Information on the 2025 Application Season will be announced in August 2025. Join our mailing list to be notified when applications open.

Congratulations to Ali Imran Zaidi, the winner of the 2024 Short Film Production Grant with his script, The Boy With the Dinosaur Head. The film is now in post-production. Read the full announcement on Filmmaker Magazine.

Pictured: Filmmaker Ali Imran Zaidi

$50,000 Short Film Production Grant

The Stowe Story Labs $50,000 Short Film Production Grant, developed in partnership with the PAGE International Screenwriting Awards, and working with partners including ARRI, the Galway Film Fleadh, Seed&Spark, the Sidewalk Film Festival, Portrait, Film Pittsburgh, Seattle International Film Festival, and WeShort, will award a grant of $50,000 to support the development, production, and distribution of a short film with a total run time of approximately 10 minutes.

We are proud to offer this grant to develop and produce a wonderful short film, and through this work to help screenwriters, filmmakers, and creative producers get work made and seen. More details below.

Frequently Asked Questions can be found at the bottom of this page.

Photo: Stowe Story Labs Fiscal Agency Project, The Cutting Room Floor

Benefits

A $50,000 curated grant to support the production of a short film with a total run time of approximately 10 minutes. Mentoring will be available to support the winning project through all aspects of its development and production, including:

  • Development, Pre-Production, Production, Post-Production, and Festival Submission mentoring by Stowe alum and mentor Liz Cardenas (bio below), who also will manage the grant with the filmmakers

  • Festival submission support, advice, and post-festival run distribution on groundbreaking short film distribution platform WeShort

  • Consult with Seed&Spark on crowdfunding, pitching, and distribution

  • Discounted ARRI camera package

  • Festival fee submission waiver and automatic admission to the 2025 or 2026 Sidewalk Film Festival (based on needs/value to the project)

  • Festival fee submission waiver to enter the 2025 Galway Film Fleadh

  • Festival fee submission waiver for the 2025 Pittsburgh Shorts and Script Competition for the top finalists of the grant and free entry for Pittsburgh Shorts and Script Film Competition for the produced film resulting from the winning script in the 2024 Short Film Production Grant.

  • Festival fee submission waiver for the winning project for the Seattle International Film Festival for their 2025 or 2026 Festival.

  • Invitation to join the Portrait community, a networking platform connecting filmmakers, department heads, funders, distributors, and more

  • Option to create an Empact campaign, an initiative that can help fundraise and create audience-facing impact campaigns which lead to change for topics depicted in films (based on need/value to the project). Empact would also create promotional and educational assets and provide an impact report with qualitative and quantitative metrics

Application and Selection Process

In the first stage of the process, applicants need only submit a properly formatted narrative short film script of 15 pages or less for consideration. Knowing such things are deeply subjective and hard to define, we are looking for a great story well told containing notes of hope and uplift. We are agnostic on genre.

Initial script reviews will be conducted by the team at the PAGE International Screenwriting Awards. Top applicants will be asked to submit additional information about the project, including a statement of intent, any attachments or developed materials, other works, and applicant bio. PLEASE NOTE: prior production work or experience is not required (but is welcome) to be selected. As with all of our programs, we look for people demonstrating the capacity to do the work and to work collaboratively, regardless of film or TV experience.

The Stowe Team will select the finalists for consideration.

The Jury (listed below) will select the project to be awarded the $50,000 grant.

Stowe Mentor Liz Cardenas will serve as Executive Producer on the project to administer the grant and to be available to provide mentoring.

Although not a hard and fast rule, we are looking for projects that can result in a film with a total run time of 10 minutes or less. Knowing the rule of thumb is one minute per page, please keep this in mind as you consider applying with a script longer than 10 pages.

If the applicant does not have a team assembled to make the film, the Stowe team will inquire during the application process about applicant’s intent to build the team to make the film.

International applicants are welcome (scripts must be submitted in English).

The winning project will be:

  • A well-presented and written short film script with

  • Ideally, a total run time of approximately 10 minutes or less and

  • Few characters and locations, and

  • Similarly, given the expense involved, we are ideally looking for scripts avoiding serious stunt, animation, or effects needed. Such stories are welcome if the applicant has a plan to make the film given this concern.

Applicants (and teams) must demonstrate a collaborative nature and capacity to do the work.

Any questions please inquire at info@stowestorylabs.org

Application Fees + Deadlines

Early Bird Deadline - May 20, 2024: $55

Regular Deadline - July 1, 2024: $65

Late Deadline - July 22, 2024: $75

Extended Deadline - August 13, 2024: $75

Executive Producer, Liz Cardenas

The winning screenwriter (and team) will have the opportunity to collaborate with Stowe alum and mentor, Writer/Director/Creative Producer Liz Cardenas. She is a 2022 Independent Spirit Award winner for Duplass Brothers Productions’ 7 Days (Tribeca ‘21 | Cinedigm), written and directed by Roshan Sethi (The Resident, Call Jane) starring Karan Soni and Geraldine Viswanathan, and a 2019 Spirit Award Nominee for NEVER GOIN’ BACK (Sundance ‘18 | A24), directed by Augustine Frizzell (Euphoria, The Last Letter From Your Lover) starring Maia Mitchell, Camila Morrone and Kyle Mooney. She was also nominated for the Producer Award for the 2023 Indie Spirits.

Liz will serve as Executive Producer for the winning short film, and in that capacity will administer the $50,000 grant and will be available to mentor on all elements of pre-production, production, post-production, and festival submissions.

Jurors

  • Tom Berkeley + Ross White

    Oscar Winning Filmmakers of An Irish Goodbye

    Read Bio

  • Ellie Foumbi

    Writer-Director of the award-winning indie Our Father the Devil

    Read Bio

  • Alex Boden

    Producer for Cloud Atlas, A Hologram for the King, Sense8, Cursed, and Tokyo Vice

    Read Bio

  • Ali Doyle

    Head of Development at Yellow Film & TV

    Read Bio

  • Melody Cooper

    Screenwriter and NYX Horror Collective Co-Founder

    Read Bio

  • Corey Trent Ackerman

    Manager at The Cartel

    Read Bio

  • Shari Lynette Carpenter

    Screenwriter and Director

    Read Bio
  • Producer

    Liz Cardenas

    Producer

    Read Bio

  • David Rocchio

    Founder & Director of Stowe Story Labs

    Read Bio

  • David Pope

    Co-Founder of Stowe Story Labs

    Read Bio

  • Kristin Overn

    Executive Director, PAGE International Screenwriting Awards

    Read Bio

On working with Stowe

  • "Stowe provides so much more than just a writing lab. It builds a community that provides support for your entire career."

    Goldie Jones, 2024 Stowe Launch Fellow and Stowe Alum

  • "Successful screenwriting is never without its challenges, but Stowe Story Labs illuminates the path to getting there."

    Derek Simonds, Showrunner/EP of The Sinner and Battlestar Galactica, Stowe Story Labs Mentor, and TV Writers Room Facilitator

  • "The mentorship I received at Stowe Story Labs was transformative—not just for my screenplay but also for me as a writer."

    Diana Peralta, Writer-Director of De Lo Mio, Stowe Alum, and 2022 Film Fatales Fellow

  • "The collaborative and nurturing environment has been crucial to my creative journey, offering invaluable support and great educational experiences."

    Lisa Cole, Writer-Director of Bienvenido a Los Angeles, Stowe Alum, and 2019 Final Draft Fellow

SHORT FILM GRANT PROGRAM, FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

  • No, your film can be longer or shorter than ten minutes. Our intent is to support a film that can be made for a budget of $50,000, and therefore we are seeking contained stories with limited numbers of characters, sets, special effects, or other barriers to being made for $50,000. The film may be shorter or longer than 10 minutes, but it must be able to be made for the budget being proposed (or, if it will cost more, you will need to show you have financing in place to supplement the $50,000).

  • Yes. See above.

  • All applicants must submit a properly formatted script of no more than 15 pages.

  • You certainly can apply with a longer script, but note we are looking for well-presented stories told in scripts of 15 pages or less.

  • Our intent with this grant is to support a film that can be made for a budget of $50,000, and therefore we are seeking contained stories with limited numbers of characters, sets, special effects, or other barriers to being made for $50,000. The film may certainly be animated (or contain heavy animations or vfx or stunts or other potentially expensive elements to produce), but if asked in the second round of reviews about the budget, you will need to satisfy us that the film will be able to be made for the budget being proposed (or, if it will cost more, you will need to show you have financing in place to supplement the $50,000).

  • Yes.

  • This Short Film Grant Program is designed to support a screenwriter, with or without a team, in the making of a wonderful short film, and with that in mind we are looking for projects at script stage. The $50,000 is to finance all elements of production and the start of a festival and other distribution plans. Given this, part of the $50,000 can and should be put toward post.

  • This Short Film Grant Program is designed to support a screenwriter, with or without a team, in the making of a wonderful short film, and with that in mind we are looking for projects at script stage.

  • Our intent is to choose a project late this fall, and begin working with the artist immediately after selection. With that in mind, we hope the project can be produced in 2025.

  • Yes, international filmmakers are eligible and the selected winner does not need to film the project in the U.S.

  • Board Members, Staff, Readers, and Jurors for this Competition are not eligible to apply for or receive Stowe Story Labs $50,000 Short Film Production Grant. This includes team members at Stowe Story Labs, the PAGE International Screenplay Competition, or Listed Partner Organizations.