Sundance Institute is accepting applications for its 2027 Episodic Alfred P. Sloan Science Grant through December 14, 2026. One writer or two-person writing team will receive a $17,000 grant plus creative craft support for an original science-centered series.
The general 2027 Episodic Lab application has closed, but projects eligible for the Sloan grant can still submit through FilmFreeway using Sundance's published deadline-waiver code, EpSloanGrantX121426.
Featured photo: Joe Mabel, showing the KEXP video editing room, via Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. The image is illustrative and is not connected to Sundance Institute or the Sloan Foundation.
Why it matters
This is a still-open path into Sundance support for scripted series creators after the broader Episodic Lab deadline. It is unusually specific: the project must use science as meaningful story material, not simply as background decoration. Writers with the right project have time to strengthen both the pilot and the statements explaining why the science and the story belong together.
Who and what can apply
The opportunity is for an individual writer or a team of two writers with an original half-hour or one-hour scripted series. Sundance describes eligible subjects broadly, including medicine, energy, mechanics, technology, mathematics, invention, a scientific event, or a historical scientific figure.
Sundance's current Episodic Program guidance says:
- Live-action and animated scripted series are eligible.
- Unscripted, documentary, sketch, audio, and narrative-podcast projects are not supported through this cycle.
- The submitted draft must be in English, although the intended production language does not have to be English.
- The project must be the applicant's original creation or a lawful adaptation, and it cannot currently be under contractual ownership by a third party.
- International applicants are eligible under the program's published guidance.
What the application requires
Applicants should be ready to submit a complete pilot script with a dated cover page, writer bios, a series logline, pilot synopsis, series overview, personal statement, and thematic statement. Sundance lists a $50 fee for each submission; the published waiver code extends access to the Sloan deadline and should not be read as a promise that the application fee is waived.
Because the opportunity is judged on both dramatic craft and its treatment of science, the strongest applications should make the scientific question essential to character, conflict, or consequence rather than presenting it as a detachable topic.
Review Sundance's eligibility and application requirements →
Primary sources
Update note
Published October 11, 2026, using Sundance Institute's current program guidance. The page also displays an older December 3 calendar date, while its current FAQ and artist-opportunities listing state December 14 and provide a matching waiver code. Applicants should confirm the live FilmFreeway deadline before paying or submitting.