“One of the things I say is my claim to fame is I taught Mister Rogers how to use email,” says Amanda Kelso of her first job in entertainment, as a production assistant on the beloved public access children’s show Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. But in her latest role as acting CEO of the Sundance Institute, Kelso’s newest claim to fame will be guiding the storied film nonprofit after years of uncertainty, including a move that could see the fest leaving its Park City home of four decades.
After being in the inaugural undergraduate class of film majors at Columbia University (her thesis advisor was former Focus Features head and Oscar-nominated writer James Schamus), Kelso landed a job on Mister Rogers Neighborhood and later as assistant to Don Johnson while he filmed Nash Bridges in San Francisco. It was in the Bay Area, during the ascendance of dot com companies of the late 90s, that she made the jump into tech.
Kelso first joined the Sundance board in 2020 after being approached by then-CEO Keri Putnam years earlier, at a time when the nonprofit wanted to add voices from the tech world (Kelso held top posts at Google and Instagram from 2008 to 2018). Her background proved especially crucial a year later, when the festival had to move online because of the pandemic, with Kelso helping to build out the streaming platform for that first digital festival.
Even after the masses returned to Main Street, the online platform persisted, becoming a lightning rod for some Sundance veterans who thought a digital offering disincentivized in-person viewing and timely dealmaking. But the platform also opened up another revenue stream. In 2023, Sundance released its Economic Activity Report which revealed attendance and viewership numbers with 285,184 online views of its program. (Like with Netflix, Apple, and other streamers, it was unclear what constituted a view.) Redeemed in-person tickets and passes numbered half that at 138,050.
“We both acknowledge the importance of our past but also the necessity of thinking about long-term viability for us,” says Kelso, who notes that attending the fest is not cheap. Filmmakers can expect to pay thousands to tens of thousands of dollars to house themselves and their crews in Park City. Entertainment companies, from agencies to studios, have also pulled back on sending people to Park City over cost issues. Says the CEO, “It’s a wonderful, magical mountain experience, but it’s also an expensive venture.”
With its contract due to expire with Park City in 2026, Sundance dove into the search for a new home. Cities still left in contention are Cincinnati and Boulder, Colorado, with the third option being to stay put in Utah. But even if the fest does stay in Utah it is expected that the majority of operations will move into the more accommodating Salt Lake region. Housing is a top priority, as is public transit. Kelso says a decision can be expected in early spring.
Since 2021, as the larger entertainment industry began to reorganize and shift strategies, Sundance’s top posts have been a veritable revolving door. Festival director Tabitha Jackson left in 2022 after two years in the job, and CEO Joana Vicente, who replaced Putnam in 2021, left in 2024. Kelso took over when Vicente announced her departure two months after the 2024 fest and has offered her services to the board through the transition and, if needed, longer. There is no active search happening for a new CEO, and there are no plans for one. “We need consistency,” says Kelso.
Kelso’s steady hand could be especially welcome in the ever more uncertain indie film space. “I don’t want to be navel gaze-y, but I do think that it’s important to have spaces for diversity of thought and freedom of expression,” says Kelso of being willing to take on such a demanding job. “Maybe I was crazy [to take the job], but I’m up for it.”
This story appeared in the Jan. 17 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.
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