Sundance Rejection Letter

Efexone said:
what do you do with films that get rejected to festivals? submit them to other festivals? I mean, 9800 submissions? why even bother? I think someone on here made that point before.
Click to expand...

Yeah...I'm one of those people who made that point. Seriously, unless you "know someone" at Sundance or have some sort of media garnering (this is where having a name actor in your film helps) then Sundance is a waste of money IMHO.

Seriously, spend your submission fee elsewhere at small, but still big film festivals. Sundance used to be truly indie but it has turned into a commercialized affair.

If you don't believe me, check out this Wikipedia page that lists festival winners:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Sundance_Film_Festival_award_winners

Compare 1985 to 2009. In 2009 we have a list of award winners that feature either cast or crew that already have a following. Such as Tyler Perry, Oprah Winfrey, an actor from the Blair Witch Project, an actor from CBS' series "Early Edition", Liam Neeson, James Nesbitt, and I can keep naming names but I'm wasting time at this point.

Yes, a few truly independent films sneak in to the programming. But above and beyond NOWADAYS the Sundance Film Festival is yet another way for Hollywood to promote their upcoming films and for actors to finance their careers. From a business standpoint this is fine but for the guy who sends in his film thinking he has a slim chance and is living paycheck to paycheck it's not.
 
By the way anyone considering submitting to Sundance for 2011 I will watch your film for ten dolla (features, $20) and let you know your chances. And I'll actually watch the whole thing and give it a good critique.

Less gamble, more ramble. ;-)
 
Last edited:
adamr316 said:
Yeah...I'm one of those people who made that point. Seriously, unless you "know someone" at Sundance or have some sort of media garnering (this is where having a name actor in your film helps) then Sundance is a waste of money IMHO.

Seriously, spend your submission fee elsewhere at small, but still big film festivals. Sundance used to be truly indie but it has turned into a commercialized affair.

If you don't believe me, check out this Wikipedia page that lists festival winners:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Sundance_Film_Festival_award_winners

Compare 1985 to 2009. In 2009 we have a list of award winners that feature either cast or crew that already have a following. Such as Tyler Perry, Oprah Winfrey, an actor from the Blair Witch Project, an actor from CBS' series "Early Edition", Liam Neeson, James Nesbitt, and I can keep naming names but I'm wasting time at this point.

Yes, a few truly independent films sneak in to the programming. But above and beyond NOWADAYS the Sundance Film Festival is yet another way for Hollywood to promote their upcoming films and for actors to finance their careers. From a business standpoint this is fine but for the guy who sends in his film thinking he has a slim chance and is living paycheck to paycheck it's not.
Click to expand...

I agree with most everything you say about the festival / the way you characterize it. But as we've seen from me getting asked to resubmit a broken DVD and from Trevor Groth's personal rejection letter for Zak's film - there ARE people at Sundance watching our films and TRYING to program them if at all possible.

If it cost $5000 to submit to Sundance you're point might have more weight.
But we're talking $35 to $45 early bird and $75 to $100 late.

"I spent $25K on my feature and now I won't spend $45 on a lottery ticket to get it into the most prestigious film festival in the U.S. and arguably the world." Huh? :undecided
I just don't get this line of thought. And I submitted two films and I'm worse off than living paycheck to paycheck this month.

You don't have to WIN Sundance. Just getting in is like winning. And features can get in without huge names still.

Like the low budget GRACE last year - biggest Star - Jordan Ladd from Cabin fever.

And look at all the stars in NAPOLEON DYNAMITE from just a few years back.

Or the THIS years competition feature from Austin filmmaker Bryan Poyser

"Lovers of Hate" - Directed and written by Bryan Poyser, about how the reunion of estranged brothers is undermined when the woman they both love chooses one over the other. With Chris Doubek, Heather Kafka, Alex Karpovsky, Zach Green.

Ooh look at all the stars. :)

So ... $35 to $100 in light of the cost of your movie, how much you'll be spending at festivals as whole ... seems like a more than reasonable risk given the potential reward. And isn't that at the heart of venture capitalism? The greater the likelyhood you'll lose your cash the higher the reward? $100 for what Sundance brings? Even with such a small chance it's worth it if you're serious about your movie or your career - IMHO.

If we were talking $1000 submission fees - then yeah, hedge your bets. But $45? I do know that my chances of getting in are much better when I actually submit though.
 
Jack Daniel Stanley said:
I agree with most everything you say about the festival / the way you characterize it. But as we've seen from me getting asked to resubmit a broken DVD and from Trevor Groth's personal rejection letter for Zak's film - there ARE people at Sundance watching our films and TRYING to program them if at all possible.

If it cost $5000 to submit to Sundance you're point might have more weight.
But we're talking $35 to $45 early bird and $75 to $100 late.

"I spent $25K on my feature and now I won't spend $45 on a lottery ticket to get it into the most prestigious film festival in the U.S. and arguably the world." Huh? :undecided
I just don't get this line of thought. And I submitted two films and I'm worse off than living paycheck to paycheck this month.

You don't have to WIN Sundance. Just getting in is like winning. And features can get in without huge names still.

Like the low budget GRACE last year - biggest Star - Jordan Ladd from Cabin fever.

And look at all the stars in NAPOLEON DYNAMITE from just a few years back.

Or the THIS years competition feature from Austin filmmaker Bryan Poyser

"Lovers of Hate" - Directed and written by Bryan Poyser, about how the reunion of estranged brothers is undermined when the woman they both love chooses one over the other. With Chris Doubek, Heather Kafka, Alex Karpovsky, Zach Green.

Ooh look at all the stars. :)

So ... $35 to $100 in light of the cost of your movie, how much you'll be spending at festivals as whole ... seems like a more than reasonable risk given the potential reward. And isn't that at the heart of venture capitalism? The greater the likelyhood you'll lose your cash the higher the reward? $100 for what Sundance brings? Even with such a small chance it's worth it if you're serious about your movie or your career - IMHO.

If we were talking $1000 submission fees - then yeah, hedge your bets. But $45? I do know that my chances of getting in are much better when I actually submit though.
Click to expand...

People take out second mortgages to finance their films. Let's be honest with each other...some of those $50K-100K movies are absolute trite self-indulgent pieces of artsy garbage. Then there are gems that cost sub-$10K and have a great story/acting/cinematography. So absolutely a $35 investment for a potentially larger reward (and I'd say that $35 is well spent for a resume bullet at the very least) so indeed I agree with you on that end.

Again on the principle of Sundance allowing large name talent to enter (c'mon, Oprah! OPRAH NEEDS SUNDANCE???!) really takes away from the indie spirit that it used to be. With that in mind I think people should vote with their feet/wallet but I doubt this will happen...but it could.

But hey, I'm sure Sundance could use that $350,000 of donations so keep on truckin' everybody!
 
Last edited:
adamr316 said:
...then there are gems that cost sub-$10K and have a great story/acting/cinematography...
Click to expand...
Right. So you spent $10K to make your feature, which you may never see back again, but you won't risk $45 (as part of your $500 on upwards, way upwards, festival submission budget). Makes no sense. Especially when you yourself said
Yes, a few truly independent films sneak in to the programming.
Click to expand...
So say it's 3800 film for 10 slots instead of 113 slots. Again - $10K for your movie. $500 or more, way more, as part of your festival submission strategy, and you won't fork out dinner and a movie for a small chance at one of those 10 slots when ...
... absolutely a $35 investment for a potentially larger reward (and I'd say that $35 is well spent for a resume bullet at the very least) so indeed I agree with you on that end.
Click to expand...

I guess I'm confused. You agree wit that principle but call it throwing money away and tell people to vote with their wallets ...
 
Jack Daniel Stanley said:
I guess I'm confused. You agree wit that principle but call it throwing money away and tell people to vote with their wallets ...
Click to expand...

I guess what I'm saying is I wish Sundance was what it used to be. No known actors/filmmakers. A discovering of new talent...for the entire festival. I guess it's just become so mainstream and there's no going back. But yeah in a way it's like buying a $50 lottery ticket.

Breaking down the odds, it's not too bad as it's like a raffle ticket. A $50.00 business risk, which isn't too much. But again on the principal of Sundance letting in known talent/known producers who wipe their butts with $50 bills...that's what I'm saying. And who's to say those big name movie producers even pay the entry fee?
 
adamr316 said:
Again on the principle of Sundance allowing large name talent to enter (c'mon, Oprah! OPRAH NEEDS SUNDANCE???!) really takes away from the indie spirit that it used to be. With that in mind I think people should vote with their feet/wallet but I doubt this will happen...but it could.
Click to expand...
Sounds like what you want is NoDance, where you're basically prohibited from entering if you or anyone in your film has ever done anything noteworthy.
http://nodance.com/

Of course, well, nobody goes, and it's been on hiatus for five years...
 
Jack Daniel Stanley said:
Me neither.
I'm sure we are both in though and they just wanted it to be a surprise. :)
Click to expand...

Haha, that's what I figured.

Seriously though, if they don't send me a rejection email I'll be pretty angry with them. If you have to find out that your movie got rejected by looking at the list of accepted films, that's pretty harsh.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top