Well, today I received a rejection letter from CALQ (Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec) for a research and creation grant for my new film. So after getting rejected last month by the Canada Council, that's 0 for 2 with grant applications for the new film so far. Not exactly the start I was looking for.
I expected the Canada Council rejection as I wasn't technically eligible for the program I applied for, but the CALQ rejection stings a little more because it was based on an evaluation of the project itself. In other words, the jury of my peers didn't feel the project was worth funding. Ouch.
Now, both of these grants were for research and development and not for the actual production of the film. There is another round of applications in the Spring for production grants, and you can bet I'll be sending in applications once again.
On a positive note, since applying for these 2 grants a few months ago, the idea for the film has solidified and I'm much further along in the development than I thought I would be at this point. But like almost every indie artist out there, I'm faced with the challenge of getting the funding needed for my project.
Next steps will be re-applying to Canada Council and CALQ for production grants, seeking out other grants to apply for, but also finalizing plans for alternative funding like sponsorships, fan-funding, private investment, pre-sales, creative alliances, etc.
More news on this project in the New Year...
Cheers,
Dave
(Currently listening to: George Azzi's EP "Dark rooms have no corners")