At a certain point, you have to leap and trust that you can do it and trust that if you've been watching and paying attention to how other folks do this and you're coming into it with empathy and an open heart…

This year is a special one for our Episodic Lab. We have decided to break the wall between our 30 minute Comedy program and our 60 minute Drama program in hopes of creating the most dynamic and contemporary experience possible for our writers.

These were the kind of personal, humane moments we were hoping for when we designed the program to encourage direct conversation between attendees and our guest speakers.

We are always lucky to meet a singular and impressive pool of writers as we consider projects for each program, and this year’s crop of talent creating episodic work is exceptional.

I don’t believe in the tortured artist trope to produce meaningful art. That’s a notion that should be banished forever. To be an artist, you need an intense curiosity, a willingness to empathize and explore darkness, and to just live your life.

When some in the industry continue to insist on the importance of genre and sex and violence as the ingredients needed to find an audience, CODA was an instant crowd-pleaser when it premiered in Sundance’s U.S. Dramatic Competition.