Festival strategy.

Posted on March 20, 2007

It has always been said, “pick your world premiere carefully, you only have one of those.” Not taking those words lightly, I’m trying to decide where that will (if accepted) happen. The problem is, there are so many to pick from and this is something I’m not well versed in. I’m learning as much as possible about the bigger ones, but also keeping in mind that I am at the mercy of those who decide what gets in and what doesn’t.

I’ve decided to put that aside for the time being. For now, a calendar is being constructed with all the festivals I’d like to enter. I’m trying to narrow the choices down based on some criteria I’ve come up with. First, while it is an extreme long shot to be nominated for an Oscar, any festival that is an Academy qualifier gets a good hard look. Second, I’d like to enter the big name festivals (Sundance, Cannes, etc), just on the outside chance I get accepted. Thirdly, I’m looking for festivals that offer prizes. I’ll never recover the costs that I’ve spent on this film, but it would be nice to get something tangible out of it. And I don’t necessarily mean cash. Software, hardware, or film stock are all nice. Lastly, the rest of my choices are the ones with low or no entry fees. If a festival is an Oscar qualifier, offers a prize, and is a big name (most Oscar qualifying fests are), you can be sure I’ll be giving it a try.

Now for the ones I’m going to avoid. I won’t name any names, but some festivals take your work and put it on a DVD and distribute it around for their own profit. Forget it. First off, I don’t want to disqualify myself from other opportunities because the thing was put on a video compilation. Second, why let someone else make money from my hard work? If they share in the revenue, then maybe - long after my festival days are over. Next, I won’t enter any online festivals. That disqualifies you from a lot of things. Same goes for anything that will be shown on TV or cable.

There you have it. My strategy in a nutshell. Each night around midnight I browse Withoutabox.com and a few other festival websites to fill in my calendar. First things first, I need to completely finish this short!


Filed Under TDDUP-Festivals

Comments

One Response to “Festival strategy.”

  1. Rok Andic on March 21st, 2007 1:02 am

    Whoa,

    I’m in the process of making my own short film and haven’t even thought about this festival thing yet. But I guess I’ll have to deal with that later the same as you. Thanks for withoutabox.com link, looks really cool.

    Good luck on the festivals!

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