Inside the $100,000 Alumni Vision Fund Helping Film School Grads Finish Their Passion Projects

Most universities call their graduates to ask for money. DePaul University’s School of Cinematic Arts decided to do the opposite, launching the Alumni Vision Fund, a program that hands filmmakers roughly $100,000 in production support to finish the projects they couldn’t afford to make on their own.

The idea, which debuted in January 2026, grew out of a simple question the school’s faculty kept asking themselves: what could DePaul offer its graduates that wasn’t transactional? For associate professor Daniel Klein, director of industry engagement for the School of Cinematic Arts, the answer was continuity. Film school gives students equipment, mentorship, and a creative community, but all of that typically disappears the moment a diploma is handed over. The Alumni Vision Fund is designed to keep that ecosystem open.

What the Alumni Vision Fund Actually Provides

Open exclusively to School of Cinematic Arts alumni, the fund provides a production support package worth approximately $100,000. That includes soundstage access at DePaul Cinespace Studios, professional-grade cameras, grip and lighting equipment, additional production resources, and a cash grant to cover on-set costs. Recipients walk away with a polished proof-of-concept short film rather than just a script or a pitch deck — something tangible they can show investors, producers, and talent to build momentum toward a feature or series.

Crucially, the arrangement isn’t an investment in the traditional sense. DePaul doesn’t take equity or a cut of future profits. Filmmakers retain full ownership of whatever they create, which sets the Alumni Vision Fund apart from many industry financing models that ask emerging artists to trade away creative control in exchange for resources.

“You might’ve graduated a year ago or ten years ago, but we’ve still got your back,” Klein said of the program’s intent. “We’re still here to support you. Your success is our success.”

Demand Outpaced Expectations

DePaul initially planned to fund a single alumni project in the program’s first year. But after receiving 40 complete applications, the school’s faculty committee found itself with far more promising finalists than it anticipated — enough that administrators expanded the inaugural class from one recipient to two: George Ellzey Jr. and Johanna Unden.

Ellzey Jr., a 2023 graduate, had already proven he could make something out of nothing. His short film “Closed Mouths” was produced for essentially $0 through favors, donated equipment, and community goodwill. The Alumni Vision Fund gave him the chance to revive a much more ambitious project: “Human Noise,” an idea he first conceived back in 2021 but had been forced to shelve.

Access to real resources changed what the project could become, Ellzey Jr. said, particularly when it came to finding a location that matched the story’s world of wealth and influence. “To try to find a location in Chicago that wouldn’t charge us an arm and a leg was a feat,” he said. “And so to have access to the Cinespace stage where not only we can control the space but then customize it was extremely, extremely helpful.”

Closing the Gap Between Graduation and Opportunity

The program addresses a problem familiar to film school graduates everywhere: knowing how to make something isn’t the same as having the means to make it well. Young filmmakers often leave school with scripts, ideas, and technical skill but no reliable path to the soundstages, equipment, and mentorship needed to turn concepts into something that can actually compete for festival slots or financing. Without that bridge, strong work can quietly stall before it ever finds an audience.

By giving selected alumni a finished, professionally produced short rather than just funding, the Alumni Vision Fund aims to give graduates a concrete asset rather than a vague promise. A proof-of-concept film can do things a script cannot — it can be submitted to festivals, shown to financiers, and used to recruit collaborators who want to see evidence of vision before committing.

Given the strength of this year’s applicant pool, DePaul appears committed to treating the Alumni Vision Fund as an ongoing institutional investment rather than a one-off experiment. For a university looking to differentiate its film program in a crowded field of cinematic arts schools, offering graduates real production dollars — and letting them keep what they make — may prove to be a far more compelling pitch than another alumni newsletter asking for a donation.

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