How to sponsor an educational film

Then & Theory, the first brand at Alterra Editions, makes short films about the past and shows how we know what each film claims. Sponsors can put their name on that work in four ways, and the right choice depends on what you want viewers to remember.

What are the ways to sponsor an educational film?

• Underwrite a film. You fund one Then & Theory film, and you are credited on screen and in the caption.
• Become a series partner. You sponsor a run of films on one era or theme.
• Take an end card. A short mention or end card on a film whose audience fits yours.
• License a film. You get a clean version without text, voice or sponsor reads, for classrooms, museums and publishing. Licensing has its own entry: licensing educational films.

Which option fits which goal?

Underwriting suits a brand that wants its name tied to one specific story, such as a product launch that pairs with a period or an object. A series fits a longer association with a subject: a learning platform and early humans, say, or a travel brand and ancient ports. An end card is the lightest commitment and a sensible first test of whether the audience responds. Licensing is for organizations that want the film itself on their own channels, in a lesson or in a gallery.

What should you ask for before signing?

Most problems in sponsored content come from things nobody wrote down. Agree these in writing before production starts:

• The topic area or era, and what you want viewers to do or feel afterwards.
• The date the film goes live.
• Credit wording and placement, on screen and in the caption.
• Platforms, and how long you can reuse the film.
• Usage rights and whitelisting, priced on their own. Brands often ask for unlimited reuse forever for one flat fee. Pricing reuse separately means both sides know what it costs.
• The approvals you need, such as legal review of your brand’s name and claims.
• When reports arrive and what they include.

How should results be reported?

As screenshots from the platform’s own analytics, unedited and dated. That is the commitment Alterra Editions makes to sponsors, and it is worth asking any creator for. Fake or bot followers made up 56.5% of the fraud and quality problems marketers reported in Influencer Marketing Hub’s 2026 benchmark. A screenshot from the platform’s own dashboard is much harder to dress up than a retyped spreadsheet.

Ask for reports at fixed points after the film goes live, for example after one week and after one month, so you see both the launch and the long tail. Views alone say little. Ask for how long people watched, how many skipped early, and how many saved or shared the film, because those show whether the audience paid attention.

Be wary of anyone who guarantees views. We don’t. We publish on a schedule, show our sources and report what the dashboard says.

Does the sponsor get a say in what the film says?

No. Our rule is “Sponsors fund films, not opinions.” You choose the topic area. The research decides what the film says, and the sources go out with every sponsored film.

This protects the sponsor as much as the film. Audiences for history and science content are quick to ask who paid for a video and whether that changed the story, and a credit on a film that cites its sources is easy to defend when they do. If you need approval over the script or the historical conclusions, we are not the right fit.

Are the films made with AI?

Some steps are, and we say which ones in how we source 3D history (retired pipeline). If your campaign needs a “made without AI” claim, we can’t give you one.

How do you start?

Email [email protected] and answer these in the body, so our first reply can be a proposal:

• Sponsor or license
• Organization
• What you want viewers to do or feel
• Topic or era you’d like
• Budget range
• Date you need it live
• Rights needed (platforms, length of use)

The partner page lists the same offers.

In short:

• Pick a format: underwrite, series, end card or license.
• Put the topic area, date, credit, rights and reporting in writing first.
• Ask for unedited, dated dashboard screenshots, and for watch time as well as views.
• The sponsor picks the topic area, and the research decides what the film says.