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
Broadcaster United States, Honolulu
Media Fund and Shorts Fund
Run by Pacific Islanders in Communications
Pacific Islander stories for public television, in two sizes: an hour or half-hour documentary with up to USD 65,000, or a short of any genre with up to USD 25,000, including proof-of-concept pieces for a longer film. Both calls are paused while the organization adjusts to federal funding cuts, so this is a fund to watch for reopening.
Investment, up to $65,000Open to writers in United StatesA writer with a producer or a production company
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
- Up to $65,000Up to USD 65,000 from the Media Fund for a half-hour or hour nonfiction program, up to USD 25,000 from the Shorts Fund for fiction or nonfiction of 20 minutes or less; both are production agreements with exclusive US broadcast or streaming rights
- What it is
- InvestmentThe fund takes a share of the film and recoups from its earnings.
- To apply
- Free
Who can apply
- Applicant
- A writer with a producer or a production company
- Where you write
- In United States
- Rules
- Independent producers who own the copyright and control the project, are US citizens or legal residents or work with a US fiscal sponsor, and have one completed documentary (Media Fund) or one completed short (Shorts Fund) in a key creative role. Stories must come from the indigenous Pacific Islander experience. Students and staff of broadcasters and studios are out.
- Stages
- Production and completion
- Formats
- Documentary, Short, Series, Animation
- 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. Open calls were paused in July 2025 after cuts to public broadcasting funding; the combined Media Fund and Shorts Fund call used to open twice a year.
What it gives besides money
A path to PBS and public media digital platforms, and training for emerging Pacific Islander media makers written into each project.
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.