mynette louie goes to sundance's creative producing lab

Earlier this month, the Sundance Institute announced the expansion of its Creative Producing Initiative designed to nurture emerging independent producers in both narrative and documentary fields: Sundance Institute Expands Support For Indie Film Producers With Creative Producing Initiative.

The Feature Film Creative Producing Lab is a five-day Lab for narrative feature film producers, designed to develop creative instincts in all stages of film production and to evolve communication and problem-solving skills.

I was pleased to hear that You're a Big Girl Now, produced by Mynette Louie, was one of the projects selected to attend the Feature Film Creative Producing Lab. The film is the latest from Tze Chun, writer/director of Children of Invention. Here's a brief description and Mynette's bio from the Sundance press release:

YOU'RE A BIG GIRL NOW / Mynette Louie

A Singaporean orphan is bought by a brothel, escapes to Hong Kong with an older prostitute, then returns to Singapore to uncover the mysteries of her childhood. Based on a true story.

Mynette Louie A New York-based independent film producer, Louie produced Tze Chun's award-winning Sundance feature, Children of Invention, co-produced Andrew Bujalski's critically acclaimed Mutual Appreciation, and was selected by IFP as one of two emerging American independent producers to participate in Rotterdam Lab 2008. She is currently in post-production on P. Benoit's Ayiti, Ayiti, a Sundance Lab project and winner of the inaugural Time Warner Storytelling Award. She previously worked at the Hawaii Film Office, where she authored the state's production tax credit, and in business development and marketing at SportsIllustrated.com, Jupiter Research, and Time Magazine. She received a bachelor's degree in East Asian Studies, focusing on Chinese literature and film, from Harvard University.

Mynette posted a blog entry for Filmmaker Magazine, written before she left for the Sundance Lab, on why she's attending and what she hopes to learn there. She also sounds extremely busy: BLOGGING FROM THE SUNDANCE CREATIVE PRODUCING LAB: MYNETTE LOUIE. I think she intends to write another post when she returns from the Lab too.

UPDATE: Here's the second part of Mynette Louie's blog, collecting her thoughts and sharing about her experience at the Sundance Creative Producing Lab: BLOGGING FROM THE SUNDANCE CREATIVE PRODUCING LAB: MYNETTE LOUIE, PT. 2. It's a good read for anyone who's interested in becoming (and surviving as) an indie film producer.