Nationwide Call for Filmmaker to Win Paid Opportunity to Portray Lower Manhattan

The Alliance for Downtown New York is launching a national competition for a Filmmaker in Chief to highlight the neighborhood as an iconic filming destination. The winner will receive a $50,000 grant, free housing at luxury apartment style residence Mint House, located at 70 Pine St., and two months’ stipend to edit and shoot a film in Lower Manhattan.

Submissions for Filmmaker in Chief can be made at filmdowntown.nyc from January 16 to February 16, 2024. Applicants must enter a one minute YouTube video describing why they should be selected, along with a three-to-five page film treatment outlining the concept for a short film between eight and 40 minutes. Also to be included: links to past completed works.

The only requirement is for film treatments to feature Lower Manhattan in a starring role, with the film taking place within the neighborhood’s boundaries. For this contest, Lower Manhattan is defined by Chambers Street in the north, to the Battery in the south; from the Hudson River in the west, to the East River in the east. How the neighborhood is featured is open to creative interpretation: it can be used as a backdrop for a dramatic short, the subject of a documentary, the setting of an animated feature, or simply a (visible) source of inspiration.

After submissions are closed, a jury of Lower Manhattan cultural leaders will choose the winner from a group of five finalists. The jury includes Pete Torres (COO of the Tribeca Festival), Khady Kamara (Executive Director of the Perelman Performing Arts Center), Kwame Amoaku (Deputy Commissioner of the Film Office at the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment), Wynn Thomas (Production Designer of many films including “Hidden Figures,” “A Beautiful Mind” and “Do the Right Thing”), and Jessica Lappin (President of the Downtown Alliance). Winners will be notified around March 5, 2024, and then announced to the general public.

“We are confident that the Filmmaker in Chief will capture the outsize kinetic energy found downtown. And the Downtown Alliance intends to use that creation to promote this extraordinary and iconic neighborhood,” said Downtown Alliance President Jessica Lappin.

In addition to the $50,000 grant, the Filmmaker in Chief will receive a two-month stipend and two months of complimentary housing. The winner will spend two consecutive months between July and September 2024 living and working downtown. In this time, the winner will have time for pre-production, filming on location and access to an editing suite.

Lower Manhattan has served as the setting for many memorable scenes in movies and TV shows throughout history. Recently, the neighborhood has played a starring role in the hit shows “Succession” and “Billions,” and has been prominently featured in well-known Hollywood blockbusters including Ivan Reitman’s “Ghostbusters,” Martin Scorsese’s “The Wolf of Wall Street” and Spike Lee’s “Inside Man,” just to name a few. The Filmmaker in Chief will have the unique opportunity to direct the next great portrayal of the famous neighborhood.

For full contest information, visit: filmdowntown.nyc