Today the nonprofit Sundance Institute announced the fellows selected for the 2026 Screenwriters Lab and Screenwriters Intensive programs, which foster creativity and bold risk-taking, empower emerging voices, and support the development and launch of their first and second features. Selected from over 3,800 submissions, the 11 Screenwriters Lab fellows will convene in a connected community to work under the guidance of esteemed advisors to develop their original scripts.

The 2026 event will present 45 innovative and pivotal companies, hand-selected by the SXSW Pitch advisory board out of 600 applications, within nine distinct categories to a panel of industry experts, including high-profile media professionals, venture capital investors and angel investors.  

Tony has all but disappeared, hiding from recruiters promising grand NIL deals and more in his tiny, rural Alabama hometown. Walt — along with every other college coach in the country — descends upon the town to find him. 

Corey Cott, who joined the hit NBC police procedural early this season, has been promoted to a series regular.

The nonprofit Sundance Institute today announced the appointment of David Linde as Chief Executive Officer. Linde will assume the role effective on February 17, 2026.

A marquee highlight of the 2026 festival is an intimate celebrity fireside conversation with actor French Stewart and writer/producer Vanessa Claire Stewart, offering rare access to the creative life behind decades of comedy on screen.

Southern Scares is the second feature film put on by director and screenwriter Paul Rowe’s Last Caress Productions, in partnership with producer Andy Carpenter and Trey Walker’s Mud Films. The project debuted on Saturday, Jan. 10, at the Springer Opera House in downtown Columbus, which also happens to be one of the locations featured in the project.