by
April S. Chang, a Los Angeles-based producer who grew up in Gwinnett County, was one of 11 producers chosen to participate in this year’s Sundance Institute Producers Lab.
The Producers Lab, which took place July 14-19 for fiction films and July 19-24 for nonfiction films in Wyoming, kicks off a yearlong fellowship for the chosen producers as they work on their respective feature-length projects, according to a press release. Chang and producing partner Vicki Syal’s chosen project is “Dying is Fine,” which is about a suicidal woman whose worries disappear when she finds out she is dying of brain cancer.
Chang said the Sundance Institute reached out to her encouraging her to apply for the Producers Lab earlier this year after a short film that she and Syal worked on played at the 2025 festival. Chang wanted to apply, but first, she needed a script.
“I was looking for something that could be made independently,” Chang said about looking for a script for the lab. “I was looking for something that I knew that I liked enough to work on for many, many years.”
Chang, who serves as the manager of Creative and Talent Development at Rideback Rise, found the script from her coworker, Caroline Rugo. To direct, she brought on filmmaker Ran Ran Wang. In mid-July, Chang and Syal attended the lab in Wyoming, coming back to their team with creative questions to help guide the film along.
“We have communicated those notes to Caroline and Ran, and we discussed them,” Chang said. “Caroline’s now going to rewrite, with the goal of having a script that we can take out starting at the end of this year.”
As of now, the goal is to fundraise for the first two quarters of next year and shoot by the spring of 2027.
Chang attended Buford High School and originally wanted to major in English at New York University. But one summer, her best friend asked her if she wanted to apply to be an extra on the set of “Insurgent,” which was filming in Atlanta. Chang was a huge fan of the books and applied with her friend. They made the cut.
The two were only 17 years old, so their mothers had to be on set with them for the duration of the shoot. The experience of being on a film set blew Chang’s mind.
“I literally thought the [production assistant]was the coolest person ever, because they had a walkie-talkie,” she said. “I was really naive, and I had no idea what I was walking into at all.”
She might not have known what she was getting herself into, but she knew she wanted to be a part of it. She applied to NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, where she graduated with a BFA in Film and Television. She didn’t want to write or direct, but producing was calling her name.
Read in full at RoughDraft Atlanta
Used with permission. Follow RoughDraft Atlanta here.
