The Art of Film Funding
Discover the secrets to funding and creating successful indie films with The Art of Film Funding Podcast. Join Carole Dean, President of From the Heart Productions and author of The Art of Film Funding, and Heather Lenz, director of the award-winning documentary Kusama-Infinity, as they chat with top film industry pros. Get practical insider tips on crowdfunding, pitching, saving on budgets, marketing, hybrid distribution, and the latest in A.I. filmmaking. Whether you’re funding your first project or navigating new trends, this podcast has everything you need to succeed. Subscribe and let’s get your film funded!
The Art of Film Funding
The Redford Center, programs, and benefits for filmmakers with Heather Fipps
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Love Hope Radio.
SPEAKER_03Hi and welcome to the Art of Film Funding. I'm your co-host, Claire Capan. Along with Carol Dean, author of the best-selling book, The Art of Film Funding, Carol is also the founder and president of From the Heart Productions and the host of this show. Heather Pitts is a filmmaker and producer of multi-platform stories. She's currently the program manager at the Redford Center, where she cultivates opportunities for environmental filmmakers and produces impact media projects and campaigns. She's co-founder of the Hollywood Climate Summit, an annual conference for cross-sector creative industries to build a coalition of climate-conscious storytellers, supported by Netflix, Paramount, NBC Universal, and more. How wonderful to have an organization dedicated to environmental filmmakers, right, Carol?
SPEAKER_04Yes, Claire. Thank you so much, Heather, for joining us. We all know, love, and respect the incredible work that the Redford Center is doing with your environmental project. So tell us what you do at the Redford Center.
SPEAKER_02Well, thank you so much for having me, Claire and Carol. Really appreciate the invitation to talk about the Redford Center today. I am the program director at the Redford Center, and I oversee our different uh programmatic offerings and filmmaker support services. And a little bit about the Redford Center is that it was co-founded in 2005 by Robert Redford and his son James Redford. And we're a nonprofit organization that advances environmental solutions through the power of stories that move. And we're one of the only US-based nonprofits solely dedicated to environmental impact filmmaking.
SPEAKER_04That's incredible. You're way ahead of the curve here. We need this, Heather. Well, I just have to share with you that some years ago I read online that the Redford Center was giving you a DVD if you agreed to share it with your friends. And it was on the water crisis in the West. And I thought, how incredible. And so I uh asked for the DVD. They sent it to me, and it was so compelling that it changed my whole attitude about water. The water I washed dishes with or clothes. I'm very careful about how I use water. And just by changing my own personal habits, I have saved tons of water over the last eight years, thanks to the Redford Center.
SPEAKER_02Well, that's so wonderful to hear, Carol. That's an amazing story. That that film was called Watershed, and it was executive produced and narrated by Robert Redford and directed by Mark Decinna. Um and it is it's one of our pride, Pride and Joys at the Redford Center. It tells the story of um the Colorado River Delta and really encourage people to to watch it. It still is a very relevant story today. And actually, the impact campaign that was around that film called Raise the River campaign still exists today. It's been going strong for 15 years. So it's really been an impactful film for a number of people, and including you. That's so wonderful. Yes, yes, changed my lot.
SPEAKER_04Well, tell us about the Redford Center's mission and what inspired it.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, well, thank you for that question. Um so the Redford Center um develops and invests in narrative tools that strengthen and broaden the reach of the grassroots efforts powering the environmental movement. So over the years, the Redford Center has supported more than 150 film and media projects with grants and other services. Uh the Redford Center has produced three award-winning feature documentaries and more than 40 short films. And it's inspired the creation of more than 550 student films and dispersed more than 12 million dollars to environmental film projects. So, really, the inspiration of the Redford Center was to tell stories, entertaining stories that move about the environment to advance environmental solutions. James and uh Jamie Redford was formative in the vision and mission of the stories that the Redford Center has told. And over the course of the years, the support of environmental storytelling and filmmaking has broadened to include other filmmakers who are telling stories of their communities, stories that are hopeful, stories that tell solutions, and really enter the environmental conversation from a number of different ways and entry points, and really broadening the idea of what an environmental story can be. I think a lot of people have a very similar idea of what we mean when we say environmental story. Maybe that means a nature documentary, maybe that means a documentary about biodiversity, but the Redford Center has really told stories of people doing work to really, really care for our earth, change the way that we live, our relationship and connection with nature, participate in community activism, advocacy, and really take up action in moments where it can feel like we're overwhelmed and there's nothing we can do. We're telling stories of people who are doing something, and um, all along the way, really centering and prioritizing the impact that these stories can have. So not only telling the story, but pushing out resources, connecting with organizations who are doing this work daily, um, and really just advancing and shifting the conversation to an attitude of we still have work to do, we're in it, and we're building resiliency and courage to face the many diverse um environmental crises that we are facing worldwide. Wonderful.
SPEAKER_04Well, you've uh 550 student films is wonderful. Congratulations. I mean, thank you.
SPEAKER_02That's empowering. Yes, one of our programs is um the our youth stories program, and uh that is an environmental curriculum that has been in middle school aged classrooms, um, and teachers have used it to teach their students how to tell environmental stories about their community. We've had over 550 films that have come out of that, and they're just incredible. I mean, probably some of my favorite films, although we have some amazing ones. Um, the short student films and the messages coming from young people today are absolutely moving and powerful. It's a really a point of pride for us as well.
SPEAKER_04Oh, it should be because if you if you teach them the things that I learned in that one film, the watershed film, they'll they'll change their ways of thinking and it's a whole new attitude towards water now. So this is marvelous. Okay, well, let's get into uh the everything that you do. We want to get as much covered today as possible. So I understand that the kind of films and filmmakers that the Redford Center supports are the ones that expand the definition of environmental storytelling. This is beyond feature-linked nature documentary. So let's elaborate on this for me.
SPEAKER_02Absolutely, thank you. Um yes, so we have supported a number of entry points for environmental storytelling. Um, and really the core focus that that we try to focus on are stories that are going to advance the conversation to people who may not feel invited into the conversation yet. So we've seen a number of ways that this has happened and the different entry points of environmental storytelling. Great um new addition on our website is that we have a watch collection. So if anyone is interested in seeing the types of stories that we've supported to expand the idea of environmental storytelling, that's a great place to start. We have a link to all of the different films that we've supported. But um, you know, we have stories that tell about people's relationship and connection with nature. We have stories that talk about environmental injustice and pollution that have happened in communities and citizens taking it into their own hands, practicing citizen science to really get to the bottom of what is affecting their health and fighting back against polluters in order to better the health of their community, often maybe even relocating their community or seeking justice. We have stories that really tell about people caring for animals or like Path of the Panther, which will soon be coming out on Disney Plus, uh supported by National Geographic, really tracking, you know, trends in wildlife biodiversity and population count and tracking what's going on with the Florida Panther. Um and we also support stories that uh we had a series that supports civic engagement. So we have our community power series, and that really is focusing on what communities are doing locally to implement clean transportation efforts in their community. And these are some of my favorite stories, which is just people coming together to care about their community, care about their health, care about their happiness, and that looks like implementing transport clean transportation efforts. And it really, this is a series that broadens when we think of clean transportation, you think electric cars, electric buses. Um, but these go much deeper, and it really talks about, you know, how do you feel when you're commuting to work? Does that bring you joy? Does that make you happy? What's the happiest form of commute? What types of places do we want to live in? Um, that's clean transportation. That is a part of how we need to be thinking about some of these environmental solutions, is not just the technology to get us there, but it's about the human experience of how it will feel to live differently in connection with nature, um, in connection with an awareness of our health. And all of those things are such positive community power-building things. And so it's reframing it from just a uh technological solution or a uh illuminating a problem. It's illuminating a solution, it's connecting it to our humanity.
SPEAKER_04Connecting to our humanity. This is marvelous. And you mentioned about the um it uh environmental impact and even moving cities. Now that's what one of the films that we supported and the Redford Center did too, was Impossible Town. That's Meg's film about a city that is living in a toxic area and they want to move all of the residents. So tell us about that.
SPEAKER_02Yes, thank you. So Impossible Town is the film. Thank you so much for supporting it from filmmakers Meg Griffith and Scott Ferris. Um and this is the story of uh Dr. Ayn Amjad, and uh she is uh a doctor in Minden, West Virginia, and um there's a toxic contamination that threatens that community, and there's a huge um cancer cluster that breaks that has broken out there, um, and she makes it her mission that was her father's mission that began over 30 years ago, and she sort of takes up this mantle to relocate this community and seek justice for them to find a new home and to be safe and increase their health. Um and this film is a feature-length film. It's going to have its premiere at Mountain Film this year in May, and we're really thrilled to be there for the premiere and to highlight Meg and Scott on one of our panels at Mountain Film this year. So it's a really full circle, beautiful moment for us to reconnect with them. And um can't wait to see how that film performs out in the world and what festivals it gets to go to. It's it's exciting to see it come full circle from our grant program.
SPEAKER_04Yes, well, this is important when you stay in touch with and keep supporting. You said you funded her two years in a row, right?
SPEAKER_02Yes, so our Redford Center grants program is a two-year program where the film projects that we support have an opportunity to let us know um how they're doing in their first year, what their impact goals are, and what it will take for their film to reach the finish line. And we're so thrilled to support them with second year funding, which is something that we have the opportunity to do through our grants program. So we funded them in 2020 and 2021. Um and we stay in very good touch and community with our filmmakers. So we've had the chance to write some articles about the film and story. Um, and yeah, it's it's really important for us to stay in community and in support with our grantee filmmakers and all of the filmmakers that that we form a relationship with. Oh, I think it's so important, Heather.
SPEAKER_04Uh, this is really the key to it. Uh, because filmmakers need someone on the other end of the phone when they hit a wall, which they often do, they get disappointed or uh it's difficult sometimes to raise money, and I would imagine it has been in the past to raise money for environmental films. I think that that wasn't at the top of the list. Now it's moving up in importance and recognition, but uh to be able to call someone and chat them up and find out uh what's going on uh in the world and how they can overcome obstacles is really important for filmmakers, and that's uh obviously what you've been doing.
SPEAKER_02It's so true, and uh the stark um fact that we have found in our landscape mapping of this field is that there's really a a stark um really gap of funding for environmental films, particularly independent environmental filmmakers. There are only eight grants available globally, regularly available for filmmakers telling environmental stories specifically, and the Redford Center provides two of those eight grants. And so it is uh really a gap in the support. There are, of course, other grants that will support films that are great stories that that may be an environmental story, but that's not explicitly what they're looking for, whereas the Redford Center that is explicitly what we support consistently. And so, you know, we are really also in the business of field building and really making a case for why at this moment, especially, environmental filmmakers need more areas of support, more resourcing for their projects. These are the stories that we need to help us make sense of our rapidly changing world, give us hope and solutions and resilience in this time of um rapid change that we're going to need to undergo together. And so, you know, to everyone that is an environmental filmmaker, uh, we are a community of support for that. We're trying to build community and not just with the capacity that we have on our staff, but really bring filmmakers together to connect with one another, be cohorts and mentors to each other, because um, to your point, it is a very isolating pursuit sometimes to feel like you're hitting a wall and not know what to do next. Um, and so just out of deep, deep respect for that journey that filmmakers have to go on, I think it's really important for us to offer as much support as we can.
SPEAKER_04That's great. Well, now when you say you uh want them to connect with each other, is there a way they can do that through your website or something?
SPEAKER_02So for right now, the best way is to subscribe to our newsletter on our website and our newsletter, we roll out as many opportunities, community opportunities as we can identify that will be available for environmental filmmakers. We are going to have some public programming that we'll roll out where filmmakers can connect with one another and with us. Um we're supporting the Hollywood Climate Summit. Um, so the Hollywood Climate Summit is a community gathering that's both online and in person in Los Angeles, and so that's a great way for people to meet one another. Others interested in telling specifically stories about climate, both fiction and nonfiction, and that's a great community to plug into. And um, yeah, more coming on the Redford Center ways of connecting filmmakers. So uh subscribe to our newsletter and and we'll be um building some spaces for people to connect and plug in. All right. Well, great.
SPEAKER_04So, all right, so let's let's stay on grants from the Redford Center for feature link doc uh and docuseries. So, how do people apply and what type of grants are available?
SPEAKER_02Yes, so our Redford Center grants program supports documentary feature films and docuseries. It runs on a two-year cycle. So we don't have an open call this year, but there will be one the following year. Um and so that uh again, if you subscribe for our newsletter, you'll get the first announcement of when that open call comes out. Um but that supports projects for up to two years. Uh the first is a gift of $20,000 towards their project and a number of different bespoke uh in-kind services that the Redford Center offers, including we plan a grantee story summit where we invite all of our grantees to come and meet with our Redford Center advisors, which is an advisory board of just incredible filmmaking and climate and environmental experts who coach these filmmakers on tools for success for their project, provide them different levels of resources. And that will be happening at Mountain Film this year, so that's we're looking forward to convening our 12 new grantees who we've supported through this project. And then we check in with our first year filmmakers and see where their projects are at, what their impact goals are, and we have the opportunity to grant them a second year of funding on a number of the projects, not all of them, but in a much larger gift amount that can vary based on the needs of the project. So that's that's our main flagship grant making program. We also have another grant program that's really a pitch opportunity and a professional development opportunity called uh Nature Connection Pitch, and we do this in partnership with If Then. And these are for short films, and this is an opportunity for a small grant, a gift of support for the films, but mostly an exposure and professional development opportunity for the filmmakers to pitch their short film ideas to an audience and a panel of professional groups that are interested in supporting their short films, might provide additional resources for them, or hopefully development opportunities for them, or distribution. So it's a great way to sort of advance the conversation of what we are sharing as as roads forward for nature connection. And it's also a great way for the filmmakers to sort of be in community with people who are interested in supporting environmental short films. Wonderful. Well, is that held in person or online? That's in person, and this year we did it at a Big Sky documentary festival, and the year before that we did it at um New York's uh New York City Docs Festival.
SPEAKER_04That's wonderful. Then you're just part of the festival, and um and you bring in uh professionals to give uh to listen to their pitches as well as distributors.
SPEAKER_02Yes, that's right. So um, for example, this year's panel we had um people join from the New Yorker, we had um a college professor from uh the University of Missoula join who studies climate change and the impacts there. Uh we had uh one of our board members there who is uh incredibly involved in their social impact uh at the north face. So we brought a group of people together. That's just to name a few off the top of my head. Um but they are a panel of really experts who had a lot to offer the filmmakers in terms of how to get their films out there, um, ways to embed in in different uh distribution pathways. And then in the audience of Big Sky, you know, it's a lot of uh environmental film support. Distributors, funders, and so we're hopeful that some connections were forged from just the listening audience as well.
SPEAKER_04Well, when the uh filmmakers pitch, are they um are they awarded anything for the pitch or is it really about connections?
SPEAKER_02Yes. So this year we gave them a a gift amount of $5,000 towards their film production. Um in the previous year we had awarded uh $25,000, but what we had in that scenario was a competitive pitch where one team win and out of the group, and we decided to make it a non-competitive pitch this year and make sure that every team was rewarded for their participation and got some financial support towards their projects. So and we really like that model. It felt a lot more community-centered, and it really does feel like a cohort that forms from the pitching groups. They support each other, they coach each other. Um, and so yes, we we made it a mission this year to make sure that it's a non-competitive pitch and everybody gets uh a piece of the prize, so to speak, to support their production.
SPEAKER_04That's wonderful. That sounds like the energy at the Redford Center. Uh you're also wanted one for all. Yeah, that's great.
SPEAKER_02Thank you very much.
SPEAKER_04Because uh filmmakers just need to be noticed and acknowledged and supported. So that and $5,000 goes a long way with the filmmaker. So thank you very much.
SPEAKER_05Absolutely.
SPEAKER_04Okay, so let's go to your uh filmmaker advisory board. I took a look at that and it's really uh uh informative. You have some wonderful people there.
SPEAKER_02Yes, thank you. So our grants advisory board is um ten advisors to us who are just really um impactful in the industry in a number of ways, and they help us select the grantees that we support through our Redford Center grants program, but they also show up in community and provide one-on-one mentorship to our grantees. We do some matchmaking with them for who of the grantees is looking for certain sets of expertise that our advisors offer. Um and so on on our advisory board, we have a really incredible group. Um and I would list them all out, but out of respect for the short time we have, I will just say check them out on our website. But it is it's across the board of other granting agencies, uh, granting organizations, uh, distribution executives, brand specialists, social impact experts, um, film festival, curators, and X and so across the gamut, just a really wonderful group of people who are so committed to building the field for these filmmakers. And so when they show up and support our grantee cohorts one-on-one, it's just a really powerful um support system and um just appreciate the relationships that are formed there and the advice that they give us in shaping our programs of what the field needs, what filmmakers need. Um, and so it's a really, really uh mutualistic relationship, and we're really grateful for it.
SPEAKER_04Well, yes, I would think it's uh fabulous for filmmakers to get to hear from people uh of the ilk you have on the board. That would be such a benefit. That's wonderful. So now we talked a bit about the two-year program where you sign up, it's every two years. Uh so let's go uh to into the grant summit. What is the grant summit?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so the grant summit this this year, this iteration is going to be five days spent with the grantees in um Tallyride, Colorado at the Mountain Film Festival. And so we will have two days of Redford Center curated programming that is specifically meant to workshop and give really bespoke support systems and advice for the areas that we poll our grantees that they're most interested in. This year, that is fundraising for filmmaking, that is distribution and film festival strategy, and that is impact campaign strategy. So we'll have some workshops that are curated by our advisors and their feedback to really offer some in-depth QA for our filmmakers to ask about those topics. We also have some one-on-one mentorship opportunities where the filmmakers will get to do kind of a round robin style with our advisors and get to get some one-on-one specific uh advice and feedback on their projects and the process. Um then we have some team building opportunities, some fun experiences that the grantees get to connect with each other, really build a community amongst their teams and provide peer support to one another, hopefully moving forward. And then because we're partnering with Mountain Film, they get to participate in the film festival. And so they get to attend, go to the panels that are happening there, learn from that community, and then we will have a public showcase where we'll featuring all of the grantees to festival pass holders and really celebrating their works in progress films. They'll get to share about them. Um at that time, we will also celebrate Impossible Town because Impossible Town is premiering at Mountain Film. And so we will be having a wonderful full circle moment where we'll share one of the finished films from our grantee support system. And uh that's that's really it. So the idea is that the filmmakers get kind of a retreat, they get to learn and get some support systems from our advisors, from us, from the filmmaking community writ large, and with each other, hopefully build lasting connections and relationships. And so it's a really wonderful week that we get to spend with them and support their projects from a number of different entry points. That's wonderful.
SPEAKER_04And um, so now is that a free when you a grant summit? Is that free to filmmakers or do they pay for that? How does it work?
SPEAKER_02That's part of our uh grant gift. So in addition to financially supporting their projects, we we pay all expenses included, um, all of our 12 projects, two people from each team uh to fly out to attend the festival and we play their uh lodging and costs for food and housing there. So it is a gift experience as a part of our um grant support for them. So it's something really special and different that we get to do with our grantees in addition to just a cash gift.
SPEAKER_04You truly nurture them. Thank you. That's incredible. Wonderful. Okay, now what is your climate storytelling fellowship?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so um the Bradford Center and this idea of broadening our support for what an environmental story can be, um, we've expanded into fiction storytelling. And so one of the opportunities that we've supported is the Climate Storytelling Fellowship, which is put on by the NRDC in partnership with the Blacklist, CAA Foundation, and the Redford Center. And this is an opportunity for fiction screenwriters to submit their feature film scripts that have a climate theme, uh, a climate aligned topic or message in their film. And this can be as broad and imaginative as possible. We're looking for different genres, we're looking for horror films, we're looking for fantasy films, we're really looking to kind of rewrite what we think of when we think of a climate story, which is can be apocalyptic, fatalistic, sort of uh there's no hope for humanity sci-fi story. And so we're looking for different ways of talking about climate and the stories that we tell, um, just based on the fact that from one of our partners, Good Energy, they recently did a study with the Norman Lear Center, where they found that of a number of scripts surveyed throughout since 2018, only 2.8% have even mentioned about a hundred climate keywords. Um, so really a just a gap in even acknowledging climate change in our fiction stories. So, this is one of the programs that we support, and the fellowship is screenwriting competition. It's hosted through the blacklist, and we support three filmmakers who get the opportunity to have a fellowship opportunity where they are coached with a seasoned professional showrunner or writer who helps coach them on their script, polish it up, they get feedback from environmental experts to really bring in a layer of nuance of the climate issues that they're talking about in their script. And it's a year-long fellowship where they get feedback and mentorship on their script writing. Um, and then at the if they finish a revision of their script, they get an opportunity to share that out through vehicles of support with distribution executives and try to get that story greenlit and move forward into the industry. So it's a fabulous program that we're really proud to support, and we love reading those scripts every year that come through of kind of reimagining what a climate narrative story can be.
SPEAKER_04That's an incredible offer. So you partnered with Blacklist. Now that that's considered the top film uh scripts in Hollywood, right?
SPEAKER_02Yes, yeah, it's a really um really plugged into the pulse of the industry, and a lot of screenwriters feature their scripts on the blacklist um anyways, and so it's an invitation to, if there are climate themes in their scripts, to add them onto this consideration list, but also we're hoping to inspire writers to take a, I would say pen to paper, but probably more like hands-to-keyboard and draft um a new climate story um and inspire a different way of of writing a story and integrating climate themes and messages that, you know, advance all of the things that we've talked about today.
SPEAKER_04That's incredible. Just that alone is such a great opportunity for screenwriters. This is wonderful. Who manages that? That would take two or three people to run that event alone, I would think. Well, that is the NRDC.
SPEAKER_02They really um they host this, they um have uh built this opportunity, and the blacklist hosts, of course, the preliminary reading and the notes that go out to uh the script writers on their platform through the mechanisms that they have. So it's really um largely held by the NRDC and the Blacklist, and we're just happy to really um bring our lens of environmental storytelling and um get to participate as readers and provide notes and feedback to the scripts that we see. So um, yeah, much shout out to their team for for all it takes to run and build uh that.
SPEAKER_04So that's wonderful. Well, let's uh talk about the screening series that you have for finished films. How often does this happen?
SPEAKER_02Yes, so um we have a screening series. It's uh right now called Friday Night Films, and this is an online digital series that rolls out through our newsletter, but it will be on our watch platform on our Redford Center website. But this is a wonderful opportunity. We have a really robust and engaged community that subscribes to our newsletter, and um this was a series that was launched uh during the COVID lockdown where we were just trying to offer films for people to watch at home for free, and it's really just kind of got a committed and loving audience, and so it's grown in a beautiful way, and this is a wonderful opportunity for us to share with our following and our audience a free opportunity to watch an environmental film that is curated by our team. We're hoping to invite some guest curators to uh invite films, but the point is that we can share a free film every month, uh, twice a month. This will roll out and people can watch films that we think advance the environmental storytelling conversation, and they'll be themed per different topics of the month. And so if filmmakers have completed an environmental film and it did a festival circuit, but it didn't receive distribution, or it's you know, still has a good life to live, and you want people to see it, we really are open to submissions to screen your film. There's a screening license that we pay. We feature the filmmakers very nicely in the newsletter that rolls out and on our social media. We just celebrate the different ways that people are telling environmental stories through this screening series, and and our audience really enjoys watching them. We get several nice notes about um just how these films are really opening their eyes to a number of different uh entry points for lots of ways that we're talking about, caring about the environment, being inspired by the environment, enjoying it. Um and yeah, it's it's a wonderful thing.
SPEAKER_04This is fantastic. Yes, I think it is wonderful. Um now let's go to the fiscal sponsorship that you have, because that's another benefit you offer. So, how do you support filmmakers through this sponsorship?
SPEAKER_02Yes, so fiscal sponsorship is something that we offer to films that align with our mission. So if it's an environmental story that has a solutions forward approach and narrative, um, this is a way for filmmakers to connect their films with our nonprofit tax exempt status. So this means that we will host you on our site on a really beautiful page where uh you can receive donations to your film. So whether you're applying for grants that have to be to a nonprofit entity or whether you're just receiving uh peer support and donations in kind to your film, this offers an opportunity to have all of those donations, however they're coming in, be tax deductible for your donors. And it's also a great platform because you know people who are invested and interested in environmental supporting environmental films have this library of open films that are working right now to really browse through, look at, and hopefully be inspired to donate to your project as well. So it's really a curated portfolio of environmental films that you're joining. Um and we also have some bespoke services that we offer to our fiscal sponsors, sponsored projects. But the idea is that we really receive the donations and then we handle your accounting and disseminate funds when you need them and really act as your production account that you can utilize all through a tax-deductible system with our 501c3 tax exemption status.
SPEAKER_04And do you have any training then on uh film funding?
SPEAKER_02So it's a goal of mine to have this, yes. So we're continuing to build out our resources page, um, which will have hopefully as many different funding opportunities as we can curate for filmmakers to take a look at. Um but yes, we we do really try to keep all of our films in mind. When we see film uh funding opportunities, we send them out through our newsletter. Um, and our our goal is to hopefully offer some more public-facing programming as we do a new strategic plan that's just come where we're really trying to build out the ecosystem of support for filmmakers, and part of that will be mapping the landscape of what funding is available for them and and just providing a lot more resources for filmmakers to look at and hopefully build out build out their ecosystem of support that they can find too. Yes, that's great.
SPEAKER_04Well, um the whole idea here is to teach us about the climate situation and find ways and show us ways to improve on the situation. So uh and and the the Red Fruit Center has decided that stories are what should be invested in as a climate solution. So that is your main focus, right? How to improve the climate situation. So this is going to mean that films give us an idea of the different types of films that you've uh funded. Absolutely.
SPEAKER_02So um let me see if I can give some great examples here. So um not only we support a broader range of uh stories than just climate focused, it really we have a broad interpretation of what environmental means. Um and so this can mean um the health benefits of uh stories about the health of nature, um, this can mean stories about um joy and healing that can happen from time spent in nature, this can be stories of environmental justice, this can be stories of um indigenous um caretaking and um land protection. This can be stories of um the right to access nature. So we have historic inequities that have prevented um many groups of people from enjoying and participating in nature, so righting some of those historical wrongs and really breaking down barriers of access to nature, green spaces. Uh it can be community power and community organizing, advocating for cleaner air, advocating for cleaner water, uh, it can be stories of innovation, different ways of looking at approaching agriculture, different ways of approaching transportation, clean energy, what what solutions are out there that are just different ways of being in connection with nature and uh regenerative practices? And so that's just to name a few. Um, but really the other part and core of our work is that we want to make sure that these films have potential for impact. And so when we we talk about what types of films we support, we also want to make sure that there's some thinking around how is this shifting the narrative, how is this highlighting other organizations doing this work? How is this giving people um a way to act after watching these films? And that can mean a number of things. It does not just have to mean clicking on a link and signing a petition, it can mean um community conversations, it can mean um bringing groups of people together who are speaking for the first time about an issue, and we really know that filmmaking as a practice can be a way of community organizing. There are a lot of community groups that come together to talk about an issue for the first time because a film or a documentary is being made about the issue, and it's bringing community groups together, it's forging relationships and alliances, it is a tool for advocacy, and um that is why we really our core mission from our strategic plan is hoping to illuminate for a number of different groups, not just arts groups, that stories are a solution. There are a number of environmental reports that come out every year that nobody is going to ever have capacity or time to read or make sense of. When we talk about behavior changes that are needed for the environmental crises that we face, those are moved through emotions, those are moved through people connecting with a story that moves them. And it's really about communication tools for how we're framing up how people build up their own literacy and feelings about communicating about the environment and their own role to play in it, and this feeling of being empowered of being able to do something. Those are all things that happen through the vehicle of a story, of us identifying with characters, both fiction and nonfiction. We know for a fact that people remember stories seven times more than they remember facts. We know that a number of people spend more time with television characters in their weekly hours than they made with their own family members. These are very meaningful, important statistics that really emphasize that stories are a way in to people's hearts and minds, to their behaviors, to their patterns of cultural normalcy. And so stories are a solution. They're an investable, scalable solution that we really need to invest in as part of when we are investing in environmental solutions and sector changes to communicate that out and get people to buy into them and see them. Applicable to their own lives, their own stories, through characters that they relate to, not just the characters that we would expect to be environmentalists, but all types of people from all different walks of life really caring and being affected by these issues in their own personal journey. Heather, I've never heard anyone explain anything so clearly.
SPEAKER_04Thank you. And the filmmaking community thanks you because stories are our way of life. You know, that's how we talk to each other. We tell things. And I'd I agree with you, when I teach classes, I tell a story because I know they're going to remember it instead of my points, you know, my five major points. No. Just tell one good story and they'll have it forever, right?
SPEAKER_02It's true. Stories are our way of sense making and our way of processing pain and change and grief and love and all of these things. And, you know, there's a reason why stories are elevated so much in our real world priorities and value system. And um it's a place where a lot of us spend a lot of our time to no matter where you're absorbing stories, whether it's video games, social media, um, television and film, podcasts. There's so many ways that we are constantly immersed in storytelling. And I think the Redford Center's role is to really invite people to think about how you are including the environment and including our our role to play in this moment in time where the climate crisis is here, it's affecting people, it's affecting homes, animals, ecosystems. Um it's a part of our story. And so if we're not seeing it in our stories, then we're really we're not telling the story that is true. We're not telling the story of what we are living and experiencing. So everyone can be um telling a story about the environment in their own unique, special and imaginative way.
SPEAKER_04Yes, because what affects one affects all. We're all in this together. Well, the one thing that I really want to cover, the final thing is impact, because making the film is hard enough, but getting it to be seen by the right people is the second hard part, as filmmakers tell me. So how do you uh work with filmmakers to get the impact they need? Do you give them guidance or do how do you help them?
SPEAKER_02Yes, so we have developed a grant workshop um that really um we hope is an entry point for filmmakers to think expansively about the impact that their films can have. Um we have a number of community relationships that we try to keep very strong and support our filmmakers in connecting with other environmental groups that are using storytelling as a vehicle to advance their mission. Um but just to name quickly our entry points for thinking about impact, um, we've really observed that films have the potential to connect movements, so communities that are brought together as a result of the film and mobilization that's happening around the filmmaking process, ignite discourse, so uh different communities are in dialogue about the films throughout the process of the film and even after distribution. We've seen films that utilize as policy change tools and be used in policy packets and shown to lawmakers and policymakers to have a direct influence. So, really thinking about how can your film be leveraged as a tool for people who are already in this conversation and that this can really advance what they're um working towards. We uh see films that drive innovation. So we've seen films deployed at different venture capitalist um uh conferences, we've seen them shown at investor conferences for people who are making direct investments in um solutions and innovation that some of our documentary filmmakers are telling the stories about in deep, meaningful ways. Um, really importantly, we see that films have the potential to amplify frontline voices, so passing a mic directly to, or even better, um, having a story originate and be uh a cultural self-determination tool for frontline groups to tell their own story in their own way from their own perspective and really elevate that so that we're hearing and shifting the narrative of what a known environmental story might be. We see films as tools to empower communities. So if the communities themselves are using this film as a tool to go to their city council, to build their constituency, to get people invested in the work that they're doing to better their community for environmental health or implementation efforts of clean energy and clean transportation. That's a way of empowering communities through the tool of the film. And then, of course, education. So we see these films being used a ton through educational distribution as a curriculum tool to develop environmental and media literacy. Um, and so there's a number of ways that we coach filmmakers to think differently about their impact, doesn't just mean how many festivals you got to or how many eyeballs watched something on your link. It's really about how are you offering up this film that you've made as a tool for the community groups, the educators, the people who are on the ground working on the issue, and how are they seeing that film as a tool for the work that they're doing and deploying that in the world in a meaningful way? That has huge potential for impact, maybe even more than a link that just gets a ton of views online.
SPEAKER_04Oh, that's excellent. Now, have you got any deadlines coming up that you'd like to mention? What's closing next? Sure.
SPEAKER_02So our climate storytelling fellowship that we mentioned will close November 27th. So there's a big window of time for people to, if you haven't even started writing your idea yet, please do and submit that for the Climate Storytelling Fellowship. And then subscribe to our newsletter. Next year we'll be rolling out in 2024, we'll be rolling out a grant application for our nature connection um opportunity and our Redford Center grants opportunity again. And so yeah, keeping here to the ground for those. And then we also supported this year the Hollywood Climate Summit Pitch Fest, which just closed, but keep an eye out for it next year, uh, which is an opportunity to pitch your fiction television show or feature film idea that has a climate story to development executives at the NBC Universal Lot in Los Angeles. Um, and that happens in June every year, and the open call for that happens usually in uh March every year for that. So hope everyone can stay plugged into those opportunities coming up throughout the next year.
SPEAKER_04Oh, that sounds marvelous, yes. We well, how do you sign up? Is it therefordcenter.org?
SPEAKER_02Uh just redfordcenter.org. That's our website. And if you scroll to the very bottom, that's where you can sign up for our newsletter where we're first to mention all of these opportunities.
SPEAKER_04Wonderful. Heather, I'm so happy to meet you and to hear your enthusiasm and your love for what you do. Thank you for sharing all this about the Redford Center. We're all excited to know the dedication that your company has to filmmakers, and thank you for the support and for the conversation. Well, thank you so much, Carol.
SPEAKER_02It's we really have such deep admiration and respect for all the support that you've offered to independent filmmakers. Um I've read your book. I didn't get a chance to tell you that, but I used to be an educator at um Cal State LA, and your book is just so helpful for filmmakers who really need resourcing and uh ways to tell their story in the way that they believe in. And it's just so essential and healthy for our democracy to have as many voices as possible and as many imaginative ways of telling stories as possible. So thank you for all you do to advocate for filmmakers and provide as many resources as you can and the opportunity to share about the Redford Center's work. It really is is meaningful to be invited.
SPEAKER_04Oh, you're so welcome. I'm glad you like the book, Heather. It was so much fun to write it. Uh and you know, working with filmmakers I get to do on a daily basis. I couldn't have a better life. Don't you agree? Working with filmmakers it's very rewarding. It is. Yes.
SPEAKER_03Well, thank you.
SPEAKER_04Well, we hope you'll come back again and maybe next year and bring us up to date on everything and we'll do it earlier in the year so we make sure we don't miss any deadlines. Would love to.
SPEAKER_02Thank you so much for the invitation and um chance to speak with you today and we'll be looking forward to staying in community with you.
SPEAKER_04Yes, definitely. Thank you so much, Heather. Thank you, Claire.
SPEAKER_03Oh yes, and and always, as always, uh what a joy to to do this show and bring people like Heather on. Heather, I just have to tell you how grateful I am and so many of us are for the work you're doing, for the work that the Redford Center is doing, and uh um, you know, the world needs it, so thank you. Yes. Thank you.
SPEAKER_04Wonder so much. Okay. Lots of good luck, Heather. Thank you. All right. Bye for now. Thank you, Claire. Lots of luck.
SPEAKER_03Sure, you're welcome. All right, be well, everyone. Thank you. Now, in its second edition, Carol Dean's popular book, The Art of Film Funding, has 12 new chapters to cover all areas of film financing and how to avoid expensive pitfalls. Learn how to start with an idea and end with a trailer, how to make an ask for money. Create your story structure and your trailer, legal advice, fair use, successful crowdfunding, how to ask for music rights, and what insurance you can't shoot without. Available on Amazon under Carol Dean and at FromTheHeart Productions.com. I want to remind our listeners that David Rakelin is a brilliant and talented award-winning musician who scores films and can compose music for a trio or for a full orchestra. David is a very good friend to the independent filmmaker and comes highly recommended by From the Heart Productions. If you need music to help tell your story, please contact him at DavidRakeland.com. That's david R-A-I-K-L-E-N.com. And Carol and I want to thank you for tuning in to the Art of Film Funding. Please visit our website at FromTheHeart Productions.com. You can also find us on Facebook and Twitter. Good luck with your films, everyone.
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