How does an independent film begin?

The first concrete piece of an independent film is usually a written script, and the second is a producer willing to make it. Money comes later, but to knock on its door you need a file in hand. The director and the producer are often not the same person. Thinking of these two roles separately shapes the first months of the film.

What does the producer prepare?

According to sources on film financing, the person who builds the financing package is the producer. What investors and funds expect is also common ground: a realistic budget, a shooting schedule, a view of which audience the film will reach, and a distribution plan. The script is the first page of this file, but not the only one.

In a presale, the buyer usually pays 20 percent of the price up front and the rest when the film is delivered. The producer can also use these contracts as collateral for a bank loan. The same source names the individual investor as one of the hardest sources to find.

Around the world, the money for independent films comes through a few doors. Presales (selling the screening rights in certain territories without waiting for the film to be finished), tax incentives tied to local production spending, public funds, individual investors and crowdfunding are the main ones. Tax incentives are mostly paid after shooting ends and require the spending to be made in that territory. So every country's door is not the same.

Public support in Türkiye: the Ministry of Culture and Tourism

The best-known public source for an independent film in Türkiye is the support provided by the Directorate General of Cinema of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. Its basis is the Sinema Sektörünün Desteklenmesi Hakkında Yönetmelik (the regulation on supporting the cinema sector). An amendment published in Resmî Gazete (the Official Gazette) no. 33284 dated 18 June 2026 divided the supports into three stages.

• Pre-production: screenplay and dialogue writing support, and project development support for feature films whose shooting has not yet begun.
• Production: support for animation, documentary, short film, first feature fiction film, feature film, co-production and foreign film.
• Post-production: post-shooting support, distribution and promotion, and screening support for series and domestic films.

The application rules matter too. According to the same amendment, the Directorate General reviews the documents and notifies the applicant of anything missing. Projects not completed by the deadline announced by the Ministry are not taken up by the board. A project whose support amount has been refunded or made subject to legal proceedings cannot apply again.

If the rules on paper are not enough, look at the numbers. According to the Directorate General of Cinema's announcement of 14 April 2026, in 2026 the documentary board gave a total of 12 million 590 thousand lira to 30 projects, and the feature film board gave a total of 232 million 500 thousand lira to 27 projects. Dividing the total by the number of projects gives an average of 8.6 million lira for feature films. This is an average the news report did not give, found by division; the real distribution differs from project to project. Because production costs and application conditions can change every period, you should check the current call text on the Directorate General of Cinema's website.

Doors abroad: co-production and festival platforms

If the budget cannot be raised in one country, co-production comes into play. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Türkiye joined Eurimages, the Council of Europe's cinema fund, in February 1990, and private production companies in Türkiye can apply directly together with their foreign partners. The application conditions should be read from the fund's current call text. In a co-production with another country, the share ratio between the parties is also bound by a rule: in the 15 October 2019 text of the Film Çekimi ve Ortak Yapımlar Hakkında Yönetmelik (the regulation on film shooting and co-productions), each party in a bilateral co-production is required to hold at least 10 percent, and each party in a multilateral co-production between 5 and 80 percent.

Meetings on the Bridge, run by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts within the Istanbul Film Festival, is another door. It is described as Türkiye's first co-production market. Its Work in Progress platform brings together feature fiction and documentary films that have completed at least 70 percent of their shooting or reached the editing stage with international industry professionals. So this platform helps not at the start of film production but in the middle or at the end.

There is also an earlier step for beginners. The same market has run a film development workshop since 2008, and since 2011 a German-Turkish co-production development fund has been operating. It is best to check the current program on the İKSV page.

In short, the order is this: first a written story, then a producer to carry it, then a budget and a schedule. Funds and co-production doors open once this file is ready; none of them takes the place of the file.

Sources

• Hukuki Haber: Sinema Sektörünün Desteklenmesi Hakkında Yönetmelikte Değişiklik (Resmî Gazete 33284) (18 June 2026)
• Alomaliye: Sinema Destek Yönetmeliği Değişti (18 June 2026)
• DHA: Bakanlıktan 30 belgesel ve 27 uzun metraj filme 232,5 milyon lira destek (14 April 2026)
• Dışişleri Bakanlığı: Avrupa Konseyi, kültürel konular (Eurimages) (accessed 6 November 2026)
• Resmî Gazete: Film Çekimi ve Ortak Yapımlar Hakkında Yönetmelik (30919) (15 October 2019)
• Wikipedia: Film finance (accessed 6 November 2026)
• Wikipedia: Meetings on the Bridge (accessed 6 November 2026)