By: Sarah Chaisson-Warner
As a new writer, getting a script produced is a transformative career milestone that can lead to new opportunities and help you pitch your stories to producers, managers, and agents. Our Short Film Fund was established to commission production projects from emerging screenwriters and create another avenue for you to get your work seen by the industry.
The Fund accepts scripts for narrative short films (live-action & animation), including proof-of-concept shorts for TV series and features.
Our Short Film Fund provides a suite of prizes to the Grand Prize Winner of a $15,000 cash production grant designed to help bring their script to screen.
In Fall 2024, Shore Scripts began also awarding $4,000 in finishing funds to one short film currently in post-production
Both winners will also receive mentorship from two-time Oscar-nominated producer Maria Gracia Turgeon, a film festival strategy package from Tribeca shorts programmer Kimberley Browning, and have the opportunity to circulate their finished film to select members of our Industry Roster.
Read on for more information about the most common costs you can expect when producing a short film, how our production and finishing funds grants have helped emerging filmmakers get their stories made, and how to submit to our Short Film Fund.
How Does Budgeting for a Short Film Work?
The budgeting process can be a little challenging, especially if you’re just starting out. But to make things easier, think of your budget in three major categories:
- Pre-production : This includes the costs of location scouting, procuring insurance, getting permits, and any other miscellaneous costs that may help you in getting set up for production.
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Production : This includes your “above the line” staff like the actors, director, and producers, and “below the line” costs like the production crew, sets, and equipment.
- Post-production: This includes the costs of editing, sound design, color, music, and putting the final finishing touches on your film
The cost of production for a short film can be anywhere from $1,000 to $100,000, with many shorts by emerging filmmakers today landing somewhere between $10,000 and $25,000 from beginning to end. But, ultimately, there are numerous factors that go into a short film budget that can vary widely from project to project.
Side note - if budgeting isn’t your strength, a good line producer will help you build the budget. Some software, including Movie Magic, has budget templates you can customize too.
Production: What Are the Most Common Costs?
The cost of production varies widely, particularly since much of the costs during this phase are human. Some short filmmakers are able to shoot their script with a cast made up of friends or other low-cost actor options. Higher-budget shorts might utilize the services of a Casting Director and union actors. Similarly, the number of actors in your script will also impact the total cost.
If you’re using union actors, there are standards and minimums that must be met - click here to see SAG-AFTRA’s current guidelines. If your budget is less than $20,000 you may qualify for the SAG Micro-Budget Agreement – check it out here.
Outside of actors, you’ll need to budget for a crew, which should include, at the bare minimum, a Director, Producer, Cinematographer or Director of Photography, and Sound Mixer. If you have room in your budget, you’ll ideally add a 1st AD (Assistant Director), Gaffer, Key Grip, Script Supervisor, Production Designer, Hair and Make-Up Artist, and Costume Designer. Depending on your project, you may need to fill roles such as a Stunt Coordinator to ensure safety during certain performances, a VFX Supervisor to oversee special effects shots that may need additional work in post-production, or a Steadicam, Drone, or Crane Operator if you’re looking to include shots that require specific equipment and operators.
Non-human costs to consider in your shoot include costumes, cameras, lighting, and other equipment, sets and set design, location fees, and props. And often considered the most important place to spend your money on a good set–food. Ensuring that the entire team is fed well via catered or pre-ordered meals and craft services is a must.
Other costs that sometimes get forgotten in the first draft of the budget by newer filmmakers might include insurance, pension and health payments (if using SAG-AFTRA actors under certain contracts, again, depending on your total budget), location permits (and costs associated with those which can vary widely in different parts of the U.S. and the world), and contingency (usually appx. 10% of your overall budget).
Our Short Film Fund’s Grand Prize package has been created to help writers and filmmakers take their scripts from page to screen and help support the costs of production. Our carefully crafted package includes not only a $15,000 cash production grant, but also camera equipment rental from ARRI Rental, which can save you thousands of dollars!
How Have Past Winners Used Their Production Grants?
2022 Grand Prize Winner Chelsea Isabella Clark-James’ short film, NON EMERGENCY MEDICAL TRANSPORT, showcases two American men from different generations and cultural backgrounds stuck in a van together, trying to find a medical detox bed.
“I had already set aside some production funds before hearing that I won, so I knew I would be making this short myself,” Chelsea said. She typically is cognizant of writing for production. “In the first drafts, I allow myself to focus on the story. In later drafts, I circle back to evaluate what moves the story forward and what can be written as more production-friendly.”
Even though she typically writes her scripts to be “producible,” she was able to cut her production budget back by working with mentor Maria Gracia Turgeon. “Working with Maria Garcia Turgeon helped me tighten up the script, and also going through the Sundance Collab Directing Workshop helped me tremendously,” she said.
With the support of Maria and Sundance, Chelsea cut one prop, one character, one location, and four pages from her script. “A prop can be hours of shoot time, and thousands of dollars. People don’t always realize that,” she said. Making these cuts – a location, a character, and a prop – all helped to both improve the quality of her script and decrease the budget for her film. “It made it a really lean script.” Watch the trailer here.
Anjini Taneja Azhar, who was our 2023 Fall Short Film Fund Grand Prize Winner with her script, WHO ARE YOU, NANU?, completed principal photography in May of 2024 in India. The film follows 11-year-old Isha who, after her grandfather’s ceremonial cremation brings her to the Holy Ganges river in India, befriends the phantom of her Nanu’s rambunctious 8-year-old self. In this friendship, Isha discovers the journey after death.
Anjini used the $15,000 grand prize to support the costs of production, including the cost of the 60-person crew, most of whom were local to India. “I’ve learned a huge lesson in separating myself as a writer and a director to do my due diligence on each part of the process properly. I do not really believe in the saying ‘fix it in post’ and try to avoid even nearing that idea as much as possible…I try to write as tight of a script as possible without worrying about certain directing aspects that might interfere with the foundation of the script. That way, when I’m directing, I can pay my entire attention to the creative whilst feeling confident that the script is something we can lean on. This helps avoid holes that result in post-production damage control.”
Anjini encourages other filmmakers and writers to not let finances limit their storytelling. “Shorts are where you get to play and explore who you are as a visual storyteller,” she said. “Yes, there is compromise because finances are limited, but why should you scale down to a vision that doesn’t represent you? There’s a balance to be struck—and that takes courage and not playing it safe. Reach for the stars so you land on the moon. It’s important to dream big. Dreams are the best friends of artists.” Watch the trailer here.
Post-Production: What Are Finishing Funds and Why Do I Need Them?
As filmmakers, we know it can be challenging to get a short over the finish line, and a little extra support toward post-production and/or distribution can go a long way.
Finishing funds are provided to help filmmakers cover the costs of the film after the shooting has been completed–the period known as “post-production.” Post-production includes several critical components, including:
- Cutting & editing footage
- Sound & dialogue editing, design, and mixing
- Color grading
- Composing & integrating music
- Generating and integrating visual effects
Typically, post-production costs are estimated during pre-production, when the director works with a line producer to develop a line-by-line budget of the film from start to finish. While the costs of these components vary by project, each of these needs can be a sizable portion of the film’s full budget - employing editors, sound designers, colorists, and other film professionals can be expensive.
And, as any director will tell you, sometimes by the time you’ve gotten to post-production, you might already be over budget, making the financial crunch at the point of post-production even more palpable.
How Have Finishing Funds Helped Short Film Fund Alumni?
With this in mind, Shore Scripts has always welcomed short film submissions that are in post-production and seeking finishing funds. Several past Short Film Fund winners have utilized their cash prize to help cover the costs of post-production.
For Alexandra Qin, the Fall Second Place Winner in 2022, placing in the Short Film Fund proved to be a pivotal moment for her and her team. They had already shot her proof-of-concept short, THIRSTYGIRL, and the grant came at a critical juncture as they grappled with being over budget. With their resources stretched thin, they allocated the entire grant towards post-production expenses, covering costs for the editor, colorist, sound designer, and composer.
Since winning our Short Film Fund, Alex has screened THIRSTYGIRL at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, as well as many other festivals across the country and abroad. She is currently developing THIRSTYGIRL as her first feature, the screenplay for which was the Grand Prize Winner of the 2022 Page Awards, a 2022 Nicholl Semifinalist, and the Winner of the 2021 Finish Line Social Impact screenplay competition. She is also a fellow in the 2024 Antigravity Academy Screenwriters Camp and pitching the project at the 2024 Gotham Week as part of their new Shorts to Features program. See the trailer here.
Brendan Beachman was our Spring 2022 Second Place Winner. Brendan submitted his film, A WEDDING DAY, “Months before deciding to just bite the bullet and film it no matter what.” Brendan had finished shooting his script, A WEDDING DAY, when he found out he had won the 2nd Place Prize of the Short Film Fund, and he used the prize money to help support their post-production needs, which ended up being more costly than anticipated.
“The award money from this contest is absolutely saving my hide,” he said upon winning. The cash prize helped to pay his composer and musician, colorist, sound designer, and VFX artist.
A WEDDING DAY premiered at the Calgary Underground Film Festival where it won Best International Short. It went on to win the Audience Award at Dances With Films, Festival Honors for Best Narrative Short at the Newport Beach Film Festival, the Audience Award for Best Short Film at Julien Dubuque, and Best Short at the Wyoming Film Festival. See the trailer here. Or view the full film on Directors Notes!
How Can I Submit?
The Shore Scripts Short Film Fund accepts short scripts as well as scripts for projects that have already been filmed and need additional finishing funds. Scripts should be between 2-30 pages. Writers can exceed the recommended limits by up to 15 pages for an additional fee of $1 per page. All scripts must be written in English, but they can be filmed anywhere in the world and in any language (as long as English subtitles are provided in the finished film)!
Submissions are accepted via our website, Coverfly, and Film Freeway. Please note that there are separate submission forms for filmmakers applying for the production grant and filmmakers applying for finishing funds.
Submissions for finishing funds will need to include a link to your work-in-progress film or footage (via Vimeo, YouTube, Google Drive, Dropbox, etc.). Please remember to keep your link working and the password the same through to our Winners’ announcement. Please note that we do not offer feedback or coverage reports on rough cuts, shot footage, or finished films.
Interested in learning more? Visit www.shorescripts.com/shortfilmfund or email our Short Film Fund Manager Julia Morizawa.
