Why we joined Hollywood heavyweights and established creators to be a part of Seed & Spark Patron’s Circle
By Jennifer Cloer
Last fall I was considering how best to support a few different film projects, from some pretty large productions with well-known talent to other, smaller projects that I thought could have a big impact in areas I felt stories weren't being told.
When considering what to support and how best to approach these opportunities with my executive producer hat on, I called Emily Best, the founder of Seed & Spark. Emily and I first connected after I read her blog post about raising venture capital while pregnant and then interviewing her for the Chasing Grace Project (a three-part docuseries that I created and produced about women in tech and the workplace). Emily is both an insider who knows how the film business works and an advocate who prioritizes supporting underrepresented and emerging storytellers in one of the most powerful mediums we have to express ourselves - film. I knew she’d have some answers.
She had more than answers.
Jennifer Cloer
She had an idea: What if she could extend the crowdfunding model she’s created with Seed & Spark to bring emerging filmmakers together with established filmmakers and industry veterans to help underwrite more projects? Given Story Changes Culture’s work with ELEVATE, a program that awards financial and other support to filmmakers and storytellers whose voices may not otherwise be heard, I said yes before the call was even over.
From the Seed & Spark announcement:
The Seed&Spark Patrons Circle will offer established filmmakers and industry veterans the opportunity to directly champion underrepresented perspectives in film and creators building success on their own terms. Founding patrons include Mark Duplass, Jason Reitman, Emily V. Gordon, Couper Samuelson (Blumhouse Pictures), Damian Bradfield, Jennifer Cloer, Tamar Guttmann, and JL Pomeroy (bridgeLine media), Sylvia Zakhary (Mamag Studios), and Abigail Disney.
"Even after 10 years, we're still a company for and by creators. These last two years have presented incredibly strong headwinds and still the creators in our community are making more powerful work than ever before," said Emily Best, Seed&Spark CEO. "Our job at Seed&Spark is to listen as carefully as we can to what creators really need, and to meet them in this moment it was clear we needed to deliver some financial relief and some encouragement and inspiration."
Beyond providing a critical infusion of capital, Patrons are bringing their expertise and creative guidance to the independent film community in upcoming mentorship sessions that are open to everyone, with special opportunities for creators fundraising on Seed&Spark.
"As a longtime supporter of Seed&Spark's mission, I'm incredibly excited and grateful to have joined the Patrons Circle," said Mark Duplass. "I really value the opportunity to connect with and support up and coming filmmakers. There have been phenomenal projects that have come out of Seed&Spark's creator community, and I can't wait to see what else they have in store."
In the coming weeks and months, we’ll be choosing the projects our funding pledge will support. We can’t wait to help bring these stories to life and to share those filmmakers and their projects with you. Story really does change culture but it takes all of us - the filmmaker, the director, the writer, the producer and the executive producer, among many other roles, to make a project happen. I’m so happy we can be a part of this.
Together with established creators Mark Duplass (“The Morning Show,” “Safety Not Guaranteed,” “Tangerine,” etc) ), Jason Reitman (“Juno,” “Up in the Air,” etc), Emily V. Gordon (“The Big Sick”) and more, we can have a collective impact on making sure more emerging and underrepresented storytellers don’t get lost in the telling of our human experiences.