One great way to find money to make a movie is to enter contests and win them! There is money to make a movie sponsored by equipment companies, brands, advertising, festivals and many more. Film financing contests with film financing as the prize are a great way to get money to make a movie. Several great advantages of film funding with prize money are:
So check out all the great film contests that offer prize money for you to make your movie. Having a contest for films, your brand, advertising campaign, festival or screenplay competition? Please tell us about your filmmaker prize so we can tell our filmmakers!
Project Spark is a global campaign announced by NANLITE & NANLUX, together with four sponsors of ATOMOS, RODE, DZOFILM and ARTLIST, covering four categories of narrative, documentary, commercial and experimental. Project Spark is an invitation to creators, a competition calling campaign for all creators around the world. The outstanding ones within each category will be rewarded with bonuses and prizes provided by NANLITE, NANLUX and four sponsors. “Call for Entries” Theme: Reflection. Awards for Best Narrative Short, Best Documentary Short, Best Commercial Short & Best Experimental Short. Each winner will receive $20,000 in cash + $7,000 value pack.
More Info: Project Spark
Brought to you by the International Screenwriters’ Association, Emerging Screenwriters is both a Screenplay Competition and Script Analysis Service for Film & TV. Emerging Screenwriters has multiple contests throughout the year, such as “Shoot Your Short,” “Feature/TV Screenplay Competition” and “Shoot Your Sizzle.” Prize money varies, but can be as much as $45,000 in cash and services. For example, in one of their contests, the Grand Prize winner receives: $10,000 cash, a full scholarship to the New York STORY Seminar, FAST Screenplay Screen writing Process and a 1 Year Subscription to Storylogue.
More Info: Emerging Screenwriters
Filmaka is a lot like Zooppa in that they have tons of competitions, contests and brand collaborations and are consistently seeking talented filmmakers. Their four categories include periodic, brand, web series and documentary. Deadlines and requirements are rolling throughout the year, and prices have been offered from $2,500 to over $20K, plus tons of other perks and prizes.
More Info: filmaka.com
Student Filmmakers is a treasure trove of information and opportunities for filmmakers of all levels. One of their annual events, “Summer Shorts Film & Video Contest,” is open to Junior High / High School, College, and Professional filmmakers and include all filmmakers, videographers, and animators, as well as storytellers who work in any or all “moving image” formats. The goal of the Summer Shorts Awards is to help facilitate the sharing of creative ideas and production techniques within the independent filmmaker community and to showcase the talents of filmmakers by providing them with a platform in the public to advance their careers. Prizes vary, but can include cash as well as equipment and industry donations.
More Info: studentfilmmakers.com
Prize Fest offers contests and awards for Film, Food, Music, Fashion and Comedy. Filmmakers from across the world create projects for Film Prize each year, and twenty are selected to compete for the grand prize, $25k, the largest cash prize given by a film festival in the world. The Prize Fest has screenings, red carpet parties and much more, including a lot of publicity, for both filmmakers and spectators.
More Info: prizefest.com
We’re actually not sure if NexTV is still around, but they may just be on covid pause. In the past, they were known for connecting “cutting-edge writers, actors, filmmakers and all content-generators with the entertainment industry’s most relevant decision-makers” by holding many contests throughout the year and then showcasing the winners to top execs and decision makers.
More Info: nextventertainment.com
Contests and prize money are a great way to secure money to make a movie. Here are some film contests sponsored by film financing companies – and don’t forget to check which Film Festivals offer money to make a movie as their prize.
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