The Drama League Film Fund is an opportunity designed for alumni of any of the programs of The Drama League Directors Project, including but not limited to alumni of the Film and Television Directing Fellowships, to expand their artistry through a substantial fund to produce or complete a filmed project. The fund prioritizes short films, pilot episodes of television/streaming projects, and proof-of-concept shorts for features, but will consider feature films and television/streaming series.


This opportunity is especially crucial for directors who have spent their careers to date in the theater, but are expanding their creative landscape into these related mediums. A short film is a necessary calling card in the film and television industries, in order for a director to be considered for their first episodic jobs. The tradition of documenting work on film, habitually absent in the professional theater, is an essential building block for a director’s career when expanding into multiple avenues of storytelling.


Please see our F.A.Q. page for eligibility questions.  Applications are especially welcome from stage directors who identify as members of populations that have historically been denied equity, access, inclusion or belonging in the field and in society, who have been marginalized, underrepresented, and/or those whose paths to direction may have been nonlinear or nontraditional. This includes, but is not limited to, Black, Indigenous, Latine (Latino/Latina), AAPI (Asian-American/Pacific Islander), MENASA (Middle Eastern/North African/South Asian), Biracial, Mixed-Race, Global Majority, LGBTQIAA2+, non-binary directors, disabled, and/or immigrant directors or directors not born in the United States.