ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to make sense of the inconsistent state of animation funding across the globe by focusing on universal truths and advice on how best to approach funders depending on your professional/geographical circumstances. In setting up the concept of piecing together a “jigsaw puzzle of finance,” early case studies include Thomas Stellmach (Virtuos Virtuell) and the late Rosto (Mind My Gap). In The Snowball Effect, we examine the creative compromises that go hand in hand with outside funding, as in the case of Garrett Michael Davis’s commissioned Story from North America follow-up Story from South America.
In Selling Yourself, reputed producer and funding lobbyist Helen Brunsdon (British Animation Awards/Animation UK) provides an elaborate overview of the etiquette and expectations that come with applying for funding, and tips as far as what may make an application more likely to succeed, paired with filmmaker Joseph Wallace (Salvation Has No Name)’s own perspectives as an applicant.
The funding circumstances of Adam Elliot’s Australian-produced short Ernie Biscuit are similarly examined in Digging Deep, and a cross-sectional sample of crowdfunding campaigns soliciting a range of funds is presented to give readers insight into what strategies to adopt and what pitfalls to avoid should they go down that route in A Collective Effort/Customer Etiquette.
