I’ve held a long-time fantasy about funding a philanthropy in the future.
Over the past decade+, as I’ve built up my canon of experience as a filmmaker/producer, there have been so many times that I’ve sought out grants, fellowships, and/or awards-with-stipends to support me in my growth. Lord knows, I’ve needed the money. I estimate that I’ve spent at least $35,000 over the last decade on my filmmaking “habit.”
But as far as grants and many “labs” go, the problem has been: I’m a generic white chick, who makes narrative films.
I’m not an amputee, transgendered, creating a documentary about thread-spooling, a Daughter of the American Revolution, or a bi-racial filmmaker exploring the nature of existence with media-bending visual installations primed for art museums. I’m pedestrian. I just want to make movies that move people. And, though I’m not flashy or pedigreed, I am dogged. Though, I don’t tend to fit within the stated guidelines of the filmmakers supported by many grants (writers, directors), I do consider myself a filmmaker and an artist.
Just give me a chance to win some grant money!
My philanthropic foundation in the future will award three Producer Fellowships of at least $30,000 per annum. They’ll be modeled after The Nicholl Screenwriting, Jerome Foundation, and McKnight Foundation fellowships/stipends, only they’ll specifically support creative producers, movie entrepreneurs. Applicants will need to have at least one narrative project in progress, short or feature-length. They’ll need to have a prepared script, and the appropriate rights to it. They’ll need to be able to articulate what their movie will be as a product in the marketplace, and where they plan to position it to attract its audience(s). We’ll assemble a group of peer-judges to review submissions, and likely conduct interviews with the finalists. Then, we’ll pick the Top 3 and dole out the dough. Go make movies, dammit! And, pay your electric bill, double dammit!
Furthermore, each year’s Fellows shall be required to serve maybe 20 hours (?), in the year following their fellowships, as peer-coaches for new applicants or in a structured mentoring program that we might devise and execute to match up mentors/mentees. That whole pay-it-forward thing, you know.
Okay, so I gotta add this goal to my list:
Find and develop terrific scripts that speak to me.
Determine their scopes, budgets, and business models.
Raise financing.
Support the writer and/or filmmaker during the whole process of production and post production – capture beautiful movie.
Sell, sell, sell the movie and all complementary products as appropriate.
Raise daughter.
Tune in to husband so he doesn’t always feel like a Filmmaking Widower.
Set aside monies for education and retirement.
Create philanthropic foundation to administer producer grants.
No problem. 
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