Starting its 39th year, the TWN Production Workshop continues a long tradition of providing a
unique "hands-on" media production training, teaching practical skills and resources for socially conscious emerging filmmakers. This intensive 4-month program supports and trains people from communities with historically limited economic resources and access to
mainstream educational institutions or traditional training programs. By offering technical and storytelling tools to create fiction or documentary projects, the TWN Production
Workshop carries on the mission of TWN of promoting independent cinema made by and
about communities of color and other underserved groups and their progressive allies.

The TWN Production Workshop curriculum integrates elements of new digital technologies and
multi-platform and interactive media in its training but its focus is the development of preproduction, production and post-production skills necessary to take a short 5-minute HD
video project from conception to completion. Working in small groups, workshop members
collectively conceive and produce with the help of instructors and guest speakers,
professionals working in the field of film, video and transmedia. The students work on one
group project as well as one individual short project during the program.

The TWN Production Workshop meets once a week, generally Wednesdays at 6:30 pm in the offices of Third World Newsreel.  The time commitment needed to participate in the workshop is high and participants must be able to attend regular class meetings as well as meet the out-of-class demands of pre-production, production, and post-production. Prior film, video or related experience is helpful but not required; self-initiative, time and a progressive and
collaborative spirit are, along with a commitment to meeting class production deadlines.

The selection to the TWN Production Workshop is limited to 9 participants. An initial written
application is required and a second round of applicants is selected for interviews. The cost
of the workshop is $650.

The TWN Production Workshop Director is Chrystian Rodriguez, who led the 2015 workshop
and formerly taught media production at the Global Action Project and the Tribeca Film Institute. The Workshop is dedicated to the memory of the great Herman Lew, the longtime TWN Workshop Director, who passed away suddenly in 2014.

For further information, visit the workshop page on our website where you can also download an application, or email workshop@twn.org.

Support for the TWN Production Workshop is provided in part by the New York State Council
on the Arts, the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, the Peace Development Fund and
individual donors.  

NBPC 360 was devised to help launch non-fiction and fiction serial projects, as well as interactive or transmedia projects, about the Black experience. Kay Shaw, Director of Programs & Acquisitions and Nonso Christian Ugbode, Director of Digital Initiatives, will present on what the NBPC 360 application requires, the process and more. The deadline is the end of January, so this is the time to ask. Presented at The City College of NY and co-sponsored with the Documentary Forum at CCNY. RSVP here.  


Support for the TWN Evening Seminar series is provided in part by the New York State Council
on the Arts, the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, the Peace Development Fund and
individual donors.