The Film Partnership of North Carolina will have to wait to see whether it will receive funding from the city of Wilmington.

Wilmington leaders discussed a $100,000 request from the nonprofit group that aims to develop the film industry workforce during a regular meeting of the Wilmington City Council on Tuesday night. Council members also considered another $100,000 ask from the New Hanover County Community Justice Center.

Both organizations formally requested funding during the city’s budget process, according to City Manager Becky Hawke, but the grants were not part of the final budget. Instead, council members opted to wait and take up the items once there was more clarity on how much funding the groups would receive from New Hanover County and in the state budget, Hawke said.

The Film Partnership received $100,000 of recurring funding in New Hanover County’s current budget and didn’t receive any funding in the state budget, which was approved in early July.

The state budget increased the maximum state grant for a feature film from $7 million to $20 million and the maximum state grant for a TV series or scripted streaming service series from $15 million to $25 million per season.

The plan also included a new micro-budget production grant fund of about $1.2 million annually for N.C.-based productions with budgets between $50,000 and $1.5 million, along with a new 5% bonus for production companies investing $80 million or more across multiple N.C. productions within 24 months.

It appears the structure of the grant program, however, might not be conducive to granting any new projects funds for a few years, according to N.C. Department of Commerce officials. The department administers the program, officially known as the N.C. Film and Entertainment Grant.

"In terms of recruitment efforts, this change in the funding model likely means that North Carolina will not be able to award any significant film grants for new productions until 2029," commerce officials said in an emailed statement.

Still, workforce efforts continue. Previously, the Film Partnership received a total of $400,000 in American Rescue Plan Act funds from the city, with the last payment of just over $113,000 coming in May 2025, Hawke said.

Susi Hamilton, president of the Film Partnership, said the group relies on state and local government funding, along with other grants and private donations, to fund its work of placing interns and other crew members on production sets.

“We put people in these positions that otherwise would not have been able to be there,” Hamilton told council members on Tuesday, “and they build their resumes, and they have jobs now in the industry.”

Since its founding in 2022, Hamilton said the group has created more than 230 jobs in New Hanover County. Statewide, approximately 64% of the organization’s interns come from New Hanover County and the city of Wilmington, she added.

Christopher “Kitt” Johnson, a tutor at Cape Fear Community College, told council members during the public comment portion of Tuesday's meeting that the Film Partnership introduced him to the RIDE Internship program, which helped him secure an internship on a film set during his second year at CFCC.

“The RIDE program has given not just me but other students incredible opportunities where they’ve connected and turned their raw talent into sharpened skill,” he said.

Hawke said the city could fund the request through the council’s contingency fund or the city’s contingency funds for economic development. It could also direct the Film Partnership to apply for the city’s Civic Development Partner Agencies Development Program grant. However, the grant program operates on a three-year funding cycle, Hawke said, and new funds wouldn’t be available until 2029.

“Unless you put more dollars into this grant program,” Hawke said, “they are essentially all accounted for for the foreseeable future.”
 
Council member Salette Andrews said she wouldn’t support the city using contingency funds for the requests because of their recurring nature.

“To me, contingency funding should be reserved for unforeseen or one-time needs, not the ongoing operating expenses,” Andrews said. “Once we begin funding recurring costs through contingency … we’re creating an expectation that those requests can return year after year, and that’s just not sustainable.”

David Joyner said he would support fully funding the requests from both groups, and the city needs to provide an answer on the funding.

“It’s hard to distribute dollars when there’s so many applicants who do good work and need our help," Joyner said, "but at some point you have to tell people yes or no." 

Ultimately, council members directed staff to gather more information from the groups about how the money would be spent, among other data points. Hamilton said her organization is prepared to provide the needed information and looks forward to a formal funding resolution coming before council soon.

“When and if they grant us another $100,000, that money will be immediately deployed into the community,” Hamilton said. “We already have several projects lined up.”