Study Hall x Prototipe Media Announce A $10,000 Micro-Grant Program

Exciting news! We have partnered with Prototipe Media, a Hollywood-based production company, that will be offering micro-grants to 10 Study-Hallers. Each micro-grant is $1,000 and will be awarded by the Prototipe executive team who will be evaluating your story based on its adaptability to the big or small screen. If you believe you have a story that has the potential to be turned into a feature film, documentary, or a TV show, we encourage you to submit your idea for the Prototipe x Study Hall micro-grant program. 

If you are chosen as one of the 10 micro-grant winners, you will: 

• receive $1,000 to continue to fund your research on the project, share your notes, research, and characters with Prototipe.
• have the option to participate throughout the entire process as Prototipe develops and sells your project for adaptation to the big screen (but you are NOT required to if you’re not interested in doing so!) In other words, you become partners with Prototipe. 
• get an on-screen credit if your idea makes it to the big screen.
• continue to participate in the financial upside if the idea comes to life.

This micro-grant is only available to Study Hall subscribers. In order to expand access, we have created a free trial so anyone can join Study Hall. Here’s our no-commitment 30 day free trial code: PROTO30. You’ll also find more info about Prototipe and the overall process on their site. Once you’re a Study Hall subscriber and an approved Prototipe member, you can submit your grant pitch on Prototipe’s portal. Your submission can be as short or long as you want. It can be pulled from your archives or a story you’re currently working on—there’s no hard and fast rule.

Prototipe is a collaboration between Marc Gordon, a producer who is behind films like We Bought A Zoo and The Friendship Game, and Jess Blank, a video producer and investigative journalist who has worked with Condé Nast and HuffPost.

I spoke to Gordon and Blank about how media workers can break into the entertainment industry and how to apply to the Study Hall x Prototipe microgrant. 

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

What is the value of journalists learning how to navigate the entertainment industry and IP? 

Jess Blank: I was in this industry in New York City for over a decade.I didn’t know how to navigate something [as] simple as developing an idea for a documentary. The processes and the people and the institutions that you need to know in order to get that to happen can feel insurmountable as someone who has no insider access to that world. I was at an extremely well established company and it was [still] a battle to get into these rooms with these media executives. 

Journalists are undervalued in what they can bring to the table in the doc [world]. They’re often cast aside, like “oh great, you wrote a great piece with all of the sources that we need and now we’ll just take those sources and  go make the doc.” What’s missing…  [is] the relationships and the trust that a journalist builds with the people in their stories. I would love nothing more than to flip that dynamic and bring the journalists back into the process, because they’re the real keepers of the stories. By keeping [journalists] in the story, docs can be that much more powerful, [that much] stronger and empathetic, and they’re [less likely to be] told with sensationalism.

How can journalists determine that their ideas have the potential to be developed into a docuseries, scripted series, or reality TV show? 

Marc Gordon: It can start with easy homework. Go on Netflix, Hulu, Peacock, and see what’s selling. Get a sense of the marketplace. But they don’t need to be ready on day one. That’s what we’re here for. Journalists understand story structure. That’s what makes you a journalist, you understand what resonates.What we’re asking for you now is to take a leap, put your producer hat on and say, “I would watch this if this was a show or a documentary.” 

Blank: There are so many journalists sitting on brilliant stories that deserve to be reported out but they don’t have the bandwidth. [We want to] reach those journalists and provide them these grants to give them the space to research and develop their ideas.

There’s been a lot of upheaval in both media and entertainment. In 2023, we saw the WGA strike and 2024 has started with a wave of media layoffs. Do you have any advice for people navigating these industries at the moment?

Blank: Trust your gut, and trust the people that you choose to work with if you’re looking to get your work adapted. It’s a cutthroat industry and there’s a lot of people [who] will take advantage of journalists. It’s important to really connect with the people you’re entrusting [with] your story.

I’m proud of being a part of a company that advocates for journalists. We advocate to get journalists compensation and onscreen credit when they break stories, [as well as just to] get their stories adapted. We’re putting the power back in the hands of the journalists.

Any suggestions for the Study Hall microgrant applications? 

Gordon: You want something that people can bite into because they understand it. But you also want something that makes [people] uncomfortable. Don’t self-censor. Look at the resources around you to think about what can translate to a visual medium and trust your knowledge of storytelling.

Blank: It can be anything — it doesn’t have to be a fully fleshed out pitch. Is there something that you haven’t had time to work on and want to give to another set of eyes?