Jay Sherer on Nonprofit Film Funding
- Apr 14
- 5 min read
Updated: Apr 15
Film Title: The Hostage
Budget: Estimated ~ $50,000
Status: Pre-production; scheduled to shoot July 23-26, 2026
Logline: THE BASTARD and THE OLD MAN kidnap THE KID, holding him hostage until he swears to sabotage a secret government initiative called The Doorway Project. But as police sirens bear down on their hotel, The Old Man's desperation forces him to take matters into his own hands…
Writer/director/producer Jay Sherer is taking a new approach to funding projects, through a nonprofit model that offers some interesting flexibility. Check out how his organization, The Reclaimation Society, is making waves in the Colorado film scene (and creating some excellent work).
How did you fund this project?
[Jay Sherer] In 2016, we started The Reclamation Society, a nonprofit production company focused on telling stories that explore truths about the shared human experience. It's a very small nonprofit, but we've managed to scrape together the funds to shoot three short films: RIVALS, NO VACANCY (our award-winning film and my first time directing), and DISCLOSURE. We also produced a full-cast audiobook (DEATH OF A BOUNTY HUNTER). For THE HOSTAGE, we're at about 60-65% of where we need to be in order to start shooting. In the past, we've augmented our yearly budget with corporate sponsorships, so we're looking at that and searching for executive producers. THE HOSTAGE is a proof of concept for a feature, so we'd love to develop some new relationships with executive producers so we can make a feature-length film.
Did you have funding in place before writing, or get funding together after you wrote the script?
[JS] Our current funders (all donors) are very consistent, which has been amazing. My writing partner, Nathan Scheck, and I are consistently writing new projects. Many of them never see the light of day, but the ones that really stand out are the ones that we bring to The Reclamation Society to produce. But, as you know, every project has very different needs. RIVALS was shot in a day for $7,500. NO VACANCY cost $50K! DISCLOSURE came in right at $15K. THE HOSTAGE will be a lot closer to NO VACANCY's budget. And both NO VACANCY and THE HOSTAGE are proof of concept projects, so we spend more money on those to really showcase what we can do to give stakeholders confidence we can make a killer feature. But, I'm still hoping to bring more dollars in for THE HOSTAGE. It's going to be a super cool, Colorado-based project and we want to make sure we've got the budget to make it great.
What are some of the pros about funding a film this way? The cons?
[JS] I think having the nonprofit makes things so much easier for short films. When it comes to features, we'll organize the funding differently for investors. But the nonprofit is great for funding shorts. The hardest thing about funding films is how savvy you have to be on the business side. I have a background in business and startups, which helps, but the con is that it can be a big distraction from the creative side of the project. That's why I love bringing on strong producers like Maya Jairam. And we're always looking to partner with other producers to help us drive projects forward. I've been a producer on every project I've ever done, and having good producers to help is awesome.
What is your long-term vision for the project?
[JS] The long-term vision is getting a feature made, and I really like the feature script. We add a really important character and it makes the story really strong. Part of what I love about shorts is the chance to do something that's more "arthouse" or even something that feels tragic. But when it comes to features we add elements that make the story more commercially viable. And I'm really happy with how that's coming together for THE HOSTAGE, both the short and the feature.
Did you learn anything when it comes to nonprofit film funding and budgeting that you will do differently on your next project?
[JS] In the conversations I'm having with other filmmakers, I think the future for short projects will be more and more focused around corporate sponsorships. I hope that there will be more opportunities for short films to sell to streaming services. I loved seeing The Singers on Netflix. I would love to sell shorts to streaming services, but until then... I think we'll be looking for more donors who believe in our stories and looking for corporate sponsors to help us get over the line.
Were there any areas where you were able to call in favors/save money? What were those areas?
[JS] We're always looking for ways to save money... which is why we rarely pay ourselves. But, coming from the Southern California film marketplace originally (before moving to Colorado), I've always wanted to pay my friends for their creative work. We work really hard to ensure that happens. Now, having said that, we do need to be able to work with everyone on the team to see if there are ways to cut budget or do things at a discounted rate. And we've had a really great experience with making that work.
Did you get any budget or expense surprises that you weren’t expecting?
[JS] Both my parents were accountants, so I'm very focused on not going over budget and making sure I understand the numbers. But surprises ALWAYS crop up. When we were shooting NO VACANCY we got a call from our car guy (who was getting us free cars) and he told me: "Yeah, the car that's supposed to be on set today... it won't move." Which meant we had to scramble to rent a classic car to replace the one we were planning on. And that cost extra money. Obviously, those things are super stressful, but it's all part of the process so I try to roll with it and ensure it all fits in the overall budget.
Any fun anecdotes you'd like to share?
[JS] Only that I'm super appreciative about people who support the arts. I won't lie, funding projects is the hardest thing (in my opinion) about making films. Especially shorts. And the people who are willing to donate to places like The Reclamation Society (our nonprofit) or organizations like the Flatiron Film Project are heroes. Literally. They don't only make dreams come true (which they certainly do), but they also contribute to culture and society. Stories allow us to see the shared human experience and celebrate it or reflect on it. I cannot be more grateful to folks who support filmmakers.
What do you think people will be interested in knowing that I haven't asked?
[JS] Well, if folks want to see any of our films, I would encourage them to head over to my YouTube channel: How Stories Work with Jay Sherer. RIVALS and DISCLOSURE are both on there right now, and our award-winning short film, NO VACANCY just got done with its festival run, so it'll be up on that channel on April 22, 2026. That film won 12 different awards and made it into 23 festivals/awards shows. It was also rated the best short film of the year from Top Shorts, which was a huge honor. I'd love for readers to check it out next month!
Thanks for sharing, Jay! Can't wait to see the project!
About Jay Sherer
Jay Sherer is the award-winning director of NO VACANCY. His other projects include the fan favorite, RIVALS, the weird western DEATH OF A BOUNTY HUNTER (which he hopes to make into a feature-length anime film), the UFO/alien exploration film, DISCLOSURE, and the upcoming short THE HOSTAGE. Jay is currently pitching feature films while he preps a shot list for THE HOSTAGE. He loves living in Northern Colorado and can't wait to shoot more films here.
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