Diane's Diary #38: Writing Proposals — Part 2
Note: This is Excerpt #38 in Diane’s Diary. If you would like to read previous excerpts, you can find Diane’s Diary 1-37 here.
In Diane’s Diary 37 I shared that once I met Joanna Rabiger who is an amazing grant writer, I realized how much more detail I needed to include in a film grant proposal. Then, after a few consults with Karen Everett, a brilliant story (film) editor, we decided that the full-length feature and docuseries was likely going to be a docuseries only. It just made more sense given the material and the varied stories.
I realized that in order to apply for film grants that I was going to have to flesh out each of the 12 episodes. I was willing to do it if it was the only option, but I believe I have other options.
Through a bunch of film people I had been meeting (it was really crazy how many people I kept meeting at the time), I learned of a documentary distribution course, led by Keith Ochwat, which I enrolled in. It was through this course that I learned how competitive applying for film grants can be. It makes sense. Many independent filmmakers all applying for the same few grants. Keith’s counsel is to apply for the film grant if you want, but he had much more success connecting with the organizations that had an affinity for his subject matter.
For me, since the subject is the human-animal bond, I am now connecting with organizations that care about the health issues in my series as well as animal and humane organizations. And not just foundations, but corporations that may be interested in corporate sponsorship as well. I was always planning on going that route in addition to film grants, but with Keith’s suggestion, I decided to solely focus on the non-film grants.
Ultimately, the fact that I haven’t yet applied for a film grant using the work that Joanna produced for me is not for naught. She gave me some great ideas to incorporate into the series and who knows… maybe we will end up applying for film grants. We shall see.
There is a lot more about this topic, but I know that despite it being important, it can be a little boring to read about. We’ll come back to it another time but suffice it to say that it’s an important part of my journey and needed to be shared in the diary.
We will switch gears for our next blog post. I promise!
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