Incentive Program to Support and Encourage Film and TV Projects from Women, People of Color and Members of the LGBTQ Community

Hey, here's a project for creators.

Big Vision Empty Wallet, a company that acts as a film and media incubator, is proudly launching their new incentive program, Kick-Start Diversity, designed to support diversity in storytelling and to make it easier for the work of women, people of color and LGBT individuals to get made and be seen. Projects selected will receive exclusive discounts, education and distribution opportunities. On October 5th, submissions will open for feature films and series with diverse teams. In order to qualify for the program, the writer, director or producer must be a woman, person of color or member of the LGBTQ community. BVEW will also announce the inaugural projects, selected from private submissions held this Summer.

In Hollywood, only 6% of film directors are women and 18% are people of color and the statistics for writers and producers aren’t much better. Big Vision Empty Wallet is intent on making a difference by cultivating work from a more diverse pool of creators. Said BVEW co-founder Alex Cirillo, "It's wonderful that the inequality in Hollywood has become a more mainstream conversation recently, but the industry needs programs like ours to incentivize companies to work with 'minority' filmmakers to help make it easier to get their work made and seen."

BVEW’s Kick-Start Diversity program will encourage diversity in storytelling at the independent level. Said BVEW co-founder Dani Faith Leonard, “Tweeting from your couch isn’t the same as taking measurable action. We have structured the program so that recipients will be seen as better investments at the independent level than they currently are viewed as.” Selected projects will receive significant discounts from vendors and service providers nationwide to create savings in all stages of production, including AbelCine, Hive Lighting, Gotham Stages, and Nice Shoes. Recipients will be granted access to an exclusive Distribution Lab, presented in both NY and LA, focusing on audience building and distribution strategies. Participating companies include Lionsgate Films, FilmRise, Seed & Spark, VHX, Zeitgeist Films, and Cinetic.

This sounds like a great opprotunity, please check out more about this program here