You need the right festivals, not all of them. David Kaminski explains how to choose festivals, budget for fees and use friends and local connections.
Finding Festivals That Are a Good Fit
You need to be in the right festivals, not all of them. There is no end to the variety of festivals: they break out by genre, subject, region, media type, etc. You need to be in the festivals that will work best for you. Maybe you need to be in the best horror festival in the country. Or comedy. Or maybe a festival that honors editing. Narrative or documentary. If you talk to the people who have already submitted and attended a number of festivals, they will tell you that each has its own focus, and that some will be very receptive of your particular work, supportive of you, and promote your work. The best festivals in the country also have distributors and buyers, and getting to know them or having them admire your work is the ultimate goal.
Friends and Local Connections
Consider your goal. If you want some local recognition and a chance to meet local filmmakers and make some new friends, then you should work very hard to find a local festival. No matter how small, it is an event around which others will gather. The festivals in your area will list your film on their site, add links, and maybe help you get some local print, radio, or television interviews. These will help promote you as a filmmaker and also your film. Gather all of those pieces of media: newspaper articles, screenshots from websites, audio clips, video interviews, and posters, and add them to your press kit.
Your promotion of your film at smaller and local festivals in your area is very important. Everything that you do to help your film get local coverage will bring people to see your film, and attention to the subject. It will draw audience and create its own following. Work with the local festival to coordinate press and to make sure that you are on message and that the right photos, the right stills from your film, and the right production stills are used. Reach out to all of your local sponsors, actors, and crew, and encourage them to support your film as well. Everyone wins when your film brings people together and you get good press. Never rely on the festival itself to do the work of promoting your film. They are likely understaffed, overworked, and have a low operating budget. So any help you can provide them is not only good for you, but also welcomed by them. Being involved promoting your film and their festival might even help you become part of the festival itself one day. That is its own separate reward. Success will bring success. If you sell out the local theater for their small festival, and a larger nearby festival hears about it, then your chances of moving up to the better festival are improved. If you get a chance to tell the festival director that you packed the house because your film covers a hot topic or touches upon the zeitgeist, then they may book you because you will draw fans and audience to their other films too.
A Cautionary Note About Less Reputable Festivals or Screenings
The only danger your reputation might face, and this should be a calculated decision, is that if you start at a festival that is too small, it can hurt your chances of getting into a better festival. They may either want a national premiere, a regional premiere, or simply think that since your movie already has local press that it will degrade their festival to have links to a small and maybe unsuccessful festival or screening.
Be careful to partner with legitimate organizations and to make sure that if you do screen at small festivals, that you get a quote from a notable local filmmaker, a photo with someone of reputation, or some meaningful endorsement for a local cause that your film might address.
Larger Festivals and More Prestige
If you are looking for some prestige, then you should consider several options.
Working Up the Ladder
Entrance into some festivals can help get you into get into others. If festivals see that you have played elsewhere, they will often take that as a sign that it was well received and that will improve your chances of getting your work into their festival too. Success can carry you up the ladder. The opposite effect is also true in that lesser known festivals will use your success at the better festivals to promote themselves. Everyone wins.
Use the Calendar to Plan Month by Month
Look at all the festivals that you would like to get into within the next 12-18 months. Pick the first one you want to get into. List the entrance fees and the early bird and late deadlines. Do that with all of the festivals. Make a budget for fees and a schedule to send you film out. Put it on a spreadsheet and tape it to a wall, or put it on a calendar. You need to live by those dates.
You will have only a short time to promote your film once it is made. Festivals want fresh work, and they often have a requirement that your film was finished recently. Also, you will likely grow or change as a filmmaker, and you will tire of the subject or material, so you will need to gather your strength and determine your stamina for promoting your film for the time to come.
Fees and Extra Costs
Look at the fees for a whole year of festivals, and set aside or raise from family and friends for the festivals. Consider 25-50 festivals as a good target, perhaps, to send to. Your entrance fees will range from free to $25–$75 per festival. You should plan to cover costs for postage, business cards, post cards, posters, travel expenses (by car or plane), food, hotels, and ideally some extra money to ensure some cast or crew can attend. Keep in mind that you made this film to be seen, so you need to get it out for others to enjoy and to promote yourself, so this is a necessary cost of the process.
You Might Get Your Money Back in the Long Run…
If you get into enough festivals and are lucky enough to get distribution, then you may get money to help you with your next film. You will need to find distributors who feel comfortable knowing that you can make a good film at a low price for them. They do attend festivals, and you will need to plan your career with them in the future, if you are lucky.
Awards help you elevate the status of your film. There are local awards, industry awards, and there are awards from festivals. You will want a few of them to help improve your stature as a filmmaker and you will want your film to have won a few prizes as well. Search through the festivals that might be a good fit for your film. Do you have “Best original song,” “Best actor,” “Best title sequence”? Sometimes festivals give special prizes, and you will want to know which festivals have them in advance, and then to use that to your advantage if possible. You can will a regional, national, or even an international award for a part of your film, not just the film as a whole.
Look carefully at the industry awards that filmmakers can earn. Whether it is a Webby, Peabody, Telly, Oscar (open to college students), a Cine Golden Eagle, Emmy, or some other industry award, these are recognized by all as being worthy awards, and having them is something that can help your career and promote your film.
Private Screenings and Mentors
Aside from festivals themselves, there are also private screenings that you might be able to arrange or be invited to. These can build your local reputation and help you gather people around you that might be able to find you a job, help you with connections, help you find some funding or distribution, or simply be mentors to you as you build your career. Having mentors and experienced people to turn to will be helpful throughout your life and career, as you move from job to job in different parts of the industry. One advantage of private screenings is that they may not have any local press component, and they will not exempt you from larger prizes and premieres.
If a festival requires that your film premiere there, then you can sidestep this by having a small screening that will still give you the feedback and experience that you need without compromising your chances at the larger festivals.
Filmmaking is a Business, Not a Hobby
The best filmmakers plan their work around the festival circuit, and they know in advance where they would like to premiere, to whom they want to show it, and where they will find distributors for this film as well as financing for their next film. You should get in the habit of thinking about this business cycle so that you will remember you are making the films to be sold. If you are making the film only for yourself, you need to consider that you need to transition towards the business model if you want to be in the industry. Very few people can self-finance films and manage their own distribution. It can be done on a small scale, but it is not a career for most. Yes, there is self-distribution and there are models for that, but let’s set aside for now. If you want to be in the business of making films–getting paid to make them–then you will want to think like an executive every time you pick up your camera, choose a festival, or put our your press releases, or create social media.
The Take Away?
Plan your festivals and media campaign, set aside for fees and promotion, and have your next film script already finished before you even shoot your first film. You will want to tell people not only about this film, but your next project, and how you’d like their help and money to make it happen.
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