Thank you, Patrons Circle 2023!
Published on December 21, 2023 by Meghan Ross
Hi everyone! Our fiscal sponsor Open Collective has a few questions for us to answer, reflecting back on the past year of the Patrons Circle, so we figured it's a good opportunity to share with those who made this program possible another year for Seed&Spark filmmakers, and those joining us next year!
1. What did you accomplish during 2023?
We distributed $86,000 in Patrons Circle grants to 65 creator teams, helping them raise more than $1 million for their short films, features, series, and audio projects!
2. What challenges did you face during 2023?
As a team of creators ourselves, every year it gets tougher to make filmmaking and screenwriting a sustainable career. The strikes made that clear, highlighting just some of those issues. While many Seed&Spark creators don't have those union protections (yet!), it's important for us to apply those same standards such as compensating cast and crew for the work they're providing. That's at the core of what we do - assuring filmmakers can raise the funds they need to make their projects come to life, and that includes paying the people who help them do that.
3. What are your plans for 2024?
Patrons Circle is back for our third year and we're aiming to raise at least another $100,000 to distribute across as many indie projects as we can in 2024. If you're interested in renewing your Patrons Circle commitment, you can fill out this form or make a contribution directly on our Patrons Circle Open Collective page here. Thank you to our Patrons who've already kicked off 2024's funds so far, including Ray and Anna Romano, Robert A. Compton, Alex Kurtzman, Mark Duplass, and Couper Samuelson of Blumhouse!
We hope everyone has a restful holiday season and a happy new year! Appreciate y'all!
1. What did you accomplish during 2023?
We distributed $86,000 in Patrons Circle grants to 65 creator teams, helping them raise more than $1 million for their short films, features, series, and audio projects!
2. What challenges did you face during 2023?
As a team of creators ourselves, every year it gets tougher to make filmmaking and screenwriting a sustainable career. The strikes made that clear, highlighting just some of those issues. While many Seed&Spark creators don't have those union protections (yet!), it's important for us to apply those same standards such as compensating cast and crew for the work they're providing. That's at the core of what we do - assuring filmmakers can raise the funds they need to make their projects come to life, and that includes paying the people who help them do that.
3. What are your plans for 2024?
Patrons Circle is back for our third year and we're aiming to raise at least another $100,000 to distribute across as many indie projects as we can in 2024. If you're interested in renewing your Patrons Circle commitment, you can fill out this form or make a contribution directly on our Patrons Circle Open Collective page here. Thank you to our Patrons who've already kicked off 2024's funds so far, including Ray and Anna Romano, Robert A. Compton, Alex Kurtzman, Mark Duplass, and Couper Samuelson of Blumhouse!
We hope everyone has a restful holiday season and a happy new year! Appreciate y'all!
This account is currently frozen and cannot be used to publish updates. Please contact your fiscal host for more details.
Thank you for your generous contribution to our play, Truth: A biofictional Choreopoem. Your funding is allowing us to create a workshop production of our new play which focuses on the story of Black Female Abolitionists. It is a challenge as theater artists and playmakers to create work that tells stories around systemic oppression and get funding for that work. We appreciate your platform and your contribution, which helped us meet our goal and also connected us to several theaters and foundations in the northeast. We are talking to another theater this week to find a home for our production in 2024.
Thank you so much! Josie Bray and Gail Burton
Thank you so much! Josie Bray and Gail Burton
on