Jump to content

What film festival should I submit to, for a 25min short film to get recognition/ attention?


Recommended Posts

On 5/23/2021 at 10:11 AM, Wendy Sanders McDonlad said:

But what is the standard Hollywood way? 

Mommy and Daddy make a couple phone calls and immediately get you on professional film sets in positions higher than a PA. Or immediately get you jobs/commissions with corporations with money to spend. Classic nepotism.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Max Field said:

Mommy and Daddy make a couple phone calls and immediately get you on professional film sets in positions higher than a PA. Or immediately get you jobs/commissions with corporations with money to spend. Classic nepotism.

This seems simplistically cynical.  Even to me.  You can't give a total newbie tons of responsibility without setting them up to fail miserably and embarrass themselves and the person who recommended them.

Climbing a ladder is different for each department and personal relationships may allow you to jump in at a rung above where you were on your last gig but there are typically mechanisms in place keeping everyone where they ought to be based on skillset and experience level.  These include but are not limited to unions, guilds, bond companies, insurance companies etc.  That's the Hollywood way. It's a byzantine hierarchy of legalese and economics.  

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Premium Member
2 hours ago, Max Field said:

Mommy and Daddy make a couple phone calls and immediately get you on professional film sets in positions higher than a PA. Or immediately get you jobs/commissions with corporations with money to spend. Classic nepotism.

Yes, it's a lot of "my kid can do that for ya" and they generally start out low on the totem pole, but they can work up much faster. 

I think this happens much less than you think. Where the nepotism people do probably get a lot of work they don't deserve, reality is they account for such a small population its not even registered. The vast majority of the work is done by people who meet others, you know this... the person who always uses their friends on shoots and then they network on the shoots to get even more work. Once you have that door opened to you without really trying, it's so easy to use it and open more doors. Heck, people open new doors through me all the time and I welcome it. That's the typical way of doing things and in media cities like NY and LA, you can get away with this for sure. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Have to agree with the general sentiment here that the film festival racket is best likened to a lottery, whether it be shorts or feature films. And now on top of that I'd add to what Tyler mentioned in the other thread, unless your project is 'woke' or filled with blatant 'virtue signaling' your chances are even further diminished. While I consider myself a left leaning centrist I don't think these or any ideology political or otherwise should be used to screen out or exclude films that do not extol any agenda. In the past, writing and story came first and whatever message might be in the subtext was handled with subtlety and conscience but was still powerfully evoked. Today most often, it's driven home with a sledge hammer. This goes for many studio films now as well, but just check out the films being selected by most festivals especially shorts and if your going to even bother submitting best cover that base first.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...