catchintime
Member
What are some general things to consider when sending your film to a film festival?
General question about film festival admissions
- Thread starter catchintime
- Start date
craigbowman
Veteran
Pick a festival you'd love to have great press from and make that festival "Your World Premiere".
ie. If you premiere at the festival in "Pig's Knuckle Arkansas" or "Pump Handle Saskatchewan", Toronto or Sundance will be a lot less interested in carrying your submission!
ie. If you premiere at the festival in "Pig's Knuckle Arkansas" or "Pump Handle Saskatchewan", Toronto or Sundance will be a lot less interested in carrying your submission!
Zak Forsman
Major Contributor
research the festival circuit. a daunting task, definitely. but knowing who to submit to and why will result in a much more rewarding (and cost-effective) experience.
JonathanLB
Carbonite Member
Yes
Yes
Zak gives the best advice. It is a pain, and it does take time, but really you are much better off doing your homework and research. You want to be looking for a few things specifically: 1) Do they play films like the one that you are submitting? In other words, does your film seem like a good fit for this festival? 2) Does this festival accept enough entries for it to be worthwhile to you? (I've seen a festival I was about to submit to that I realized only had one night of 11 total films the previous year -- forget about that...). 3) Does the festival seem professional / quality enough to be worth the entry fee they are asking? There are some really bad Websites for really fly-by-night operations out there, so be careful.
I would also consider the entry fee relative to what you are getting out of the festival, and if you are tight on budget or just frugal in general, then try to submit to the early deadlines everywhere. That's what I do. If I missed it, no biggie, I write the festival in a notepad file and save it for next year, so that when 2010 begins I'll know where to submit and get the best deals I can. I don't mind waiting.
For short films, a fee between $15 and $25 is great. $30 is still ok. $35 is getting up there, it should be a good festival for that price. Anything more, it should be a major festival. I paid $55 for Palm Springs and $70 for Dances With Films late deadline (because I badly wanted to premiere there), and we did make it in to DWF, so to me it was worth the $70 but that's very steep... I prefer going cheap.
I don't know how much the feature entry fees vary, I haven't sent a feature to festivals.
Other stuff to watch for is basically putting a bit of a preference on festivals you can attend. In other words, a festival that's across the country and has a $15 entry fee is good, even if it's tiny. But maybe if it's a tiny festival in your own neck of the woods, you are willing to pay $30 because you can probably attend. Little things like that.
I have no idea why but I do really well in festivals in Los Angeles. Usually you'll do better in your home town, but there's no home town advantage for L.A. and NY filmmakers, generally. I've just somehow gotten lucky and my batting average in L.A. is way higher than it is overall (my first music video I submitted played in festivals in Pasadena, downtown L.A., Venice Beach, Hermosa Beach, and Burbank; my short film premiered at Dances With Films in West Hollywood and is playing in Pasadena next month).
I cannot say for sure but there might be something to be said about one coast versus another, not only for travel purposes but sometimes audiences just take things differently. Maybe there's a bigger NYC / LA divide than I thought, because I'm 0/5 in New York and New Jersey, which is weird to me, when the batting average for those two projects is 50% over a good sample size.
Yes
Zak gives the best advice. It is a pain, and it does take time, but really you are much better off doing your homework and research. You want to be looking for a few things specifically: 1) Do they play films like the one that you are submitting? In other words, does your film seem like a good fit for this festival? 2) Does this festival accept enough entries for it to be worthwhile to you? (I've seen a festival I was about to submit to that I realized only had one night of 11 total films the previous year -- forget about that...). 3) Does the festival seem professional / quality enough to be worth the entry fee they are asking? There are some really bad Websites for really fly-by-night operations out there, so be careful.
I would also consider the entry fee relative to what you are getting out of the festival, and if you are tight on budget or just frugal in general, then try to submit to the early deadlines everywhere. That's what I do. If I missed it, no biggie, I write the festival in a notepad file and save it for next year, so that when 2010 begins I'll know where to submit and get the best deals I can. I don't mind waiting.
For short films, a fee between $15 and $25 is great. $30 is still ok. $35 is getting up there, it should be a good festival for that price. Anything more, it should be a major festival. I paid $55 for Palm Springs and $70 for Dances With Films late deadline (because I badly wanted to premiere there), and we did make it in to DWF, so to me it was worth the $70 but that's very steep... I prefer going cheap.
I don't know how much the feature entry fees vary, I haven't sent a feature to festivals.
Other stuff to watch for is basically putting a bit of a preference on festivals you can attend. In other words, a festival that's across the country and has a $15 entry fee is good, even if it's tiny. But maybe if it's a tiny festival in your own neck of the woods, you are willing to pay $30 because you can probably attend. Little things like that.
I have no idea why but I do really well in festivals in Los Angeles. Usually you'll do better in your home town, but there's no home town advantage for L.A. and NY filmmakers, generally. I've just somehow gotten lucky and my batting average in L.A. is way higher than it is overall (my first music video I submitted played in festivals in Pasadena, downtown L.A., Venice Beach, Hermosa Beach, and Burbank; my short film premiered at Dances With Films in West Hollywood and is playing in Pasadena next month).
I cannot say for sure but there might be something to be said about one coast versus another, not only for travel purposes but sometimes audiences just take things differently. Maybe there's a bigger NYC / LA divide than I thought, because I'm 0/5 in New York and New Jersey, which is weird to me, when the batting average for those two projects is 50% over a good sample size.
catchintime
Member
Is there a good website that has a listing of different film festivals?
