May 2020 Update: Unfortunately, we didn't get the grants, but I learned a lot and I am preparing to pitching the projects at Cannes and AFM.
1) Think like an investor
I was practising my pitch for a project with my mom and asked her to think like an investor (AKA told her to imagine that I was asking her to withdraw some of her savings to invest in my project).
Sometimes you have to think like an investor and ask yourself: How will my project offer a return on investment for people who support my project?
2) Collaborate + Diversify
As a producer who just likes producing, I can’t make anything without writers. Sure, I can try to write a screenplay but there are so many amazing scripts that I could snatch one up and collaborate with some creatives.
Related Article: You Are The Average of the 5 People You Spend the Most Time With
3) PLEASE Ask someone to review your application
It feels like common knowledge, but sometimes folks need a reminder. Get other people’s eyes on your application because they will see things that are missing that you might not see (plus, it sometimes feels like you are sharing the workload).
I have two examples:
I drafted a budget for a grant and asked for $25K. The person reviewing the grant flagged that the fund allowed for up to $60K in grant funding. If that person didn’t flag it, we would have an under-funded project.
On a collaborative project, I worked with 6 writer/directors who would be collaborating on the project. I invited them to review the project proposal and give feedback. Since I had 6 different set of eyes on the application, they saw spelling, grammar, and formatting mistakes that I would’ve missed.
4) If your target audience is you, the funder needs to hear that using their terms.
When I ask writer/directors who pitch me their project, I ask “who is your target audience” and they reply “me, because I create work that I want to see”. It is a valid answer but I need more because I’m asking for a reason.
With a target audience it means I can:
Think about how to market and promote your piece (ie. Does your audience drive daily or commute via public transit? Do they only engage on Instagram and use Facebook to reconnect with family overseas? Do they hang out in boardgame cafes or prefer catching a baseball game with their friends?)
Prepare who to sell your project to. I wouldn’t try to pitch a R-rated film to Disney+
I also pitched some episodes of a series idea to my brother, who I assumed would be a sub-sect of my target audience. He was like “nope, nope, nope,” because although he’s a heavy gamer he’s not a big movie watcher so I had to pivot my audience a bit.
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5) Make your application as visual as possible
Just because they are a funder or executive, it doesn’t mean that they aren’t visual. It does take extra work and effort to go above and beyond and I highly encourage it because funders recieve hundreds maybe thousands of applications and if it is all text based, with the intended result be a film or tv show, why would you ONLY have text. Let them be able to SEE what you are imagining. Maybe there’s space in the supporting material or somewhere else, but a visual treatment or pitch deck is vital, especially if your work is primarily a visual medium.
6) Spread out the work over a few days
For those who had to write essays in school, this is a nostalgic moment for you. Remember when your teacher gave you an assignment WEEKS in advance? There were many types of ways students went about their essay-writing. I often heard horror stories of people’s extreme procrastination like it was a sport. Computers breaking down hours before the deadline, printers not working, bibliographies not done, spelling and grammar a mess, and on and on. Please try not to bring that kind of energy to your grant applications. Break your application down into chunks across multiple days so that you have time to make any tweaks, give feedback, etc.
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Bonus: Read the application before applying to make sure your project qualifies.
I was applying to the CBC Creative Relief Fund and two of my projects (a short film and a 60-minute film) had strong concepts, initial treatments/mood boards, budget breakdown, and schedule breakdown.
When I reached out to a potential supervising producer, they circled back to me and asked a legit question “what stream are you applying for because this project (the short film) is not pitched as a series?”. I was floored and went back to the application form and it said in the FIRST sentence:
“We will be accepting pitches for new and innovative scripted series in both drama and comedy genres. “
new and innovative scripted series
innovative scripted series
scripted series.
After hours of working on the applications for these projects, they were ineligible.
I hope these tips helped you think about how to better prepare for a grant application.