellsworth This month Filmmaker is publishing diaries from writers and directors who attended the 2025 Sundance Institute Directors Lab. First up is Andrea Ellsworth, who traveled to the Lab with The Dispute, co-written with Kasey Elise Walker (whose diary can be found here). Here’s the description: “Down on their luck and desperate for more, two best friends from South Central take a chance encounter as an invitation to trade their dead-end lives in Los Angeles for something new. When chaos ensues during their seemingly lucrative adventure, they realize the true cost of their actions..” A complete list of Sundance Labs participants can be found here. — Editor
“Embrace failure; you’re not here to get it right. You’re here to learn,” shouted Gyula Gazdag, beloved creative director of the Sundance Directors Lab, with such conviction that his full head of snow-white hair shook. In that moment, I took a deep breath and set an intention to let go of any ideas I had about how this “should” go and fall into the gentle masterclass ahead of me, like many of the directors who had come through the lab before me. As a perfectionist and first-time director, I thought it would be impossible to embrace acceptance and curiosity around failure. But somehow, over the last two weeks, it happened—and so did two scenes from the film I wrote. I can now officially call myself a director.
The lab kicked off on June 2nd with a workshop led by the incomparable Joan Darling. Streaming live from the east coast, wearing funky circular shades with decadent spirals across her temples, a fabulous Joan schooled us on how to direct actors. As an actor myself I found it so satisfying—objectives, given circumstances, relaxation, personalization—I felt right at home. Each fellow both acted in another fellow’s scene and directed two people from the group in the very same scene. The given scene was generic and open to interpretation; apparently nothing was off the table. “Do whatever you want,” Joan told us. Kathleen Broyles, head of local casting for the Institute, said that in all of her years participating in the Directors Lab she had never seen anyone with the take on the scene that I suggested. This made me really excited, since originality is very important to my language as a filmmaker and artist—and something that I wanted to fearlessly exercise at the lab. I checked with my co director, Kasey, to see if she’d be open to reimagining the scene as I had envisioned it and she was game. We had our actors perform the scene in reverse and it worked perfectly. That day, Kasey and I also learned that we made history as the first ever co-director, co-star duo to come through the lab. Wow.
One exercise that was especially illuminating for me was a workshop led by Gyula—who I later came to refer to as “Gyu Gyu” (pronounced Juju)—in which we showcased film clips that we had watched, analyzed and storyboarded ahead of the lab. We played our scenes for one another and discussed the storytelling mechanisms present in each clip. I loved seeing the films my peers had chosen as each person’s clip perfectly reflected their personality. Mine came from The Florida Project by Sean Baker, but some of the others included Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind by Michel Gondry, 35 Shots of Rum by Claire Denis, Jungle Fever by Spike Lee and The Conformist by Bernardo Bertolucci. This short film analysis exercise got our wheels turning for what came next—Osso Buco, an exercise where we would direct and edit a scene within six hours. The nature of this project requires flexibility, confidence and a nimble attitude. The next day everyone’s Osso Buco scenes were screened, and I was so incredibly inspired and impressed by what the other fellows had created in so little time. The humor, creativity and skills of my peers got me excited to jump into scenes from my own film.
Day one of filming turned out to be very exhausting—acting, writing, and directing is no joke. But Gemma Doll-Grossman, our unbelievably playful and generous DP, was game for anything, which made it easy to stay committed to this idea of learning and failing rather than perfecting. When we got to the edit bay to meet our phenomenal editor, Arielle Zakowski, even more magic emerged—magic I couldn’t have foreseen. It was clear that everyone was collaborating at a very high level. I took note of a few things that I wanted to renegotiate around workflow and coverage for scene two, but all in all we were able to cut an extremely evocative and colorful scene, which immediately made me more secure in my filmmaking abilities. A sudden sense that I was now prepared to co-direct my film overcame me. The more I sat watching Arielle move pieces of the scene around as April Yang (our assistant editor) stood by pulling sounds to imbue the world with personality, the more excited I became about making the actual film. Kasi Lemmons, Ed Harris, Amy Vincent and Karyn Kusama frequently visited our set on day one of shooting, providing powerful guidance and suggestion. Their food for thought challenged and empowered us all at once, and the scene which emerged from their notes reflected this. Validation is absolutely not the point, but seeing Michelle, Kasi, Amy and Ed’s reactions to what we created made me so proud of our work together.
Our second day of filming demanded a lot from us. We were directing a break-up scene between our two lead characters, the friends at the center of our movie, and there was a lot of yelling. We were mostly on a handheld camera on a shoulder mount and the elements were reactive. We had to take a 30-minute lightning break, which we used to watch playback and circle additional takes. Jason Reitman, Rick Famuyiwa and Joi McMillon were instrumental in helping us mold this scene, constantly challenging us to think outside the box and consider how the coverage we were getting would impact our edit the next day. They encouraged us to think about the size of the shot and how this related to the POV of the scene and story we wished to tell. This day hadn’t gone as smoothly as I had wanted, but I was hopeful that there would be a chance for redemption in the edit. Sure enough, with Gemma’s flawless execution of the shots and Arielle’s undeniable editing skills a truly heartbreaking scene was born. The response from everyone at the lab—crew, fellows and staff alike—was overwhelming. Repeatedly hearing “I am so excited for you to make this movie” gave me a renewed surge of energy. Often we hear the adage “writing is rewriting,” but with this scene I discovered that the whole process of filmmaking, from directing through the edit, is rewriting, and while nervewracking there’s something beautifully empowering about that.
In the last couple of days, the schedule eased up and I was able to take a hike with most of the other fellows. We bonded, took silly photos atop a mountain and fawned over a 360 view of the magically green Estes Park, Colorado—a place that will forever mean so much to me. One of the other fellows had mentioned that directors never have the opportunity to rehearse in the way we had at the Directors Lab, and I feel so grateful for the chance to have had that, especially for my first time directing. It truly felt like an accelerated graduate program.
I did not know I could learn so quickly. I did not know I could love so quickly. I didn’t know that I’d leave this program with 100 new friendships that feel more familial than professional. I didn’t know that Michelle Satter, Ilyse McKimmie and the Sundance Institute could give me even more than they had offered in January at the Screenwriters Lab. I didn’t know that it could get exponentially better. Here, you clarify your directorial voice, you give way to your artistry and you make lifelong friends—Alexandra Qin, Chloe Sarbib, Diffan Norman, Leo Aguirre, Lana Wilson, Chheangkea leng, Kasey Elise Walker, Kawennáhere Devery Jacobs. I am eternally indebted to the Sundance Institute and can’t wait to return as an advisor and, even more ambitiously, a donor. The truth is, if I had the freedom, courage and support I have when in union with Sundance in my day-to-day life, there’d be absolutely nothing I couldn’t accomplish. I’m so honored to be a part of the history of the Sundance Institute; it is a great achievement and privilege of my career as a filmmaker and artist. Not only do you leave here with tangible filmmaking tools, but you leave with a series of voices ringing in your head, which feed the courage, endurance and faith to finish what you began.