The Indie Film Fund

YOU PICK THE
NEXT ONE

60% of everything members put in goes to financing an independent filmmaker's feature — a real one, budgeted between $250,000 and $1 million. We read every pitch that comes in. The ones worth making go on a ballot, and members decide which gets shot first. It premieres here as a Deep Cut Original.

Where the money goes

01

You support

Any amount from $1. 60% goes straight into the fund. The other 40% keeps the lights on, licenses the shorts in the Theatre, and covers post and delivery on the film we make.

02

The fund fills

The bar above is live. Nothing gets commissioned until it clears $250,000, because half a film is no film.

03

We read, you choose

Every pitch gets read and every reel gets watched. Only films that can actually be made reach the ballot. You spend your votes across the slate; most votes takes the money.

How voting works

$1 = 1 vote. Put in $40, you hold 40 votes. That's the whole rule.

Your votes are a budget. Put all of them behind one pitch, or split them across three. Splitting them says which one you'd take if your first choice loses.

Votes are capped at 1,000 per person, which is exactly where the producing credits start — a dollar is a vote, so the cap and the Co-Producer tier are the same rung. Under it your votes track your money one for one. Over it you're buying credits and access, not influence.

Give as much as you like: it all counts toward the goal and it all counts toward your perks. But the fund exists so the richest person in the room doesn't pick the movie, and that has to include the richest person in this room.

Every ballot is shuffled differently for every viewer, because whatever is printed first wins votes it didn't earn.

The ballot

This is a practice run with invented films. Have a go — nothing here counts.

Try it — a pretend ballot

50 of 50 votes left

THE LAST VIDEO STORE

Comedy · Drama

dir. Mara Oyelaran · Won SXSW Shorts, 2024

The night before the last rental shop in town closes, four regulars barricade themselves inside.

0 votes

SALT FLATS

Thriller

dir. Dev Ramanathan · Two shorts at Sundance

A woman driving her dead brother's car across Utah realises someone has been living in the boot.

0 votes

GOOD DOG

Horror

dir. Priya Halloran · Fantastic Fest audience award

A family adopts a rescue dog that seems to remember a house it has never been to.

0 votes

Slide some votes onto a pitch. Split them however you like — all on one, or spread across three.

A real ballot carries each director's one-sheet, their full pitch deck, and a link to their previous work. You're not voting on a logline.

See the real ballot →

What you get

Perks stack — every tier keeps everything below it. Priced for a real feature: a producing credit costs roughly what a producing credit costs, because handing out Executive Producer for pocket change makes the credit worthless to everybody who has one.

  • Ticket Holder

    $5+

    Five dollars in the hat and you're in the room where it gets picked.

    • Votes on the next Deep Cut Original
    • Production diary emails

  • Backer

    $25+

    Credited as Special Thanks

    Your name goes on the picture. That's the whole point.

    • Your name in the end credits
    • Backer badge on your profile

  • Supporter

    $100+

    Credited as Special Thanks

    Watch the film get built, from the deck that won to the rough assembly.

    • The winning pitch deck, unedited
    • Behind-the-scenes cut
    • Digital download the day it releases

  • Associate

    $250+

    Credited as Special Thanks

    Something for the jacket and something for the wall.

    • Enamel pin + sticker set
    • Printed one-sheet poster

  • Patron

    $500+

    Credited as Special Thanks

    Watch it for the first time in a room with the people who made it.

    • Signed one-sheet, cast and director
    • Premiere invite — two seats

  • Co-Producer

    $1,000+

    Credited as Co-Producer

    A credit, not a thank-you. This is where the ladder stops being merch.

    • Your name in the crawl, not the thanks — a real title card
    • Virtual set visit, live from the shoot
    • Every vote you earned, uncapped up to this point

  • Associate Producer

    $5,000+

    Credited as Associate Producer

    Stand on the set of a film you helped greenlight.

    • On-set visit, in person — one shoot day, travel and lodging your own
    • A call with the director before the shoot
    • Your name on the poster's billing block

  • Executive Producer

    $25,000+

    Credited as Executive Producer

    You are funding 10 percent of what it costs to shoot it. We are not going to be normal about it.

    • Executive Producer card, main titles
    • A screening in your city — one night, within a year of release
    • A screen-used prop from the film
    • Dinner with the director and the producer

If you're the one making it

Deep Cut was built by an indie filmmaker, and the whole reason the fund exists is that getting a first feature financed is absurd. If you have a script and a reel, you can pitch. There's no fee, and nobody has to introduce you. Send a one-sheet, a deck, and something you've made.

The people voting are the ones who actually watch this stuff. That's a better room than most festivals put you in front of.

Submit your film →

Straight answers

Am I investing?
No. Supporting the house buys you a vote, a credit and the perks above. It isn't an investment, carries no financial return, and no vote has a cash value. If we ever open a proper equity raise it will be a separate, clearly-labelled thing you'd opt into on purpose.
What if the fund never fills?
Then nothing gets commissioned and the fund keeps growing. What you paid for is a membership — the Theatre, the recommendations, the whole house — and the fund is a share we allocate on top. Nothing is held in escrow against a film that might not happen.
Who decides which pitches make the ballot?
We do. Anything on the ballot has been read, and the director's previous work has been watched. Backers choose between real options rather than sifting an open submissions pile.
Can I change my votes?
Any time while the round is open. Move them around as much as you like — the ballot saves what you land on, not each nudge.
Does $250,000 actually finish a film?
It shoots one — roughly fifteen to eighteen days with a real crew, a modest cast and controlled locations. Post is separate, and it's where crowd-funded films usually die: sound mix, colour, music clearance, E&O insurance and delivery all cost money after the wrap party, and a film without them legally cannot be shown anywhere. So the goal covers production, and the house covers post and delivery out of its 40%. Nobody gets handed a finished film they can't release.
Where does the other 40% go?
Hosting, licensing the shorts in the Theatre, paying the filmmakers whose work is on the channels, keeping the thing running — and post and delivery on the film the fund commissions. It is not a marketing budget.
🎟 Get in line

Free to join · support if you want to · cancel any time