Last December, Kareem Alston-Rosales launched the nonprofit “Film 4 Good Fund.” Alston-Rosales noticed gaps in access to funding for independent filmmakers after years of work in philanthropy. The nonprofit, which aims to make it easier for independent filmmakers to receive direct grant funding for projects that are nearing the finish line, just gave out its first grant last week to Portland-based filmmaker Ime N. Etuk. Etuk is a Portland-based filmmaker and the executive director of Lion Speaks, a media production company that focuses on supporting BIPOC filmmakers.
Alston-Rosales and Etuk join us to discuss the Film 4 Good Fund’s work, and what these pathways to grant funding can mean for independent filmmakers.
Note: The following transcript was transcribed digitally and validated for accuracy, readability and formatting by an OPB volunteer.
Dave Miller: From the Gert Boyle Studio at OPB, this is Think Out Loud. I’m Dave Miller. The Film 4 Good Fund launched in December. Kareem Alston-Rosales created it after seeing independent filmmakers struggling to get funding. The nonprofit gave out its first grant last week. It went to the Portland-based filmmaker Ime N. Etuk. Alston-Rosales and Etuk join me now. It’s great to have both of you on the show.
Kareem Alston-Rosales: Thanks for inviting us.
Ime N. Etuk: Yeah, wonderful to be here.
Miller: Kareem, first – what is Film 4 Good?
Alston-Rosales: So we’re a finishing fund for narrative filmmakers doing justice-oriented projects that are underrepresented directors like Ime.
Miller: What prompted you to start this?
Alston-Rosales: I mean, I was editing films since I was a teenager. I went to Stanford University, got a grant to make a documentary. I was really excited to be a filmmaker, and then got my first film job and I was making $10 a day. And it was a renowned film job too. It was at Jigsaw Productions. It was a great job, but I was sleeping on my dad’s couch and I was like, “can my girlfriend move in here?” And he was like, “no, you need a job.” So I ended up getting eaten up by philanthropy and that’s kind of how I started to think of who can step in.
Miller: Eaten up … meaning you ended up getting a job in philanthropy.
Alston-Rosales: Yes, but you get a job, you’re in New York City, you end up like, oh, I got bills, I got rent, I got this, I got that. So it just ended up being a secure living where I was still editing film. But I got way more philanthropy than filmmakers, so I was like, can I do good with the access now that I have with philanthropists?
Miller: What do you see as the challenges that independent filmmakers are facing today? You have four hours to answer that question. [Laughter]
Alston-Rosales: I know, right? Here’s a short version. Basically, you have big studio models that want to make a ton of money. But then you have budgets – $1 million, $500,000, $2 million – that may not make a studio a ton of money, but if a filmmaker is independent and they get seven times return on the investment on the film, they can really get paid, pay all their staff members, actors. And that’s just not a model that big business is investing in right now.
So a lot of independent filmmakers just struggle to find … What we’re doing is finishing funds, so they struggle to find money to cover the gap at the end, to pay everybody to continue to be able to work as filmmakers and pay rent.
Miller: So, “finishing” I feel like I’ve heard less about. I’ve heard about pre-production, the production itself, the actual shoot, and post-production, which is editing, color correction, all kinds of stuff. But what is finishing?
Alston-Rosales: Finishing is all-encompassing, so it could be post-production. Ime is a genius because he’s doing his own distribution. There’s other distributions that “Outdoor School” can do, but he was like, can you partner with us to do community screenings in parts of Oregon and we partner with a nonprofit. Maybe we give tickets away for free, maybe people can stream it. But it’s a part of the finishing where you have festival submissions, you can do your screenings and tours to build up an audience. So when you are ready to distribute, you have people who know about your film and can go to the theater.
Miller: All right, Ime, let’s bring you into this. So as we just heard from Kareem, the film that Film 4 Good Fund just funded – your film – is called “Outdoor School.” What is it?
Etuk: Well, “Outdoor School” is a feature narrative film based on a true story. Portland, Oregon, [1994], 12-year-old Melvin Shambry is living under a tree with his mother and sister by night in Irving Park, fleeing domestic violence. But by day, he’s a middle school kid at Beaumont Middle School. And like so many other kids, he’s got his favorite pair of shoes. His happened to be a pair of neon Deion Sanders patent leather Nike shoes that his friend’s father gave him.
He’s about to go to Outdoor School and here we know that means it’s a one-week experiential education rites of passage. And while he’s there, he’ll learn that there are some things that are more important than those shoes. And those shoes have been the blanket that covers the shame of his poverty, so they’re everything to him. So it’s a coming of age story.
Miller: How far along are you in the production world of “Outdoor School”?
Etuk: So “Outdoor School” has been on a festival tour. Actually, we premiered at the American Black Film Festival in Miami. And we’ve just landed in Portland for our Portland premiere last month at the Panorama Film Festival – amazing film festival – where we actually won the Audience Award. And then we started kicking off what is a community tour around Oregon, taking the film to the people.
Miller: So this is what Kareem was talking about a little bit. So what does distribution look like for you right now and what is a community tour?
Etuk: Well, community tour … First, distribution, in the traditional sense, has been [to] make a movie, sell the movie, someone buys it. We know that post-COVID, there’s so much content out there and the dream to get on Netflix is not what it was before. You can be on Netflix and you may not be findable. They may not promote you. They also may give you $20,000 and your film costs way more than that. So it hasn’t…
Miller: And that’s it. That’s the end of it, right? Am I right that that distribution deal has been the big hope…
Etuk: The big hope.
Miller: And you’re saying that even if you make it big now and hit the jackpot of some kind of streaming deal, it might not even be that big?
Etuk: It may not be big. You may have very little upfront. There are films that have won Sundance and not gotten distribution. I was talking to a filmmaker who, like everyone at Sundance, loved the film and they got approached by big … you know, everywhere everyone wants to be: the HBO, the A24s. They’re like, “oh we got like $50,000 up front.” And it’s like, but this film has award-winning people in it. So it’s not a realistic way.
I think we’re chasing a model that has shifted and doesn’t exist anymore. The idea that there were gatekeepers with more content, the gates just go higher because they don’t have to pay for film. You have 100 films submitted, you can kind of pick and choose, and say, “let’s just partner.” But if they don’t put money up front, how much will they actually invest in the marketing? The big films like “Barbie,” it’s not the $100 million it cost to make it, it’s the $300 million it costs to market it, right? You have to break through the noise.
So this idea of being hyperlocal … this film is from Oregon, it’s about Oregon, let’s take it to the people in Oregon. And the film happens to have values that align with different nonprofit organizations. So like, for the Portland Panorama, we partner with p:ear. They serve houseless youth. Second screening we partnered with Bradley Angle, the first women’s shelter on the West Coast. So we give them a voice and a percentage of proceeds, and we tap into their networks to bring people into the sea. So it’s a new model. It’s kind of a win-win.
Miller: I can see how what you’re describing, in terms of those partnerships, makes so much sense in terms of almost like a nonprofit model or getting this film seen by people who are gonna really care about it. But am I right that you also do want people around the country to see this? I guess I’m wondering how you go from those kinds of partnerships to some version of wider distribution, of a kind you long for.
Alston-Rosales: Can I add to this, because again, I joined the board of Portland Panorama, which is the biggest international festival in Portland. And I saw his screening and it was a sellout screening. Now, you had films from that festival that were hyperlocal to Portland that are then going to other cities. So you’re gaining a lot of momentum around independent filmmaking that is very local to Portland but is very relatable in other places. So, I mean, you could take this, but when you pursue distribution, you have an audience outside of just Oregon.
Etuk: Yeah, so, full disclosure, we’ve won festivals all across the country. We’ve been to Martha’s Vineyard, we’ve been in Miami, we’ve been at Sidewalk Alabama, we’ve been in Green Festival, Houston … we’ve been very blessed to have a high percentage of awards when we’re into festivals. But the question is still, how do you translate that? The reason they don’t want to give you any money upfront is because they don’t want to do the work. That’s just the bottom line. They’re like, we’re not going to invest in your audience.
So now, the new model, you have to build an audience. As we go around Oregon, as I’ve gone around here in Hawaii, I collect email addresses – very old school. So now imagine every place we stop in Oregon, you can tell a few thousand people, “hey, now when it’s available on Apple TV, Amazon, go pre-buy this.” So now, if you have 1,000 people or less – this is how crazy it is – that pre-purchased the film, you could be top 10 on Amazon, Apple, all these places. The same people who looked at you and said, “we don’t have money for you,” now, they have something.
It’s kind of like thinking in tech, you have an idea, and then the further you get along developing the idea, it’s worth more. So film, we have to adopt that model. You have to develop it yourself. So now we go back and say, “here’s our crowd of people that have rated us on Amazon,” blah blah. They’re like, “oh, now you matter, and now we’ll talk to you and give you something potentially.”
Miller: Man, but it’s like the hustle never ends.
Etuk: Yeah. It’s not for everyone, and I think that’s hard for filmmakers now who want to be artists and have someone else do the work, as I did. But you realize that if you have to carry that now … And as you’re starting to make the film, [you] think about how do I get it out, because that’s how you add value to the business people. I think a lot of artists don’t understand how to speak business, so we’re still hoping someone will say, “I love your film. I want to invest.” And it’s like they may love it, but they need a bottom line, so you have to bring them a reason to share in that with you.
Miller: Kareem. How do you decide what kinds of films to support?
Alston-Rosales: It’s a great question. I mean, again, I’ve been in the philanthropy sector for 15 years. I stand on the shoulder of giants who worked at the Ford Foundation, Wellspring, New York Foundation. We really have a rubric around what is justice oriented. And you can look at “Sinners” or “Fruitvale Station” or “CODA” or “Anora.” There are ways that these things can plug into social issues that are not just a PSA, right? It’s entertainment rolled into some bigger message.
And then we look at who’s really partnering with folks. So Ime, again, when he came to the Portland Panorama Festival, we’re looking at how these spaces can build bridges for other filmmakers. So there’s another filmmaker that we’re working with that we invited here that is working with Ime, who’s creating an infrastructure for people locally to succeed. So we really want to invest in our investment to be more than the dollar amount. We want it to be creating resources, relationships and pathways so that Ime’s film hits in Oregon and then he has financial viability to go pursue a living in filmmaking.
Miller: When you say invest, do you mean that literally? I mean, is this the same model of a producer putting forward money so they can then get money back, or is this more like a no-strings-attached grant to help filmmakers move their films forward?
Alston-Rosales: Well, yeah, our main model is with Film Independent as a 501c3. So no strings attached, give Ime money to do his impact campaign. Now, we have a dual model, so if filmmakers do want to have more of a producer relationship, we have an LLC as well. And that’s something that, again, when we’re trying to build a movement within the ecosystem, we want people to be able to replicate these things. If we’re just one little piece, I could push you to Firelight, or I could push you to the Doris Duke Foundation, or I could push you to any of the production companies. But I can only do that as an individual entity that serves one person’s purpose, which is finishing funds for narrative film.
Miller: Ime, I’m curious, in the big picture, what do you think a fund like this means for you and other filmmakers in the Portland area or anywhere?
Etuk: One, access to funds is important because, as a film, there’s always things that you need to do and you need resources for. Traditionally, an independent film, [you] go out there and make your film, and then figure out how you edit it later. So you always need money for finishing, be it for festivals, be it for DCPs, all the things; but also, with Kareem’s organization, the relational currency that he brings.
Just before we stepped in the studio, there’s an organization I’ve been looking at. And I come to find out he said I was talking to him about what we’re doing in “Outdoor School” being the first film and I wanted to make an intro. I’m thinking, oh, I actually want to talk to them because of the work that they’re doing with other organizations. So all of a sudden, now he’s walking me into this place. I was going to be comfortable cold emailing them because I felt like we had alignment in our values. And now I’m getting a personal invitation walking, not just as a friend, but as someone who’s like, oh, we’re sponsoring this film.
So the relational currency that comes. And I think that you can’t put a price tag on that, because when you find people aligned in values in the work, it’s like the sky is the limit and it becomes a win-win. I think so often, in entertainment as well, things can be transactional, but it’s an opportunity. They’re looking to fund the right kind of projects. We need funding. So we both get what we need. It’s a win-win.
Miller: Kareem, why focus on narrative films? I mean, you could talk about justice-related documentaries, but you’re focused on narrative.
Alston-Rosales: Yeah, when we built the idea, one of my collaborators was doing an interview with some of the Sundance collab folks. They were like, we have narrative filmmakers who literally have a film on their hard drive and they just need $2,500, $50,000, $30,000 and we have no way for them to finish their films, so they’re literally just dying at the finish line. They’re like, “if you want to make the biggest impact, that’s where you start.” And we were like, “alright.” As as Ime said, I know philanthropists, I know people. I am very out there in the world going to festivals, like hobnobbing with folks with a genuine passion for helping folks like Ime.
So it’s a win-win because then I can go and say, “Here’s your proof of concept. Here’s your film, here’s your artist.” And it really makes me look like I know what I’m talking about, right? We only exist to serve filmmakers. And with filmmakers making good film, he had to make a bet, like maybe I don’t get this financed, maybe nobody ever sees this – and that’s devastating. So we want to make sure people see his film and filmmakers like him have an opportunity to make some money.
Miller: Ime, where can people see the movie right now? How can they see if they want to?
Etuk: Well, outdoorschoolthemovie.com is where you can follow along and learn about it. Our next screening – actually we just solidified the date and some of the paperwork that’s happening today – [will be] at the Reser in Beaverton on July 15. We’ll kick off the rest of our Oregon tour, so we’ll be promoting it there and tickets probably by the end of the month or June 1 will be available. But yeah, outdoorschoolthemovie.com is where you can follow along, and same as on Instagram as well.
Miller: Ime and Kareem, thanks very much.
Alston-Rosales: Thank you, Dave. This was fun.
Etuk: Thank you so much.
Miller: Ime Etuk is executive director of the production company Lion Speaks, the director of the Independent film “Outdoor School.” Kareem Alston-Rosales [is the] founder and executive director of the new Film 4 Good Fund.
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