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!