Film Grants in the State of New York:

As one of the world’s largest and most important production centers, New York City is the ultimate place to break into the media and entertainment industries. To help support the City’s rising film, theatre and broadcasting stars, numerous organizations offer fiscal sponsorship and a variety of other resources. Here’s where to go for more information on grants and sponsorship:

The New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting artists in New York State. NYFA Source is the organization’s online database listing thousands of grants and sponsorship opportunities available to artists in a variety of fields, including film, theatre and broadcasting. The database allows users to search by discipline, geographic area and other criteria to develop lists of grants for which they are eligible to apply. Through NYFA Source Live Assistance, the organization provides free advice via telephone and e-mail to help artists with this process.

NYFA also awards more than $11 million in grants to individual artists annually, and offers fiscal sponsorship to emerging media and artistic organizations. NYFA sponsorship provides these organizations with the legal status and 501 (c) (3) non-profit, tax exempt status required to apply for funding from many organizations. For more information, visit http://www.nyfa.org.

New York State also awards grants to non-profit arts organizations. The program is administered by the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) and funded by the Governor, New York State Legislature and National Endowment for the Arts. For more information on these awards and on other resources available to artists in the State, visit www.nysca.org.

Source: http://www.nyc.gov/html/film/html/incentives/film_grants.shtml

New York City, with a population of over eight million people, is located at the mouth of the Hudson River Estuary which stretches 153 miles inland from the Atlantic ocean and includes a wide range of wetland habitats. Home to more than 200 species of fish, the Hudson River Estuary serves as a nursery ground for sturgeon, striped bass and American shad. It also supports an abundance of other river-dependent wildlife, especially birds. (Photo: Stanne/NYSDEC)

The Quebec government is counting on a new deal with big-budget movie producer Joel Silver to kick-start the province’s film industry.

Societe generale de financement du Quebec, the provincial government’s investment arm, is spending $18 million Cdn in a deal with the producer of both The Matrix and Lethal Weapon series on a a project it hopes will bring $170 million in investment back to the province.

Read the full story from the CBC

This is a very interesting development in the current trend of outside funding sources bankrolling Hollywood films.

It is not that unusual that a Canadian government entity would play a role in film financing. What is interesting is that they chose to partner with a U.S.-based producer, instead of investing directly in the work of their own local filmmakers. This is a shift from the kinds of traditional government programs of the past.

While SGF is putting some money on the table, $US15million is not a significant sum. That would not ordinarily be enough to entice a producer of the stature of Joel Silver. I think the Canadian film production incentives are the stronger motivation for doing this deal.

On the http://filmbiz101.com resource website we posted a page that asks:

A distribution or acquisition deal can help you recoup your investment, but how do you get the financing in the first place???

We think this is a critical question for just about every documentary filmmaker. Check out our observations on the state of funding for this genre.

Here is one tidbit:

Private donors are important and you may be able to obtain their financial contributions. In order to offer a tax benefit to donors, you must either establish a non-profit organization or your project must receive Fiscal Sponsorship.

Read the full article on funding documentaries

Entertainment growth factor: Money

Changes in film financing are occurring around the world. In the U.S., private equity is beginning to invest in films. These funds spread risk by investing relatively small amounts in a large number of films. The combined effect of multiple funds will be to make substantial monies available for large-budget productions. It is a boon to studios because such funding lessens their need to pre-sell rights or to enter into co-production arrangements, increasing their share of potential back-end revenue.

In other regions, governments are increasing their support for the production of filmed entertainment. In EMEA, the German government is planning new film financing incentive programs to replace discontinued tax-sheltered film funds. In Ireland, the government offers tax relief, amounting to as much as 80% of the budget. Sweden raised its subsidies to local filmmakers to $40 million annually. Spain, Hungary, and Poland also support the production of local films.

Asia Pacific countries such as South Korea, Taiwan, India, and China all introduced programs to encourage local filmmaking. In Latin America, Mexico, Argentina, and Brazil have similar incentives. In addition, Brazil provides special funding for the construction of new theaters.

View the complete article at:
Hollywood Reporter

The basic issue on DVD sales, Greenfield reports, is that there has been a decline in catalog sales, as the “halo effect” from an expanding DVD consumer base is over. In short, almost everyone now has a DVD player, and they’ve replaced their VHS catalog titles - so now the market will be driven largely by the ability of the studios to produce hits.

http://biz.yahoo.com/seekingalpha/061008/18035_id.html?.v=1

Growth in the DVD marketplace is definitely slowing. However, this is really not a surprise to anyone. The major studios and other distributors forecasted a leveling off of the business several years ago. They thought that a High-Definition format would offer an even better home entertainment experience, and fuel new growth for the industry. The forwat war that has ensued has been a serious obstacle to the industry.

The DVD slowdown has profound, and negative, implications for independent films. Currently, theatrical distribution is often a losing proposition for indie films. The marketing costs to launch a film are expensive and very hard to recoup. However, the theatrical release sets up a film for greater success in other distribution channels. Profits can be obtained from DVD, television/cable, and other ancillary markets.

With deterioration in DVD sales, retailers will start to decrease the shelf space that they devote to movies. The retailers have to maximize the sales per square foot of selling space.  If DVD is not selling, they will shrink those departments and give that space over to other products. This means fewer titles purchased by the retailer, worsening the odds for independent films.

Retailers will try to increase their profit from DVD by negotiating for lower wholesale costs with the distributors.  Faced with the choice of losing shelf space (and the significantly reduced opportunity to sell DVD), or lowering wholesale prices (improving profit for the retailer at the expense of the distributor), distributors will opt for lowering cost/improving retail margin.  This means less revenue flowing to the distributor. As virtually all distribution deals for indie films have a revenue sharing component, this ultimately means less money flowing to independent producers.

Film Business Plann

A film business plan is most helpful for indie filmmakers who want to raise money from private investors. In financing a film, potential investors want to know that there is a strong producing team in place. They also want to feel confident that the filmmakers have a strategy for generating film revenues from a variety of distribution channels. A film business plan helps to deliver the information an investor will need to make a reasoned judgement.

Private investors are just one source of film funding. A successful independent film producer will need to explore several options to raise the negative cost (film production budget) for a project. Before you can put your film into preproduction, producers will need to be as creative about the film’s funding as they are about developing the script.

The approach taken by Sharp Angle in creating a Film Business Plan is based upon more than a decade of film distribution, film financing, and film marketing experience. The foundation of the plan is the distribution analysis, and it gives filmmakers a realistic snapshot of their film’s profit potential. More information is available on the Sharp Angle website or at www.filmbusinessplan.com.

“There is no statistical correlation between stars and success,” said S. Abraham Ravid, a professor of economics and finance at Rutgers University, who, in a 1999 study of almost 200 films released between 1991 and 1993, found that once one considered other factors influencing the success of a film, a star had no impact on its rate of return. Employing a star had virtually no discernible impact on the box office itself. Mr. Cruise would no doubt object to that assertion. And to be fair, there is some theoretical pedigree to the idea that he may be worth every penny. In fact, there is a whole branch of economics that aims to explain how talented people generate so much more money than competitors who are only slightly less good. It’s called “superstar economics.”

New York Times http://tinyurl.com/pwj4r

Check out the film financing books listed in the right-hand column on our home page (Film Funding Services –> Books on Film Funding)
You can also search Google for these suggestions from AIVF:

Recommended Reading

Achieving Excellence in Fund Raising: A Comprehensive Guide to Principles, Strategies, and Methods, Henry A. Rosso

The Art of Winning Corporate Grants, Howard Hillman

Film Finance & Distribution: A Dictionary of Terms, John Cones
Film & Video Financing, Michael Wiese

Fiscal Sponsorship: 6 Ways to Do It Right, Gregory Colvin

43 Ways to Finance Your Film, John Cones

The Foundation Center’s Guide to Proposal Writing, Jane C. Geever

The Fundraising House Party: How to Get Charitable Donations from Individuals in a Houseparty Setting, Morrie Warshawski.

The Grassroots Fundraising Book: How to Raise Money in Your
Community, Joan Flanagan

Shaking the Money Tree: How to Get Grants and Donations for Film and Video Projects, Morrie Warshawski. (Out of print; order online at www.warshawski.com. Site also has extensive bibliography for grantwriting.)

Michelle Coe has worked in various capacities for a number of
film/video festivals and media arts organizations.

Monday, September 18, 2006

Poker Pays Off for Independent Filmmaker Author: Ian McKenzie
newsdesk@bluffmedia.com

http://www.bluffmagazine.com/news/newsArticle.asp?newsID=1101278

It’s the kind of storyline you would see in a film – but one online poker win means that a new film will make it to the big screen.

“We’re pretty sure that ours is the first film to be entirely funded by online poker winnings” says film director Nick Scott, who turned to poker after being frustrated by the lack of official film funding. “It’s difficult for British filmmakers to fund their projects. We had a great script and just wanted to make the thing, but it was going to take us months to raise the cash ourselves.”

Posted on Sun, Sep. 10, 2006

New film funding source: The fans
`Iraq for Sale’ producer solicited donations via the Internet for movie
WILLIAM BOOTH
Washington Post

The e-mail alerted potential supporters that Greenwald was committed to making “Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers.” Gilliam wrote: “To start shooting, we need money. Overall, the film will cost $750,000. We can expect about $450,000 to be offset by DVD sales, selling foreign rights, and an advance from our retail store distributor, but we still need $300,000. A generous donor just stepped up and will contribute $100,000 if we can match it with $200,000 from someone else. That someone else is you! 4000 people giving $50 each. We’ll put everyone’s name in the credits.”

They got $267,892 in 10 days.

Charlotte Observer http://tinyurl.com/z6h77

Fiscal sponsorship can allow donors to a film to receive a tax deductible write-off. Without such a financing arrangement in place, donors to a film are making a personal gift that has no tax benefit.

Organizations such as the Film Arts Foundation offer fiscal sponsorship:

http://www.filmarts.org/services.php?function=fiscal