Sundance Institute Names 2026 Episodic Intensive Fellows

The Sundance Institute has named the writers involved in its latest Episodic Intensive program.

The institute runs two Episodic programs each year; in May, it named the ten fellows for its 2026 Episodic Lab program that took place in Georgia.

Now, it has ten more fellows for its virtual program, which takes place on August 20 and 21.

They are Christin Campbell Lisa Corn, Daphne Di Cinto, Grant Fortune, Courtney Graham, Caia Lee, Alejandra Lopez, Ssuuna McKitty, Francesco Staluppi and Daud Sumolang.

This year’s creative advisors were Katherine DiSavino (Silo), Tash Gray (Snowfall), Tasha Huo (The Mighty Nein), Don Joh (Sugar), Jeff Melvoin (Killing Eve), Kira Snyder (The Handmaid’s Tale), Brandon Sonnier (Boston Blue), Tatiana Suarez-Pico (Invasion), and Marcie Ulin (The Flight Attendant).

The fellows are working on the projects below:

Christin Campbell with The Visitation: In this Southern mystery with a sci-fi twist, tensions rise in a small Bible Belt community when faced with the appearance of mysterious lights in the sky, the strange disappearance of a local sweetheart, and the possible connection between them.

Lisa Corn with Ugly Sister: Disillusioned by her dead-end job and crushing debt, a truck inspector is lured into the world of interstate smuggling, where the promise of quick money collides with the burden of caring for her addicted, grieving sister.

Daphne Di Cinto with The Moor: When the Medici dynasty remains without a legitimate heir, Alessandro, secret son of the pope and a servant of African descent, becomes their best hope for succession. However, claiming his birthright means surviving the Renaissance’s most ruthless rival — his own family, who refuse to accept him. A true story.

Grant Fortune and Ssuuna McKitty with Heavy is the Crown: When a prominent New Orleans socialite family is thrust into the center of a deadly conspiracy, a decorated Haitian American Olympian and her estranged fashion mogul brother are forced to confront the secrets that fractured their crumbling empire before their family’s legacy — and lives — are destroyed from within.

Courtney Graham with Nobody’s Horses: After 122 wild horses mysteriously die on a military base, a disgraced veterinarian is pulled into an impossible mission: Rescue the remaining herds before the NATO Games. Battling addiction, media scrutiny, and a military cover-up, he risks everything for a shot at redemption.

Caia Lee with Skullcrusher: In early 2000s Los Angeles, a single mother working in Hollywood’s adult entertainment industry searches for her missing friend after police dismiss the case. Her investigation leads to a high-end underground club and a deadly conspiracy linking powerful real estate developers to disappearances across the city.

Alejandra López with The 51st State: In the not-too-distant future, where Puerto Rico has become the 51st U.S. state, we follow the first Puerto Rican senator, tasked with containing a resistance group on the island who have been perpetrating a series of attacks aimed at inciting a revolution and, ultimately, secession.

Francesco Staluppi with With Blades of Iron: After Norse invaders shatter her tribe and butcher her father, an Indigenous huntress leads a war of annihilation to erase them from her homeland, bringing her on a collision course with a merciless Viking shield-maiden equally committed to securing the land for her exiled war band.

Daud Sumolang with Blood and Wax: In 1920s Java, a Chinese Indonesian girl sacrifices herself into marriage to save her family, only to discover that survival in a gilded cage requires her to master the dangerous arts of seduction and betrayal, while revolutionizing the batik trade and guarding a forbidden love that could destroy her.