Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

Please note: Failure to follow all instructions could result in your application not being considered.
Grants for this application period are for internships that will occur from May 1, 2012, through April 30, 2013.  Funding will be distributed in March/April 2012.  All applicants will be notified as to the status of their proposals around this time as well.

Application materials can only be submitted via the Academy’s website.  Mailed submissions will not be accepted.

Applications must be received by Friday, November 18, 2011.  Under no circumstances will extensions be granted.

Application Requirements

In addition to the application form which must be filled-in on the Academy’s website, a completed application packet will include the following:

1. Proposal – No longer than two pages.

   Request statement – A single sentence stating the grant amount requested for your internship program as well as the number of students that will benefit.  (This statement should also appear on the application form.)

   Proposal description – One or more paragraphs that outline, in detail, the internship program for which the grant is requested.

   Some details that should be included:

   • What is the history of your internship program?  How long has it been around?
   • On average, how many students participate in motion picture production-focused internships each year?
   • Is there a selection process for students seeking internships?  If so, what is it?
   • How does your program find internships for students?  Do you keep an active list of internship opportunities for students to consider?  Are alumni involved in this process?
   • Please discuss any efforts made to put students into “below-the-line” craft internships (i.e., cinematography, editing, art direction, costume design, visual effects, sound, music, etc.).
   • Explain your rationale for your request amount.  If you have asked for $10,000 for 2 interns or $10,000 for 10 interns, please tell us why you think that amount per intern is appropriate. 
   • Please provide a sample list of companies and film projects for which your students have interned over the last few years.
   • Do you follow up with students after they’ve completed their internships?  After they’ve graduated?
   • Cite success stories you may have of students who have turned their internship experience into a motion picture industry job or career.
   • Please provide us with any other pertinent details about your internship program that you feel should be known.

2. Institutional Information – No longer than two pages.

   Mission statement – One or more paragraphs describing how your internship program serves or expands the goals of your institution and film program.

   Description of the organization – One or more paragraphs describing your institution and film program.

   Staff profiles – Brief profiles of all the primary staff (including professors) that run or oversee your internship program.

3. Acknowledgment – No longer than a page; a paragraph or list at the end of the proposal would suffice.

   A brief description of the manner in which an Academy Internship Grant will be acknowledged by the organization.  (See Acknowledgment Guidelines.)

4. Budget – No longer than a page.

   A simple breakdown of anticipated costs for your internship program.  Also include a breakdown of costs for a typical student participating in a motion picture industry-focused internship.  You may include multiple breakdowns if you have students who travel for internships as well as students who stay local.

5. Proof of your institution’s nonprofit status

   Only new applicants are required to provide proof of nonprofit status .  However, the Academy reserves the right to request proof from any institution or organization that has applied before.

   All of these documents will have to be uploaded on the Academy’s website once the application form has been completed. Please submit all documents as PDFs.

1. Academy Internship Grants are available only to accredited academic institutions and non profit organizations that intend to place students, either undergraduate or graduate, in internships that take place in professional environments outside of the school or organization.
2. Internships funded by Academy grants shall comply with all applicable state and federal laws. Any unpaid internship must be exempt from minimum wage and overtime requirements.
3. The grant monies are to be used directly by the interns, as stipends and/or as funding for travel, temporary housing and per diem expenses during the internship period.
4. The grant monies cannot be used for the administration of the institution’s internship program or other indirect costs.
5. At the receiving institution’s discretion, Academy grant monies can be used for one or more internships in a given year. However, it is preferable that the grant monies be used for as many internships as are practically possible.
6. Academy grant monies may be combined with existing internship funding to support a greater number of interns during a given year.
7. Academy internships should focus on some aspect of theatrical motion picture production. Internships for television- or Internet-focused endeavors are not eligible for Academy support.
8. Academy internships should be available to students in all motion picture production-related disciplines and are not to be limited to a single discipline. Interns could be placed on a production to observe an editor, costume designer, director or other professional. Interns could also be placed in an office, reading scripts for an agent or a development executive, or observing a publicist or marketing executive.  Whatever the placement, the institution’s internship program must deem it to be of academic and/or professional benefit to the student.
9. Academy grants will be distributed by March/April of each year. Internships should be concluded by the end of April the following year. Grant monies not expended during that time period must be returned to the Academy.
10. The Academy’s Institutional Grants Committee, which oversees the Internship Grants Program, should be notified as each intern is selected and placed. Upon completion of the internship, both the institution and the intern should send to the committee a final report evaluating the experience. If the professional filmmaking “mentor” files a report with the institution’s internship program, a copy of that report should be sent to the committee as well. (See Final Report Guidelines.)
11. The Institutional Grants Committee shares prevailing concerns in the education community that it is important for programs to recognize the difficulties facing minorities and women attempting to enter the film industry.
12. All Academy grants are awarded with the understanding that the Academy has discretion over the type and degree of recognition it receives from the recipient of such grants or others.
13. If interns are placed on a feature film and serve in a capacity for which screen credit is given, that credit should read “Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Intern.”
14. The Academy reserves the right to amend the above policy guidelines to accommodate extenuating circumstances or other unusual situations.

Acknowledgment Guidelines

If there is an appropriate venue for an acknowledgment of the Academy grant supporting your internship program, the Academy requires the acknowledgment be made.

Additionally, as the Academy places specific restrictions on the use and representation of its name, logo and marks, the Academy must approve in advance any mention or representation of its name, logo and marks, or the Academy grant itself.

As appropriate, please provide the following:

• prominent acknowledgment on material printed for your internship program
• mention in press releases regarding your internship program
• mention on your institution’s web site, with a link to the Academy’s web site

In lieu of or in addition to the placement of an Academy logo, the following acknowledgment line may be used:

Special support provided by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Final and Interim Report Guidelines

A final report is required from all institutions that receive an Academy Internship Grant .  If all internships are not completed by January 1 of the grant year, an additional interim report is required in mid-January.  Final reports are due after the program has been completed; interim reports for the 2011–12 grant year are due on Monday, January 16, 2012. 

For final reports, please use the following guidelines.  (For interim reports, cover only as much as is relevant to that point, then discuss what is known about the remainder of the internship.)

1. How much funding was received, and how many students were helped?
2. Give a brief overview of your internship program and describe the process and specific criteria that were used to select the internship recipients. 
3. List the internship recipients, how much funding they received, and where they completed their internship.
4. For each student, provide a description of his or her internship and the specific duties the student was expected to perform (as it was presented to you in advance of the student’s selection).
5. Please give us your assessment of whether the internships funded by the Academy Internship Grant were successful.
6. What future changes, if any, do you foresee in how your internship program is run ?
7. List the acknowledg ments the Academy received for supporting your internship program through an Academy Internship Grant.

Regarding Student Reports:

All students who are beneficiaries of an Academy Internship Grant must provide a written report on their internship experience.  Thank you letters, while appreciated, do not count towards meeting this requirement.  If students are already required to submit to your institution a report on their internship experience , that same report can be used for the grant report.  Reports should be of reasonable length and include details about the internship itself, the student’s duties during the internship, and whether the student found the internship to be beneficial.  Day-by-day reports, while not required, are encouraged.

When available, any reports from the company at which the student interned should also be submitted with the grant report.