PIC Shorts Fund Projects (United States)

The Shorts Fund selects projects for public media digital distribution and television broadcast.

Topics 

• They are especially interested in projects that address the following topics.
  • Social issues (i.e. physical and mental health, immigration, housing, education, food security, civil rights, race relations, etc.).
  • Economic issues.
  • Environment and sustainability.
  • Community portraits (i.e. LGBTQ, rural, families, immigration, underserved and underrepresented, etc.).
  • Travel, lifestyle, personal stories, identity, sports, etc.
  • Impact and solutions to COVID-19
• Additionally they look for projects with:
  • Stories that are untold, little known, have an innovative approach and/or fresh perspectives of the indigenous Pacific Islander experience.
  • Fully realized stories with completed treatments and/or scripts that are engaging and compelling.
  • Universal themes that have a strong potential of appealing to a wide and diverse audience.
  • Robust outreach, engagement and social impact plans with the intention of social change to encourage a more informed, equitable and inclusive society.
  • Strong training plans that strive to provide meaningful training and mentorship for emerging indigenous Pacific Islander media makers.

Funding Information

• Applicants can request up to $25,000.

What PIC is looking for?

• They’re looking for fiction and nonfiction projects that are engaging and artistically innovative on subject matter that covers issues important to indigenous Pacific Islanders with the intention of social change to encourage a more informed, equitable and inclusive society.
• PIC defines Pacific Islanders as the descendants of the indigenous peoples of Hawai‘i, Guam, American Samoa, the Northern Marianas, and other Pacific Islands of Micronesia, Melanesia and Polynesia.

Project Parameters 

• You are welcome to apply with fiction or nonfiction projects that are in pre-production, production or post-production with the ability to be completed within 18 months of receiving PIC funds and that fall into one of these categories:
  • Fiction Projects: intended for digital distribution only.
    • Stand-alone fiction films of 20 minutes or less, including animation. This can include films that are intended to be proof of concepts for feature length films.
    • Serial or anthology series with each episode being no more than 20 minutes in length.
    • Films for which the exclusive online streaming rights are available.
  • Nonfiction Projects: intended for digital distribution or national public television broadcast.
    • Stand-alone non-fiction films of 20 minutes or less.
    • Stand-alone non-fiction films of 20 minutes or less that are intended to be proof of concepts for an hour long television broadcast version.
    • Serial or anthology series with each episode being no more than 20 minutes in length.
    • Films for which the exclusive online streaming and/or television broadcast rights are available.

Eligibility Criteria

• You are eligible to apply if you are:
  • An independent producer who holds artistic, budgetary, and editorial control and owns the copyright to the proposed project.
  • A citizen or legal resident of the United States or its territories. If you are not a U.S. citizen or legal resident, you can still apply, but you will be required to have a U.S. fiscal sponsor if awarded PIC funding.
  • A producer who has previous film or television experience and has at least one completed short film in a key creative role:  director, co-director, producer, co-producer or writer.
  • Please note that you can only apply with one project to the Shorts Fund.  If you have more than one project, they suggest applying with the one that you consider the strongest.
  • Additionally, they only accept applications to one PIC funding initiative at a time. If you currently have an application under consideration for another PIC funding initiative your application to the Shorts Fund won’t be considered.
• You are not eligible if you are:
  • Applying with a thesis project or student film which is co-owned or solely owned or copyrighted, or otherwise editorially or fiscally controlled by the school.
  • Employed as a producer, director or writer by a broadcast entity, film studio, educational institution.
  • Producers or production entities that are foreign-based, owned, or controlled unless you are working with a U.S. fiscal sponsor.
  • Applying with industrial, commercial and promotional projects.
  • Current signatories of a PIC-funded project. You may not enter into a new PIC contract until final delivery on your previous project is approved.

For more information, visit PIC.