ELIGIBLE APPLICANTS 

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• Must be 18 years of age or older

• Must be a director and producer team

• Must be a United States citizen or Permanent Resident

• Must currently reside in the state of Louisiana and have lived in Louisiana for a minimum of 12 months prior to submitting the application. Proof of residency required. (two of the following: Louisiana driver’s license, a Louisiana voter registration card or a utility bill in your name with your Louisiana address.)

• Must agree to grant #CreateLouisiana, TV5MONDE, Deep South Studios, New Orleans Film Society and The Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities the right to stream, screen and distribute the completed film (non-commercial use/promotional purposes only)

• Must agree to a Louisiana premiere of the project at the New Orleans French Film Festival in Spring 2018 (Note: the Louisiana screening must be the film’s premiere in Louisiana; no other public screenings are allowed.).

• Must allow TV5MONDE the first look for the right to broadcast.

THE PROJECT 

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• Must showcase Louisiana talent in front of and behind the camera;

• Must contain English and French language components

• Must focus on the Louisiana’s French and Francophone culture

• Must be a short format scripted narrative or feature documentary

• Must provide all services in Louisiana

• The film can be in English or French with English subtitles

• Must have a finished running time of not more than 25 minutes for a short narrative and 50 minutes for a documentary

• Must be completed within 12 months of the “Award Date”, in time for screening at the 2018 New Orleans French Film Festival

• Must be shot digitally and mastered and delivered on HD. The grant recipients will work directly with the New Orleans French Film Festival to meet all exhibition standards.

• Must provide credits to #CreateLouisiana, TV5MONDE, Deep South Studios, New Orleans Film Society and The Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities.

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ADJUDICATION PROCESS 

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The #CreateLouisiana French Culture Film Grant will be adjudicated in two stages:

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Stage One: 

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A jury of entertainment professionals and representatives of the grantmaking organizations will review all applications. The jury will consider the following when reviewing all submissions:

• originality of the script or treatment

• the representation of Louisiana francophone culture

• experience and quality of the applicant director/producer/writer team

• feasibility of the director’s vision

• realistic budget and financing plan

• letters of recommendation provided in support of the director and producer;

• experience of the team/key creatives assembled to support the project.

• use of Louisiana talent in front of and behind the camera; overall strength and viability of the project

• distribution and social strategy for the film

A shortlist of up to 5 applicants will be selected to move forward to Stage Two.

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Stage Two: 

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The short-listed applicants will be invited to pitch their projects and be interviewed before a panel of entertainment professionals. The private pitch/interview session will take place the week before the New Orleans French Film Festival in Spring 2017.

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One applicant team will be selected by the jury panel and announced during the New Orleans French Film Festival in May 2017.

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CHECKLIST

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The following documentation is required (uploads should be in PDF format ONLY):

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• a completed application form;

• résumé of the applicant director (include film school or industry training and a full list of previous production credits – indicate any that are student films)

• résumé of the producer(s) with a full list of previous production credits

• résumé of the writer (if not the director/applicant or producer)

• one letter of reference for the director/applicant from established industry professionals

• one letter of reference for the producer from established industry professionals;

• a synopsis of the project (400 words)

• a script for narrative or treatment for documentaries, in standard format, not to exceed 25 pages for narrative and 10 pages for documentary

• a detailed director’s vision. Can include notes on narrative structure, story, characters, camera style, lighting, music, lookbook, locations photos, visual references (5 pages)

• a proposed detailed production budget. Use of EP Movie Magic or Excel is preferred, or a comparable template with detailed line items. Must include all deferrals and in-kind contributions

• a proposed financing plan for the project should your proposed production budget exceed the grant funds (1 page)

• a list of key creatives. This can include cast and key crew (DP, editor, production designer) (2 pages)

• a proposed distribution, marketing and social media strategy. This should address intended audience and festival strategy, plan for marketing the film and use of social media to raise awareness. (1 page)

• a project timeline including production, post-production, delivery and distribution. (1 page)

• scanned copy of each applicants (director/producer/writer) Louisiana residency support documentation.