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So coming up this next year I am going to be making a short film. I will be needing cash to make this work and I am working on buisness plans. The only part I have yet to figure out is how to get sponsors and how to get them to give me money even if there is no direct cash return from myself. What do I do at this point?

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Honestly, Nick, I'd say 99% of all short films come out of pocket; but you can also look into sources like kickstarter and the like. As for "sponsors," outside of a few shows I've done on local TV, I can't say I've ever seen one giving more than, say, a tray of pitas (Pita Pit, a few yrs ago) and the like.

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Nick, I have had situations were I could get help funding a short film but this was always an offer where I would get into a "co-director" situation and compromise a level of control. It was something I was not comfortable with so I funded my projects fully. Although my mom has been a "producer" on some of my past work and all she asks is that I dont do sleazy movies :lol:

 

Just remember, whenever you get funding from someone it always comes at a price. No one is going to give you money without getting some level of control over a project. That is the tradeoff.

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even if there is no direct cash return from myself.

 

Looks like you just answered your own question.

 

Adrian is right, 99% of shorts are self funded. In Europe and Canada there are a lot of grants available, but there's nothing in the US that I am aware of.

 

R,

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If you're one of those irksome people who lumps the UK in with europe, forget about it. To my knowledge there is absolutely no government funding of short film in the UK whatsoever, unless you're a member of a currently-fashionable minority group. Needless to say this means that almost all shorts funding here leads to the creation of leaden, worthy, issue movies of interest to nobody but the director's immediate family, but hey, I don't make the rules...

 

P

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unless you're a member of a currently-fashionable minority group.

 

So there is funding then.

 

Good news Phil, you will be a minority in 2027, so you'll be free to apply. :D

 

R,

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There are some short film schemes around in the UK, but they're competitive and only involve a handful of films each year throughout the UK. These may be regional rather than London based, but funding is much tighter than in the past and the schemes may not operating this year. Amongst the BFI lottery funded productions a couple look like shorts from the sums involved - lottery funding isn't a grant, they want a percentage of the profits (although unlikely with a short).

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