How to Apply for Grants:

By and large there are two objectives when applying for grants to support your creative productions. These are: convincing the grant agency that your project is worthwhile; and convincing them that you match their target constituency for support. Obviously you have to identify grants which are relevant for your projects, and for which you have a chance.
Once you have identified your targets, READ all of their materials, including mission statements and grant forms, CAREFULLY. You need to identify their criteria for selection. Note Buzz words, jargon and, also, disqualifying properties. Make a list of what you need to submit; of the criteria for eligibility and the criteria for selection. Your goal is to present yourself as the perfect applicant based on THEIR criteria. You need to convince them that you qualify as their target constituency for support, and that your project is outstanding, or, at the very least, worthy.
Each agency will have its own laundry list of required materials for evaluation. Most lists will include the following items, so you can get these ready as you are gearing up in pre-production. A full budget, a synopsis or Treatment, a script (or at the very least, a detailed synopsis or step outline), list of principal participants (crew & cast), resumes of principal participants, examples of previous work of principal participants, statement regarding the value of the project, a production time line and an amount requested.
Panels have a tough job. The first cut is usually based on competence. Any project that can be disqualified as incompetent (on any grounds what so ever) will go into the trash. This includes incomplete applications, late applications and illegible or disorganized ones. Once the incompetent applications have been deleted, then it is harder to eliminate candidates. So often the next strategy is to look for the outstanding applications. While it is hard to say what talent is, everyone thinks that they can spot it. Probably each panelist will have their own personal criteria, so it may not be worth trying to second guess. Besides turning in a powerful application, you can also nudge your work toward the spotlight by making it distinctive. Something about it needs to stand out. Something about it needs to be memorable. If it is too weird, it may be disqualified, so be careful. Put some polish on your application so that it will shine. The easiest way to do this is to have a striking and powerful treatment. Since you're going to write one anyway, why not make it stellar?

o BUDGET
The Budget should be detailed without being hard to understand. You should have an expense and an income budget, and they should be equal to one another. You are not expecting to make money making the film, although, obviously every one hopes to make money when the film is distributed. This later objective probably does not apply to student work.
EXPENSE BUDGET:
The Expense Budget should list all of the expenses that you must incur to produce the film. Start with the Fast Budget Form to figure the unavoidable expenses like film stock and developing. If there are additional unavoidable expenses like props that you can't borrow or that will be destroyed while shooting the film, add these in. Full budgets include Shipping; Expendables; Salaries for crew and cast; Catering/ meals (Craft Services); Equipment rental; Transportation; Office costs (copying, telephone, office space); Wardrobe; Properties; Special Effects, Publicity costs and many more items. Be realistic, and don't nickel and dime-- round your numbers off and don't include minor or inexpensive things. Also, don't box yourself into a budget that is just too small for your production: if you claim you can make a feature for ten thousand dollars, no one is going to believe you, or fund you.
INCOME BUDGET:
The Income Budget is an itemized list of all the income you have secured (like the x number of dollars you each are putting into your project) and also projected revenues or in-kind donations. Projected Revenues would include the amount of your grant request(s). In-kind income is the VALUE of donated equipment, materials and services. If, for example, you are given four-hundred feet of film by a film stock manufacturer, you can include its list price value as "income." The total income on this budget should be the same as the total cost of the production on the Expense Budget. In other words, you are demonstrating that you can actually afford to make the film, and you won't have outstanding debts (at least in theory) when it is completed.
Note Production Time Line below! Submit a budget for the correct phase of production.

o SYNOPSIS OR TREATMENT
The synopsis or treatment should be brief. It must start with a good hook and then read like a page turner. Do not give the reader an opportunity to stop reading-- once they get to the end of the first line they just have to finish the treatment to find out what happens. Treatments for features are usually under two pages in length; short films should require considerably less verbiage. Treatments usually do not include camera directions (angles, cutting, kinds of shots, dollies etc.), dialogue or directorial ideas. They tell the story. A synopsis is sometimes longer and includes more detail. Entice, don't exhaust. The reader wants a very quick general sense of what it's all about.

o SCRIPT (OR AT THE VERY LEAST, A DETAILED SYNOPSIS OR STEP OUTLINE)
The script should be in standard screenplay format, single sided and easy to read. If a (finished) script is not available, then submit a detailed synopsis or step outline.
A detailed synopsis should give the full story in as concise a form as possible, but it should also give the reader a full sense of the drama, the characters, and the conflict. It should be in the order and shape of the final product, but in prose rather than in dialogue. You can include thumb nail sketches of the principal characters.
A step outline is a scene by scene outline with (little or) no dialogue that is the intermediate form between the treatment (or synopsis) and the script. If your treatment is well written, you can easily expand/ elaborate it into a synopsis. If your synopsis is well written, virtually each sentence will become a scene, and a list of the scenes is the basis of your step outline, and ultimately of your script. Expand each sentence into a synopsis of the scene it will become, keeping it in prose, not dialogue. The step outline once completed is the basis of the screenplay. Simply translate the prose into dialogue and description, and viola-- there you have it.

o LIST OF PRINCIPAL PARTICIPANTS (CREW & CAST)
A list of the primary jobs and positions and who is filling them.

o RESUMES OF PRINCIPAL PARTICIPANTS
The Resumes of the principals should highlight relevant experience. Hobbies and past times are not what these are about. The resumes should inspire confidence in the grant panelists.

o EXAMPLES OF PREVIOUS WORK OF PRINCIPAL PARTICIPANTS
Put together a reel (on video if possible) of the best work of each principal. Sometimes representative snippets are best. Panels do not usually have time to screen piles of material. Put the most important and impressive excerpts first on the reel. The panelists may not make it past the first minute or two of support materials. You can always put full works after the excerpts. Label the tape with names, and the order of contents. Also supply a printed list of what is on the reel and who did it.

o STATEMENT REGARDING THE VALUE OF THE PROJECT
Usually you need to justify your project, as the panel may not want to guess its importance. The panel is probably interested in why you think this is a worthwhile project and deserves funding. Don't be conceited or puff up the material. Be specific and honest about why it is a good project. This is also an excellent place to explain how the new project relates to the examples of previous work. The panel may be thankful for your self-assessment vis-a-vis the submitted samples, and you can certainly tell them what you are proud of (and not) in the samples. Remember to check on what the grant givers want: couch your goals for the project in terms that make the grant apply to what you are doing.

o PRODUCTION TIME LINE
Briefly map out the production schedule so that the panel knows when you will start and finish. Be specific about pre-production, production and post, or which ever phase of production applies to your grant request. Make sure that you are applying for the proper category.

o AMOUNT REQUESTED
Do you apply for the full amount available from the agency or a lesser amount. This is hard to answer. Be realistic. Based on your budget, what would inspire the most confidence in a panel? Remember that many panels will have to decide between funding a few projects with large amounts, or spreading the wealth amongst many applicants. Often agencies do not want to be the sole funder of a project. There is that-- 'so and so is already funding it, so it must have merit' mentality: panels may be more willing to fund something that already has committed support (from yourselves, or from other funders). This is where your income budget becomes important.

o THE LIST
Review the list of what you need to submit; of the criteria for eligibility and the criteria for selection. Verify that your application is complete.