Chicken & Egg Pictures launches new research and development grants to documentary filmmaking teams

Chicken & Egg Pictures, which provides support and funding to women and non-binary documentary filmmakers, is teaming up with Netflix to announce the Chicken & Egg Pictures Research & Development Grant, a new fund for seasoned filmmakers working on their next feature-length film.

These grants will offer funding to up to 30 filmmaking teams for research or development of their projects, in addition to opportunities for peer support, mentorship, and relationship-building within the documentary filmmaking community. 

The 2023 Chicken & Egg Pictures Research & Development Grant Award is supported by Netflix’s Fund For Creative Equity, a dedicated effort to help build new opportunities for underrepresented communities within entertainment.

Eligible projects must be a feature-length film that is either in the research or the development stage. Additionally, the project must be directed or co-directed by an experienced woman or non-binary filmmaker who has directed at least two feature-length documentary films.

“The unfortunate reality is that it’s incredibly hard for women and non-binary filmmakers to make a living in documentary film, and one major reason for that is difficulty securing funding for new projects,” said Jenni Wolfson, CEO of Chicken & Egg Pictures. “Filmmakers face funding challenges when in the research and development phase of new projects and often end up investing their own resources. We are grateful to Netflix for their support of this important, new initiative that supports experienced directors while they ideate, think, plan, and write their next feature-length film, providing financial support during a filmmaking stage that has too often gone unpaid and unsupported.” 

Filmmakers will receive:

• A $10,000 USD grant for research or a $20,000 USD grant for development of a feature-length documentary project;
• Access to Chicken & Egg Pictures’ AlumNest community of supported filmmakers for further peer support, mentorship opportunities and deeper connections in the documentary film industry.

The Research Grant supports the ideation period including identifying secondary sources, following storylines and building foundational relationships. The Development Grant supports a deeper exploration period including securing access to core characters and collaborators, solidifying budgets, fundraising, story development and other tasks. The Chicken & Egg Pictures Research & Development Grant was created to be used in a flexible and holistic way by each filmmaking team. In addition to expenses related to the core research or development activities, funds can be used to cover the filmmaking team’s fees and salaries, as well as caregiving costs to support filmmakers who are caregivers with their other responsibilities during the filmmaking process.  

Applications for the Chicken & Egg Pictures Research & Development Grant will open on March 15 and the deadline for submission is April 24. Projects will be evaluated according to their feasibility and the director’s body of work and connection to the story. Artistic approaches are welcome–personal, experimental, animated and more. More details on how to apply can be found here.