The Iowa Arts Council has a pilot program that will offer matching grants of $10,000 to $50,000 to Iowans making films locally.

Veronica O’Hern, the council’s grant services and artist programs manager, said grant recipients will have to match the grants dollar for dollar. The program has up to $100,000 to distribute for projects that would be completed between July 1, 2019, and June 30, 2020.

The grants will pay for production and postproduction work on films, O’Hern said. All the grant money, and the matching funds, must be spent in Iowa.

The program is using leftover grant money at the council, O’Hern said. “This year, we had savings, and we thought about the best use of the funds. There is a need in our field for funding for filmmakers. Their content doesn’t always fit neatly into arts grants. They aren’t always yearlong projects. We wanted to address concerns from our constituents.”

Liz Gilman, executive producer at sister department Produce Iowa, said, “A lot of creatives were needing assistance. People want to do historical documentaries,” for example.

“We’re going to be flooded with projects,” she predicted. “Netflix and Hulu and others are all looking for content. People are racing to get content done. Iowa is known for storytelling.

“There are so many stories to be told,” Gilman said. “The goal is quality content.”

Gilman suggested that some filmmakers might want to seek a smaller grant — because of the required dollar-for-dollar match — to do a proof of concept on their project.

You can apply for the grants here.