The Sundance Institute gave 10 writers with aims for careers in television the opportunity to have their work pulled apart and put back together in a week-long burst of creative intensity guided by peers and industry professionals. Read more...

Photo: The first Sundance Institute Episodic Story Lab took place in Utah from Sept. 27-Oct. 2 at the Sundance Resort. It aimed to help emerging writers, both for television and online. Two of the 10 writers selected, Heather Marion and Crystal Liu, are UCLA alumnae. (Courtesy of Fred Hayes)

David Fincher’s “Gone Girl,” which opens in theaters Friday, including Westwood’s Regency Village Theatre, is the first major award contender of the fall season. Fincher’s dramatic retelling of Gillian Flynn’s best-selling novel ushers in a time of cinematic prosperity and pop culture bliss – at least, for the next three months or so. Read more...