Oscar winner Cate Blanchett and her Dirty Films production company partner Coco Francini have teamed up with USC professor Stacy L. Smith and the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative to launch an accelerator program for filmmakers telling stories centered on the perspectives of women, and trans and nonbinary people.
Announced Thursday, the Proof of Concept Accelerator Program will provide funding and mentorship to select filmmakers to create short films as proofs of concept for features or TV series. With support from the Netflix Fund for Creative Equity, each member of the program’s inaugural class will receive $50,000 as well as one-on-one guidance from leaders within the industry.
“Providing tangible financial and career support for filmmakers who often get overlooked will not only give them a fantastic launchpad to success, it will also expand the future of film and television,” Blanchett said in a release about “establishing this pipeline to discover and nourish the creativity and success of new voices with compelling stories.”
Added Francini: “Proof of Concept was designed to solve a very simple problem: audiences want to see large-scale work from filmmakers with daring and diverse perspectives, but there is not yet enough support to nurture these voices at earlier stages of their career.”
The new program is a response to the latest report from Smith and the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative that found that Hollywood has failed to make any meaningful progress in becoming more inclusive despite years of advocacy. Released during the summer box office reign of “Barbie,” the August report revealed that women made up just 6% of the directors of the 1,600 top-grossing movies from 2007 to 2022 , with female, trans and nonbinary characters making up less than one-third of all speaking roles in these films.
“I have long wanted to see the numbers move, and this accelerator will help us to find and support the next Greta Gerwig, Ava DuVernay, Chloe Zhao, Melina Matsoukas or Lulu Wang,” Smith said in a statement. “Led by the creative excellence of the team behind Dirty Films, I have no doubt that the Proof of Concept Accelerator is a key solution in the push toward greater inclusion in film.”
The program will culminate in a showcase that spotlights each of the filmmaker’s projects. Applications open in January, and up to eight filmmakers will be selected for the program’s inaugural class. Additional program, application and eligibility details are available at the Proof of Concept Accelerator website.