Every filmmaker has a project that refuses to leave them alone.
It might be a screenplay sitting unfinished on your laptop. A documentary idea you have been researching for years. A short film that needs a producer. A feature you cannot quite finance. Or perhaps it is a web series that you know could find an audience—if only you could work out what to do next.
The problem is rarely a lack of passion.
The problem is momentum.
Independent filmmakers usually work in isolation. We try to write, produce, direct, raise money, find collaborators and understand the film industry while managing jobs, families and everything else life throws at us.
Without deadlines, feedback or accountability, even promising projects can drift. One week becomes one month. One month becomes a year. Eventually, the film you once felt compelled to make becomes another file marked “work in progress.”
That is why we created the Raindance Fast Track for Writers, Producers & Directors.
Fast Track is not simply another filmmaking course. It is an intensive ten-week development programme designed to help you move a specific project forward with professional guidance, individual mentoring and the support of a small group of filmmakers.
Bring Us the Project You Want to Make
You do not need to arrive with a polished screenplay or a fully developed production package.
You need an idea, the determination to pursue it and the willingness to do the work.
Fast Track can support writers developing a feature screenplay or teleplay, producers preparing a short or feature film, directors shaping their next project, and filmmakers creating documentaries or web series.
The programme is built around your goals. You are not squeezed into a generic template or expected to follow the same path as everyone else. Your mentor will help you identify what your project needs now and create a realistic strategy for getting it to the next stage.
For one filmmaker, that might mean completing a first draft. For another, it could involve developing a production plan, improving a pitch, finding finance or creating the materials needed to approach collaborators.
The destination is yours. Fast Track helps you establish the route.
Ten Weeks of Momentum and Accountability
Fast Track begins on Monday 21 September 2026 and runs for ten consecutive Monday evenings from 7pm to 9pm UK time.
Each week, you will participate in a facilitated filmmaking and screenwriting group. These sessions give you the chance to discuss your progress, test ideas and receive constructive feedback from both the course leader and your peers.
This weekly rhythm matters.
When you know you will be returning to the group, you make decisions. You write the next scene. You finish the treatment. You revise the budget. You contact the potential collaborator you have been avoiding.
Accountability turns intention into action.
The group also reminds you that the difficulties you face are not unique. Every filmmaker encounters doubt, confusion, rejection and creative blocks. Working alongside other committed writers, producers and directors gives you perspective, encouragement and a network that can continue long after the programme has ended.
Personal Mentoring for Your Project
Every film project is different. That is why individual mentoring sits at the heart of Fast Track.
Participants receive ten one-hour tutorials or twenty half-hour tutorials with an industry professional who serves as their personal mentor.
This is your opportunity to concentrate on the questions that matter to your project. You may want feedback on your screenplay, guidance on your production strategy, help identifying funding routes or advice on presenting your work to the industry.
A good mentor will support you, but they will also challenge you.
They will ask the questions that friends may be too polite to ask. Is the premise clear? Is the budget realistic? Who is the audience? Why does this film need to be made now? What is stopping you from taking the next step?
The purpose is not to take control of your film. It is to help you make stronger decisions about it.
Build the Skills Your Film Requires
Fast Track also includes five complimentary Raindance open classes.
You can select from eligible evening and weekend courses in writing, directing and producing, choosing the training that best supports your project and career.
If your screenplay needs work, you might choose a writing class. If you are preparing to direct, you can strengthen your understanding of visual storytelling and working with actors. If finance, budgeting or marketing is holding you back, you can focus on the producing skills required to move forward.
Fast Track therefore combines breadth with depth. The open classes help you develop practical filmmaking knowledge, while the mentoring applies that knowledge directly to your project.
Participants also receive one year of Raindance Premium Membership, including complimentary access to our Boozin’ N’ Schmoozin’ networking events.
Because films are never made by knowledge alone. They are made through relationships.
Prepare Your Film for the Outside World
Finishing a script is an achievement, but it is not the end of the journey. Making a film is another achievement, but that alone does not guarantee it will find an audience.
Fast Track helps you think beyond the immediate creative task.
Depending on your project, this may include preparing a one-sheet, developing a pitch, considering marketing strategies, attending pitching workshops or planning how to introduce the project to potential partners.
You will also receive telephone and email support as you navigate your next steps.
Raindance has spent more than three decades helping independent filmmakers develop their skills, find collaborators and bring unconventional projects into the world. We understand that there is no single approved route into the film industry.
Sometimes you have to create your own route.
Learn in London or Join Online
You can attend Fast Track in person at the Raindance Film Centre, 10a Craven Street, London, or join the programme live online
This flexibility means you can participate wherever you are based while still becoming part of a focused creative community.
The programme is limited to just eight participants. This is deliberate.
Fast Track works because the guidance is personal, the group is small and every participant arrives with a project they genuinely want to advance. You will not disappear into the back row of a lecture theatre. You will be expected to contribute, experiment and make progress.
Your Film Will Not Move Until You Do
There is rarely a perfect moment to make a film.
You will never have enough time, money, certainty or permission. If you wait until every problem has disappeared, your project may never leave your laptop.
What you can have is a plan.
You can have a mentor who understands the industry. You can have a group that expects you to return next week having completed the work. You can have access to practical training, useful feedback and a filmmaking community.
Most importantly, you can give your project ten weeks of serious, concentrated attention.
The next Raindance Fast Track for Writers, Producers & Directors begins Monday 21 September 2026. A £500 deposit will secure your place, with the outstanding balance payable before the programme begins.
Only eight places are available.
Stop developing your film alone. Bring us the project you cannot stop thinking about—and let’s get it moving.
Discover Fast Track and secure your place
Raindance promotes and supports independent filmmaking and filmmakers.
From new and emerging to industry pros, Raindance connects, trains, supports, and promotes visual storytellers through every step of their career.
The Raindance Film Festival runs each Summer in London’s Leicester Square.
Raindance has been delivering film training since 1992. A wide range of Open Classesto a 2 year HND Level 5 BTEC in Moving Images to a Postgraduate Film Degree are delivered to students on five continents, both in person and online.
