Some movie writers are scrambling to raise money for Sundance, after being turned down for Press Inclusion Initiative travel stipends

Movie journalists who cover the Sundance Film Festival have noticed over the past few years that the other writers in their midst are becoming a more diverse group.

Some of that is by design, thanks to Sundance Institute’s Press Inclusion Initiative, which offered 51 travel stipends to journalists, freelancers and critics from underrepresented groups: Women, people of color, members of the LGBTQ+ community, and people with disabilities. And they recently informed 51 journalists that they would get stipends this year.

Here’s the problem: More people applied for the stipends this year — 317, to be precise. Those who didn’t get the stipends are now working furiously to raise money to make the trip to Park City. Here’s my article, on sltrib.com, about how it all happened.