Stowe Launches Producers Lab
FOUNDER DAVID POPE DISCUSSES HIS JOURNEY AND STOWE’S VISION FOR THE INAUGURAL LAB
By Marian Cook
David Pope opens an addition of Stowe’s Narrative Lab.
When you ask Stowe alumni about their favorite aspects of the labs and retreats, there’s one name that’s always at the forefront: David Pope, Stowe Story Labs co-founder, mentor extraordinaire, screenwriter, and script consultant. His presentations, cheat sheets, exercises, and more are often described as exhilarating and transparent, and his personality charming and altruistic.
So when Stowe’s inaugural Producers Lab was announced last month, it was only fitting that David Pope lead it, especially with twelve years of consultant and moderator experience at the Rotterdam Lab at the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR Pro) and several script consultations under his belt, including for Academy and BAFTA-nominated producers, screenwriters, and projects.
But getting to this point in his life was not a straight shot, as it never really is. After graduating with an English degree, he began directing theater. Gradually, though, he began to feel a pull back to writing.
“The way that happened, really, was that the industry told me what they wanted me to do. As a freelancer, your eye tends to move to that which you’re getting paid for,” David said.
So he began writing scripts and working as a script consultant, but acutely aware that he needed more film experience. That changed, though, when he landed first assistant director positions at BBC and MTV, among others. “That was my film school essentially,” David stated.
From there, things took off. He was hired for several rewrites and commission-based writing, directed a low-budget feature, taught classes at London Film Academy and London University, and was invited to Poland’s New Horizon Studio and the Rotterdam Lab (where he was plucked to be a contributor after his first year as a participant), among others. In his free time, which became more and more rare as he was asked to contribute to 3-4 workshops each year, he worked on personal, drama and thriller-based TV pilots and features.
“I never set out to do any kind of training work, but it was one of those things where I got offered quite a lot of it,” David explained.
David Pope gives a presentation on subtext.
Then, while leading a pitching workshop at the Cannes Film Festival, he met David Rocchio, where an instant friendship was struck and the importance of community among writers was a shared interest. By chance, they met again at IFFR, where Rocchio was a participant at CineMart, and that’s when Rocchio pitched Stowe Story Labs to Pope. It didn’t take long for Pope to jump on board, especially with a backdrop as enticing as Vermont.
“If I get the sense that the filmmakers I’m working with are finding what we’re doing useful, then that’s rewarding to me. I’m a big believer in community, that’s what people can get huge value from: peer relationships. And meeting like-minded people and talking about stories all day, well that’s a good thing for me,” Pope stated.
With Pope at the helm, the inaugural Producers Lab strikes a similar chord. This four-day lab, designed for emerging producers who are looking to produce a micro-to-low budget feature film, focuses on pitching and packaging, financing, sales and distribution, and other aspects of producing, but with the ultimate goal of helping participants hone their creative vision, market knowledge, practical skills, leadership, but most of all gain confidence and build connections.
Pope summed it up succinctly: “We already work with a lot of stellar independent producers as mentors, and the Labs have been going on for ten years, so there’s a lot of projects that are coming through. So to help join up the dots in the independent producing community and the screenwriting community, the Producers Lab is a build on that.”
At the onset of the idea, the Davids asked themselves two questions, ones they use to evaluate all their programs: “would we do the program and will it be useful?” Having successfully navigated the pandemic, there was no question it could be done, but would it fit into Stowe’s portfolio and what would set it apart from other producing workshops?
“Because there’s no point in replicating what other programs are already doing successfully. You have to think very specifically about who you’re doing this for and what’s your place in the landscape. So for example, the Rotterdam Lab is very international, with a focus on co-production, and the MEGA program in Spain was a one year Master's program. The Stowe Producers Lab has to do with low budget, independent projects; producers on their first or second feature; or current members of the community who may be interested in developing as producers,” Pope explained.
For Pope, aside from helping emerging filmmakers master their technical and creative skills, one of the most satisfying things about the Labs is supporting diverse stories and voices. He stated, “I think we’ve managed through the fellowships, as a non-publicly funded body that’s not part of a film festival, to support underrepresented voices and help them make their way with their work. And I’m very proud we’ve been able to do that with the resources we have.”
“I am excited to launch this next program,” said Stowe Founder and Director David Rocchio. “We have grown organically over the years to serve our community of writers and filmmakers, and getting the works made is the logical next step. We look forward to helping develop the skills required to take these fine works out into the world and see them produced,” he said. “Mr. Pope is the right person to help us do that.”
Rocchio and Pope take in the landscape.
Marian Cook is a former journalist, Stowe Story Labs staff member, and current USC student pursuing an MFA in directing. She’s been published over a dozen times, covering topics from local news to federal healthcare legislation. Although she loves the world of journalism, having done documentaries on a range of topics from plastic surgery to segregation in the church, her real passion lies in narrative film. She one day hopes to be a writer-director and tell strong, female-led stories, especially that of Latinas. When she’s not filming, she likes to explore, listen to blues and jazz, brush up on her French, and absorb everything science fiction related. Learn more at http://mariandcook.weebly.com/. At Stowe Story Labs, Marian assists with all aspects of operations, writes for the newsletter, and assists with research and writing to support fundraising and communications about programs.
