Vermont Filmmaker Sean Kirby Selected as Stowe Story Labs' Production Track Fellow with Feature Project I AM MY DOMAIN
Stowe Story Labs is pleased to announce that the 2026 Production Track Fellowship has been awarded to Vermont-based screenwriter and director of photography Sean Kirby with his drama feature I AM MY DOMAIN.
Here is the logline for the story: 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 to develop both the script and skills to help get the project made and seen.
Sean has recently completed Stowe’s summer Writers’ Retreat, and Andrew will take part in Stowe’s Producers’ Lab later this year to advance 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 all 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 immediately made a promise to myself to tell his story,” said writer/director Sean Kirby. “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. It was an immense honor to participate in the Stowe Writers’ Retreat and I am 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,” said David Rocchio, Founder and Director of Stowe Story Labs. “We are excited 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.
Read more about Stowe’s Fellowship and Scholarship Program here.
Stowe will support Sean and the production team as they continue to develop the film. You can learn more about the project and make a tax deductible donation to the project here.
ABOUT SEAN
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 and 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 previously been recognized as one of Filmmaker Magazine’s list of “25 New Faces of Independent Film.” He lives on an off-grid farm in Southern Vermont.
ABOUT ANDREW MCKEE
After a 14-year career 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 associate 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 associate producer on the feature documentary Show Me the Line, which made its world premiere at Bentonville Film Festival in June.
ABOUT STOWE STORY LABS
Founded in 2013, 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 these efforts bend the world a bit through story. To date, Stowe has supported artists from 45 states and 25 countries and runs programs in the U.S., Canada, the UK, and the EU.
