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Film Festival Dos and Don’ts
Paul Osborne
You’ve made your little independent feature film, financed with love, credit cards and some spare change from mom and dad. Now you’re going to take it to Sundance, where it will be watched by excited buyers from all of the major distributors. One of said distributors will cut you a big check, gather your movie up into its warm, welcoming arms and sprinkle it into theaters all across the land. Right?
Guess what? This never happens. And even when it did occasionally happen back in the late ’80s and ’90s, it was an extremely rare thing.
Any independent moviemaker who has worked the film festival circuit can tell you that this “Myth of Sundance” is about as real as the “Rich and Famous” contract offered to Kermit the Frog at the end of The Muppet Movie. However, the media still largely covers the major film festivals—Sundance, Toronto, Cannes—as if it’s 1994 and little can-do features actually have a fighting chance to be discovered in today’s indie landscape, the way Kevin Smith’s Clerks did.
This disconnect between the fantasy and reality of film festivals led me and my producing partner, Scott Storm, to make Official Rejection, the first documentary to really show what truly indie moviemakers experience on the film festival circuit.
Ironically, Official Rejection is now playing the same circuit, which is a fascinating experiment. As a good friend of mine quipped: It’s like trying to play Super Size Me at McDonald’s.
Regardless, indie moviemakers seem to be connecting with our movie in growing numbers, as is evidenced by the massive amount of e-mail I receive on a daily basis. Many of these moviemakers, who have been frustrated by the politics and pitfalls of the circuit, have written to thank us for “calling these elitist bastards out on their shit,” as one of them so succinctly put it.
Now, yes, in Official Rejection we do take several festivals to task on certain issues, but that doesn’t mean we’re trying to condemn the whole festival world. We’re simply trying to bust the myths and give an accurate portrait of what the circuit is like because, for indie films, there is still no better place to introduce your movie to the world.
We cover a broad spectrum of festivals—ones run out of a sheer love of great cinema, and others more concerned with celebrities and nepotism; ones that actively seek out undiscovered voices, and others that work as puppets for the major studios while claiming to be all about “independent” cinema.
But put down that first stone before you cast it; it’s important to remember that good behavior cuts both ways. Before shaking a finger at any festival for its mistakes or misdeeds, moviemakers should take a hard look in the mirror and make sure that they themselves are not to blame.
If you think that once you’ve been accepted into a festival you can sit back and leave it to the festival staff to get your movie to the audience, think again. Get off your ass! It’s time to get to work. You cannot be passive; you need to participate.
There’s so much to know about how to “festival” that you could fill an entire movie with it. (Hey, I did!) But, with rare exception, everything can be broken down into four basic rules. Following these rules will do more than just make the fest directors glad they selected your flick. During every festival, one or two movies emerge as “it” films with a life and buzz all their own, and it’s usually not the token star vehicles which open and close the event. Want your indie to be an “it” film? Then make sure you do the following:
RULE ONE: SHOWER THE FESTIVAL WITH MATERIALS. • Let’s start with a cold, hard fact: Your movie will probably not get a theatrical release. The bottom has fallen out of the indie distribution game and the few companies that are left pretty much only acquire those same, multi-million-dollar star vehicles that fill out Sundance’s dance card.
The good news is that, over the last decade, the number of film festivals around the country has increased exponentially. So your movie’s run on the circuit can function, in effect, as a de facto theatrical release—that is, getting the flick in front of audiences across the nation (or the world) in order to build momentum toward an eventual DVD release or VOD sale, which is where most films (both studio and indie) make their money anyway.
With that framework in mind—the circuit as your film’s theatrical run—each festival becomes an “exhibitor” and you become “the studio.” This means that you have to provide all the materials and support that a studio does: Print materials (posters, postcards, flyers); swag (T-shirts, hats); screeners and press kits for the media; and the all-important and oft-overlooked electronic press kit, or EPK (a master tape that includes your trailer, broadcast-friendly film clips, interview clips with cast and crew and selected behind-the-scenes footage).
The EPK can be given to and used by any sort of audio-visual media outlet (TV, radio, Web) to create feature pieces about your film or the festival at which it is screening. Most moviemakers overlook the EPK, so we’ve often gotten coverage simply because we were the only film at a given festival to actually have one.
The best policy is to contact the festival shortly after acceptance, let them know what materials you can provide and then send the requested materials as early as possible. You’ll establish yourself as a moviemaker who can be counted on long before the event has even begun and your materials will automatically be included in any press screenings or local gatherings leading up to the event.
RULE TWO: YOU WANT TO GO TO THERE. • Sure, the economy sucks. And even if it didn’t, you’re an indie moviemaker, so your economy really sucks. You live paycheck to paycheck at that day job you don’t want to talk about, and your employment situation there is shaky because they can barely put up with the “moviemaking” thing you keep taking time off to pursue.
In spite of this, whenever possible, you need to go to the festivals that program your film, whether they cover your travel and hotel expenses or not. The people who run festivals generally do it out of a genuine love of cinema and are working their asses off to put on this big show. No matter how much remote support you give a film, if you don’t attend the actual screening, you really can’t be 100 percent behind the event. As a result, the organizers won’t be fully behind you.
Live moviemaker interaction is one of the biggest sales pitches festivals use to woo their local crowds away from Harry Potter and the latest Brad Pitt flick. So it stands to reason they’re going to push the movies where the audiences will actually be able to meet the folks behind them. If you’re not there, your film loses that endorsement. It also means less chance of media attention—and all of this translates into less people seeing your movie. Plus, since you’re now out of sight and out of mind, your odds of winning awards, both audience and jury, are basically nil.
So if there’s any way you can swing it, attend! A film festival movie without its moviemaker is like a DVD without any special features, and no one wants that.
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COMMENTS | POST A COMMENT 
- Comment by Nicole on 10/26/09 at 10:18 am
Great article. I had the privilege of meeting Paul last month at a festival and I loved “Official Rejection”. I will be buying the DVD when it comes out soon.
If there were one book that you would recommend for a new independent filmmaker, what would it be?
- Comment by Julie Keck on 10/26/09 at 3:08 pm
Thanks so much for the great article. I have a short in 2 film fests in November and I’ve been looking for exactly this sort of advice regarding promotion and film fest etiquette.
- Comment by Scott Hillier on 11/04/09 at 6:36 am
What an amazing article, this is a PERFECT guide on how to attack film festivals. I’m the president of The European Independent Film Festival but I’m also an indie filmmaker who submits films to other festivals (YES, NOT MY OWN!). We all have our dreams and this is a succinct two page guide on how to manage that dream and do it properly.
The truth hurts but the reality is that you have to, like Mr. Osborne says, “PROMOTE PROMOTE PROMOTE!” His advice that “right after you get accepted to a festival, ask to get in contact with the festival publicist” and “let the publicist know what materials you can provide” is excellent. Last year, Sam Bozzo (director of the film “Blue Gold: World Water Wars") worked closely with our press team leading up to the festival and throughout the event and received great media coverage.
I can’t agree more with Mr. Osborne WHEN HE SAYS : it’s quite optimistic to expect that once you arrive everyone is going to want to see your film. You have to market yourself! : There was one film at our festival last year from England who did this (handing out flyers to everyone, Facebook campaigning, Twitter feeds, etc.) and their theater was packed! There’s a certain amount of work that YOU as the filmmaker NEED to do. Our festival team work for months to put this festival on and filmmakers turning up with the expectation that crowds will be knocking down the doors to see their filmsare being unrealistic. Festival are a collobative thing - particularly indie festivals. You have to do a certain amount of work to make it a success for yourself as well. So from one filmmaker to another, thank you for writing this article as I will be taking your advice to heart - and as a festival organiser I’m hoping to see filmmakers arriving with drive and enthusiasm that you implore.
- Comment by Benjamn Barnett on 2/08/10 at 10:20 pm
Paul, There is so much to say! You could of course go into the actual “gritty” lifestyle that is Film Festing (!) (Film Festing: To fest: To produce and / or travel extensively to film festivals; One who will produce, program, write, direct a film festival as a passion) but maybe we can save that for a film festival to make there own doc movie about their experience producing one? Here are some thoughts:
So, as far as we see it, there are many ways to look at a fest director’s role but we define it as providing a creative lead, creating media strategy, constantly designing, taking notes, working from multiple lists, accessing and building multiple db’s, possessing many contacts (hack a fest director phone and you’re connected at the core!), and providing finger-tip access to sponsor info, movie reviews (their own and others), etc. and are always in-contact if they are making it happen as well as (they should be) responsive to calling back etc. They also watch all of the submitted movies ;) PR and Media mostly maintain the “daily” contact and all work together as part of the core fest team. A fest director and its PR and Media need to be tight and responsive for as much time prior to the actual fest! This is important.
For a Fest Director, filmmakers getting in touch and involved is the only way to go. With upwards of 50- 200 people contacting us over a 6 month period at random daily intervals, juggling agility is required but we’re committed to offering opportunities to do more than just get filmmakers in touch. We actively seek to assist your activation and integration into the existing festival digital media strategy and community at large. Hopefully you’ll do that for us as well.
As well, we can’t agree more that seeing the festival acceptance/release as your theatrical release is right on mark and sound advice. We think this is the point actually and perhaps you might see a Global Independent Film Festival circuit for example one day. ;)
For the filmmakers, I think it is important to remember the festival has very limited rights to their movie and they know it. This reason alone means you should be busting your hump to make it happen for your movie. This is a cost of doing business and ultimately you get the benefits (ownership / royalties). Maybe you go for it in larger media markets for example, you need to plan a strategy at some level. I see plenty of filmmaker apathy to this regard. Festivals should be utilized as springboards in as many ways as possible and that means integrating with the fest effort. One thing to start with would be to Post to the fest blogs (links of your imdb page, reviews, etc).
But as well, we also know that a healthy minority of filmmakers who could care less about this crap and just have a movie to submit and screen. We have been suggesting if you’re a film artist, do us a favor and explain what the heck we have, in your own way is fine, because we’re trying to explain it to the rest of the world out there. ☺
But really, for festivals, this reason alone (ownership) makes it hard to allocate money to a movie that people may have never heard of and has little collateral / support from the filmmaker. BUT, if the festival is really looking to break cool new people / movies (we’re talking Independent), then your press info, EPK, etc. or whatever you have are a great place to start as a team. The Independent film festival, however, is trying to expose all of its programming to a (hopefully!) increasing and ever-expanding audience at once so the fest goer “can‘t miss”
Some filmmaker submitting to festival marketing advice is to latch on to the fest’s overall digital media strategy that is (always on!) underway from the festival and cross-link, discuss, post, and promote. An Independent fest should be focusing their media strategy largely on the integration of filmmaker/festival as a means to attract an audience to the screenings, events, and (cool) sponsors in the first place. As well, it is good to see what the festival is doing outside of the fest itself (screenings, webisodes, podcasts, original content, social networking, other sponsorships, etc). You are and can be a direct part at any stage if the fest has your best interest in mind! You might be surprised at the strategies of some festivals.
If you have been accepted to Philadelphia Independent for example, we will email you an extensive local, regional, national, and international contact list. We also post a version of this list to the fest website to help generate some publicity.
A good festival should do it’s best to enable you to be a click or two away from your festival audience.
Hopefully this helps the discussion! Great movie !!
Thanks for a cool article … See you at #PUFF !!!Benjamin Barnett
Festival Director
Philadelphia Independent Film festival
23-27 June, 2010- Comment by gerwinters on 6/07/10 at 7:19 am
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A good festival should do it’s best to enable you to be a click or two away from your festival audience.
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If you have been accepted to Philadelphia Independent for example, we will email you an extensive local, regional, national, and international contact list. We also post a version of this list to the fest website to help generate some publicity.
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For the filmmakers, I think it is important to remember the festival has very limited rights to their movie and they know it. This reason alone means you should be busting your hump to make it happen for your movie. This is a cost of doing business and ultimately you get the benefits (ownership / royalties). Maybe you go for it in larger media markets for example, you need to plan a strategy at some level. I see plenty of filmmaker apathy to this regard. Festivals should be utilized as springboards in as many ways as possible and that means integrating with the fest effort. One thing to start with would be to Post to the fest blogs (links of your imdb page, reviews, etc).
But as well, we also know that a healthy minority of filmmakers who could care less about this crap and just have a movie to submit and screen. We have been suggesting if you’re a film artist, do us a favor and explain what the heck we have, in your own way is fine, because we’re trying to explain it to the rest of the world out there. ☺
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