A Memo To Fellow Filmmakers:

I have been lucky enough to snag a part-time gig with a high profile, International Film Festival this summer. As someone who makes movies, I thought I would post some thoughts/tips on festivals for fellow filmmakers.

As the first person to open your film when it gets to the office, I DO NOT CARE about your sparkly, expensive folder or your 15 color photos or your thesis on why you made this film. Please DO NOT put your film in an envelope inside another envelope, bubblewrapped with duct tape. And think about your cover, and your title, because that is what we see and read. With over 1400 submissions, film festivals DO NOT have time to read anything or look at your press kit or cover letter. We will open your package and dig for the film and PROMPTLY throw everything else away. You might think this is harsh or unintelligent, but if your movie is good (and that is all that matters) and the festival wants to program it, then we will ask you for extra material, or for press photos, etc. Save your money by saving our time.

And of course I share all of this with love, because I understand that as a filmmaker among thousands of other filmmakers, you want to stand out. You think that maybe if you put in a coupon for a free hamburger (true story) that a programmer might look at your film more carefully. But honest to god it’s not true and we as filmmakers should spend all of our extra time and money and thought into making a good film.

The major tip that I want to tell filmmakers is to get your film some “buzz.” How the festival thing usually works is the programmers will “curate” films — they will go to other festivals, private screenings, talk to industry people, and request certain films for their festival. Now, not all of us filmmakers are connected or at the point where our film will be “curated.” Besides the curated films, programmers will skim through all submissions before they are distributed to the screening committee to see if they recognize any of the films that have come in. THIS IS A REALLY IMPORTANT STEP FOR FILMMAKERS. Let’s say you have a short film and you really want it to get into a specific festival, if the programmer sees your film in the pile and recognizes the name, they will often pull it and watch it themselves. By getting your film known to the programmers, they will ultimately give it more attention then they would a film they’ve never heard of. This is basically called “creating buzz”.

Now, how can you do this? Well, firstly, get to know the film community that you are trying to tap. My festival is based in Manhattan, and if you do enough research you can learn about the people who run it. Maybe the Director of Programming is a film teacher and you know someone who is in his class. Maybe the shorts programmer is a frequent attendant at a certain weekly movie screening. Learn who these people are, and where you might be able to talk to them. Networking is really important, and doesn’t have to be super lame. NY for example has millions of amazing film-related parties and screenings that are crawling with programmers…because that is their job…to watch movies. So much of this is who you know. Meet as many industry people and other filmmakers as you can and have a private screening. Invite everyone you know to this screening and find out if anyone you know, knows any festival programmers. Having someone send a short email to a programmer mentioning your film can do wonders.

I know it probably seems harder than it sounds and I’m NO expert, but being behind the scenes a bit and being as observant as possible, I can pull out little tips that might help us filmmakers a little bit.

As the summer goes on I will keep my eyes and ears peeled and post more of my findings here!