Getting to picture lock on your indie film can feel like crossing a marathon’s finish line but it’s really only the halfway point. Getting it in front of an audience and navigating the film festival circuit are separate challenges.
“There are two parts to film,” Peter Belsito, co-founder of Sydneysbuzz, a blog that covers the international fim business, said during a recent event hosted by Film Independent, a non-profit arts organization that champions indie filmmaking. “There’s the creative process of making the film and then there’s the business of distributing the film.”
For many filmmakers and actors-turned-producers, the business side of their creative endeavors can be uncomfortable terrain. Still, proper research and planning can help alleviate that. For instance, it’s important to distinguish between film festivals and film markets. While some acquisitions and distribution deals happen at the more than 10,000 festivals around the world, the vast majority of transactions take place at a handful of film markets and trade-show style events for the film industry.
“Sundance in their biggest year had 30 deals and a lot of them were just representation deals,” Belsito said at the Sept. 30 event in Los Angeles.
In fact, the main reason indie films show at festivals is marketing and a networking opportunity for the director, actors, and producers.
Belsito urged filmmakers to plan their festival appearances to coincide with their career arcs. “What are your plans for your career in five years? Work backwards, and then we’ll know how to proceed,” he said.
Moreover, filmmakers who have their eyes set on a career in L.A. would do well to focus their efforts on domestic festivals, whereas filmmakers with foreign passports may want to focus internationally. A filmmaker from Canada, for example, could use the international film festival circuit to explore the potential for international collaboration.
To maximize the press attention of a film making the circuit, submit to festivals with the right audiences. “If you have a gay film and you want to roll it internationally, Berlin is very good,” said Belsito. “Outfest, of course, is excellent.”
Do research on each festival before submitting. “Be very careful with who you say yes to first,” said Paul Cowling, Film Independent's associate director, film education. “You don’t want to blow your chances with a bigger festival who would want at least a regional premiere.”
First-showing rules aren’t uniform across the board and many festivals make exceptions in the short film category.
Festival submissions should be factored in at the early stages of a film’s life. Expenses like entry fees and travel costs should be a line item in a film’s budget. Cowling recommended budgeting some $10,000. “A publicist for a big festival, like Sundance, will cost you $5,000 minimum,” he noted.
Some expenses can be recouped at smaller festivals. “You could parlay your screening at a big festival like Sundance or Berlin into collecting a screening fee for showing at a smaller, regional festival,” said Cowling.
But if the film isn’t ready to show, don’t rush post production to meet a festival deadline, said Cowling. “You should spend more time getting your film right.”
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