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
Regional fund United States, New York
NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship
Run by New York Foundation for the Arts, with the New York State Council on the Arts
An unrestricted USD 8,000 for the artist rather than the project, awarded by peer panels in rotating disciplines. Filmmakers in New York State apply in the 2027 round, screenwriters and playwrights in 2028. The application is free and asks for work and a statement, not a budget, which makes it one of the plainest grants a writer can file.
Grant, $8,000Open to writers in United StatesA writer alone
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
- $8,000USD 8,000 unrestricted; three finalists per category receive USD 1,000
- What it is
- Grant
- To apply
- Free
Who can apply
- Applicant
- A writer alone
- Where you write
- In United States
- Rules
- Artists aged 25 or over who have lived in New York State, or in a Tribal Nation inside the state, for the last two years and are not enrolled in a degree program. The applicant must be the originator of the work. Each discipline comes round once every three years, and no one may win again within five years.
- Stages
- Writing
- Formats
- Feature, Short, Documentary
- 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. Video/Film is one of the five categories of the 2027 cycle, which opens in fall or winter 2026; Playwriting/Screenwriting returns in the 2028 cycle. Exact dates are not yet posted.
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 writing grants elsewhere
Development Program (ISO Story Fund)
Indigenous Screen Office
An Indigenous writer can apply here alone, without a producer or broadcaster, for research, script drafts, story editing, knowledge keepers and pitch materials.
up toCA$40kGrantbetween 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
Create
Manitoba Arts Council
A general creation grant open to every discipline, so a Manitoba screenwriter applies as a writer or media artist for time to write or to develop a work in progress.
up toCA$15kGrantcloses in 139 days
Creation (research, creation, exploration and production grants for artists)
Conseil des arts et des lettres du Quebec (CALQ)
Quebec's standing creation grant takes applications any day of the year, which is rare among public arts funders.
VariesGrantany time
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.