Women In The Director’s Chair (WIDC) and Whistler Film Festival have launched an updated version of their collaborative program with an extended four-month timeframe.

The new program, entitled WIDC: Story and Leadership, also places more emphasis on individual leadership of the participants and the polishing of their work. The updated program will be less classroom-based and give greater emphasis to fostering leadership through tailored mentoring of the eight selected candidates.

Last year was the first year WIDC and  the Whistler Film Festival collaborated on the program. The 2014 edition took place over two months, while the new course is comprised of four parts across four months. As with last year, the Industry Immersion segment of the course, held at the Whistler Film Festival, is a focal component. The intensive is geared towards female screen directors developing feature films of web series, and provides participants with mentorship opportunities from industry experts, story development support and connections with ACTRA actors.

Almost 200 women have come through the WIDC program since its inception nearly 20 years ago, and their feedback was sought when devising this year’s updated program, said Carol Whiteman, WIDC producer.

“Investing an extra amount of time in these participants and their projects will be of huge benefit to their work and also to giving the directors more professional career coaching,” Whiteman told Playback Daily.  The extra time dedicated to the program will also allow more freedom to polish pitches, scripts and story creation, added Whiteman.

The WIDC program is intended for women with prior directing experience, or for those who have worked in another affiliated aspect of the industry and are looking to transition to screen directing.

The application deadline for the director’s program is July 31.