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, Lincoln
Creative Shorts Fellowship
Run by Vision Maker Media
A short film with a mentor attached: Vision Maker Media pays up to USD 25,000 to an emerging Native filmmaker to shoot and finish a documentary, drama, animated or experimental short, and pays the chosen mentor separately. The fellowship doubles as a training route into public television production.
Grant up to $25,000Open to writers in United StatesA 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 for production through completion of a short, plus USD 5,000 paid separately to the mentor
- What it is
- Grant
- To apply
- Free
Who can apply
- Applicant
- A writer with a producer
- Where you write
- In United States
- Rules
- Emerging Native filmmakers aged 21 or over who are US citizens or legal residents, own the copyright and control the project, with a short of 40 minutes or less that is ready to shoot and can finish within twelve months. The filmmaker chooses a professional mentor before applying. Student and commissioned films are out.
- Stages
- Production
- Formats
- Short, Documentary, Animation
- 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 guidelines carry no closing date; the page invites proposals and gives a contact for timing.
What it gives besides money
A paid mentor through production, a place at Vision Maker Media's annual producer summit, and distribution on public media.
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.