ACTION GRANT - €10,000
* APPLICATIONS ARE CLOSED *
* THE SHORTLIST WILL BE ANNOUNCED ON NOVEMBER 1ST *
Welcome to the 2025 BTTL Action Grant Application. Please read the below Guidelines and Procedures carefully before proceeding.
This €10,000 Action Grant is open to any feature film Director who experiences marginalization due to their gender, including but not limited to women, non-binary and trans filmmakers.
Applicants must demonstrate how the grant funding will allow you to advance in a critical area of development – be it a location scout, hiring crew, shooting a proof-of-concept or sizzle reel – there are no limits, YOU tell us how you would use the €10,000 (or equivalent) to moves the needle on your project. This is about finding films with strong artistic merit and a bold original vision, ready to go into production within the next 12 months. If you are not selected at this time it is no reflection on the quality of your project, and we invite you to submit again at a later date if your project has moved forward significantly.
The winner will be announced at the Sundance Film Festival, with the five finalists becoming a part of BTTL’s 2025 Cohort, receiving guidance at festival markets, curated financier meetings and industry mentorship.
ALL applicants will receive a FREE voucher to join our 2025 Virtual Workshops throughout the year and a discount code to join our Pano x BTTL Membership Program.
Workshops will include: Film Distribution, Legal Contracts, Insurance and more.
You may save your application and return to finish at any time, so don’t hesitate to get started below!
CAMPARI GROUP’s HEAD OF GLOBAL MARKETING, JULKA VILLA, WILL BE JOINING THE ACTION GRANT JURY ALONGSIDE STAR ACTRESS DIANE KRUGER.
VIEW FULL 2025 JURY HERE.
Materials to Prepare for Upload:
Line Item Budget for €10,000 Euro Grant Funding - or equivalent in your local currency - PDF or .XLSX files only.
Production Timeline: overview of your target production timeline.
Visual Treatment: a creative document that illustrates the visual aspects of your film. Essentially a blueprint for the movie that expresses the Director’s vision (may include artistic references, characters, locations) - PDF files only.
Full Script: in original language OR detailed beat sheet in the case of documentaries - PDF files only. (If a Non-English language narrative film, please also upload the first 10-pages of the script in English).
Guidelines and Eligibility:
Applicants (Project Director or Producer) must be 18 years or older.
Projects are welcome from anywhere in the world.
Project Director should identify as experiencing marginalization due to their gender.
Fiction and Hybrid Projects are accepted, as long as they are in development with an intended length of 60 minutes or longer. Non-Fiction documentary projects seeking filming or post-production funds are accepted as well.
Your application must be written in English and have a full draft of the script. If a non-English language film, we ask you to submit only the first 10 pages of your script in English, along with the full script in its Native language. In the case of Documentaries, we ask for a detailed beat sheet.
Applicants must own the copyright of their production, and have artistic, budgetary, and editorial control over their project.
Applicants should have previous film or television production experience in a principal role (director, co-director, producer, co-producer) as demonstrated via previous work samples. Applicants who do not meet this criteria should demonstrate how they will be working with experienced filmmakers as key creative personnel.
BTTL does not make grants to individuals. If selected, applicants must be able to accept grants through a production company or fiscal sponsor. Projects may apply without a company attached, but must confirm the designated organization in order to receive funding.
Procedure:
Submission: BTTL accepts applications until 5 p.m. PST on the grant deadline. We highly recommend early submission to avoid technical difficulties. Please inform us immediately about platform-related issues so that we can reach out to Zealous for further assistance. We cannot offer extensions due to staff capacity and in fairness to other applicants.
Review: Each application is reviewed through a rigorous process, including several rounds of review by our independent reading committee before entering the shortlist, where all projects are reviewed by the Jury. During this process, we may contact you with additional project questions.
Notification: Applicants who are shortlisted will be notified directly via your registered email by first week of November. A video interview will then be conducted. The winner will be announced at the Sundance Film Festival (between January 23 and February 2) and will become a part of BTTL's 2025 cycle. We are unable to give individual project feedback, due to the volume of submissions.
Grant Distribution: Upon acceptance of the Grant award, the applicant will be asked to submit a final budget for approval, and to sign a "Filmmaker Action Grant Agreement" between BTTL and the winner's designated company. The terms of this agreement will be presented for review at the shortlist phase. Within 30 days of signature on this agreement, Grant funds will be distributed to the winning applicant.
Why do we charge a fee?
Applying for this Grant puts your project into consideration for our main 2025 program, which provides filmmakers the opportunity to pitch in front of leading investors and sales agents at key festival markets throughout the year. The application fee also grants you FREE access to all of our 2025 Virtual Workshops throughout the year and a discount on our BTTL x Pano Membership.
If you still have questions, kindly email us with "Grant Application + the full title of your project" in the subject line. We are a small team and will do our best to respond in a timely manner, with limited capacity to reply during peak application periods. Applicants needing application assistance to accommodate a disability may request support at any stage in the process. To request reasonable assistance or any inquiry, contact info@breakingthroughthelens.com.
Early Bird Application Fee: $29.99 ~ (Deadline JUNE 17th)
Regular Application Fee: $49.99 ~ (Deadline AUGUST 25th)
Late Application Fee: $69.99 ~ (Deadline OCTOBER 7th)