DGA members gathered in the Guild's New York boardroom for an informative discussion about creative ways to find financing for your film. The How to Find Film Financing seminar was part of the Eastern Directors Council's (EDC) Focus on Women Series and featured a panel discussion detailing the various ways and methodologies available for filmmakers to fund their projects.

The extremely knowledgeable panel included Reva Goldberg, the Communications & Fellowships Manager at Cinereach, a nonprofit organization that provides grants, awards, and a fellowship to films from underrepresented perspectives; Elisabeth Holm from Kickstarter, an online threshold pledge system for funding creative projects through crowdfunding; Producer David Kaplan from Cinetic, a leading provider of strategic advisory services to the entertainment and media industries; Independent Producer Jared Goldman (Generation Um, Summer at Dog Dave's); and Entertainment Attorney Victoria Cook who represents many women independent filmmakers. Director Rose Troche (Law & Order, The L Word) served as moderator of the discussion.

Following a welcome from EDC member Linda Laundra, the panel explored questions like: at what point should an entertainment attorney step in, can shooting a short film be a way to raise financing for the longer feature, does casting effect financing, is there a budget figure that is particularly desirable (or undesirable) for an independent film, and what is the most important advice they would give a filmmaker who is trying to get their film produced. After the discussion, the floor was opened to questions from the audience.