Three things motivated this survey.

1. During the last 12 years or so I’ve seen too many student animation films become an epitaph rather than a prelude.

2. There SEEMS to be less state support for non-commercial culture, yet there are more independently produced animation works being made now than at any other time in the history of animation.

3. A N.Y. subway jaunt with Steven Dovas.

Clearly folks are finding a way to make film, but how? I decided to ask a bunch of ‘em and find out.

Debra Solomon.

I’ve always plowed money from commercial work back into independent work.

Credit cards and savings are my magical answer to funding, also I worked as an illustrator to fund my films: telephone books in the deep south funded Mrs Matisse and a book called I love you because funded Everybody’s Pregnant.

I have a problem applying for grants as they are in artspeak, a language I never learned. And for me to delineate the parameters of a film beforehand messes with my creative process and actually steers me off the track. I say if you want to make it fund it yourself.

Debra Solomon, U.S.A.
http://www.debrasolomon.com

Ring of Fire © Gambit.

Financing of Ring of Fire:
Complete Budget: 300 000 €
Prize Money: 20% (We put all the prize money we’ve got for We Lived In Grass into the project)
TV-Presales: 10 % (because we wanted to be independent, we didn’t do a TV co-production, but just presales. It’s less money, but more freedom) filmfund: 60% (The filmfund MfG put most of the money into the project, because they wanted young filmmakers to stay in Baden-Württemberg. You have to spend 100% of the money the filmfund gives you in Baden-Württemberg)
Own money: 10% (which doesn’t mean we’d put the money in the project literally. We just paid ourselves less)

Andreas Hykade, Germany
www.hykade.de