Why Its a Good Idea for Filmmakers to Apply to Smaller Film Festivals

So you have completed a film- Congratulations! Completion is, of course, the first all-important first step in getting somewhere in the film biz, now what? There are lots of options- but one of the most important to explore is your option in the world of the film festival. There are literally thousands of film festivals and it will come as no surprise that not all are equal in size or quality.

The most important mistake that filmmakers make where film festivals are concerned is that they simply do not apply to enough film festivals. It's not easy, in general, to get into film festivals and that is why its important to apply to as many as you possibly can. Film festivals can really help you get your work out there and most importantly can serve as a magnificent network opportunity. You must get into as many festivals as possible. Few things open up the eyes of a would-be producer or employer in the film industry as a few awards on your shelf. They may say it does mean that much- oh. but truth be told it does.

The second biggest mistake filmmakers can make is only applying to the "big festivals." It is certainly true that the big festival can and do launch careers, but guess what? Those same big festivals receive thousands of entries. Some of the better known, such as Sundance, often receive 6,000 or more a year for less than 200 slots. Look closely and you will see that many of these festivals are actually screening big-budget Hollywood films complete with stars. This reduces the number of slots open to the little independent filmmaker even more. Unfair, well sure it is, but it's also the way of the industry and the way of the world.

Go ahead and apply to a few of the big festivals, but remember that the bulk of your festival submission dollars should go to the smaller festivals that have less competition. Four or five awards from smaller festivals may not get you signed to a three-movie deal; however, it may help get you into the big festival you were initially aiming for in the first place. Be sure and let those big festivals know that you screened at the smaller festivals. It will definitely help. Additionally, if a programmers or audience members take a personal interest in your film at a smaller festival it can make a difference in the long run. You want other people running around championing the values of your film whenever possible so its not just you with your Hollywood Dreams looking for independent film financing or distribution.

Again, it's all about networking and just because the festival is small doesn't mean that there isn't anyone there that might take an interest in your work. Keep an open mind about smaller festivals, and be respectful to all those involved and you might be surprised what can happen.

By: Sara L. Gordon

About the Author:

Sara L. Gordon is currently working in the film industry. She studies independent film making and film distribution. http://www.squidoo.com/Getting-film-Funding

Source: GoArticles

It Takes an Iron Resolve to Make an Independent Film Production Happen

Commitment is an independent filmmaker's most valuable resource. Without a lot of money to grease the wheels of production, a low budget film producer must rely on creativity and determination to get their films made. If a person wants to get their film made badly enough, there is not much in this world that can stop it from happening.

Making a film on your own with your own money is a very daunting task. It can also be very rewarding. When you decide to take on the awesome responsibility of writing, directing, and producing your own independent film, you better know what you are getting into beforehand. Once you set the ball in motion, there is no going back. You either succeed and your film makes to the film festival circuit (which is a major accomplishment in and of itself), or you crash and burn halfway through the film production process and your film vision never sees the light of day.

The next time you watch a movie I suggest that you pay particular attention to the credits at the end of the film. Take a look at how many names scroll across the screen and this will give you an idea of how much work goes into the making of a motion picture. Then take away all of the names on the screen and picture your name in front of every credit for every job and this will give you an idea of how much work YOU will have to do to make your own movie.

When I first graduated from film school I hit the ground running. I landed a decent job as the Director and Animator on an independent film that had Pat Boone's name attached to it. I was hired to film clay animation stories about The Bible. I worked on that job for about four months and was paid fairly well for my efforts. I decided that the best thing I could do with the money I saved was to make another film. I would take the knowledge and money I gained and use it for my own benefit. I decided to make my own movie with the idea in mind that I would enter it in on the film festival circuit and hopefully win some awards. If that happened it would almost certainly be a boost for my fledgling film career.

I wrote a script for a short film that involved a combination of clay animation and live action, and I was ready to make a film. My plan was to use all of my knowledge and talent and do almost all the work. For the parts that I could not do myself I would hire friends and business associates at a substantially discounted rate. These people agreed to work for cheap in return for a little creative control, a credit for their demo reel, and possibly exposure if the film does well at any major film festivals. I only had to hire them for the filming of the live action scenes and for some of the post production work (like sound design, mixing, foley sound effects, etc...). The animation I would do entirely on my own.

I contacted a couple of friends of mine that managed camera and sound equipment rental houses. They set me up with a 16mm camera package and a DAT (digital audio tape) package to rent at discounted prices. I rented these packages on a weekend (to get the extra 2 days for free) and I started filming the live action part of my film right away.

I worked extremely hard that first weekend. I basically filmed most of the time with only about two to three hours of sleep each day. When I was not filming/acting/directing, I was setting up lights, moving furniture, making meals for everyone, setting up props, distributing and apply makeup, rehearsing with actors, fixing costumes, and performing script rewrites on the set, to name only a few things. By the time Monday morning rolled around, I was mentally and physically exhausted, but I still had to bring back the camera and sound equipment packages by 10:00 am or I would be charged for another day of rental. You do not have that luxury to just sleep in and not worry about it when you are making an independent film on a shoestring budget. There is no rest for the weary when you are making your own movie. Time is money, and you do not have a lot of either one of these resources.

I returned the camera and sound equipment packages just in time on Monday morning. Then I went straight to the film lab and dropped off my film. I then made an appointment for the following week (the soonest date I could get) to see my dailies (developed film), and counted the days until the day of my appointment arrived.

I arrived at the film lab a half hour early for my appointment to see my dailies. As I sat in the lobby waiting for my big moment, I began to get very nervous. Unnerving thoughts began to fill my head. What if one of the rolls of film somehow got damaged in the lab? Maybe the machine that develops the film broke when my film was running through it and all of my film rolls are scratched? What if the cameraman I hired was not as good as his demo reel implied and all my rolls are under or over exposed? What if the guy who took my film at the front desk of the film lab is a disgruntled filmmaker who only took that job so he can ruin other people's film when they hand it over to him? What if there was a mishap in the film vault involving fire sprinklers and all my rolls of film got ruined? Of course, all of these are irrational thoughts, but nonetheless they are the kind of thoughts that go through the mind of an independent filmmaker as they are quietly waiting in the lobby of a film lab facility prior to their appointment to see the fruits of their efforts.

As it turned out, everything was fine. My dailies looked great and that only inspired me to keep the ball rolling with my film project. I put every ounce of effort that my body and soul possessed into that project, and it paid off. That film (Mike And The Magic Lamp) won several awards at several film contests that year (1998) including a Silver Award at the Houston Worldfest in the same category that had seen past winners with such names as Steven Spielberg, Oliver Stone, and Quentin Tarantino. It was a perfect springboard for my film career. I have made several films since then and all of them have led to bigger and better projects. My latest film is a ninety minute science fiction love story. I already have a couple of distribution offers for this film, and I have yet to enter it in a single film festival. I should be able to make a very decent profit if it does well on the film festival circuit, and I owe it all to my iron resolve to make my film career dream a reality. Where my budget was lacking, my determination picked up the slack.

By: Michael Connelly

About the Author:

Michael P. Connelly is an Author and Filmmaker who travels the world making low budget independent films and writing about his enriching exeriences.

Source: FreeArticles

Film Festivals Can Be Very Kind To Independent Filmmakers

If you are one of those people who went to film school and still cannot understand why they did not teach you how to get a job in the film industry, then I suggest that you stop complaining, gather up all the creative, hard working film production people you know, make yourself an independent film and enter it in some film festivals. If you win an award at a prominent film festival your life may change very dramatically for the better. Even a small award at a small film festival will more than likely set you on the path to having a career in the film industry.

Most people attend film schools with big dreams of working in the Hollywood film industry and possibly even making a name for themselves. They have visions of red carpet interviews, Academy Awards acceptance speeches and stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. However, most of them will never see those dreams come to fruition and they will face endless frustration and disappointment instead.

After graduating from film school most people are expected to break into a business that is considered to be one of the most difficult in the world to find employment, unless you have connections, of course. For the ones without connections, it can be very frustrating. Unfortunately for them, the Hollywood film industry is run by a tight knit community that practices nepotism and rarely opens the door to newcomers.

If you want to break into Hollywood but your last name is not Barrymore, Begley, Cyrus or Sheen and the only connection you have is a cousin who manages your local movie theater, then your best chance of success is to make an independent film and enter it in film festivals. If you place in the top three of any category you enter you will usually be asked to send a film print of your movie so it can be screened to audiences that attend these events.

Film festival audiences are a combination of film critics, media reporters, film distribution representatives, film fans, celebrities and local residents. These are the people that can create a buzz about a movie after they see it. When a buzz is created about a movie at a film festival it usually starts in the theater lobbies and then works its way out into the media where it can take on a life of its own. If this happens to any independent film it is destined to succeed, and the independent filmmaker who made the film springboards into a career in the film industry. Just ask Robert Rodriguez or Quentin Tarantino about the value of film festivals and they will tell you.

Winning a top award at any film contest is a good thing for anyone who makes movies. With an award comes publicity, and publicity is the life blood for filmmakers and their careers.

Film distribution companies send people to film festivals to purchase products and they always follow the publicity to find their products. Many of the purchases they make are small movies made by people with very small budgets. An independent filmmaker can make a good profit from one of these distribution deals and make themselves bankable at the same time. If they can sell their movie to a distribution company, there is a good chance that they will be able to make more films with bigger budgets using money from investors, instead of their own hard earned money.

It is very important that you choose the right film festivals to enter your movie if you want to increase your chances of winning an award. Of course it would be nice to win a major award at an event like the Cannes Film Festival, The Toronto International Film Festival or the Sundance Film Festival. But you have to be realistic and set your sites on a contest that is friendly to small independent filmmakers and their independent films. Worldfest Houston International Film Festival and the Austin Film Festival are two examples of the type of film festivals that are friendly to this type of people who work with small budgets and big ideas. There are hundreds more contests out there and they come in all shapes and sizes.

The Cannes Film Festival, The Toronto International Film Festival and the Sundance Film Festival are the biggest and most publicized movie contests in the world. Unfortunately, they are also the most difficult ones for small independent films to be accepted into because of the high standards and politics that they employ.

Most of the films that win awards and get screened at the Big Three film festivals are made by independent film production divisions of the Big Six film studios like Warner Bros and Disney. By definition they are still considered to be independent films if no more than 50 percent of the funding comes from a major studio. But that fifty percent is usually millions of dollars, and this puts the production value in a whole different league than the movies that are made by small time independent filmmakers with miniscule budgets. Also, most of these big budget festival films have big Hollywood stars attached to them which makes them irresistible to the contest judges and management.

The Big Three film festivals have been invaded by the Big Six film production studios with big budget movies masquerading as independent films. This makes it very hard for a film that was shot with a digital camera on a shoestring budget to compete at Cannes, Toronto and Sundance. These kinds of films have a much better chance of winning an award at a film festival like Worldfest Houston or the Austin Film Festival because they are more interested in showcasing film talent than they are catering to the Hollywood film industry. Choose your film festivals wisely and you will increase your chances of winning an award and securing a distribution deal.

By: Michael Connelly

About the Author:

Michael P. Connelly is an Author, Artist and award-winning Filmmaker who writes on a variety of topics that effect people in their every day lives.

Source: FreeArticles