How to Get Funding for a Film Festival

Submissions for film festivals are in abundance because every film director and actor wants their 15 minutes of fame. Besides the major ones known throughout film land, Sundance and Tribecca, there are also many local film festivals created by colleges and universities in addition to high schools and just the average film advocate. These steps will help you fund a film festival.

Instructions

1. Find a main sponsor to fund your festival. Good places to start are high schools, colleges and universities. Other places to look are libraries or associations who are dedicated to film and its history.

2. Start a raffle so people can buy tickets to help fund your festival. Raffle prizes can include popular movies or classic film DVDs, editing software, cameras, tripods or anything pertaining to the art of film. Appealing to film buffs through prizes like these will get people excited about helping you fund your film festival.

3. Create an advertisement booklet or banners telling film goers about surrounding companies who support the festival and asking companies to pay for the advertisement.

4. Charge an entry fee to each film director who wants to show their work at your festival.

5. Ask for donations from people attending the festival or set a price for each day or sell passes for the duration of the festival. This works well if you are having a weekend or week-long festival.

Tips & Warnings

• Don't be afraid to spend any of your own money the first year of your festival. Hopefully over time your festival will gain public awareness and then you will profit.

• Funding a film festival is no easy task, so be sure to start months in advance to not only promote your festival but to also make sure you can pay for the majority of the fees.