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When I suggested to then Caucus Chair Jerry Isenberg that the Caucus create a Foundation, Jerry, was a professor at the USC Film School at the time and decided to conceive it as a program for student film grants.
Jerry realized the difficulty many students have in completing their thesis films -- oft times they've maxed out their credit cards and still don't have enough money for postproduction or finishing. He proposed that the grants be aimed at helping students complete their films. Therefore the Caucus Foundation student grant program does not provide funds to commit films to production.
From the Foundation's inception in 2001 to the end of 2010, we have given ninety-eight deserving students grants plus awards of close to $1,000,000. We have an astonishing number of excellent filmmakers who have received benefits from our program.
Another goal of the program is to counteract the lack of diversity in content and creative people in the entertainment industry. Accordingly a significant number of our recipients are from diverse backgrounds and 56% are women.
In addition to providing financial resources the Foundation designed a Mentoring Program wherein our Caucus members, who are all producers, writers and directors, work with the students on their films and on their hopes and dreams of becoming members of the entertainment industry.
The Foundation is funded by Named Funds provided by individuals and organizations. Microsoft/UltimateTV has granted $50,000, to be paid out in grants of $5,000 per year over ten years; the Caucus itself has granted $37,500, to be paid out at the rate of $3,750 per year over ten years; Hollywood Charities Foundation -- $25,000, to be paid out at the rate of $5,000 over five years; The Carole & Robert Daly Foundation has granted $30,000, to be paid out at the rate of $5,000 per year; and The Hollywood Foreign Press Association granted us $10,00 for the year 2006. The Caucus is always anxious to have additional grants created on behalf of the students.
John Berzner of American Video Group suggested the Gold Circle Awards honoring his mentor Fred Goldey to honor Outstanding Student Films. American Video Group also performs in-kind post services on Caucus Foundation projects. Two awards are presented yearly; one by Mike Dallatorre of Panavision (a $60,000 camera package) and the other by Jim Hardy of HTV/illuminate (a $20,000 post production package) plus cash awards.
Another method of funding is the annual Caucus Awards Dinner at which outstanding creative executives producers, writers and directors are honored. Over the past years we've honored Ted Harbert, Ted Turner, Aaron Spelling, Lionel Chetwynd, Tom Fontana, Marshall Herskovitz, Anne Sweeney and Vin Di Bona among others.
At the December 2010 Awards Dinner which I chaired with Foundation Secretary Lee Miller, we presented our seventh annual Gold Circle Award for Outstanding Student Films. The winner was chosen from the Fall 2009 and Spring 2010 grant recipients who completed their films. A jury of Foundation board members narrowed the nominees. And, the two winning films will be streamed on The Caucus Foundation website. (Winning films are announced on the home page.)
In 2007 we initiated Awards for Educating New Filmmakers that have since been conferred on Jean Firstenberg, Executive Director of the Conservatory of the American Film Institute, Elizabeth Daly, Dean of the USC School of Cinema, Robert Rosen, Dean of UCLA Theatre, Film and Television, Robert Mandell, Dean of the Conservatory of the American Film Institute, Dean Robert Bassett of the Dodge College of Film and Media Arts at Chapman University. Awards for Mentoring New Filmmakers have been conferred on John Langley, Executive Producer of COPS and Jon Avnet, Producer, Writer, Director.
The Caucus Foundation has, in 2008, established an Alumni Network, bringing together all past Caucus grant recipients, and initiated its first Internship Program, providing four internships to worthy students each Summer.
I'm personally delighted to have had the opportunity to lead the Foundation over the past years. And all of us at the Caucus Foundation are proud of our Foundation work and hope to be able to expand the scope of the grants over the coming years.
Chuck Fries combined service to the Caucus as Chairman, Co-Chairman, and Secretary exceeds three decades. Currently, he is President of the Caucus Foundation, Executive Secretary of
The Caucus., The ATAS Foundation and Paulist Productions. Under the Chuck Fries Productions
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Message from President
