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
IDA Enterprise Documentary Fund
Run by International Documentary Association, with the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
A production fund for documentaries built on reporting, created in 2017 as an answer to misinformation. It is not taking applications while IDA rethinks its grants, but the grantee lists from 2022 to 2024 stay up and the fund is expected back in a new form. Worth watching rather than applying to right now.
Grant, amount not statedOpen to writers anywhereA writer with a producer
Not taking applications this cycle
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
- Amount not statedProduction grants; no amounts stated while the fund is under review
- What it is
- Grant
- To apply
- Free
Who can apply
- Applicant
- A writer with a producer
- Where you write
- Anywhere
- Rules
- Not restated while paused. The fund backs independent documentary makers whose films rest on journalistic research and fact-checking, and since 2021 it has taken filmmakers outside the United States.
- Stages
- Production
- Formats
- Documentary
- Language of the application
- English
When to apply
The fund is not taking applications this cycle. We check its page every day and will list the next call when it is published. Applications were paused for the 2025 cycle in February 2025 and the fund is under strategic review; IDA's funding page says its granting programs are being restructured.
What it gives besides money
Grantees receive resources and expertise shaped to the project, and appear in IDA's talent guide.
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 production funding elsewhere
CMF Indigenous Development, Predevelopment and Production Programs (administered by the ISO)
Indigenous Screen Office with the Canada Media Fund
The Canada Media Fund's Indigenous money is handed to the Indigenous Screen Office to run, with higher contribution rates than the general programs: up to 84 percent of a predevelopment…
up toCA$750kGrant or repayablebetween rounds
Explore and Create: Artistic Creation
Canada Council for the Arts
Since 2026 the Council's Artistic Creation grant stands in for two retired components, Concept to Realization and Research and Creation, and it is the arts council route for a screenwriter…
VariesGrantany time
Indigenous Funding streams
Telefilm Canada
Three ring-fenced streams inside Telefilm's feature programs: development, production and a Talent to Watch component for a first micro-budget feature.
VariesGrant or repayablecloses in 100 days
POV Program
Canada Media Fund
Single, authored documentaries have a selective CMF round of their own, in English and in French, each spring.
VariesGrant or repayablebetween 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.