The Slate – Backstage’s live series of online talk-backs, classes, seminars, and industry discussions – will help turn time on your hands to your advantage. Today, we hear advice from BAFTA Award-winning filmmaker and producer Lowri Roberts on how to do your film justice by nailing the process of entering it into festivals and awards.
For anyone using this time to make their own short film, there’s plenty to take away from our chat with Lowri Roberts. Her graduate short Girl was screened at a raft of festivals and won a BAFTA Cymru, launching her into other projects, including producing with Maisie Williams and as one part of the Frank Film Podcast. Here are some of the top takeaways, including a great plan for festival submissions and dealing with the knock backs.
On how to keep your short film short
“Make the script short to start with – it makes your life way easier. If there’s something that’s not needed, get rid of it. If you have shot it and are into the edit, it’s as simple as thinking about the film like you’re someone who’s not seen it before. Ask: ‘Can it work without this?” And: ‘Is this doing much for the film?’ And make sure it’s not just you in the edit – find people you have really good and open relationships with. For Girl, I had an editor and another producer in the room at all times – people who weren’t nervous to say: ‘I don't really fancy that shot.’ ”
How To Make a Film in the UK On ‘making a plan’ with your festival submissions
“When I was making Girl, I knew I wanted to put it into festivals, so I made a plan and applied to the big ones. Only a few, because it’s really expensive. Really research your festivals, find out what kind of films they screen, what they go for, who the festival programmers are. Listen to talks they’ve done or anything they’ve written. If you have anything niche about your film, like your genre, or who or what it’s about, then incorporate that into your plan. I applied to loads of free ones as well as ones for female filmmakers or refugee experiences in film. Then, once we’d been screened as part of London Film Festival (LFF), we told other festivals. I think that helped get it into other places. We still got loads of rejections though!”
On getting into BAFTA – with a little help from a sponsor
“After it had been shown at LFF and Leeds International, it qualified for BAFTA but still, it costs so much to go to other festivals and I couldn’t keep pumping money into that – I’d just finished uni. So, I emailed a few different people, including a company that makes period-proof underwear, to see if they would watch and share it. But they got back to me and said they’d sponsor it, so we got a bit of money from them to go to other festivals and to submit to BAFTA.”
On age not being a barrier to getting into film
“I think being ‘too old to start’ isn’t a thing. I know there are some schemes, like Calling The Shots, who I worked for, who were 16–30 but so many people were above 30 and still a talent or emailing in, so they are talking about changing that. I hope that’s not a problem and it’s changing.”
On making use of facilities
“My uni had loads of great kit I never really made use of. I’m sure other unis have great stuff as well, so absolutely use it. Use the edit suites, get out with a camera and just make a film or practice using it. Practice recording sound, whatever you can do. I wish I’d done more.”
On dealing with rejections
“I think because I email so many people and apply to so many things, I’ve just got used to it. I don’t expect that much back. And not in a pessimistic way – I’m just like: ‘OK, that’s fine – I wasn’t right for it,’ or: ‘I’m not a fit.’ But if you keep applying for things and contact people, someone will come back. That’s how I got involved with Maisie Williams – I just sent an email.”
More industry advice for UK actors? Click here.