DVXuser, You're My Only hope!

Kirk Gillock

Kirk Gillock

Rebel with a cause
Hello DVXusers. I'm trying to prepare materials for submission to a bunch of festivals. Can anyone give me advice on what to do and what not to do?

Questions:
- Is it ok to submit a short film to numerous festivals?
- Is there a template to use for press kits? If so, is there one online?
- What format is the best for viewing/exhibition? (miniDV, DVD, etc.)
- Have you heard of [url-http://www.withoutabox.com]Withoutabox[/url]? It is a website that helps people submit films online (for free) to hundreds of festivals. Is it good or bad?
- If I mention my film has previously won an award will they be less likely to accept my film into competition?

Any answers or suggestions would be of great help! Thanks in advance.
-pk
 
I personally haven't submitted anything yet, but from what I have gathered from other people's experiences, submitting to multiple festivals is the way to go. And most festivals want your stuff on DVD... but it's good to check into what the requirements are for each one.

As far as the other questions, I cannot answer those... :(
 
There's a great book that you can pick up, it's called "The Ultimate Filmmakers's Guide To Short Films" written by Kim Adelman; it's like $15 USD and talks about every aspect on shooting a succesful short and having it go threw the festival circuit, I highly recommend it for the insight that it provides to people knew to the process...
 
I used Withoutabox and it's fairly painless. Winning awards shouldn't affect your festival status or chances. It may actually help your chances in some festivals. It generally helps to research the festivals you're interested in, see which ones best fit your film. (Obviously you wouldn't apply to a festival for animation with a one room monologue character study:))

Think of it like college, some festivals are really prestigious and kind of like ivy league schools, then you've got your midrange festivals that are like second tier and good state schools, and then you've got really small festivals that are your safety schools. It aint easy to get accepted. Good luck.
 
I'm pretty sure that some festivals won't take a submission that has been submitted to other festivals.
 
Thanks dj, nick, isaac, and vj for all the help. I guess it's a case-by-case situation. Each festival is different.

What about the Press Kit? Anyone have experience with that?

-pk
 
I've heard positive things about withoutabox, but have Zero first hand experience.
Wish there was something like indie musicians have with Sonicbids. It is an epk service which rocks and would easily translate to the film festival world. Check it out, www.sonicbids.com.
 
Withoutabox handles the press kit part, it's got a bunch of questions, asks for production photos, fifty word synopsis, etc.

Every festival has different requirements. The nice thing about Withoutabox is that it tells you if you're missing a requirement for a festival. In that way I trust it even more than trying to apply by paper since it does a pretty good job of keeping track of all those elements. Not to mention you save a little money by not having to print production photos.

A few days ago one of the documentaries I worked on was accepted to the Boston International Film Festival. I applied with Withoutabox, so yeah, it works. :)
 
WAB is awesome. Gives you a great message board with fellow filmmakers interested in festivals and also automatic discounts on all festival entires. I've gotten Formosa into several festivals as a direct result of WAB- by chatting with festival directors on their boards.

Noah
 
Wow! We were all so much younger back when this topic was started. Life was so much easier and simpler. The DVX100 was still considered state-of-the-art technology back then. I miss those days. :-)
 
Terry_Lasater said:
Way to knock the dust off a 7 1/2 year old thread! :thumbsup:
Click to expand...

Come to think of it, I've found this specific topic through google when I was searching the first hand experiences with withoutabox and the pitfalls
such as:
What have I got to loose if I upload my film to them?
Control over the rights of your film ?
Your thoughts on having a middleman?
What's in it for them to provide such service?
What protection would I have against misuse if I experience or even notice about it?
What are the pitfalls?
what negative points would you come up with if you must, etc

then I've read:
http://www.indiewire.com/article/wh...vals-and-increasingly-angry-customers?page=1/
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Filmmakers-and-Festivals-Against-Withoutabox/145562178871878/
http://blog.indee.tv/2012/09/indee-vs-amazon-withoutabox/
http://www.independent-magazine.org/08/11/or-withoutabox/

Perhaps there are few more posts at this forum on the same subject

Have you guys got any recent first hand experiences with withoutabox please?
 
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