Community-based filmmaking
TRAINING & MENTORSHIP
OUR APPROACH
Wrapped Productions creates immersive, community-centred training labs that demystify how a professional film set works and help emerging storytellers enter the industry with practical skills, confidence and support.
Curriculum-based workshops and production labs combine technical instruction, mentorship, collaboration and hands-on filmmaking. From shared vision and preparation through production, wrap and reflection.
OUR FOUNDATION
Our work is informed by Laura Friedmann’s experience as a producer and educator with Kyle Schmalenberg’s work as a filmmaker and licensed psychotherapist supporting youth in underserved communities and shelters.
Our approach has been shaped by community-centred film and storytelling initiatives across Canada and the United States, where learning is grounded in care, collaboration and a shared sense of purpose.
SELECTED INITIATIVES
Wrapped Mock Set
Created in collaboration with the CEE Centre for Young Black Professionals, the Wrapped Mock Set is an immersive film-production training program for Black youth aged 18–29 in Toronto. It introduces participants to the structure, expectations and collaborative nature of a professional set while building practical skills, confidence and industry connections.
Participants contribute to the creative and pre-production process, at times helping to develop or write the script, before taking on crew roles during short film shoot. Department heads provide role-specific, hands-on training.Workshops explore set etiquette, professionalism, networking strategies and funding opportunities within the film industry.
The program concludes with wrap, feedback and collective reflection, helping participants recognize their growth and identify possible next steps. Participants earn a screen credit for their contribution to the completed film.
2026 Cohort
2025 Cohort
2024 Cohort
Creative Sovereignty Lab
The Creative Sovereignty Lab, a community-based learning effort committed to Indigenous relational processes and challenging conventional film practices.
The Lab, was co-founded by Victoria Anderson-Gardner, Kyle Schmalenberg, Esther Maloney, Justin de Leon, and Laura Friedmann. It came together to support “BRAIDED TOGETHER”, a short film about intergenerational trauma and friendship (co-written and co-directed by Victoria Anderson-Gardner and Kyle Schmalenberg, produced by Wrapped Productions).
The lab took place in Thunder Bay and Toronto (2021-2022). Integrated into the professional film production were a series of workshops, community-learning, and team reflection sessions. Production crew members were paired up with local Apprentices to learn on-set production skills, which was then followed up by a three-month accompaniment period where every member of the production was encouraged to develop their own screenplays.
The CSL held a follow up gathering in May 2022 for all participants that included group reflection on insights developed during the Thunder Bay production, meetings with Canadian film professionals, and a community screening of a behind-the-scenes video of Braided Together. It culminated in a sharing of screenplays, as well as seed funding for next rounds of productions.
Native Film & Storytelling Institute
Hosted at the University of California, San Diego in spring 2018, the Native Film & Storytelling Institute was a five-day media training program for 25 emerging Indigenous filmmakers.
Grounded in Indigenous approaches to storytelling, the program combined hands-on filmmaking instruction with community knowledge, cultural dialogue and mentorship from Indigenous storytellers and film industry professionals. Participants learned practical production skills, heard from members of the Kumeyaay community and developed tools to advance film projects rooted in their own stories and communities.
In collaboration with: University of California, San Diego; Justin & Nikki De Leon; John Little, Meagan Red Shirt-Shaw, Joey Montoya, Laura Friedmann, Kyle Schmalenberg, Raza Resource Centro, members of the Kumeyaay community, Indigenous Rising Media; Revolve Impact, Stan Rodriguez, Jade Begay, Kendrick Sampson, Kholan Studi, Gabriel Bienczycki, Rosario Dawson
OUR APPROACH
01
Shared Vision
Values, goals, and the kind of set participants want to build
02
Skills & prep
Roles, set language, workflow and department mentoriship
03
Production
A real, hands-on set experience with active guidance
04
Reflection
Feedback, accompaniment, and next steps
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