What is the biggest factor on selecting a film for a grant award? Is it the idea? The access to the protagonist? The grant proposal itself?
I am an experienced documentary filmmaker with credits directing and writing doc series for Fox Sports and PBS as well as and award winning short film. In 2018, I embarked on a journey to direct my first feature documentary, Citizen: The Jilmar Ramos Gomez Story (Trailer Attached) I have applied to grants with no luck so I hired a grant writer to help me with my applications. I have the support of an Emmy winning producer with over 20 years of producing documentaries, the support of one of the leading scholars in immigration who happens to be a NY times op-ed and a best selling author as a consultant on the film. The film was selected to be pitched at the 2020 NALIP Media Market. I ran a very un-successful Indiegogo campaign in the fall and will try again this fall. Any tangible suggestions? advice? Words of wisdom? Grant suggestions?crowdfunding tips? Looking for both production funding and post-production funding.
Cheers!
Hi Jose, what a great post. I have heard that grants can be incredibly frustrating because so much time and effort goes into applying and there are limited funds available. Maybe there's someone in my network who can lend some insight into that. But, I can definitely add some help to the crowdfunding side of things. Our founder Richard Botto wrote an EXCELLENT book that takes you step by step on how to build a crowd in order to then launch a successful crowdfunding campaign. He interviewed thousands of filmmakers for it. It's called CROWDSOURCING FOR FILMMAKERS - INDIE FILM AND THE POWER OF THE CROWD. Here's a link to check it out: https://amzn.to/3lvQtSJ
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Hi Amanda Toney I will check out the book immediately. Thank you so much! Writing a grant is an art form and takes so so much time to do it right.
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Hi Jose, remember that grant giving is very subjective. In this day and age of the digital we forget a simple phone call can work wonders. If you can and sometimes you can’t actually call one of the grant givers and ask them what they look for in a good pitch talk to them about your doc and ask if it’s the sort of thing they might go for. I know that’s not always possible but research and try.
Re crowdfunding you do have to have a good social media presence and build a crowd as Richard Botto says in his book. There is also a formula to doing it. It takes about 4- 6 months from start to finish including the campaign. It’s not just a matter of sharing a link on social media. Videos have to be made, you have to work on it 2 weeks before and during the 4 weeks it runs, every day and it’s hard work. Nothing comes for nothing. I’ll shortly complete my webinar on it. There are also other ways to raise money for short drama or docs- 10 plus ways in fact. If you’d like to go on the wait list for either webinar at £35 then email me at info@luminofilms.co.uk. How to Crowdfund Successfully and 10 ways to get your short drama or doc funded.
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Also, since you already have a trailer, maybe you could do a Reel Review to get it in front of some of Stage 32's executives: https://www.stage32.com/scriptservices/coverage/buy?id=71 Phil Claroni specializes in documentaries and docu-series, for example. I think you're allowed up to a 5min video? In which case maybe you could fill in the time with a little facetime that addresses some investor questions, things you might otherwise put on a written pitch.
Definitely reach out to our Director of Script Services, Jason Mirch, who is excellent at matching projects with potential executives (or producers, in your case): J.Mirch@stage32.com
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Thanks Karen "Kay" Ross! I will work on both ASAP. Gracias!
To get down to grant "brass tax", though, I usually start with the Roy W. Dean Grant (https://fromtheheartproductions.com/roy-w-dean-film-grants-and-awards/#S...), since the originator also wrote a book on film funding: https://www.amazon.com/Art-Film-Funding-2nd-Alternative/dp/1615930914
And apparently, she's started a podcast on film funding as well? https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-art-of-film-funding/id1296621306
But I just caught this "Top 15 Film Grants in 2021" and it seems a good, comprehensive list: https://www.setheroapp.com/blog/best-15-film-grants-for-funding-in-2021/