Welcome to this week’s Sunday Evening edition of The Backlot. These newsletters will include stories from my recent experiences working in indie filmmaking, helpful resources for emerging filmmakers, and other posts covering topics in the film industry.
NOTE - This version of the newsletter is free. The mid-week version, which includes the Documentary Series, is now a paid subscription.
This week, we’re exploring my story of finding funding for the feature-length documentary Tommy’s Island…
🎞️ The Wonderful World of Funding Documentary Films - A Case Study from Tommy’s Island
🎬 Best Places to Find Grants
🗞️ Three Movie Recommendations
The Ups & Downs of Funding a Film
Over the past few years, I’ve been the lead producer on two feature-length documentary films, Tommy’s Island and Beneath the Surface. For each project, I’ve collaborated with a small team to develop the story, meet with the subjects, and prepare for production.
During this time, we’ve been aiming to acquire financing for the projects, searching for potential investors or funds to pay for the entire film's budget and crew.
Through these experiences, I’ve learned alot about financing a film and the sheer amount of work it takes for independent filmmakers to go through this process. Truthfully, the process of finding funds for these projects has taught me alot about the industry, the work that goes into fundraising, and the fact that every film is an absolute miracle.
This week, I wanted to share a little bit about this fundraising journey on the project Tommy’s Island, which is being directed by Gavin Shwahla, whom we interviewed this week for the Backlot.
I hope our story provides some insight into the process of funding a film and sparks some ideas for your own efforts to raise money and fund your work.
Looking for Funding
We first started working on Tommy’s Island, the feature-length documentary, roughly two and a half years ago. The environmental documentary follows one individual's efforts to save an island on the Jersey Shore, highlighting his individual story and sharing a different side of the notorious coastline widely known for its party scene.
At the beginning of this project, we knew little about funding and financing a film.
Sure, we knew how to make a film creatively. We knew how to conduct powerful interviews, develop a really good story, and edit with a purpose. Yet, none of our small team had ever been responsible for securing a full budget, especially for a feature-length film.
So, we had to learn what it took to fund a film. And it’s taken way more than we could’ve ever imagined.
First Steps
One of our first steps was to create a budget for the film. Therefore, we drafted a rough outline from the International Documentary Association’s sample budget and figured out how much money we needed to hire a crew, buy equipment, and safely finance the project.
After drafting the outlined budget, we had a set number for the film. This would be our pie-in-the-sky number, which would help us pay for everything involved in the production of the documentary, including paying our own salaries.
Then, we had a smaller number, the amount we absolutely needed to make the film, and that would be our starting line. Once we were able to acquire the funding above this line, we could get to work on scheduling the entire production.
It seems simple, right? We’ve got a budget and our ballpark numbers; now, we just need the funds. Well, we were in for a big wake-up call.
Working For Funds, Funds for Work
For this film, we started our process by turning to grant funding, which we were told was one of the most promising tools for fundraising.
As a former wildlife biologist, I had a bit of experience with grant funding and knew how to write grants. I had secured several in the past and felt pretty confident in my ability to acquire some funding for the project.
Still, in the beginning, this was a difficult process because we didn’t know where to look for these grants. As emerging filmmakers, we knew of the major organizations, including The Sundance Institute, the National Endowment of the Arts, and the Redford Center.
Although each of these is a wonderful option for potential grant funding, they are also some of the most highly competitive in the country. Last year, Sundance awarded only 35 grants for its Documentary Fund, and according to Funds for NGOs for Profit, 1400 to 2300 projects apply annually.
That’s why I would advise looking for other grants, ones that aren’t the major names and organizations and have less competition. For Tommy’s Island, we’ve looked into many local community grants, often led by city or country arts organizations.
We’ve also researched many environmental grants since the main topics in our film are conservation and citizen science. These grants are more suited to our needs and are more likely to fund our specific topic, as opposed to major film grants that fund a variety of different topics. Truthfully, we’ve had only a little luck with these grants thus far and continue to keep our eyes peeled for anything that aligns with our project.
After working on grant funding, we realized we needed to branch out and find different ways to fund our film and meet our budget's needs.
Therefore, we turned to crowdfunding, another proven way to acquire funds for smaller projects, especially from friends and family. We got this idea from talking with other filmmakers who had successfully launched their own crowdfunding campaigns to fund their projects.
For us, this process was really rewarding, but there were two things working in our favor - audience and non-profit designation. At the time, we had acquired a small following on social media, which meant that our crowdfunding had a bigger audience of potential donors. Therefore, we started a Kickstarter and advertised the campaign on our channels, allowing us to garner some funds from our friends, family, and audience.
We are also fiscally sponsored by the International Documentary Association (IDA), meaning our organization could receive tax-deductible donations in this campaign through the IDA’s non-profit designation. To become fiscally sponsored, you have to apply to the sponsoring organization, usually through a lengthy application process.
There are many different types of fiscal sponsors, but we advise documentary filmmakers to look into the IDA.
Our Kickstarter campaign lasted a month in the fall, and we acquired enough funds to pay for new equipment, business fees, and some website costs. Although it wasn’t enough to cover even a tenth of our budget, it was a good start to the process.
A True Business Model
Since then, we’ve begun a new approach to fundraising, a more holistic option that includes working with local stakeholders, organizations, and filmmakers to find investors for our project.
To do this, we’ve had to learn a lot more than just filmmaking, including terms of investing, the right way to sell a product, and understanding the film market. This process has been incredibly insightful and something that taught us a lot about financing and running a film as a business.
We’ve also sought a lot of help during this process, including a few individuals with backgrounds in production and film financing. If you’re looking to go down this road as a first-time or emerging filmmaker, I’d highly recommend asking for help. Finding investors can be tricky, and there are many ways you can be taken advantage of in the process, so it’s best to get help from experienced guides.
The thing that has changed the most for me through this experience is the mindset I’ve needed to cultivate to understand the process of financing a feature-length film. In one of the first episodes of this newsletter, I shared a lot about this mindset and how learning to look at your film as a business can be the most beneficial aspect of your filmmaking career.
At the moment, we’re still exploring this avenue of funding, looking to get our finances in place for the production of the film, which will take place next year. It’s been a long road to get to this point, but we’re finally on a good track to fully fund the film, which we're hoping to secure in the next few months.
Overall, the funding process is long, requires an incredible amount of resilience, and truly isn’t for the faint of heart. Funding a film is a full-time job in itself, and learning the process can take years.
That being said, individuals have been making films for decades, which means it's more possible than you think. The best we can do is keep learning, keep trying, and keep moving forward - that greenlight is closer than you think.
I will share more in the future if anything changes. I hope more individuals in the field share their own stories, too, because it can be incredibly beneficial to emerging filmmakers. If you’ve got a funding story you’d like to share, please leave a comment, or I can share it anonymously if you DM me.
A Few Notes Recap -
Look for grants that exist outside of the major organizations, including local community grants, arts organizations, and grants related to the issues covered in your film.
Utilize crowdfunding to raise funds from friends, family, and other stakeholders. If you can, develop an audience first to create a larger pool of potential donors.
Learn about the investment process and start treating your film like a product that can make money for anyone willing to finance the project.
Ask around and learn from other filmmakers who’ve gone through the process; there is no shortage of money in the world, and people want to help.
The Best Places to Find Grants
Through these experiences, I’ve spent a lot of time searching for funding for different projects. Over this time, I’ve found a few websites, platforms and grant boards that were incredibly helpful in finding potential opportunities for grant funding.
Documentary Specific Boards
The International Documentary Association (IDA)
We’ve talked a lot about the International Documentary Association in this post, and that's for good reasons. In addition to their resources on documentary films, fiscal sponsorship opportunities, and insightful conferences, the organization also offers an open grant directory.
The directory may be the single best resource for locating grants in the documentary field because it contains hundreds of potential grants, their general amounts awarded, and their deadlines.
Website - https://www.documentary.org/grants-directory
American Documentary
Another great grant board for documentary filmmakers is the American Documentary website’s grant board. Their website is sectioned into different types of grant funding, including Documentary Funding, New Media Funding, and Public Media Funding.
The website is less extensive than the IDA’s but still offers a wide variety of different grant options. Also, contrary to the name of the organization, the website offers both American and International grant options.
Website - https://www.amdoc.org/create/filmmaker-resources/
Best Local and State Options
This will vary by state because most states have their own specialized grant boards. For example, in Oregon, we have the specialized grant website Oregon GrantWatch. Although the website requires a subscription, it offers a wide range of grant options, including arts and humanities, social work projects, and grants for non-profit organizations.
The website isn’t secluded to simply filmmaking grants, which means it can be hard to work through the layers of topics. At the same time, this can allow your team to get creative when applying for grants, learning to apply film to any potential funding for arts, creative organizations, and issue-driven funding.
Other websites include the state’s film commission, which is usually just the name of the state followed by “film commission.” In addition, there is a local film commission in many places. For example, in Central Oregon, there is a Central Oregon Film Commission, which can offer funding and access to other potential networking opportunities.
Finally, for local options, look for grants that fund the local arts community. This can be through the city arts program, artists' collectives, a local film festival, or other city or county programs.
Easy To Access
Another recently released grant board is the grant opportunities board on Portrait, the filmmaker's social media app. As mentioned here before, the platform is an invite-only application for individuals in the industry looking to connect, share, and network with other filmmakers.
The application has an updated opportunities section that includes grants and funding opportunities, jobs, festival deadlines, and program applications. If you’re interested in learning more about the application, I recommend following Potrait’s substack, which includes weekly updates and is written by founder Jean Ellen Cowgill.
Three Movie Recommendations
Alright, well, this week, we’ve been talking about money and the process of acquiring financing for our projects. Therefore, it feels only fitting to share a few recommendations that center around the power, conflict, and psychology that come with money…
The Big Short (2015)
Now, this is a really well-known film because of its all-star cast, incredible screenwriting, and fascinating style of explaining complex economic concepts. Truthfully, Adam McKay’s masterpiece is one of my favorite examples of communicating a difficult subject into a fun and entertaining work of art.
The Big Short follows the story of several brokerage investors who discovered the problems with the housing bubble before the 2008 economic housing crisis. The film is led by incredible performances by Steve Carrell, Christian Bale, and Ryan Gosling. It also features an ensemble cast that includes other notable actors such as Jeremy Strong and Brad Pitt.
Truthfully, it’s an incredibly riveting inside look at one of the most important economic moments in modern US history. The film is a thoughtful critique of the economic system told through the eyes of the very people who seek to constantly benefit from its power.
Triangle of Sadness (2022)
Ruben Ostlund is a widely celebrated indie filmmaker from Sweden. He’s known for several of his critically acclaimed satirical films, including The Square (2017), which won the Palme d’Or at Cannes. His follow-up film, Triangle of Sadness, also won the Palme d’Or, making him one of nine individuals to win the award twice.
Triangle of Sadness is an eat-the-rich satirical film that follows a young couple, played by Harris Dickinson and Charlbi Dean, as they take a luxury cruise that ends up going catastrophically wrong and stranding them on a desert island. Although I have issues with the first and second acts, mostly for their reliance on shock imagery and high-brow style, the third act is a powerful portrayal of money, power, and class.
In this third act, the rich become the followers, as one of the maids from the cruise has the only survival skills and takes control of all food and provisions. She quickly becomes the most powerful member of their newly found stranded society. The final act is an image of our society stripped to its bare self, led by a powerhouse performance from Dolly de Leon, who is the true life of the film.
Parasite (2019)
Okay, there are a million other options for these recommendations, but I am going to place Bong Joon-Ho’s Parasite here because it's one of the best films of the last decade. The surprise 2020 Best Picture winner is a dynamic and masterfully rendered commentary on the class system and the longing for financial success.
The film follows a family who live in the basement of a small apartment in Seoul, South Korea, and scheme to get jobs working for a wealthier family. As the family becomes more entangled in the wealthier families' lives, the stakes quickly get bigger and bigger, resulting in one of the craziest film endings in recent history.
Parasite is a powerful look at class disparity, social inequity, and the conflict that can be caused by money. It’s one of the most interpreted films of the last decade, and its themes are part of the reason it's such a powerful and haunting story.
On Wednesday, we’ll be discussing …
🎞️ The State of Documentary Film - The Streamers Pt. II
🗞️ Other Latest News and Updates from the Industry