This post is meant to be more of a criticism of my choice to submit to film festivals and the viability of them as business plan options than it is of the fests themselves.
First, I want to make a few quick observations of fests that I have submitted to:
1.) Each film in the line up had already been to a prior film festival. Coincidence or not, many forums on festivals have commented that this is a common occurance. It's typical for most films to be rejected by many, many film fests. When it does finally get accepted to one, then more fests take a risk on it.
2.) I have also noticed that many festivals seem to choose films that all seem to have the same feel, or theme, to them.
3.) Most recently, films that get accepted to festivals have at least an A-list or B-list actor in it. (Which translates to: films with budgets between 1-15 million dollars. Most people don't have a "Uncle Vinny" who can bankroll a production of this size.)
4.) Unfortunately, unlike the era of THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT, distributors aren't really coming to fests to broker deals or acquire films like they used to. ( #4 is a sympton of #5)
5.) What intrigues "film fest junkies" generally doesn't interest the general population. Why? Because the indie crowd is a certain "niche market" and if your film isn't something that market would watch, you're in trouble.
The above are general observations applicable to any filmmaker who is looking at submitting into film festivals. Below, however, are some simple comments that others have made about my filmmaking style, etc. that you may want to consider:
1.) I don't fit the typical description of "indie filmmaker." -That is why I don't necessarily describe myself as such. Most indie films are described as "small personal films" (low concept films that are mostly filled with dialogue) or they are described as edgy (stuff that wouldn't go over well with the mainstream population.)
Most indie films also don't spend months creating effects that blend seamlessly in their film or spend extra time recording and adding folly sound. And, they usually don't build elaborate set pieces. (Like the cave which we built for AMNESIA).
The fact is that the festival directors select films that they believe their audience will want to watch. Opinions, opinions...
The fact is that the festival directors select films that they believe their audience will want to watch. Opinions, opinions...
2.) I've had less success at film festivals than I have everywhere else.
A year ago, my film was requested by someone connected to a festival in Maine. They asked that I give them a copy and then they would send it in, submission free, as almost a shoe-in. I rescheduled my statewide tour based upon this fact, but, at the end, someone on the selection committe decided that they didn't want the film in. Even though this was dissapointing, it worked to my advantage.
I still toured the state (6 theaters from the top to the bottom), had almost every TV station, newspaper and a couple radio stations run extensive stories on the film... We even drew the attention of the minority leader of the State Senate so much so that she requested her VIP pass and came to one of the screenings. The news reporters all talked about how they were excited that someone who grew up in Maine would actually make a film, and it wasn't just a bunch of people sitting around talking... The films who did make it into that Maine film festival were not even mentioned by the media in comparison to my film.
After the tour, we submitted to SXSW. They decided to not run the fil, but once again, I was given more attention than most of the films that ran at that fest because we created RebFest.com. Yahoo! News ran a story on RebFest, which featured AMNESIA as the main topic of the story. How many films from SXSW were mentioned on Yahoo! News?
My point is this... In my experience, at this point, I have found that I have gained more attention for my film and connected with far more people by not being accepted to film festivals.
Each filmmaker needs to evaluate what is the best direction for his/her film. Today, there are far more options than there were years ago, but the mindset for film promotion, overwhelmingly, is that we still have to do the fest circuit. Finally, more and more filmmakers are questioning that mentality.
I am at a crossroad as a filmmaker. Some of my films fall under what I call Tier I films (high concept, expensive) and the other half under Tier II (smaller concept, affordable). I am considering sending query letters to agents and studios to pitch the Tier I projects (like James Cameron or George Lucas did back in the day). I am considering producing independently the Tier II scripts, but not sending them to fests. I'm considering promoting my Tier II films by doing something no one else has done before...
Times change.... filmmakers need to adapt... or their dreams die.
