There’s a particular kind of honesty that surfaces at Sundance—usually not on the red carpet, but in the quiet spaces where filmmakers gather to tell the truth about how hard this all really is.
At the Canon Creative Studio Space in Park City, Breaking Through the Lens created one of those moments. The room was full—of filmmakers, producers, artists, people still trying to figure out how to make the next thing happen. And on stage sat Olivia Wilde, Sophie Mas, Saba Zerehi, and Sara Bernstein, speaking not from theory, but from experience.
The conversation, moderated by BTTL board member Liz Cardenas, wasn’t about success as a straight line. It was about resilience—what it costs, what it demands, and what we risk losing when survival becomes the goal.
When the Conversation Turns to Money
Breaking Through the Lens Founder and CEO Daphne Schmon opened the panel by naming what often goes unsaid: financing is still the place where so many filmmakers are stopped cold.
By centering money—not prestige, not access, not visibility—BTTL reframed the conversation immediately. This wasn’t about dreaming big. It was about staying in the game long enough to make a second film.
Producer Sophie Mas spoke to the emotional math of financing. “It’s hard to find money,” she said, without apology. “But it is out there.” The real challenge, she explained, is knowing which money to take—and which to walk away from. “Sometimes saying no is the most important part.”
It landed in the room because everyone there had faced that decision: take the funding and compromise, or wait and risk losing momentum altogether.
The Weight of the Second Time
For Olivia Wilde, the conversation turned personal quickly. Reflecting on directing her Sundance debut “Booksmart,” she spoke about what happens after that first moment of arrival—especially for women.
“A lot of women feel like the sacrifice isn’t possible to do again,” she said. Not because the desire is gone, but because the cost was so high the first time. “We need to create the support that makes women feel like they can do it again.”
She spoke about the pressure to move fast, to jump into bigger opportunities before you’ve had a chance to process what you just survived. “There’s this idea that bigger is the goal,” she said. “But sometimes you need to stop and ask if it’s actually right.”
The room felt that pause.
Producing Without Losing Yourself
Producer Saba Zerehi named something many people feel but rarely say out loud: producing can be deeply lonely. “You can’t do it alone,” she said, “but it’s also hard to find people who share your values—and not sell out for another opportunity.”
That tension—between opportunity and integrity—ran through the entire panel.
Wilde jumped in with what felt like a love letter to producers who hold the line. “You need someone who believes in your insane idea,” she said. “Someone who hears ‘let’s shoot next month’ and doesn’t flinch. Someone who believes in your delusion.”
It wasn’t said jokingly. It was said with gratitude.
When Power Shifts
Sara Bernstein shared what it was like to leave a long-standing role at HBO and step into a more uncertain chapter as President of Imagine Documentaries. “I went from being a commissioner to being the one making the calls,” she said. “And I felt isolated.”
The shift was destabilizing—but also clarifying. Building something from the ground up, she said, reminded her why she stayed in the industry in the first place.
Mas echoed the inevitability of setbacks. “Doors close all the time,” she said. “What matters is finding your people—the ones who want to grow with you, not past you.”
Falling Down and Getting Back Up
One of the most honest moments came when Wilde spoke about failure without trying to soften it. “The feeling of getting smashed to the ground is part of the process,” she said. “It’s actually healthy.”
She talked about the whiplash of critical reception—how her first film was celebrated, and how her second was not. And then she said something that stuck: loving the work, the crew, the process—that’s the real proof. “That’s when you know you love what you do.”
Not when it’s rewarded. When you keep going anyway.
Why We’re Still Here
As the conversation wrapped, the panelists reflected on why festivals like Sundance still matter, even when the industry feels unstable.
“Festivals remind us why we do this,” Mas said. “Being in a room together. Laughing, crying. Feeling something collectively.”
Wilde closed with a kind of quiet hope. “There’s so much doom and gloom,” she said. “But we’re here telling stories. And that’s inspiring.”
Breaking Through the Lens didn’t just host a panel—they held space. For honesty. For doubt. For courage. And for the belief that not selling out isn’t a single decision, but a series of choices made over a lifetime in this industry.
And for everyone in that room, it felt like a reminder: you’re not doing it wrong—you’re just doing it honestly.
Our Sundance 2026 coverage is presented by Noisefloor Sound Solutions & Journeywork Entertainment, with support by The DCP works.
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Coverage rolling out January 28 – February 13, 2026. Follow our Instagram for coverage.
