Join writer-director Veena Sud for this Case Study on the unusual journey of her newly re-cut film THE STRANGER, debuting April 15 on Hulu!

Overview

With the rise of streaming, social media, and technology's ever-growing impact on the art and business of storytelling, yesterday's restrictions on the ways filmmakers can tell their stories no longer apply. But when presented with so many potential ways to tell stories — from web series to limited series, YouTube to TikTok — how should filmmakers approach their creative process? How adaptable do you need to be?

Join this Gotham Case Study as acclaimed writer-director Veena Sud (creator of AMC's The Killing) discusses the creative, legal, and logistical concerns of her film The Stranger, starring Maika Monroe and Dane DeHaan: from adapting her story for the unprecedented short-form episodic format of Quibi to later re-cutting the ten-part series into a new feature film, which debuts April 15 on Hulu. She’ll also discuss the lessons that emerging filmmakers can take from her unique perspective on her film's unusual journey.

The session will begin with a conversation between Sud and The Gotham's Deputy Director, Kia Brooks, where they will discuss the story behind The Stranger and her perspectives on the evolving formats through which audiences now experience stories. That will be followed by a Q&A with participants and breakout rooms where attendees will have the opportunity to tackle a challenge Veena faced during her process.

About The Stranger: From Veena Sud, acclaimed creator of The Killing, comes an edge-of-your-seat ride through one life-changing night. New to Los Angeles, rideshare driver Clare (Maika Monroe, star of It Follows and Neon’s upcoming Longlegs) picks up Carl (Dane DeHaan, recently seen in Oppenheimer and star of HBO’s The Staircase) from a home deep in the Hollywood Hills. What begins as a routine ride turns into Clare’s worst nightmare: a twelve-hour fight for survival through the city’s seedy underbelly. Carl is not the passenger Clare thought he was, and Clare is not easy prey...Avan Jogia (Victorious, Now Apocalypse) also stars in this thriller, coming to Hulu on April 15 as a new feature-length film

Instructors

Veena Sud

Writer, Director, Producer Veena Sud is no stranger to dark crime and mystery dramas and continues to break barriers as a cutting-edge filmmaker with a knack for “dark, flawed and complicated” women. Currently, Sud is adapting Stieg Larsson’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo as a TV series for Amazon Prime Video with Left Bank Pictures executive producing. Sud is most known for creating, writing, and producing the ground-breaking AMC/Netflix original series The Killing, which was the first US television series of its kind to portray a murder mystery over the course of multiple seasons. The series was nominated for a Golden Globe and six Emmys, including Outstanding Cast for a Drama series and Outstanding Writing for a Drama series. Sud’s second original series from Netflix on police violence in America, Seven Seconds garnered an Emmy win for Best Leading Actress in a Limited Series, a Golden Globe nomination, and several NAACP Image Awards. Sud’s feature film THE LIE (Blumhouse), which she wrote and directed, premiered as a Gala Screening at the Toronto International Film Festival, and debuted on Amazon in 2020. Her dark thriller TV series hybrid, The Stranger starring Maika Monroe and Dane DeHaan was a standout series on Jeffrey Katzenberg’s Quibi mobile platform. It’s since been re-edited as a feature-length film and will debut on Hulu on April 15. Sud was previously a writer, executive producer, and showrunner on the CBS police procedural Cold Case. She worked as a print and broadcast journalist in New York City and in film distribution at Third World Newsreel before moving into television writing. Sud is an alumnus of New York University’s Graduate Film and Television program and earned her B.A. at Columbia University. Her short films have also been screened internationally, including at the Berlin International Film Festival. Sud has been included in The Hollywood Reporter’s Power Showrunners List as well as Variety’s Women’s Impact Report. She is represented by William Morris Endeavor and Anonymous Content and her attorney is Bruce Gellman at Hansen, Jacobson, Teller, Hoberman and Newman. She currently resides in Los Angeles, CA.