{"id":133266,"date":"2025-11-14T16:50:09","date_gmt":"2025-11-14T16:50:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/133266\/"},"modified":"2025-11-14T16:50:09","modified_gmt":"2025-11-14T16:50:09","slug":"inside-the-first-square-peg-social-how-filmmakers-can-benefit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/133266\/","title":{"rendered":"Inside the First Square Peg Social: How Filmmakers Can Benefit"},"content":{"rendered":"

When filmmaker Alex Bush received their acceptance to Ari Aster<\/a> and Lars Knudsen<\/a>\u2019s Square Peg Social<\/a> (SPS), something shifted.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cJust being accepted felt like a huge weight of confidence,\u201d said Bush, whose short film<\/a> \u201cThaw\u201d premiered at the 2023 Tribeca Film Festival. \u201cIt was really affirming to be spoken to by these people in this way of, \u2018Yeah, so you as someone who\u2019s going to be doing this and who\u2019s already doing this.’\u201d
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You\u2019re already doing this is the shift from feeling adjacent to the industry to being recognized as part of it. That can make SPS sound like ruby slippers \u2014\u00a0You\u2019ve always had the power, my dear!\u00a0
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To the naked eye, they did and do; the 35 selected SPS filmmakers are uncommonly accomplished. Eli Raskin produced Doechii\u2019s Grammy-winning world tour. Haley Johnson recently produced \u201cObsession,\u201d the horror pic that premiered at TIFF and was acquired by Focus Features. Sally Oh won a Grammy for her work on Beyonc\u00e9\u2019s \u201cBlack Is King.\u201d
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Alexandre Singh & Natalie Musteata just won AFI Fest\u2019s Grand Jury Prize for \u201cTwo People Exchanging Saliva,\u201d a short they\u2019re now adapting as their debut feature. Nigerian-American filmmaker Boma Iluma is a director for \u201cThe Chi.\u201d Hawaiian filmmaker Oz Go founded Narrative Lost, a nonprofit studio making socially engaged films; his short \u201cAntyesti\u201d made the rounds with SPS mentors as each asked the other, \u201cHave you seen this?!\u201d
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\u201cRoofman\u201d producer and SPS mentor Alex Orlovsky said the filmmakers\u2019 accomplishments were startling. \u201cThere\u2019s [Jamie Hawkesworth<\/a>]. He\u2019s like, \u201cI made a short film.\u2019 Oh, who shot it? \u2018Robbie Ryan.<\/a>\u2019 I was like, \u2018Oh. How\u2019d you do that?\u2019 \u2018He liked my book of photography.\u2019\u201d
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Orlovsky chuckled. \u201cI said, \u2018Yes, you must be a good photographer.\u2019 And there\u2019s [Wesley Wang<\/a>], who was a senior at Harvard who had made a viral short (\u201cnothing, except everything.<\/a>\u201d) and then had a script, and he\u2019s like, \u2018I got to go back to school.\u2019 Whoa. That\u2019s crazy. But awesome. And I\u2019m super curious to read the guy\u2019s script.\u201d (Take a look at the full list of participants below.)
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However, all of that goes to show at least two things: A significant degree of the event\u2019s success stemmed from Lars and Amy Knudsen\u2019s calibration of who should attend, as filmmakers and mentors, to ensure it held value for everyone. And, impostor syndrome is as universal to the human experience as oxygen. Recognizing that and learning how to move beyond it is essential because,\u00a0as Lars noted in his opening remarks, confidence creates momentum. And momentum makes films.<\/p>\n

\"Cara<\/a> \"Nicolas<\/a> <\/p>\n

What They Came For<\/p>\n

SPS brought 26 writer-directors and 9 producers to Austin in late October for four days with 27 industry mentors. (Mentor list, here<\/a>.) Co-hosted by Square Peg partner Ari Aster and the Knudsens, the event deliberately avoided conventional outcomes: no pitch meetings, no development sessions, no financing goals.
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The gathering challenged what Grant Conversano identified as \u201cthe Sundance myth of \u2018You\u2019re going to submit, then you\u2019re going to get in, and it\u2019s like everything\u2019s on wheels after that,’\u201d a mythology that creates \u201ca certain selfishness.\u201d\u00a0
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Instead, SPS emphasized community over competition. It operated on the theory that bringing together excellent mentors and impressive filmmakers to share the unvarnished good and bad of their experiences would produce its own value. The mentors\u2019 candor about failures, mistakes, and \u201cvery bad experiences\u201d created what participants described as uniquely productive conversations.
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But what did the filmmakers themselves take away? What was worth the application fee and four days in Austin?<\/p>\n

The Price of Entry<\/p>\n

The application fee was $150, although some paid less if they applied earlier. For Joshua Locy, whose his first feature \u201cHunter Gatherer\u201d debuted at SXSW in 2016, the cost felt substantial. \u201cSo many of my shorts, all these things, and they\u2019re all like fucking 70, 80 bucks,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve spent thousands of dollars on submissions with a 10% success rate, something like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Joshua Locy, director of \u2018Hunter Gatherer\u2019 and \u2018Potato Potato.\u2019 Photo: Eric Ogden<\/p>\n

He nearly didn\u2019t apply, but when he saw an extended deadline he thought there was lower interest and he stood a better shot. \u201cI was like, fuck it, I\u2019m going to do it.\u201d (Later, he learned deadline extensions are standard practice.)
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The application itself asked for passion over polish. \u201cThey said, write a cover letter, be passionate. We\u2019re not looking for perfection. And I just fucking unloaded. I didn\u2019t even reread it. I just sent it. It took five minutes to write the letter.\u201d
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Nearly 1,800 people applied. Thirty-five were selected.<\/p>\n

Trust Your Gut (Seriously)<\/p>\n

The advice that landed hardest was often the simplest. \u201cTrust your gut. It\u2019s incredible how often that comes up,\u201d Bush said. \u201cThat\u2019s how a lot of these people who\u2019ve had lasting careers, it seems, operate.\u201d
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Bush described watching their own past work validate this principle: \u201cWhen we look at even the careers we\u2019ve had so far, that\u2019s true. It\u2019s that innate feeling when you\u2019re working on something you\u2019re like, \u2018Oh, there it is.\u2019 Those are the ones that work out. The ones that you kind of force and maybe don\u2019t listen to the gut tension, tend to lead you astray.\u201d
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Bush also emphasized the importance of ensuring everyone involved is \u201ctalking about the same thing\u201d from the beginning, particularly \u201cwhen you\u2019re really getting into the nitty gritty with the more complicated people who are not just in it for the spirit.\u201d
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Translation: Your financier might love your project. They also might also think it\u2019s a completely different movie than the one you\u2019re making. Better to find that out early.<\/p>\n

A Chiropractic Realignment<\/p>\n

For Locy, who has worked in film for 20 years as a commercial production designer, Square Peg Social functioned differently. \u201cFor me, it\u2019s been like a chiropractic realignment,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s just like, \u2018Wait, the things you\u2019re doing are worthy and they\u2019re looking for unique projects.’\u201d
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After years of pitching on IP-based projects that never happened, hearing Searchlight president Matthew Greenfield discuss how decisions actually get made proved revelatory.
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\u201cI take a project to a studio or to my manager, whatever, and I hear things like, \u2018There\u2019s no foreign sales\u2019 or \u2018There\u2019s no value in the actor,\u2019 whatever. So then I think my problem is foreign sales.\u201d
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But Greenfield reframed it entirely: \u201cWe think that their brains are operating on spreadsheets, but they\u2019re reacting humanly and viscerally to what they\u2019re hearing. And maybe at some point that gets trickled down to us as foreign sales but he\u2019s saying, \u2018No, it\u2019s not about that.\u2019\u201d
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The insight shifted Locy\u2019s entire approach. \u201cI don\u2019t need to worry about fucking foreign sales. I don\u2019t need to worry about algorithms that decide what a value of a project is. I need to worry about my voice and the story I\u2019m trying to tell. That\u2019s what\u2019s important.\u201d
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Which is both liberating and terrifying. Because it means the work is actually about the work.<\/p>\n

Just Make the Thing, but Smart<\/p>\n

Brothers Grant and Adam Conversano arrived feeling the uncertainty many emerging filmmakers share about traditional paths. \u201cI think people are collectively feeling like that old path is disappearing,\u201d Grant said. \u201cAnd I think what\u2019s been great about this weekend is it\u2019s presenting a road forward for people in our generation. We\u2019re just forging ahead and doing it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Grant and Adam Conversano. Photo: Eric Ogden<\/p>\n

They brought with them advice from filmmaker Ira Sachs, who had seen their short film: \u201cYou don\u2019t need to get into another lab, you need to find a producer. You get a budget, you get an actor. Do not waste your time for a year applying to applications and waiting around. You need a producer, an actor, and some money. And if it\u2019s not a lot of money, do that. But don\u2019t sit around waiting.\u201d
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That urgency \u2014 just make the thing! \u2014 came with crucial caveats about sustainable budgets. As Grant noted, \u201cThe story and the scope of the project has to match the resources. I\u2019ve worked on features where they may be trying to do too much for too little and just driving people into the ground. And that\u2019s not great for anyone. I think that people don\u2019t want to do that anymore.\u201d
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The Conversanos also valued what Adam called \u201cmentorship and face-to-face passing of experience and information that\u2019s only possible. Mentorship is just another layer of encouragement and belief that you can do this: \u2018I\u2019ve done this and I\u2019ll support you through that.’\u201d
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Keep Writing (Even When Nothing\u2019s Getting Made)\u00a0
Grant Conversano took away the importance of \u201cjust keep writing and not get too concerned with when any particular script is getting made. Hearing Ari say \u2018I had four or five scripts I\u2019ve been working on for years before he even got Hereditary made\u2019 was big.\u201d
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He also emphasized starting wherever possible: \u201cIf you don\u2019t know a lot of people and you feel like the industry\u2019s really far away, just start somewhere. I started as an extra, then worked as a PA. You have to be useful to other people for some amount of time and put in the time. We\u2019ve been working for 10 years, just to be clear.\u201d<\/p>\n

Everyone\u2019s Starting Over<\/p>\n

Perhaps most telling was Locy\u2019s observation about finding common ground across experience levels: \u201cYou kind of always have to start over. You always have to reinvent yourself. I made \u2014 for the first time in my life, really \u2014 a short film last year where I was like, I have to make something. I have to pierce through this diaphragm somehow.\u201d
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He continued: \u201cI may have more contacts and networks and this or that, but at the end of the day, we\u2019re all just trying to make our movie and it\u2019s impossible until it\u2019s not.\u201d
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That impossibility fuels what Locy described as essential: \u201cThere\u2019s a certain mental severity, I guess. This clarity and severity and focus that wanes and waxes as good news, bad news happens, or money is here, money is gone. It is just like life happens that hope and faith that comes and goes.\u201d
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When asked if he\u2019d ever reached a point where he\u2019d consider giving up on features, Locy was definitive: \u201cI don\u2019t know what that means. There\u2019s no way I could live my life without the hope of making something.\u201d
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Locy also described what drove him to make his first film over a decade ago: \u201c\u2018No one\u2019s ever done this movie before. This has never existed before and it\u2019s going to exist.\u2019 That was enough.\u201d
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It\u2019s still enough.<\/p>\n

What It Actually Bought<\/p>\n

What Square Peg Social offered wasn\u2019t formulas or shortcuts, but something more fundamental: confirmation that the struggle is shared, that intuition matters, that starting over is normal, and that the community exists if you can find it.\u00a0
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As Bush put it, the goal was understanding \u201chow development is really working and how relationships are really built that lead to that type of work\u201d and \u201cto feel like we\u2019re in this together and we can keep helping each other and really set those relationships.\u201d
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The $150 bought entry to that conversation. What filmmakers took away was permission to trust themselves within it. And in an industry that often runs on desperation, that shift from fear to momentum might be the most practical tool there is.<\/p>\n

Producers<\/p>\n

Alex Bendo
A New York\u2013based producer whose films have screened at Cannes, Berlin, and Telluride, Bendo is launching his company Endangered Species with projects backed by NEON and Spike Lee.
Eli Raskin
A 2022 Sundance Fellow and 2025 Rotterdam Lab participant, Raskin has produced award-winning work across film, television, and music, including Blue Sun Palace and Doechii\u2019s Grammy-winning world tour.
Haley Johnson
Johnson recently produced Obsession, which premiered in TIFF\u2019s Midnight Madness program, marking a breakout in her genre-driven producing career.
Harris Mayersohn
The LA- and Brooklyn-based writer-producer behind Dogma 3000, Mayersohn\u2019s credits span The Late Show with Stephen Colbert to Rap World, with coverage in The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, and Vulture.
Ivy Freeman-Attwood
Under her Silkscreen banner, Freeman-Attwood produced Two Neighbors (Edinburgh 2025) and is developing The Dispute with Riley Keough\u2019s Felix Culpa and Donald Glover\u2019s Gilga.
Kenza Berrada Amor
A Moroccan filmmaker and AFI alum, Berrada Amor explores history and memory in her work; she\u2019s currently developing Hounds, a neo-noir thriller set on the night of Princess Diana\u2019s fatal crash.
Sally Oh
A Grammy winner for Beyonc\u00e9\u2019s Black Is King, Oh produced the Cannes-lauded Blue Sun Palace and Sundance winner Trokas Duras, bridging narrative film, music, and live performance.
Shao Min Chew Chia
Singaporean writer-director-producer and Mid-Autumn founder, Chia is a Sundance and Film Independent Fellow producing Loved One and Soil, while developing films that explore empathy and cultural memory.
Yona Strauss
An alum of the Sundance Producers Lab, Strauss produced Dead Lover (Sundance, SXSW, TIFF Midnight Madness) and Infinity Pool, with new projects Mizeria and Mano a Mano in the works.<\/p>\n

Writers \/ Directors<\/p>\n

Adam & Grant Conversano
North Carolina\u2013born brothers and Vimeo Staff Pick honorees, the Conversanos are developing their first feature following their award-winning short Summer\u2019s End.
Alex Bush
A filmmaker exploring identity and transformation, Bush\u2019s short Thaw premiered at Tribeca 2023; their first feature is in development with Antigravity Academy and Unapologetic Projects.
Alexander Thompson
Thompson\u2019s Em & Selma Go Griffin Hunting premiered at Sundance 2025; he\u2019s now developing features with Phoenix Pictures and Armory Films.
Alexandre Singh & Natalie Musteata
This Franco-Indian and Romanian-American duo\u2014named to Filmmaker Magazine\u2019s \u201c25 New Faces of Independent Film\u201d\u2014won AFI Fest\u2019s Grand Jury Prize for Two People Exchanging Saliva, now being adapted as their debut feature.
Andrew Ondrejcak
A multidisciplinary artist merging design and cinema, Ondrejcak\u2019s films like The Actress reflect a background that spans opera, Herm\u00e8s fashion shows, and performance installations at the Met.
Boma Iluma
The Nigerian-American filmmaker behind Comfort (Tribeca) and The Chi directs across film, fashion, and television; he\u2019s a Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree developing his first feature, Bako Removal.
Christine Yuan
An Emmy-winning director whose work blends intimacy and visual precision, Yuan\u2019s films have screened at Cannes and Marfa.
Conor McCormick
Irish filmmaker McCormick\u2019s acclaimed shorts Beautiful Youth and Bunker Baby established his reputation for lyrical storytelling; he\u2019s now developing his first feature.
Dezi Gallegos
Currently Director of Development at Proximity Media (Creed III), Gallegos\u2019 debut feature Obie and the Specter builds on his Nicholl-honored screenwriting and Proximity credits.
Henry & Oliver Bernsen
The Bernsen brothers\u2019 debut feature Bagworm (Sitges 2025) follows a string of genre shorts exploring the surreal and macabre sides of human experience.
Jamie Hawkesworth
The celebrated photographer behind The British Isles and campaigns for Vogue and McQueen brought his quiet, observational style to short films like Marmalade.
Joshua Locy
Locy\u2019s 2016 debut Hunter Gatherer debuted at SXSW and earned Spirit Award recognition; after a stint writing on HBO\u2019s The Righteous Gemstones, he\u2019s preparing his second feature, Body Blow.
Lucy Knox
An Australian Directors Guild Award winner, Knox\u2019s short films have screened at Berlinale, Palm Springs, and MoMA, and are distributed by the Criterion Collection.
Matthew Saville
The New Zealand writer-director of Juniper\u2014one of Rotten Tomatoes\u2019 Top 100 Films of 2023\u2014is developing The Frogman, inspired by his Telluride short Dive.
Michael Godere
An actor turned writer-director, Godere co-wrote and starred in Loitering with Intent; his short Buick marks a return to personal, character-driven filmmaking.
Nathan Ginter
Winner of Neon x Kodak\u2019s Short Film Contest for Steak Dinner, Ginter crafts surreal, genre-tinged stories grounded in emotion and absurdity.
Neil Ferron
Seattle-born Ferron\u2019s Fishmonger\u2014a surreal dark comedy and Slamdance Grand Prize winner\u2014has been described as \u201chorrific and funny\u201d in equal measure.
Oz Go
Hawaiian filmmaker and activist Go founded Narrative Lost, a nonprofit studio making socially engaged films; his short Antyesti exemplifies his commitment to storytelling as service.
Pepi Ginsberg
A musician-turned-filmmaker, Ginsberg\u2019s WassupKaylee (SXSW 2025) and Cannes-premiering The Pass earned her multiple festival honors and a place on the 2025 Hamptons Screenwriting Lab roster.
Rachel Dunkel
Dunkel\u2019s irreverent, emotionally fearless voice bridges comedy and tragedy; a recent USC MFA graduate, she\u2019s represented by Lighthouse Management & Media.
Sam Mandich
A filmmaker and dancer from Long Beach, Mandich\u2019s visually poetic films Jia and Angels explore identity and belonging through movement and intimacy.
So Young Shelly Yo
A BAFTA Breakthrough honoree, Yo\u2019s debut Smoking Tigers won multiple Tribeca awards and cemented her as one of indie film\u2019s most distinctive emerging voices.
Wesley Wang
The Harvard-based writer-director behind nothing, except everything, now being adapted at TriStar with Darren Aronofsky. Wang\u2019s next project, you are seen, is backed by Blumhouse\u2019s Couper Samuelson.
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