Square Peg Social Returns for its Second Edition: Apply Now!
Square Peg Social is a mentorship gathering created and run by Amy Knudsen. It’s an extension of Square Peg, the production company founded in 2019 by Lars Knudsen and Ari Aster, who host the event alongside her. It brings a small group of emerging writer-directors and producers to Austin for several days to spend time with established directors, producers, and executives. There are no awards, no prizes, no pitch sessions, and no promise of development or financing at the end of it. The idea is to give working filmmakers real time with people further along. Just as important is the chance to meet the other emerging directors and producers in the room, people at the same uncertain stage of their own careers.
Square Peg Social is about community. Independent filmmaking is isolating, often demoralizing, and many emerging directors and producers spend years feeling adjacent to the industry rather than part of it. The program exists to close that gap. The strongest evidence that it works showed up after the first edition ended. On their own, the people who attended kept supporting each other. Lars has said the first class “created their own community,” something that went further than he and Amy expected. Nearly 1,800 people applied for the 35 places that first year. That class was a remarkable group, from Eli Raskin, a producer on Doechii’s “Crazy,” to Ivy Freeman-Attwood, who is developing a feature with Riley Keough’s and Donald Glover’s companies. On the established side, last year’s mentors included Searchlight president Matthew Greenfield, A24’s Noah Sacco, and Oscar-winning producer Sara Murphy. This year should bring a similar mix of emerging and established names. Over the next few years, expect to see films born out of relationships that started there.
The second edition runs in Austin from September 17 to 21. It’s open to filmmakers at any stage, from first-time directors to people unsure where to go after making a few features. There is no age limit. To apply, you submit a creative sample, a short and candid letter about who you are and what you want out of the program. Applications close July 17th.
Apply here: https://filmfreeway.com/SquarePegSocial
Hammer to Nail readers get 20% off the application fee with code HammerToNailSPS.
