The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation awards one participant of Film Independent's Producers Lab the annual Sloan Producers Grant. The recipient receives a $25,000 development grant, admission to Film Independent's Producers Lab, and year-round support from Film Independent. Learn more about the Sloan Foundation on its website.

The grant is funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, which seeks to create and develop new scripts and films about science and technology and to see them into commercial production with national and international distribution. It has screenplay development programs with the Tribeca, Sundance, and Hamptons Film Festivals, as well as other select independent partners and film schools.

To apply for the Sloan Producers Grant, the filmmaker must apply to the Producers Lab and indicate in their letter that they wish to be considered for the Sloan Grant. To be eligible for the Sloan Grant applicants must be attached as producer and possess the rights to the script with which they are applying; and the screenplay should have a scientific, mathematical, and/or technological theme and storyline or have a leading character who is a scientist, engineer, or mathematician. A complete list of Student Film Awards is located at the Museum of Moving Image.

Sloan Producers Grant Deadline & Fees

Deadline: 12 July 2010

$45 Film Independent Members
$65 Non-members

Please note: Only one application fee is required to apply for the Sloan Grant and the Producers Lab.

For more information regarding the Sloan Producers Grant and/or the Lab, please contact Filmmaker Labs Associate, Jennifer Kushner, at 310.432.1275 or JKushner@filmindependent.org

2009 SLOAN PRODUCERS GRANT RECIPIENTS

Future Weather

When her flaky single mom runs away from home, a 13 year-old loner struggles to sustain her dream of saving the planet from climate crisis while searching for a safe place to put down roots.

Jenny Deller, Writer/Director/Producer

Jenny Deller is a writer, director and actor living in Philadelphia. Her feature-length screenplay Future Weather won the 2009 Showtime Tony Cox Award for Best Screenplay at the Nantucket Film Festival. In 2009 the project was the recipient of the Film Independent Producers Grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Future Weather was also a finalist for the 2009 Netflix FIND Your Voice Film Competition. A recipient of a National Endowment for the Humanities Young Scholars grant, Deller has been writing fiction for over twenty years, and directing theater and film since attending high school at the Illinois Math & Science Academy. She has directed and edited eight short films, including documentary video series for Drew University and Anthropologie, where she served as Senior Copywriter. After graduating with a self-designed major in writing, acting, and directing from Lewis & Clark College, Jenny went on to study acting at the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco, and in New York at the Ward Studio Meisner Program and American Mime Theater. Her appearances include Law & Order and several Off-Broadway productions including Romeo & Juliet. Deller was selected to participate in the 2009 Film Independent Screenwriters Lab and Producers Lab.

Kristin Fairweather, Producer

Kristin Fairweather has worked in local politics and public finance in Philadelphia for the past ten years, managing public relations campaigns as well as large field efforts for local politicians - an experience that translated well to film production. Before going to work at both local and state levels in public finance and elective politics, she received her Masters in Government Administration from the University of Pennsylvania. In 2007, Fairweather launched the Philadelphia franchise of Metropolitan Moms, a service that organizes trips and cultural activities for moms and babies. As a producer, her entrepreneurial savvy has aided in development and marketing for Future Weather and will play a crucial role in managing pre-production. She was instrumental in producing Save the Future, Deller's companion-short to Future Weather for the Netflix FIND Your Voice Film Competition. Kristin was selected to participate in the 2009 FIND Producers Lab. 

2008 SLOAN PRODUCERS GRANT RECIPIENT 

The Man Who Knew Infinity

The story of Srinivasa Ramanujan, a poor Indian Brahmin who was a self-educated mathematical prodigy considered one of the greatest minds of the twentieth century.

Jim Young

Jim Young runs Los Angeles-based independent production and development company Animus Films, which he launched six years ago. While at Animus, he produced the acclaimed documentary Year of the Bull, which aired on Showtime Networks.  Young produced the thriller Homecoming, starring Mischa Barton and Jessica Stroup which aired on Lifetime and will be released via Paramount shortly. He more recently produced the dark comic thriller Don McKay, starring Thomas Haden Church, Elisabeth Shue, and Melissa Leo. The film was recently released theatrically by Image Entertainment. He is also currently developing many projects with independent companies and studios, including The Mark Gordon Company, Tollin Productions, Varsity Pictures, National Geographic, Underground Films, Untitled Entertainment, Pressman Films, Mandalay Entertainment, and Ruby Films. Previously, Young was a creative executive at actor Bill Paxton's American Entertainment Company, and worked on the film Frailty (released by Lionsgate) and the development of various projects for studios such as Universal, Disney, Revolution, Screen Gems, and HBO.

Read FIND's interview with Jim Young about the making of Don McKay.

2007 SLOAN PRODUCERS GRANT RECIPIENT

Basmati Blues

A young American scientist sent to India to promote a new kind of genetically modified rice quickly finds herself wrestling with the real world effects of her work and the affections of two very different local suitors.

Monique Caulfield

Monique Caulfield comes to Basmati Blues with 8 years of experience in the creative development of scripts. An entrepreneur, she is the founder of a manufacturing and marketing firm dedicated to socially and environmentally sustainable products. Starting with $5,000 in seed money, she established distribution in nine countries and manufacturing facilities on three continents. Caulfield sold the company and now focuses on producing films. She is the recipient of Film Independent's first annual Sloan Producers Grant.