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, San Francisco
SFFILM Rainin Grant
Run by SFFILM, with the Kenneth Rainin Foundation
One of the few American grants that pays a screenwriter directly to write, and it can also fund packaging or the edit of the same film later. Fiction features with a social justice thread qualify from anywhere; alumni include Fruitvale Station and Didi. Writing and development grantees spend a month in residence in San Francisco.
Grant up to $25,000Open to writers anywhereA writer alone or a writer with a producer
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
- Up to $25,000Up to USD 25,000 a project, 15 to 20 projects a year; screenwriting grants go to the writer, development grants to the producer
- What it is
- Grant
- To apply
- $30 to applyUSD 30 at the regular deadline, USD 50 at the final one; waived for SFFILM members
Who can apply
- Applicant
- A writer alone or a writer with a producer
- Where you write
- Anywhere
- Rules
- A screenwriter, director or producer aged 18 or over in a key creative role on a fiction feature that takes on a social justice question through its story, characters or setting, with a total budget of USD 3 million or less. Applicants may live anywhere in the world, but screenwriting and development grantees spend four weeks in residence at FilmHouse in San Francisco.
- Stages
- Writing, development and completion
- 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 2026 round opened February 10 and closed May 22, 2026, with finalists told in late September; the 2027 dates are not yet posted.
| Round | Closes |
|---|---|
| 2026 regular deadline | May 8, 2026 passed |
| 2026 final deadline | May 22, 2026 passed |
Dates are as the funder states them. Check the time of day and the time zone on the official page.
What it gives besides money
Four weeks at FilmHouse for writing and development grantees, meetings with advisors, table reads, feedback sessions and work-in-progress screenings, and SFFILM's year-round artist development programs.
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.