Breakthroughs: The Sloan Science on Screen Programme
Returning for a second year, the Sloan Science on Screen Programme puts science in the spotlight at TIFF and equips screen creators with industry connections and creative support to strengthen and highlight their feature-length projects about science and technology.
Funding for this programme is provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation’s Public Understanding of Science and Technology program, which supports books, radio, film, television, theatre, and new media to reach a wide, non-specialized audience and to bridge the two cultures of science and the humanities.
Supported by
- campaignProject Pitch
- groupsWriter Fellowship
- videocamFilm Showcase
Sloan Science and Technology Project Pitch
Applications are now open!
The Sloan Science and Technology Project Pitch gives four Canadian and international creators the opportunity to pitch their feature film or episodic project — featuring science and/or technology themes and/or characters — at the 50th Toronto International Film Festival.
Each participant will deliver a maximum 15-minute presentation in front of a live audience and panel of producers, sales agents, and decision-makers.
What’s included
- $15,000 CAD award to further develop selected projects
- Mentorship from an expert pitch coach
- Project feedback from a panel of industry professionals
- Participation in a pitch event at the 50th Toronto International Film Festival
- Access to the 50th Toronto International Film Festival, TIFF’s Industry Conference, Business Centre, and Delegate Resources
- Membership to TIFF Talent alumni network
Eligibility
- Open to Canadian and international creators with a minimum of two short-film credits or one feature-film/series credit, as a writer or writer-director
- Narrative project must focus on science and/or technology themes and/or characters
- Only one submission per applicant will be considered
- Documentary projects are not eligible
Application requirements
- Filmography (project title, year, roles, festivals/platforms screened, and a maximum of five awards or nominations received per project) in PDF format
- High-resolution headshot in colour (format: .jpg; orientation: portrait; minimum resolution: 300 dpi)
- Video pitch (two minutes max) commenting on their project, creative approach, and why they want to join the programme
- Logline and synopsis
- Confirmed attachments, if applicable
- Outline of the audience-building strategy
- Financing projections: estimate of development, production, and post-production costs
- Completed draft of the project’s script, in PDF format
- 10-page writing sample from the script that highlights the submitted project’s focus on science and/or technology, in PDF format
- Continuous one-minute clip from a previous project (short film, feature film, or series) on which the applicant is credited as writer or writer-director
Key dates
Submission guidelines
- Creators must complete out the application in full, attaching itemized supporting documents as outlined above. Incomplete applications will not be considered.
- Applications must be completed by creators themselves and not by third parties (e.g. assistants, co-workers)
- Selected participants must include the following language on a separate frame in the main title credits of their completed project: “Funding provided by TIFF’s Sloan Science & Technology Project Pitch, supported by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation”
One-minute clip submission
- For password-protected Vimeo files, please use the password SPP25
- Demo reels, trailers, and music videos will NOT be accepted
- Total runtime of your Vimeo file cannot exceed one minute
- Include the clip’s context in the description field on Vimeo
- Submissions of full-length films that suggest only viewing a specific time code will not be considered by the jury
- Include English subtitles if the language spoken is not English
Questions?
Contact us at industry@tiff.netSloan Science and Technology Writer Fellowship
The Sloan Science and Technology Writer Fellowship offers a project development grant and creative support for one emerging to mid-level feature film or episodic screenwriter whose project has science and technology themes and/or characters.
The Fellowship will connect the participant with industry and scientific experts, insights, and resources to support the script, production, and theatrical release of their project. Join us in congratulating this year’s selected screenwriter.
2025 TIFF–Sloan Science & Technology Writer Fellowship recipient
Hailing from Columbus, Georgia, Ivan Rome is a filmmaker whose Southern roots run through everything he creates.
Recently securing his MFA from Columbia University, he is the recipient of Columbia’s inaugural Bobby Kashif Cox Memorial Scholarship, an inaugural Diverso’s Black Writers in Focus Fellow, a Columbia Alumni Association Scholar, and an MTV Joel Schumacher & Sophia Cranshaw Scholar for the 2023 Gotham EDU Film & Media Career Development Program.
He has also worked as an MTV Entertainment Ambassador, a Narrative Programming Fellow for The Gotham Film & Media Institute, and a Narrative Intern at Ryan Coogler’s Proximity Media. Additionally, Rome was selected for the SEEN Black Filmmakers Program sponsored by The Blackhouse Foundation, participated in New York Stage and Film’s 2024 Filmmakers’ Workshop, and is currently developing a new pilot as a part of Mike Gauyo’s Black Boy Writes Mentorship Initiative.
Rome’s work has screened at several Academy Award–qualifying festivals and on American Airlines flights, and explores the complexities of our culture through humour and heart.
After the incorporation of a new technology puts her job and safety at risk, a frustrated employee recruits a computer scientist, an aging janitor, her little brother, and her worst enemy to complete the seemingly impossible mission of breaking into a maximum-security laboratory.
Questions? Contact us by email at industry@tiff.net.
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