Receive up to $30k in grant funds! Dan Gilroy (NIGHTCRAWLER, ANDOR) joins as Grand Juror. Open to a wide range of projects and formats. Winner's have screened at Cannes, Sundance, & SXSW.

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Contest opens in 9 days

Current Season Announcements

Jan 18

Second Rounder

Feb 8

Semifinalist

Mar 1

Finalist

Mar 22

Grant Recipient

This unique grant program is designed to help fund your vision. We consider a range of projects, from treatments to standalone screenplays, to fully-packaged projects seeking finishing funds and will choose 1 - 4 projects to fund. ScreenCraft will offer production grants to talented creators for narrative features, short films, TV pilot series scripts, and documentaries that display originality, vision & exceptional potential. Grant amounts will vary up to $30,000 depending on the scale and merit of each project.

Jury

Get noticed by our industry jury!

Becky Chalsen

Creative Executive, Sunday Night Productions

Becky Chalsen is the creative executive in the film/TV development department at Sunday Night Productions, founded by John Krasinski of A QUIET PLACE. She is a novelist living in New York City and her debut novel KISMET will publish in summer 2023 by Dutton.

Yvette Yates

Producer and Partner, Impossible Dream Entertainment

Yvette Yates is a partner at Impossible Dream Entertainment, which produced the popular film DAY SHIFT on Netflix.

Matthew Helderman

CEO/ Co-founder, Bondit

BondIt Media Capital is a world renowned film, television and media financier founded in 2014. Based in Santa Monica, BondIt has completed over 250+ film and television financing transactions resulting in $60M+ of invested capital and over $200M+ of aggregate production spending. Credits include the Oscar nominated Loving Vincent, the Arnold Schwarzenegger starring Aftermath from Lionsgate, the Netflix original film To The Bone starring Lily Collins, and the cult hit horror film The Invitation.

Prizes

Jump start your career.

Grand Prize Winner

Between 1 and 4 projects will be selected, depending on the quality of applicants as determined by our jury, for grants up to $30,000 in finishing funds.

Winners will also have the opportunity to work with the ScreenCraft Writer Development Team for creative development and personalized guidance for the projects needs.

ScreenCraft has a proven track record for helping writers generate career changing success.

  • Grants up to $30,000 in finishing funds. 

  • Accepted into the ScreenCraft Development Program

  • An exclusive invitation to a Finalist+ only workshop to position yourself and your writing to the industry

Runner-Up Prizes

Finalists

An exclusive invitation to a ScreenCraft Finalist+ only workshop to position yourself and your writing to the industry.

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Contest opens in 9 days

Previous Successes

Placing in a ScreenCraft competition can launch your career. See More Successes

As Featured in

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Rules and More

  • Rules
  • Eligibility
  • Selection Criteria
  • Additional Legal
  • Please submit with:
    • A Script or Treatment —  this doesn’t have to be a completed screenplay if you’re applying for a documentary or if your film is already in production. It can be a treatment, a PDF with links to footage, or any other pitch document that shows the project’s potential. 
    • A Cover Letter —  A letter that expresses your vision for your project. Help the judges get a sense of your creative vision and professional experience. Let us know if you’ve begun production and what you’d be able to use the funding for. We recommend 1-2 pages in length.
  • Accepted formats for Film Fund include Narrative (Features, Series, Shorts), Documentaries (Features, Series, Shorts), and Unscripted (Features, Series)
    • For Narrative format submissions, screenplays must be submitted in industry-standard formatting as a PDF file, along with a Cover Letter. Because different formats are accepted, scripts and submissions may be any page count. However, any submission longer than 120 pages will incur a $1 per page overage fee for each page over 120.
    • For Documentaries, instead of a screenplay, a treatment about the project will be accepted, which can include links to video footage (YouTube, Vimeo, etc), along with the Cover Letter.
    • For Unscripted format submissions, please submit a treatment about the project and highlight any exclusive access to intellectual property or a public figure.  Links to video footage can be included, along with the Cover Letter.
  • Optionally, you can include a PDF document that includes any other information. This can be anything from a full series bible to a line-item budget, to links to footage or a sizzle reel. We recommend only including information that gives a better sense of the specific project, but please include anything that will help our judges understand the creators and the project.
  • When reviewing your submission we will consider your primary document (which varies depending on your project format) and your cover letter. Additional optional materials, will be reviewed as needed.
  • Grants will range in size up to a maximum of $30,000 per project. Grant amount will be determined by the jury consisting of executives from ScreenCraft.
  • Recipients will be announced within 12 weeks of the final deadline of each cycle. Please refer to the top of the page for announcement dates. 
  • Applications are accepted via electronic submission only.
  • There is no limit to the number of projects you may submit.
  • Applications must be received on or before the deadlines and application fee payment must be made in full at time of the submission.
  • All application fees are non-refundable
  • All submitted material must be original, and all rights must be wholly owned by the writer(s).
  • Material must be submitted by the author or owner of the material. Material written by writing teams must be submitted by one of the writers, with consent of the other(s). All writers must be credited on the title page.
  • Substitutions of either corrected pages or new drafts of the entered material are not allowed. Please proofread your script very carefully before submitting.
  • Contact info may be included on the cover page of the screenplay, however it is not required.
  • Grant funding is conditional upon selected recipient going into production on selected project within twelve (12) months of when the grant was awarded.

Eligibility

  • We welcome international applicants. All persons from anywhere in the world are eligible; however the material submitted must be in English.
  • If an applicant is younger than 18 years old, a verifiable parental consent form must also be submitted with application.
  • All material submitted to other competitions or contests are eligible for this production grant program.
  • There are no requirements as to when the material was written.
  • Screenplay must be owned and submitted by the writer or owner.
  • Material should be submitted in standard screenplay format, font, spacing and margin.
  • We have no preferences regarding title page content. Title and name of writer would suffice.
  • Adaptations are ineligible unless the underlying rights are owned by the writer or director or the work is in the public domain.
  • Screenplays must be in generally accepted industry-standard formatting as a PDF file. Any popular software may be used for formatting, such as Final Draft.
  • All material must be submitted electronically as a PDF or it will not be eligible.

The winners will be chosen based on the following criteria

  • Concept
  • Overall Impression
  • Originality
  • Professional Presentation
  • Viability

Criteria for Winners and Finalists:

  1. The winners and top finalists may be contacted by interested industry representatives, such as managers, agents or producers. 
  2. Entrants may be required to submit further information to assist in the judges’ verification of eligibility. 
  3. Any entrant may be deemed ineligible as a Finalist or Winner at the sole discretion of ScreenCraft. 
  4. Finalists may be required to sign and return within seven (7) business days of receipt a notarized Affidavit of Eligibility and a Release and Indemnification and proof of valid passport and any other documents that ScreenCraft or any other partner may require before receiving prize payment. Failure to respond to the initial notification within ten (10) days or return of notification will result in disqualification. 
  5. We reserve the right to amend these rules at any time.
  • COPYRIGHT AND OWNERSHIP: ScreenCraft may ask for (but not require) executive producer credit depending on the project, its needs, and ScreenCraft’s participation. Writer credit and director and producer credit will remain with the original filmmaking team. All ownership and rights to the material submitted to this grant program remains with the original rights holders until and unless other agreements are made. Should your project be awarded funding, you are not obligated to accept it until and unless other agreements are made.
  • PUBLICITY: Except where prohibited by law, participation in this program constitutes each entrant’s consent to ScreenCraft and its agents’ and sponsor’s use of entrants’ names, likenesses, photographs, and/or personal information for promotional purposes in any media, worldwide, without further payment or consideration. All uses of an entrants’ information are in accordance with our Privacy Policy.
  • REFUND POLICY: All application fees are non-refundable.
  • ENTRY CONDITIONS AND RELEASE: By applying for this production grant, each participant agrees to release and hold harmless ScreenCraft, Red Ampersand LLC, ScreenCraft.org, its subsidiary, parent and affiliated companies, contributors, Sponsors, and any other organizations responsible for administering, advertising or promoting this ScreenCraft Film Fund and Grant Program and Promotion, and every one of their respective members, directors, employees, agents and representatives (collectively, the “Released Parties”) past and present from and against any and all claims, expenses, and liability, including but not limited to damages and negligence to property and persons, including but not limited to invasion of privacy, defamation, slander, libel, violation of right of publicity, copyright, infringement of trademark or other intellectual property rights relating to a participant’s Entry, participation in the Promotion and/or acceptance or use or misuse of Prize; provided however, that such release will not apply to any commercial exploitation of the script by a Released Party in violation of your rights under applicable copyright law; and (c) indemnify, defend and hold harmless all related parties including ScreenCraft, ScreenCraft.org and its Sponsor, agents and employees from and against any and all claims, expenses, and liabilities (including reasonable attorneys fees) relating to an entrant’s participation in the Program and/or entrant’s use or misuse of awarded grant. Employees of ScreenCraft, and their immediate families are ineligible to participate in this contest. Any such submission will be immediately disqualified. This grant program is void where restricted by any Federal, State or Local law. Recipients’ eligibility will be verified before the grant is awarded and the winner may be required to sign an affidavit of eligibility. By entering the contest, you authorize us to use any trusted third-party online and cloud-based services and databases for hosting, managing and/or transmitting your submission file(s).

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