Working the Festival Circuit Like a Pro: Four Point Strategy for Optimum Results
So you want to put your new movie
into the film festival circuit? Well, this could
be an exercise in emotional and financial
frustration if you don’t plan your festival
strategy carefully. The festival circuit is
overstuffed with events, and many of these
happenings are less than accommodating to
first-time filmmakers. Needless to say, it is
easy to get lost (and, sometimes, ripped off)
if a festival strategy isn’t properly developed
and executed.
When it comes to putting your film into
festival play, there are four key elements
that you need to address in order to gain the
fullest success possible for your endeavors.
Defining your goals in
advance. Put simply: Why are you
doing this? What do you hope to gain from
getting your film on a festival schedule?
For new filmmakers, a festival play date
is the first step of being acknowledged as a
serious creative artist. An industry standard
for acknowledgement, whether we’d like
to admit it or not, is being listed in the
Internet Movie Database (IMDb), and that
can happen if your film is included in an
IMDb’s qualifying festival. By being part of
such a festival, you can get your film (and,
in turn, yourself and your collaborators) into
the IMDb.
Fortunately, for many filmmakers, the
IMDb is relatively liberal in determining
qualifying festivals. For example, the
somewhat unfortunately named 2006
production The Connecticut Poop Movie
snagged its IMDb slot solely through its
being scheduled for the Wild River Film
Festival. If you never heard of that festival
(a smaller Minnesota event), that’s okay
– the IMDb heard of it, hence that movie’s
inclusion in the database. Check out IMDb
to determine which festivals make their cut
and which don’t.
If you are using the festival to snag a
distribution deal, then you need to focus
on events where acquisitions directors and
influential industry-types (media, sales reps,
agents, etc.) are known to attend. If you
are just seeking out awards for your work,
then be certain to aim for festivals that have
ceremonies honoring their schedule’s finest.
And if you just want to be seen – well,
there’s no shortage of festivals to make that
relatively simple dream come true.
However, you need to recognize that
the festival circuit should only be a finite
strategy, defined by clear limitations in
the time devoted to festival play and the
money needed to accomplish this goal. It is
too easy to get stuck with one film on the
festival circuit for years – anything more
than six months on the circuit becomes
tiresome and expensive.
A word about “expensive” – you must
budget your strategy in advance, taking
into consideration entry fees, the costs of
packaging and sending films for festival
reviews, and also the costs involved if you
choose to attend a festival. If you lack the
funds for any of these, take a break and
replenish your bank account until you
can afford to proceed. Don’t ask festival
programmers to waive their fees – that’s
painfully amateurish and no professional
will take you seriously.
Researching the right
festivals. Once you understand what
you want to achieve and tools you have to
make this dream happen, start researching
the festivals that would fit your needs.
If your film falls into a certain genre
due to its subject matter, you may want to
consider focusing heavily on niche festivals.
It seems every niche has its own festival,
and you’ll have a better chance getting
screen time by seeking out an event that’s
specifically aimed at celebrating films in
this genre.
Try to do as much research as possible
on the festivals that pique your interest. A
simple Google search can dig up the past
media coverage for these festivals, and
you can also find comments from various
filmmakers who were involved in these
events (don’t be shy about e-mailing them
directly for their thoughts and tips).
If you have specific questions about
a festival, feel free to ask the event’s
programmer about what you can expect
from participating in this happening.
Actually, friendly and sincere inquiries are
a great way to introduce yourself to the
powers behind the festivals – and in the
event you decide to enter their festivals,
the programmers will already know who
you are before your film is received at their
offices.
Working the festivals
to your advantage. If you are
accepted into a festival, you need to be
an active participant in the event. Make
yourself available to the festival organizers
and their PR team at three key levels:
• Have DVD screeners and highresolution
photos from your film
available, so the organizers can play
up your title in their promotion of the
event.
• Find the time and budget to be present
at the actual festival, and volunteer
to be available for interviews with
the media covering the event. If
there are Q&A sessions following
the screenings, be ready to face the
audience to talk up your work.
• Play up your participation in the
festival via your website, social
networking webpages, blog, and/or
e-mail newsletter alert – and let the
festival team know about this. This
helps build the PR on the festival and
shows the event organizers that you
are eager to help spread the word.
If you are attending festivals where sales
reps, media representatives and distributors
are present, make sure you come prepared
with DVD screeners, press kits and business
cards that you can hand out. But don’t be
too pushy or obnoxious in getting before
these people – if it is easier for them to
see your materials after the festival, get
a business card and mail your material to
their office when the festival is over.
Honestly reviewing what
you achieved. Whether you’ve
been rejected or accepted to a festival,
always take the time to study what took
place and what you can learn from this.
If you’ve been rejected from a high
number of festivals, take a frank look at
what went wrong. If you are only aiming
for major festivals like Sundance and SXSW,
where the competition for acceptance
is heavy and fierce, there’s an excellent
chance you were lost in the shuffle. But if
smaller festivals with less competition are
also turning you down, you may need to
revisit your film (or get an outsider’s opinion)
to see if people are viewing the work in a
way that you never considered.
If you have been successful in getting
into a festival, however, use your postfestival
time to determine if your goals were
met. Did you win any awards? Did you
get quality media coverage that you can
incorporate into your media and marketing
kits? Did you make any connections at the
event? And, of course, did the audience like
the film? If your response was negative to
most or all of these questions, something
went wrong and you may need to revamp
your strategy.
But if most or all of your answers were
affirmative, then your festival time was wellspent
and successful.
This article may not be reprinted in print or internet publications without express permission of StudentFilmmakers.com.
Check out this article in the May 2008 print edition of StudentFilmmakers magazine, page 40.
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