To grant or not to grant
By Zan Azlee

Several years ago, I received a call from MDeC, the Multimedia Development Corporation, and they requested for a meeting with me to discuss an issue.

It was regarding my career as a filmmaker and it seemed like I had something that could help them out. So I agreed to go and meet up with them in their office.

They wanted to find out why I had never requested for a grant or financial assistance in producing any of my film projects, not from them and not from anyone else.

MDeC, a government agency, is responsible for, among other things, helping the content industry develop and grow in Malaysia. Oh, and they give out grants as well.

They wanted to perfect their grant giving and had questions for me as to why I don’t need grants and if they could figure that out, they might be able to provide better service.

I explained to them that it wasn’t personal and it wasn’t that I didn’t like their grants! I just really never needed a grant and could handle things on my own.

My projects are always small enough for me to able to fund on my own, either by pre-selling the content or even just saving up for them. The fact that I’m a one man crew also helps.

Of course I also told them that I really couldn’t be bothered applying for grants because of all the administration and red tape that goes along with it (I know because I’ve attempted before!). [Click to read the full article at KopitiamEkonomi.Com]