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We fund short and feature films.

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We've awarded over $100,000 to filmmakers to make their short films, and now we're funding feature films.

For shorts: Write one sentence and submit $25 for a chance to get up to $10,000 to make your short. 

For features: Write one feature horror screenplay and submit $100 for a chance to get up to $185,000 to make your feature film screenplay. If we don't choose your script, you still get equity in and a return on the film we do produce. 

How to get funding for your short film project?

Craft and submit one sentence with a compelling premise that also conveys why you need this funding to achieve your vision. Our judges will choose the best one. Get creative capital to use for the production of a short, or use it as a film finishing fund. See examples here, and enter below.

Write one sentence that (1) describes the premise of your narrative short film and (2) explains how you'll use the funding to complete the film if you're chosen as a winner.

If you enter any of our contests, you get to join our exclusive film funding network at no extra cost. In this community, you can network with other filmmakers and producers!

To stay informed of the latest funding opportunities, join our email list using the button below, where you'll also receive a free film budget template.

Enter our Narrative Short Film Contest using the form below, and scroll down to see all of our funding opportunties.

Deadline: December 3rd, 2024 at 11:59 PM EST

Fill out my online form.
matthew greenberg red camera treehouse short film

Narrative Short Film Funding

Deadline: November 26th, 2024 at 11:59 PM EST

Enter Now!
the-film-fund-how-to-write-a-script-film-funding

Feature Film Funding

Deadline: January 1st, 2025 at 11:59 PM EST

Submit Now!

Short Film Frequently Asked Questions

Click or tap them to see the answers for our short film contest. For feature film FAQ, see here.

For our short film contests, write one sentence that includes two components— 1) a compelling premise and 2) how you would use some of the funding to produce your film if chosen as a winner. Your entry must be one sentence under 200 characters, and you must submit it via the form on the respective contests' entry page (narrative or documentary). You can see all of our funding opportunities here.

Yes, you retain the copyrights to all intellectual property associated with your winning project.

Finalists will be announced via email approximately one month after the final submission deadline for that respective contest period. Make sure you have tom@thefilmfund.co added to your email contacts!

Feedback will be sent shortly after the final judging results are released.

Yes. The big fests like Sundance and SXSW don’t care if your film plays online first, and more and more film festivals are following suit. But if you’re still worried, we can delay your online release. We realize this is a hot topic, and we don’t want to mess with your festival strategy. While you must provide us with a private version of the completed film immediately upon its completion, you do not have to send us a public version until one year after we send you the funding. You can send it to us after your film's physical festival run, or you can send it before the festivals in order to gain traction and pick up something like a Short of the Week or Vimeo Staff Pick. Up to you, as long as you send us the film within one year of getting the funding. Short of the Week is so cool that they’ve compiled some handy data concerning online film festivals and how they affect offline festival runs. We’re not quite an online film festival, but the same thoughts apply: “This is one of the biggest scares for filmmakers (it was ours, too). So we did the research and found that 2/3rds of the top film festivals will accept online films (66% in 2013). And with heavyweights like Sundance and SXSW leading the charge, this is clearly a growing trend. If you want to know about a specific festival, take a look at our Essential List of Festival Eligibility to see if the festivals you’re considering are online-friendly” (Short of the Week).
Yes, and we'll be honored. We'll provide you with our motion graphic that reads "In association with The Film Fund." It looks cool, and it'll lend even more credibility to your project. Not that you're not awesome to begin with. ?

We want to showcase films even if we didn't fund them. Filmmakers work hard, and we want to promote them. Submit anything related to your work here, and we'll feature it. Free of charge.

Depends on the day! Ask us here. Maybe we can ship you some leftovers. ?

Yes. A short film could serve as the pilot episode, right? Just make sure this pilot episode can stand on its own as a short film.

To maintain accountability, The Film Fund will reimburse individual expenses for your film after receiving expense reports, receipts, invoices, etc. We use a payment platform called SnapRefund.

Filmmakers like you who have also submitted their sentence to The Film Fund.

We know there's a simpler way to fund films.

Anything that has the potential to carry a good story. Horror, comedy, drama, documentary, anything. Absolutely no adult films under any circumstance.

Check them out here.
Of course. And please keep us posted on any festival news so we can share it on our social media! 

Budgets will be different for each film, but we'd be more than happy to share a sample short film budget with you here! ?


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