2021 CAPE LIST
CAPE x The Black List
DEADLINE: July 16, 2021
INFO: Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment (CAPE) and The Black List are partnering to create a call for submissions for the 2021 CAPE List, which will include 10 feature screenplays. Filmmakers and content creators are invited to submit a script for consideration by uploading it to The Black List website through Friday, July 16, 2021.
CAPE List writers will have the opportunity to have their work read by executives and industry professionals at A Major, Annapurna, Lord Miller, and M88, and have the option to take a general meeting with an executive at each of those companies.
REQUIREMENTS:
Script should be a feature screenplay.
Scripts should feature a protagonist of Asian and/or Pacific Islander heritage.
Scripts must include authentic, accurate, and inclusive Asian and Pacific Islander representation that if removed, it would significantly alter or affect the story.
The lead or at least two characters are of Asian or Pacific Islander descent. At least one Asian Pacific Islander character has a narrative arc distinct from helping or revolving around the main character.
Any kind of story is eligible and will be considered.
All levels of experience considered for submitting writers.
Please note: Paid Black List evaluations are not required to be considered. However, writers must opt-in at time of registration.
https://www.capeusa.org/capelist2021
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CALL FOR FILMS
The Tide Film Festival
DEADLINES:
Early: July 16, 2021
Late: August 27, 2021
INFO: THE TIDE FILM FESTIVAL (TIDEFF) unites directors, producers and writers of color with audiences across communities to highlight and celebrate stories of historically under-represented groups in American cinema. TIDEFF gives a platform for filmmakers of color to tell their truths with intent, to disrupt the mainstream narrative, and to feel entitled in their right to do so.
Festival events include panel discussions, workshops, conversations with industry professionals, receptions, and networking opportunities. The third annual TIDE Film Festival will take place in November 2021 in Brooklyn, NY.
The 2021 TIDE Film Festival accepts films where at least 50% of the key creative positions (writer, producer, executive producer, director) are held by people of color.
Please submit your documentary, narrative or animated shorts and features by July 16th. Late deadline is Aug 27th.
https://filmfreeway.com/tidefilmfestival?mc_cid=e5b9498322&mc_eid=05170ca143
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FEATURE FILM SCREENWRITING COMPETITION
Launch Pad
DEADLINE: July 23, 2021
INFO: Enter now to join The Launch Pad’s tradition of industry access and writer success, including projects sold to Netflix, Paramount, Sony and more.
The Launch Pad Competitions have led to more signings, success stories and careers than any other screenwriting competition. With nearly a decade of experience in promoting up-and-coming writers, The Launch Pad Competition has firmly established itself as the premier hub for Hollywood to discover fresh voices and new ideas. We advocate for all of our Top 100 finalists, working with them to share their work with the right industry members to advance their career.
Our prestigious juries of industry members include managers, agents, producers and executives at companies across Hollywood. We also offer exclusive partnerships with management and production companies to give writers an extra leg up.
Through these partnerships, as well as our exclusive mentorship opportunities, we seek to provide as many avenues towards success as possible. No competition will do more to help all of their finalists take the next steps in their careers, and no competition has had as much success in helping writers break into the industry. Enter now for a chance to join this tradition of Launch Pad success.
PRIZES:
Grand Prize | Top 3 Winners
Everything the Top 10 receive, plus…
Invited to our exclusive, annual Launch Pad party where you will meet top agents, managers, executives, producers, and some of our current and previous judges.
Top 10
Everything the Top 50 receive, plus…
Your work will be read, reviewed and voted on by each of our esteemed Judges.
One free entry to any future Launch Pad Competition of your choosing.
Top 50
Everything the Top 100 receive, plus…
One year free membership to the Tracking Board.
Top 100
Your project and writer profile will be shared and marketed to our extensive industry network through newsletters, website posts, promotional books and more.
Inclusion in the Launch Pad Alum community of writers who network and help each other drive forward in their careers.
Guaranteed Option Prize
A Minimum of 1 project will be selected from our option partner TBD to receive an option offer for their Launch Pad project.
To qualify for this prize, entrants must have selected the “Guaranteed Option” add-on when submitting their project.
This prize, as with all add-on prizes is not decided upon by placement in the competition. Regardless of whether the project entered makes any finalist round, your project will still be in contention for this prize until the competition ends.
Guaranteed Signing Prize
A Minimum of 1 writer will be selected for representation by our exclusive signing partner(s).
To qualify for this prize, entrants must have selected the “Guaranteed Signing” add-on when submitting their project.
This prize, as with all add-on prizes is not decided upon by placement in the competition. Regardless of whether the project entered makes any finalist round, your project will still be in contention for this prize until the competition ends.
Mentorship Program Selections
A Minimum of 3 writers (1 per mentor) will be selected by our mentors to enter our 2021 Launch Pad Feature Mentorship Program.
To qualify for this prize, entrants must have selected the “Mentorship Program” add-on when submitting their project.
This prize, as with all add-on prizes is not decided upon by placement in the competition. Regardless of whether the project entered makes any finalist round, your project will still be in contention for this prize until the competition ends.
https://tblaunchpad.com/competitions/feature/
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2022 Documentary Fund Winter Cycle
Sundance Institute
DEADLINE: July 26, 2021
INFO: Welcome to the application for the Sundance Institute Documentary Fund.
This application is also used for consideration for the following funds:
Sundance Institute | Kendeda Fund
Sundance Institute | Sandbox Fund
We appreciate your time and effort toward the application process, and we salute you on your independent filmmaking journey.
The deadline for the 2022 Documentary Fund Winter grant cycle is Monday, July 26, at 2 p.m. MT. Filmmakers who submit applications by then will hear back from us on our decisions in winter 2022.
In a changing media landscape, the Sundance Institute Documentary Fund has been a stable, progressive force in supporting work that has expressed the world in creative, complex, beautiful, and provocative ways, and it has created real cultural and social impact around some of the most pressing issues of our time. Recently supported films have included Always in Season; American Factory; Collective; Crip Camp; Of Fathers and Sons; Hale County This Morning, This Evening; Minding the Gap; The Mole Agent; and Softie.
ELIGIBILITY:
The Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program supports independent nonfiction films with budgets under $1,000,000 USD. This eligibility requirement does not apply to applicants seeking funding from the Sundance Institute | Sandbox Fund or Sundance Institute | Kendeda Fund.
Creative and editorial control must be held by members of the films’ key creative teams.
For United States productions, we prioritize films led by artists from historically underrepresented communities. Projects that focus on historically underrepresented communities must have a key creative from the community or with deep ties to the community in a power-holding position represented on the team.
For international productions, we prioritize films led by artists from Africa, China, India, Latin America, and the Middle East. Indigenous artists globally and artists from the above regions who are living in the diaspora are also prioritized.
Applicants may submit at any production phase from development through post-production. All proposals must convey some vision for a finished film. Projects that have not yet secured characters or subjects, are unable to articulate a story or structure, or are unable to explain the project's driving central question are discouraged. We are unable to consider proposals for story research. You do not need any prior funding or a fiscal sponsor in order to apply.
Once your film premieres, we are unable to provide post-production funding support. We therefore encourage applicants to apply at least six months before an anticipated premiere. Picture-locked cuts are also ineligible for post-production funding.
Projects that have previously received a grant through the Documentary Fund are not eligible to apply for additional funding through this open call. Contact DFP staff for more information.
WHAT WILL I NEED IN ORDER TO APPLY?
Written proposal
Line-item budget (sample budget: Excel)
Visual samples
Completed previous directing sample, any length or genre—optional
Current sample or rough cut—required for production and post-production applications
WHAT HAPPENS AFTER I APPLY?
Applications go through a multi-stage review, with selected submissions sent for Sundance Institute Documentary Fund committee consideration. The committee meets to make recommendations regarding which projects are funded. Proposals to the Sundance Institute Documentary Fund are evaluated on several criteria, including artful film language, engaging storytelling, originality, feasibility, contemporary cultural relevance, journalistic rigor (where applicable), and potential to reach and connect with its intended audience. The Documentary Fund prioritizes funding films from early career and emerging artists. To that end, film teams’ experience level and access to resources, both financial and creative, is taken into consideration. Incomplete applications cannot be reviewed.
Award decisions typically take four to seven months. Please do not contact us to inquire about your status, as we cannot provide status updates. You will be notified directly via email once a decision has been made. We periodically announce new grantees throughout the year, and those press releases are not notifications.
You may send any significant updates to dfp@sundance.org. However, due to the volume of projects that we receive, the Documentary Film Program does not guarantee that updates will be incorporated into the project’s review.
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2021 ANNUAL BLACK LIST FEATURE LAB
The Black List
DEADLINE: July 29, 2021
INFO: The Black List will invite six to eight promising non-professional writers as identified by the Black List to a month-long, intensive virtual writers workshop in September 2021. All writers involved in the Lab will workshop one feature screenplay through one-on-one sessions with each screenwriting mentor and in peer workshops. The program will also include attendance at several story-related events with professional screenwriters, executives, producers, lit agents and managers. All sessions will be held in the evenings on Zoom.
SLOAN FOUNDATION FELLOWSHIP: Writers are also available to opt in to the 2021 Sloan Foundation Fellowship. The Black List’s 2021 Sloan Foundation Fellow at the Annual Black List Feature Lab will be a science- and technology-focused writer with a science-rooted feature screenplay. Mentoring opportunities for the Sloan Fellow will continue throughout the year following the Lab. Writers will have the opportunity to be considered for this fellowship by selecting the “Sloan Foundation Fellow” option during the opt-in process. Writers applying for the Sloan Fellowship are encouraged to have a science advisor for the project. Scripts that are selected for the short list will be asked to submit the name and title of the advisor, a brief description of their scientific area of expertise, and a statement that he/or she has read the script and attests that it is accurate. Writers are encouraged to submit this information in advance of the short list announcement as well.
The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation is a New York based, philanthropic, not-for-profit institution that makes grants in three areas: research in science, technology, and economics; quality and diversity of scientific institutions; and public engagement with science. Sloan's program in Public Understanding of Science and Technology supports books, radio, film, television, theater and new media to reach a wide, non-specialized audience and to bridge the two cultures of science and the humanities. Sloan’s Film Program encourages filmmakers to create more realistic and compelling stories about science and technology and to challenge existing stereotypes about scientists and engineers in the popular imagination. Over the past two decades, Sloan has partnered with top film schools in the country, supported screenplay development programs, and has helped develop over 30 feature films including Michael Almereyda’s Tesla, Lydia Dean Pilcher and Ginny Mohler’s Radium Girls, Thor Klein’s Adventures of a Mathematician, Jessica Oreck’s One Man Dies a Million Times, Logan Kibens and Sharon Greene’s Operator, Morten Tyldum’s The Imitation Game, and Matthew Brown‘s The Man Who Knew Infinity. The Foundation’s book program includes support for Margot Lee Shetterly’s Hidden Figures, which became the highest grossing Oscar-nominated film of 2017 and a social and cultural milestone. For more information about the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, please visit www.sloan.org or follow the Foundation at @SloanPublic on Twitter and Facebook.
THE SELECTION PROCESS
The selection process will work like this:
Up to 15 writers will be invited, based on the strength of their scripts as determined by the Black List, to submit a one-page personal statement and professional resume. From those submissions, select writers will be chosen to interview, via Zoom, and 6-8 writers will be selected by the Black List to participate in the Lab.
LAB DEADLINES
Submission Period Closes July 29, 2021
Short List Writers Notified July 30, 2021
Personal Statements Due August 6, 2021
Interviews August 12-13, 2021
Final Participants Notified August 16, 2021
Lab Begins September 8, 2021
* In order for new script evaluations to qualify for consideration for the Lab, they must be purchased by midnight on the Evaluations Deadline. Please note, purchase of an evaluation is not required for consideration to participate in the Feature Lab.
https://blcklst.com/partnerships/opportunities/96
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CALL FOR FILMS: DC SOUTH ASIAN FILM FESTIVAL
DEADLINE: July 31, 2021
INFO: The Washington DC South Asian Film Festival is a 501 (c) (3) Not for Profit Organization and is one of the most celebrated screen events on the Washington, D.C. cultural calendar. The festival takes place annually in the heart of America’s capitol, showcasing the best in alternative cinema from India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Tibet, and Sri Lanka. This year’s dates are October 6 – 12, 2021.
AWARDS + PRIZES:
We give prizes in following categories:
Best Feature Film
Best Story
Best Director
Best Actor
Best Actress
Best Short Film
Best Documentary
Best Smartphone Film
Best Feature Film - Audience Award
Best Short Film - Audience Award
This year (2021) we might host an online film festival again. If the festival is online/virtual the dates and programming will change, but around same October timeframe. Please let us know if that will be an issue for screening your film.
Only films that comply with the following criteria will be considered.
1. The Applicant must be legally authorized to enter DCSAFF 2021.
2. Films must be from the South Asian Diaspora with a unique voice, message and creative appeal.
3. Films must feature the work of filmmakers of South Asian descent living inside or outside the subcontinent.
4. Films made by Non-South Asian filmmakers must feature significant South Asian content.
5. Films must have completed post production by July 2021.
6. Duration: Feature Films must have a maximum duration 140-minutes, Short Films (includes Music Videos and TV episodes) must have a maximum duration of 30-minutes, Smart Phone Short Film (includes TikToks) maximum duration 12 minutes and Documentaries must have a maximum duration of 60-minutes. If your film is longer in duration, please contact the festival before submitting.
7. Non-English language films must be subtitled in English.
8. Participation at another international film festival does not preclude entry into DCSAFF. However, preference will be given to North American Premieres.
9. To remain in consideration, the submitted film should not have premiered in Washington DC (including Maryland and Virginia) prior to the festival.
10. Films that are available on Amazon Prime, Netflix, YouTube or any other online platform will not be accepted.
11. Re-entry: If your work was submitted and considered for previous editions of DCSAFF, you may re-submit your film if you have made significant changes and if all eligibility requirements are met.
12. DCSAFF can only accept and consider entries submitted with a valid entry form and non-refundable entry fee.
13. Late Entries: If you are unable to meet the late submission deadline (July 31, 2021), please contact the festival and tell us of your intent to send a late entry.
14. It is the sole responsibility of the Applicant to secure clearance from the copyright holders of any copyrighted materials. The applicant releases DCSAFF from any and all claims related to infringement of copyright or violation of any other right arising out of screening the film.
15. DCSAFF reserves the right to settle all cases not covered by the guidelines and to grant exceptions in special cases.
https://filmfreeway.com/DCSouthAsianFilmFestival
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Feature Screenwriter Incubator
MACRO x The Black List
DEADLINE: August 1, 2021
INFO: MACRO and The Black List, in partnership with Warner Bros. Pictures, are proud to present the inaugural MACRO x The Black List Feature Screenwriter Incubator. This new initiative offers writers of color the opportunity to develop a film idea to pitch to a Warner Bros. Pictures executive. Our mission is to discover and empower storytellers with the proper creative tools, resources, and access needed to help launch their careers.
PRIZE: One writer will be selected to receive $10,000 as well as development support from executives at MACRO and The Black List to craft a feature-film pitch to be presented to a Warner Bros. Pictures executive in 2021. The pitch developed for this partnership, if sold, will grant the selected writer a two-step WGA minimum deal. Warner Bros. Pictures will then have the option to engage the selected writer for further writing opportunities with the studio.