AFS Grant
Austin Film Society
Texas filmmakers have their own state fund: cash for features and shorts in production or post, with camera and finishing packages on top.
up to$20kGrantbetween rounds
Foundation or company fund United States, Los Angeles
Sloan Distribution Grant
Run by Film Independent, with the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
A single USD 50,000 check for a finished science-themed fiction feature heading into release, meant to buy a smarter rollout. Producers apply with a distribution and marketing plan and a link to the film; recent recipients are After Yang and Radical. Listed second here because the writer's part is long done by the time it pays.
Grant, $50,000Open to writers in United StatesA writer with a producer or a production company
Next dates not yet published
That closing date has passed. We check the funder's page every day and add the next dates once they are published.
The money
- Amount
- $50,000One grant of USD 50,000
- What it is
- Grant
- To apply
- $65 to applyUSD 45 for Film Independent members, USD 65 for non-members; the winner must become a member
Who can apply
- Applicant
- A writer with a producer or a production company
- Where you write
- In United States
- Rules
- The producer of a finished fiction feature of at least 70 minutes that is about to be released, with science, mathematics or technology prominent in the story or a scientist, engineer or mathematician as a lead. Only legal US residents may apply.
- Stages
- Distribution
- Formats
- Feature
- Language of the application
- English
When to apply
The fund opens once a year. The next cycle's dates are not yet published; we add them when they are. The application period is announced on Film Independent's applications page; no date was posted when checked.
What it gives besides money
Film Independent staff follow how the money is spent and take up to three finalists through a detailed distribution proposal.
Also open to writers in United States
Arts Innovator Award
Artist Trust
Two Washington artists a year receive USD 25,000 for pushing at the edges of their field, with no project report attached.
range$25kGrantbetween rounds
Creative Accelerator Fund
Illinois Arts Council
Illinois pays working artists USD 10,000 by lottery rather than by jury: show an active practice with two work samples and the state lottery draws the winners region by region.
range$10kGrantbetween rounds
Fellowship Awards
Artist Trust
Washington State's merit award for working artists: USD 10,000 with no strings, judged on the body of work rather than a project.
range$10kGrantcloses tomorrow
More distribution funding elsewhere
Film Production Assistance Program
Quebecor Fund (Fonds Québecor)
A top-up to the distributor's advance for French-language Canadian features, paid through the distributor and repaid from the film's returns, with extra money for an online marketing plan.
up toCA$200kRepayablecloses in 79 days
TELUS Fund development, production and post-launch financing
Here the subject matters as much as the script: a feature, series or web series only qualifies when well-being, health or living conditions drive the story, and a Canadian health…
up toCA$25kRepayablebetween rounds
Fundo Setorial do Audiovisual, FSA (Audiovisual Sector Fund)
ANCINE, Agência Nacional do Cinema, with BRDE as the fund's financial agent
Brazil's main public money for film and series is an investment fund run through a development bank, and it reaches writers only through an independent production company.
VariesInvestmentbetween rounds
Convocatoria FDC, Estímulos por Concurso (Film Development Fund competitive grants)
Proimágenes Colombia, for the Fondo para el Desarrollo Cinematográfico and the CNACC
Funded by a levy on tickets and distribution, Colombia's FDC is the one national fund in the region with a plain screenwriting modality a writer can enter alone, beside development…
VariesGrantbetween rounds
Also useful
Fellowships and labsPrograms that pick a few writers and work with them for months, on the events pages.Where Creative Europe's development money goesEvery MEDIA development grant since 2014, by country, company and year.How to write a treatmentThe document a development application is built on, step by step.Screenwriting eventsContests, labs, festivals and conferences, with their deadlines.