Impact Kickstart 2027 Application Preview

APPLICATION

FILM AND TEAM INFO

●  First name

●  Last name

●  Personal Pronouns

●  Email

●  Phone

●  Address

●  Position/Role with Film

●  Key Personnel (optional) Upload information about key personnel involved in the film, including their names, roles and relevant experience. You may also include brief information about key creative, producing or impact members who will be involved in the project. If you do not have a team document prepared you can leave this optional question blank, and we can refer to your project’s website.

●  Film Title or Working Title (in Original Language & English)

●  Film Website (if any)

●  Film Status (completed, finishing or release phase)?

●  Please share a link to your current footage (full film if finished or fine cut).

Please feel free to include any additional content as well (trailer, sizzle reel, etc.)

●  Logline (50 – 250 words)

Please provide 2-3 sentences that capture the most important elements of the film — setting, participants*, key issues, or form.

●  Story Summary (between 250 – 500 words)

Give an overview of your story, introducing the main participants and key plot points.

●  Distribution Plans (between 50 – 250 words)
Describe any plans for festival, theatrical, commercial, and/or educational distribution for the film, as well as your plans for securing any broadcast. Please differentiate between what is confirmed and what is currently pending.

IMPACT PLANS

●  Issue Areas (between 250 – 500 words)

Describe the issue area(s) you hope to address through your impact work. Explain the relevant cultural, historical, political, or social context for your campaign.

●  Impact Goals (between 250 – 500 words)

Articulate your vision for the influence or impact you hope the film will have on the participants, community, and/or broader society — be these social, cultural, political or otherwise. Within these broader spheres of influence, please define 1 to 4 concrete impact goals that you want to achieve through your campaign. These goals can range from awareness-raising to direct action.

●  Audience (between 250 – 500 words)
Who are the key audience(s) you need to reach to achieve the impact goal(s) listed above? How do you plan on reaching them? How does your impact campaign create opportunities for dialogue and action for the audiences and communities impacted by the issue(s) you are highlighting? Keep in mind that this may be distinct from audiences you may seek via other modes of distribution.

●  Timeline and Activities (between 50 – 250 words)

For the impact goals detailed above, list the core activities that you will undertake to actualize your goals and reach your audience(s). Please outline your anticipated timeline of activities.

●  Impact Support (between 50 – 250 words)

What are your greatest needs related to developing or implementing strategy for your film’s impact campaign (i.e. audience engagement, partnership development, fundraising strategies)? And given these needs, please tell us how you hope the Impact Kickstart funding and filmmaker cohort will benefit your project.

●  Partners (between 150 – 500 words)

Do you have relationships with individuals or organizations who are well-positioned to help plan or implement your film’s impact campaign? Who are these advisors and partners? Please list and indicate if they are secured, approached or intended. How do you envision the role your partners will play in the activities listed above?

●  Accountability and Community Care (between 250 – 500 words)

Describe your relationship with the participants or communities participating in the impact campaign and production process. Are you collaborating with them to develop your strategy and goals? What are your processes of accountability, including consent, transparency, feedback, community care, and any other steps being taken to ensure the participants or communities featured in your impact campaign have agency? Whose interests will your impact campaign serve? Who will benefit and how?

●  Safety (between 50 – 250 words)

Reflect on any known safety and security concerns you may encounter throughout the lifecycle of your impact campaign. How are you planning to address any negative impacts or harm (emotional, physical, material, digital, etc.) on the impact campaign’s participants, communities, and the impact team.

●  Learnings and Insights (between 50 – 250 words)

How will you assess the effectiveness of your campaign? What metrics will you use to track your progress towards your goals? How does your team plan to capture and share learnings and outcomes?

●  Impact Kickstart Cohort Participation

Filmmakers must be prepared to participate in monthly cohort calls with the cohort of Impact Kickstart recipients, hosted by Working Films. These will be 1 to 1 1⁄2 hour long virtual meetings each month for film teams to share their expertise, ask questions, and workshop anything related to your film or impact campaign. These cohort calls will occasionally include experts or consultants when needed. Are you able to commit to attending these monthly cohort meetings from December 2026 – December 2027?

BUDGET

● Total Film Budget

Please provide a breakdown of your project’s expenses and income (including in-kind), from development through release, in U.S. dollars.

● Film Budget Gap

Please restate your budget gap (if any) for your film’s completion and list potential sources of funding to address it.

● Impact Campaign Budget

Please provide a breakdown of your impact campaign expenses and income (including in-kind), in U.S. dollars.

● Impact Campaign Budget Gap

Please restate your budget gap for your impact campaign and list potential sources of funding to address it.

● Impact Amount Seeking

State the amount of funding requested from Working Films in order to fulfil your impact goals laid out above? Impact campaign funds will be in the range of $10,000 – $20,000.

OPTIONAL

●  (Optional) Letters of Support

If you have any letters of support from film participants, partners, or from supporters who will bolster your applications, you can upload them here. You may use previous letters of support used for previous applications.

●  (Optional) Supplementary Materials

If you have any materials that you have already created for the impact campaign (e.g impact plan overview, presentation deck, curriculum guides/other audience engagement surveys/materials, etc) you can upload them here. Please include only materials you have already created in their original language; we ask that you do not create new materials just for this application. To add multiple files, you must attach them as a .zip file.

●  (Optional) How did you hear about this opportunity?

●  (Optional) Is there anything else you would like to share with us?