Films are funded by whoever believes in a project and is willing to take a risk. It is the producer's job to find the funding for a movie. I've heard of films being underwritten by grandparents, by a group of dentists, even by churches! Films are usually funded by either the Hollywood studios (Paramount, Universal, Warner Brothers, Sony, Disney) or independently through a wide variety of sources. Often times, the studios will seek to minimize their risk but selling off the rights to the film before it is made. These rights might include the box office receipts from foreign countries, television screenings, or the DVD release. For example, The Matrix movies were underwritten by Village Roadshow, an Australian theater and amusement park company. Warner Brothers may have released The Matrix in America, but Village Roadshow may have collected the receipts overseas. Independent financing may arise from banks, private investors, or production companies. Marvel Comics raised the money to pay for the production of Iron Man. So while Paramount released the movie, Marvel assumed both the financial risk and will reap the most rewards. Smaller, independent films like Little Miss Sunshine may raise money from a few investors or sell shares in an LLC, inviting people to buy into a movie for an investment ranging from $25,000 to $2.5 million dollars. Filmmakers depend upon new money flowing towards Hollywood from faraway places every single day. There are literally thousands of producers armed with scripts, looking for investors. Perhaps they'll knock on your door! Craig Detweiler, PhD, blogs about faith and film as "Dr. Film" at www.conversantlife.com. He directs the Reel Spirituality Institute at Fuller Theological Seminary (www.brehmcenter.org).