In the Producer’s Chair: How Stories Become Film
with Alison Week
What does it take to turn an idea into a film? A producer.
In this hands-on workshop, you'll step into one of the most important and least understood roles in filmmaking.
Guided by Alison Week, Kailua-Kona native documentary filmmaker and producer whose work centers community, culture, and place through powerful nonfiction storytelling, you'll learn how producers turn ideas into reality.
Producers find stories worth telling. Build teams. Solve problems. Make decisions. And keep projects moving from concept to completion.
Through story development, production planning, creative collaboration, and hands-on filmmaking, you'll learn how real-world stories become finished films.
By the end of the week, you will:
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Discover what producers do and why every film needs one
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Learn how stories move from idea to screen
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Produce a short nonfiction film project with your team
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Most people never think about the producer, until they realize nothing happens without one. Will the next one be you?
Dates:
Workshop Days: Oct 5–9, 2026
Time: 8:00 AM–3:00 PM
Grade Levels: 7–12
Max Participants: 12
Alison Week
Filmmaker | Writer | Director | Cultural Storyteller
Alison Week is a documentary and narrative filmmaker from Hawaiʻi Island. Her work focuses on nonfiction storytelling rooted in community, culture, and place, with experience producing and filming projects for organizations including NHK World, BBC Reel, NBC/Universal Op-Docs, Facebook, and Verizon.
Her work has taken her from Hawaiʻi to Austin, Texas, and internationally, including producing the documentary Fracking the Contract in Portugal and a season of the docu-series Spotlight. She has also participated in programs and events including SXSW, Good Pitch Local, the PBS Young Producers Conference, and the American Conservation Film Festival’s Producing Camp.
More recently, Alison launched Hawaiʻi Doc Club, a program supporting emerging documentary filmmakers across the state through mentorship and online workshops. For the Fall Immersive, she will guide haumāna through the producer’s role in shaping stories, building teams, solving problems, and bringing nonfiction film projects from idea to completion.
