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everyone FOR a "Film Festivals" forum topic?


seth christian

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I think we should have a forum topic just for

Film Festivals. A good tool to get film-makers

out there involved in other peoples work, do's

and don'ts, keeping up with the film public and

whats going on and only opens up more opportunity

and support for people's films and dreams!

 

One reason is because trying to push a short film

out there for recognition and support (God forbid

any profit) is like trying

to eat chicken noodle soup with chop-sticks!

 

anyone with me?

Edited by seth christian
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that'd be awesome!

 

in fact...we're gonna be editing our first short film this month

and we wanta get it out there...but dont know really how to

push it.

for instance what festivals are even worth bothering with?

some of them seem like they're just here to take a few bucks

from aspiring dreamers and they dont really pull any weight

at all...and I know that the short film world only gets thicker

as technology gets thicker, but I could use a lot of help with

how to go about marketing the film.

 

thnaks yall

lea

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You can find out about a lot of fests right here, just select the month:

 

http://www.filmfestivals.com/ffs/search2.shtml

 

Some are short film fests only.

 

One thing you'll notice is that if you're black, hispanic, gay, or Jewish, there are A LOT of options for you to get your work out there. Plenty of fests dedicated to only those groups.

 

If you're a straight Christian white male, you'll have to compete in the main festivals with every one else.

 

Oh well, a reality of North American society I guess??????

 

R,

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One thing you'll notice is that if you're black, hispanic, gay, or Jewish, there are A LOT of options for you to get your work out there. Plenty of fests dedicated to only those groups.

 

If you're a straight Christian white male, you'll have to compete in the main festivals with every one else.

 

Oh well, a reality of North American society I guess??????

 

Oh yes terrible isn't it considering there are so many black, hispanic, gay and jewish related films hogging the screens in mainstream cinemas!

 

;)

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I'm not looking for a link where I can start searching for festivals...I'm asking for advice on which festivals

are worth submitting to and get good publicity, exposure, reviews, etc. (besides Cannes, Sundance and Berlin)

I'm looking for help on how to get our short film out there in a serious way.

 

thanks guys,

lea

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Oh yes terrible isn't it considering there are so many black, hispanic, gay and jewish related films hogging the screens in mainstream cinemas!

 

;)

 

Well I could then argue that these "specialty" fests are in no way serving the groups they are intending to serve. As you point out, their work isn't making it into the mainstream.

 

R,

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I'm asking for advice on which festivals

are worth submitting to and get good publicity, exposure, reviews, etc. (besides Cannes, Sundance and Berlin)

I'm looking for help on how to get our short film out there in a serious way.

 

thanks guys,

lea

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Well I could then argue that these "specialty" fests are in no way serving the groups they are intending to serve. As you point out, their work isn't making it into the mainstream.

 

R,

how many festival hits DO make it into the mainstream, period?

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Well I could then argue that these "specialty" fests are in no way serving the groups they are intending to serve. As you point out, their work isn't making it into the mainstream.

 

R,

how many festival hits DO make it into the mainstream, period?

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how many festival hits DO make it into the mainstream, period?

 

Very few, most commercial film companies do not waste time and money with fests. They go direct into distribution.

 

Certainly there are for all intents and purposes zero people that have a short film shown at a major festival and then get offered a chance to make a studio feature. Yes, I know it has happened so don't quote me the names. But the number is statistically irrelevant.

 

Even getting into Sundance doesn't mean much on the sales front, read this:

 

"There's this mythology that at Sundance Harvey Weinstein will walk into the screening and write you a check for $1 million," says Matt Dentler, producer for the South by Southwest film festival. Only 5 percent of the 122 feature films in competition at Sundance?in 2007, culled from 3,287 entries?get any sort of deal, major or minor. Some odds."

 

From:

 

Christian Science Monitor:

 

http://www.iffboston.org/pastfest/press_st...=2007&pr=59

 

R,

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wow! I didn't realize the level of pessimism was so high among young filmmakers...and maybe yur just laying down the facts...which is

fine;howver, if we all focused on the facts, we'd never attempt anything at all. for me, the slim chances can be part of the fun, maybe

others aren't as competitive as I am....or maybe most of you have tried countless times in this arena that you'rall so bitter about pushing

another short film again...because you have no money anymore.....who knows?

But what I DO know is that....I dont care about the odds....I care about finding some advice on how to push my short in areas that have

at least a small chance of beating those odds, or at least areas to NOT explore with my short because its a waste of time.

As my dad used to tell me, "attempting success is always better than settling

for mediocrity or nothing at all." because years from now I guarantee you'll look back and say, "boy, I wish I would have at least tried."

 

 

is there anyone out there that can give some HELPFUL advice on which directions are a good one to try and push a short film?

which fests or sites, etc. are a waste of time and which ones command respect and carry a weight of at least a chance?

and if going straight to DVD is more of a plausable route, what are some ways to get that distribution going? and out there?

 

I know this is a multiple question, but I think you know what I'm trying to get at. :-)

 

thanks ya'll

Edited by ross e lea
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Well besides giving you a list of fests to try, what else do you want? We can't hold your hand through the process. You submit your film and see what happens like every one else.

 

It's like any thing, it's a numbers game, the more fests you enter the better your chances of getting into one or two.

 

As a rule I would avoid obvious "hole in the wall" festivals. There are people out there that run festivals as a way of making money, they take your check, and dump your DVD in the garbage. Stick with the main festivals in major cities and this won't happen.

 

I don't think any one can give you a list of, "best possible places for your short film." I had a short film shown at the Miami Short Film Festival, it's a good one (the festival), but that info is of little value to you.

 

As for:

 

"and if going straight to DVD is more of a plausable route, what are some ways to get that distribution going? and out there?"

 

There is little to zero distribution available for short films. They are done as a loss leader and resume piece to build experience and a reel. Not much else. Some cable ops may use the very best ones as filler.

 

A few web based companies are trying to start up and "sell" short films on cell phones etc, this business model has a ways to go.

 

R,

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I think we should have a forum topic just for

Film Festivals. A good tool to get film-makers

out there involved in other peoples work, do's

and don'ts, keeping up with the film public and

whats going on and only opens up more opportunity

and support for people's films and dreams!

 

One reason is because trying to push a short film

out there for recognition and support (God forbid

any profit) is like trying

to eat chicken noodle soup with chop-sticks!

 

anyone with me?

 

This problem has been around since the silent film era.

 

It doesn't seem to matter what type of creative or other sort of publically visible endeavour one tries to participate in these days, the same problem arises over and over:

 

You are going to find that for every person who wants to make films, there will he hundreds more who just want to "be film makers".

For every person who wants to act, there will be hundreds more who just want to "be actors".

For every person who wants to write poetry, there will be hundreds more who just want to "be poets".

For every person who wants to make music, there will be hundreds more who just want to "be musicians".

For everybody who wants to write stories, there will be hundreds more who just want to "be writers" and so on ad nauseum.

 

The vast majority of these people will be almost (if not totally) talentless, seeking not so much the satisfaction of their creative urges, but approval, adulation, or (in the case of males) a palatable substitute for a dating service!

 

It's horrible, but it's also the reality.

 

And if you want to suggest that there should be some sort of screening system to sort out the true talent from the riff-raff, well, yes, most of the riff-raff couldn't agree more! They typically are impervious to the notion that they might be the ones that need to be weeded out!

 

How could you do this anyway? Suppose you've made a DVD of a five minute short, or a trailer of your project. Unless it's spectacularly good or spectacularly bad from the start, it's going to take at least five minutes to properly evaluate. Get a hundred of those in the mail, and that's at least eight hours' non-stop work, not counting the time it takes to reply to each hopeful, which can take at least as long. Do the math.

 

There are hundreds of mainstream films released each year, most of which are made by professionals with reasonably sized budgets. Most people only have the time to look at a small fraction of those; who has the time and inclination to spend half their waking life looking at what mostly turn out to be beginners' low-budget/no-budget efforts? Certainly not professional film-makers! Somehow I don't think I'd feel too happy about a selection process that depended on someone prepared to do that.

 

I can assure you, the decision makers at the big studios would be over the moon if somebody could come up with a reliable way of automatically grading and selecting demos from unknowns, becasue they are keenly aware that there might be needles of talent in all that hay. So would recording companies and the submissions editors of most book publishing houses! But at present here is no reliable way of doing this.

 

After all my years in the industry, it's certainly not something I would look forward to! I've sat through far too many eye-glazing industry " at awards nights shorts" sections, thinking all the time: "And this is the best of our up-and-coming talent...."

 

Anyway, this is what you are up against. Don't flame the messenger :lol:

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thank you Richard, THAT was a little more helpful.

 

yeah...seems like someday there could be a method of submitting

and distributing to movie gallaries--for free, they dont have to buy the copies--where there would be an established section

for short films which could be rented for lets say 49cents. Then a percentage would go to the movie gallary company as well as a percentage

to the filmmakers.

But all that can be done as far as this method right now is pretty much having an uncle who owns a movie gallary and him putting it on the

shelf to rent for 49cents.

 

otherwise, I understand what most are saying.....there's no pull to attract the public to buy or rent short films unless there's a famous name

in it. after all, the famous saying goes when someone hears about any film....., "who's in it?"

 

has anyone tried to push a short to DVD?

what was your method and outcome?...

and what would you do differently next time?

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yeah...seems like someday there could be a method of submitting

and distributing to movie gallaries--for free, they dont have to buy the copies--where there would be an established section

for short films which could be rented for lets say 49cents. Then a percentage would go to the movie gallary company as well as a percentage

to the filmmakers.

 

 

the problem with this would be (and this would take a big name or company with power behind it) to collectively get blockbuster, hollywood video, movie gallary, what have you...

to get them to MAKE ROOM in their $2000/month leased store for films BY A NO-NAME, and WITH NO-NAME's IN IT, and BEING ONLY 20MINUTES LONG for the most part....then

trying to convince them (even though they'd be free to obtain)

would profit anything at all...when they could use that space for at least older movies that would have a greater chance at renting anyways.

 

AND, the other issue is there would HAVE TO BE some sort of filtering responsibility by someone (good luck getting blockbuster or the other ones to hire people for that) because

the short film industry's basket is SOOOO deep, that there'd only be small area in the store to show only qualified ones anyway.

 

I dont foresee this ever happening unless some Scorsese stepped up and decided to make a nation-wide short film rental franchise! not sure if it would pan out or not...I dont think

it would fly...cuz the public is saturated in the full-feature hollywood standard and short film viewers are mostly just filmmakers, actors, film schools and an occasional film nut/connoisseur.

 

thats my 2 cents

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Make your short film any way, with a budget you can afford to lose. You are investing in your self if your name is on it. You can't learn filmmaking from books, you have to learn by doing. So you can't lose by making your short film.

 

Forget making money off it, that won't happen.

 

Submit to festivals and see what doors open, it's a long hard road for us all.

 

R,

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Make your short film any way, with a budget you can afford to lose. You are investing in your self if your name is on it. You can't learn filmmaking from books, you have to learn by doing. So you can't lose by making your short film.

 

Forget making money off it, that won't happen.

 

Submit to festivals and see what doors open, it's a long hard road for us all.

 

R,

There's always You Tube :P

Well, it works for Mr Deity:

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