Vermont Filmmaker Sean Kirby Wins Stowe’s Production Track Fellowship
Vermont-based screenwriter and director of photography Sean Kirby is the recipient of the 2026 Production Track Fellowship with his drama feature I AM MY DOMAIN:
In 1964, Vermont dairy farmer Romaine Tenney tragically struggles to maintain his traditional existence as the construction of the interstate highway tears through the land he loves.
Emerging creative producer Andrew McKee is funding the Production Track Fellowship. The Fellowship is designed to pair an emerging creative producer with an emerging screenwriter so both can build skills and get the project made and seen. The program is aligned with Stowe’s mission to help emerging artists bend the world through story.
As Sean will participate in Stowe’s early summer Writers’ Retreat, Andrew will take part in Stowe’s Producers’ Lab later this year with I AM MY DOMAIN.
“I want to congratulate Sean on his outstanding screenplay,” said Andrew McKee. “Sean has a deep conviction to tell Romaine's story. The script captures a very local struggle in 1960s rural Vermont, and manages to speak directly to contemporary issues. I am excited to support Sean and his project. Finally, I had the privilege to read several compelling screenplays throughout the selection process, and I want to congratulate the other screenwriters. I wish them the best of luck with their outstanding projects,” he said.
“When I first read of Romaine Tenney’s resistance, I was overcome with emotion and made a promise to myself to tell his story,” said Sean Kirby, writer & director. “Romaine’s legacy is filled with courage, community, joy and loss; a man with deep intelligence, who wrestled with losing everything he loves as the construction of an Interstate tore through his heart. I am immensely honored and excited to be working with Andrew, the Stowe Story Labs team, and my Executive Producer, Smriti Keshari, to bring I AM MY DOMAIN to the screen,” he said.
“This tragic and heroic story is folklore in Vermont. It has been in my head since childhood,” said David Rocchio, Founder and Director of Stowe Story Labs. “I was so pleased when Andrew chose this project for the fellowship, and keep in mind wonderful applications came in from around the world. We are honored to help Sean develop the story. I also want to thank Andrew for sponsoring the fellowship, and we look forward to helping him build his skills to support the production,” he said.
Stowe will support Sean and the production team as they continue to develop the film. Read more about Stowe’s Fellowship and Scholarship Program here.
ABOUT SEAN
Vermont Filmmaker Sean Kirby.
Sean Kirby is an award-winning director of photography working in both fiction and non-fiction. One of his first films, Police Beat, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival was called "sensationally beautiful" (Variety). It is now part of the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art. The documentary Zoo premiered at Sundance and went on to play at the Cannes Film Festival in Director’s Fortnight. It was named by Filmmaker Magazine as “One of the Top 25 Independent Films of the Decade.” His other credits include Suburban Fury, Lovely, Still and the episodic documentary Five Came Back(produced by Steven Spielberg, Scott Rudin and John Battsek). Sean has also made Filmmaker Magazine’s list of “25 New Faces of Independent Film.” He lives on an off-grid farm in Southern Vermont.
ABOUT STOWE STORY LABS
Now in its fourteenth year, Stowe Story Labs is a Vermont-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to helping top emerging and established screenwriters, filmmakers, and creative producers get work made and seen. It does this through labs, retreats, workshops, online writing programs, one-on-one mentorship, fiscal sponsorship, market experience programs, advanced development support, and production grants. Stowe’s mission is to help artists from all backgrounds develop skills and projects and through that work to bend the world through story. It has worked with artists from 45 states and 25 countries (so far).
ABOUT ANDREW MCKEE
After 14 years working in finance in New York, Andrew began to pivot into film production last year to pursue a lifelong passion for film and narrative storytelling. As Andrew works to develop his own film slate, he has been engaged across a handful of different film projects. He is Assistant Producer on a feature film nearing pre-production, is developing a dramatic thriller screenplay with an LA-based writer and seeking a co-producer for that film, provides script coverage for an established production company, and is supporting fundraising and assisting in the production of a feature documentary making its world premiere at Bentonville Film Festival in June.
