Fund My Short

Promising beginnings

So, as we gear up for the launch of the Fund My Short site, we are trying to assemble some sponsors to come on board early to help get the whole enterprise rolling.   Liz Chan, the projects producer has already had some success with a big Soho post house.  In fact, everyone we speak to seems to think it is a fantastic idea.  Things are looking very positive at the moment, and I hope it will continue that way.

The Long and the Short of it.

The problem I have with a lot of film funding bodies is they appear to assume that, if you are interested in making short films, you must be a novice.  So increasingly, funding is offered on the proviso that the filmmakers are trained.  Don't get me wrong, this is a great thing if... you are a novice or new filmmaker.   Now that makes me sound arrogant, but I'm not. As far as I'm concerned, life = learning.  The day I stop learning something, will be the day I die.  My point however, is this. If you are not a new/novice filmmaker, there doesn't seem to be a great deal of funding opportunities out there.

The reason for that is down to another assumption that funding bodies seem to have - although I guess this is not intentional - is that short films are just a testing ground on the way to bigger things, that they are some sort of limbo land filmmakers endure while they wait to be given their chance at a feature.  For me, film-making is film-making regardless of length.  They are made using the same set of ingredients, just in different portions.

Short films are a valuable cultural asset unto themselves.  They should not be looked down on as a lesser art because they are short.   That's length-ism!

So what's this all about?

Conventional forms of funding for short animated films have been steadily dwindling over the past decades here in the UK. If it were not for the national lottery money things would be very bleak indeed. Filmmakers are forced to compete for the little money there is remaining, and those few that are successful have to jump through hoops to justify their films, which does not lead to the most creative of environments.  However, rather than sit back and lament this state of affairs, it calls for some action.

Fund My Short is our attempt at Slinky Pictures to find a solution to this funding problem. The idea is simply. A select number of company's give us a small amount of sponsorship money each, which we then use to fund our film.  In return they get a share in the PR buzz this project will attract, their name or logo on our websites "sponsors" page - with a link back to their own site - and a sponsors credit on the finished film.  That's 3 years sustained exposure for a very modest outlay.   

But here is the great part.  We give ourselves five months to raise the full 50 thousand we need.  If we don't succeed, we refund anyone who has already come on board project. Its all or nothing with us! So in effect the very least a company will get is 5 months free PR and advertising. Now that can't be bad.

Personally I feel empowered by the whole idea.  Rather than wait passively for some funding body to pass judgment, we can be masters of our own destiny and actively seek sponsors and get this film made.

Once upon a time...

...there was a small seed of an idea that fell onto fertile soil.  In time, and with some nurturing, the idea germinated and grew into a fully formed plan.  That plan is Fund My Short a unique web based experience.  Soon we will be looking for financial support to help make our next short film a reality, but in return we'll offer a feature rich, educative web site, that will lift the lid on the filmmaking process, and give an insight into what it takes to produce an animated short.  With your help this project will blossom and bear fruit.

Don't miss out on this opportunity to be a part of something truly special.