Contrary to what some might say, not all projects that break into any of the Sundance Institute labs make the Advance to GO, collect $200.00 jump into the actual festival. The first project to “graduate” from the 2015 January Screenwriters Lab and break into Sundance would end up being Elizabeth Chomko‘s directorial debut.
Outfitted by a stellar ensemble cast and pre-sold to Bleecker Street, on paper What They Had (read review) might feel like familiar terrain but as Chomko details in an interview (that took place exactly three years) and what was confirmed when we caught the finished product in Park City back in January is that: personal experience does offer guidance in terms of getting the tone precisely right. Here is my interview with the filmmaker.
