Earned
Screenings
Sliding-scale tickets, $5 to $25. Students and anyone who needs it get in free. Nobody is turned away.
Our model
Screenings and supporters fund micro-grants. Micro-grants make local films. Local films fill the next screening, and every screening moves something in the neighborhood.
The gap
Where we fit
Southern California is the film capital of the world, and most neighborhoods here never see themselves on screen. The support that does exist lands in a few places:
- Big fellowships and labs fund a small number of filmmakers who already have experience.
- Festivals screen finished films, usually far from the communities in them.
- Training programs teach the craft, and often stop before a film gets made and shown at home.
Reel Commons lives in the gap: small, fast money for first and early films, screened in the neighborhood the story came from, with a next step for everyone in the room.
The missing middleThe loop
How the money moves
Raise
Screening tickets, local sponsors, monthly donors and grants from arts and community funders.
Grant
A community panel awards $500 to $3,000 micro-grants to students and overlooked storytellers.
Screen
Grantees premiere at home. The night raises money for the next round and fills the room with new supporters.
Act
Every screening launches one local action with a community partner, so the story keeps working after the credits.
Revenue
Where funding comes from
Earned
Local sponsors
Neighborhood businesses sponsor a night, $250 to $1,000, and get seen by the whole room.
Recurring
The Crew
Monthly donors from $10 a month. Steady money we can plan grant rounds around.
Contributed
Grants
Foundations and public funders for the arts, education and civic engagement.
Partnered
Campus partners
Schools and colleges co-host screenings and student grant rounds.
Partnered
In-kind
Gear, venues, food and printing from people who want to show up.
Spending
Where each dollar goes
Our funding plan for every dollar we raise:
Impact
How we keep score
- Grants awarded, and how many go to students and first-time filmmakers
- Films finished and screened in their own neighborhood
- People in seats, and how many come back
- Actions taken: sign-ups, turnout, dollars raised for local groups
- Grantees who go on to make the next film
Year-one goals
- 20
- Micro-grants awarded
- 12
- Community screenings
- 1,500
- Neighbors in seats
- 12
- Local actions launched
What’s next
Growing block by block
Launch
Year one
Home base in Los Angeles. Twelve screenings, twenty grants, and the first partner organizations on board.
Grow
Year two
Campus chapters, grant rounds four times a year, and a summer outdoor screening series.
Spread
Year three
Neighborhood hosts across Southern California running their own screenings, and a community fund that past grantees help steer.
Back the loop
Every dollar goes back around: into a camera, onto a screen, and out into the neighborhood.