TRUE INDIE: Film Festivals – A Guide to The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

Rebecca Norris is a writer and filmmaker with her production company Freebird Entertainment. Her award-winning self-produced feature film, Cloudy With a Chance of Sunshine, is currently on the festival circuit. Rebecca also writes the Writers on the Web column for ScriptMag where she explores the production process of creating web series, and enjoys teaches screenwriting classes and webinars through Screenwriters University and The Writers Store. Follow Rebecca on Twitter at @beckaroohoo!

Click to tweet this article to your friends and followers!

Any indie filmmaker loves to say they currently have a “film on the festival circuit.” And why not? Film festivals are exciting, offer opportunities to network with other filmmakers and distributors, and of course, provide a chance for your hard work to be praised and recognized with awards. Plus, you have an excuse to go shopping for red carpet gowns and jewelry, and get your hair and makeup done as a work expense. I mean, c’mon...

When people think of film festivals, it’s easy to jump straight to the top-tier ones — Sundance, SXSW, Austin, Cannes, Venice, Berlin, etc. — which are wonderful, but the reality is is that those festivals accept a very small percentage of films, and are bombarded with tens of thousands of entries from around the world every year. Not to mention they can be quite pricey to attend.

You actually don’t have to be accepted by one of the top-tier festivals to have a successful festival run and find distribution. There are thousands of festivals worldwide to submit to, of varying degrees of quality and pedigree, of course.

For features, the cost of submitting your film to each festival is usually in the $60-100 range, and since submissions are a bit of a numbers game, you want to submit to as many as possible to have a shot at getting into multiple festivals. That means potentially spending anywhere from $3,000-$10,000 just on submissions, with no guarantees you’ll get accepted anywhere (Yikes!). That doesn’t include the cost of marketing materials and travel to the festivals. Not every festival will be right for your project, so it’s important that you do as much research as you can beforehand to make sure you’re spending your money and your time wisely.

To help you know what to look for in festivals you’re submitting to, I’ve created this mini-guide to help you separate the wheat from the chaff. Based on my experience thus far, I’m going to break film festivals down into three general types: The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly. I won’t be sharing names of specific festivals but rather will give you an idea of what to look for and what to look out for.

The Good

Good festivals are organized and filmmaker-friendly. When they accept your film, they give you advance notice and a reasonable amount of time to get your deliverables (exhibition copies of the film, press kit, marketing materials, etc.) sent into them. They also give filmmakers at least 1-2 badges for entry into screenings, parties, award shows, and galas for free or a nominal cost. They often throw in a couple of comp tickets so a filmmaker can invite industry professionals like agents and distributors at no charge.

Good festivals also provide laurels quickly after acceptance so you can start promoting your appearance at the festival right away. They announce your screening date(s) within a reasonable amount of time so you have ample opportunity to attract an audience. They have dedicated festival directors and staff who answer emails quickly and respond to questions and/or concerns.

Good festivals understand that indie filmmakers aren’t rolling in dough, and will sometimes pay to fly their favorite filmmakers in, or create partnerships with nearby hotels for discounted rates. A great festival I went to earlier this year even offered free airport transfer from area airports to the festival hotels. Good festivals often announce award nominations in advance, so that filmmakers can promote themselves and also determine if they need to spend the money to attend the awards ceremony or not.

When it comes to selling tickets, good festivals have easy-to-navigate websites and ticket pages where moviegoers can easily find your film, and the ticket prices are reasonable. The screenings are generally held in movie theaters and/or professional screening rooms. Some large festivals may also incorporate additional auditoriums or venues that have screening capabilities.

Good festivals are often tied into their communities, and can sometimes offer press connections like interviews in local newspapers and radio shows so you can promote your screenings.

During the festivals, good ones usually have a filmmaker check-in to pick up badges, and often have a filmmaker lounge with gift bags, treats, and resources for filmmakers, as well as a place to relax and network between screenings. Screenings are often well-attended by members of the community and other filmmakers. They also tend to offer an array of panels with industry professionals that offer guidance and advice to filmmakers.

Good festivals usually have a red carpet with a step-and-repeat with lights, and professional photographers so filmmakers and actors can glam it up. During screenings, good festivals tend to have professional technicians that know how to project films in theaters.

Lastly, good festivals tend to have several award categories so there are multiple opportunities to be recognized. Categories for Best Film and Best Director are common, however, good festivals often branch out into Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Cinematography, Best Screenplay, Best Score, and Audience Award categories so that great work doesn’t go unnoticed. They may even break them down further into Best Comedy Film and Best Drama Film categories, and even Supporting Actor and Actress.

Good festivals often provide award statuettes or at least certificates for award-winning filmmakers to take home. If a filmmaker isn’t present at the awards ceremony, arrangements are made for the statuette or certificate to be mailed in a reasonable amount of time.

The Bad

Bad festivals may exhibit several characteristics of good festivals, like panels, multiple award categories and discounted accommodations, but tend to be disorganized and chaotic. There may not be a dedicated or professional staff, so emails either take a long time to get responded to, or go unanswered.

Disorganized festivals also tend to inform filmmakers late in the game that they’ve been accepted, yet often have a quick or almost immediate deadline for deliverables to be sent in. They tend to also send laurels late (or don’t send them at all), and take a long time to determine screening dates so there’s less opportunity to promote screenings. Badly-run festivals also tend to struggle with marketing and promoting so there isn’t much in the way of press interest or community involvement. Their websites and ticket sales pages tend to be outdated-looking, confusing, and hard to navigate, sometimes one endlessly scrolling page of films and panel listings that make it difficult to find a particular title.

While almost all festivals offer screening badges to filmmakers, bad ones sometimes make filmmakers pay high prices for all of the events, including the opening night ceremony, awards show, and after parties. They tend not to offer comps so all of the filmmakers’ guests, even industry pros, are required to pay.

At the festival, there may or may not be a filmmaker check-in, and it may be a disorganized process with untrained volunteers. Screenings may have technical issues, including DVD and Blu-Ray difficulties, and problems with digital files.

Bad festivals may not have a step-and-repeat for press pictures, or they have a shoddy one that looks cheapo. They usually don't have lights or professional photographers available.

Badly-run festivals also may have disorganized and chaotic awards shows. They may either give too many awards or not enough awards, and the presentations themselves may be long, disjointed, or have technical problems. If you’re not there to collect the award, you may never see the statuette that you earned. Badly-run festivals tend not to attend to filmmakers’ requests or issues once the festival is over, if they ever attended to them at all.

This all being said, no festival is ever perfect. There are a million moving parts and something is bound to fall through the cracks. However, when you've screened in a great or good festival and then screened in a bad one, the difference is obvious and significant.

The Ugly

A very small percentage of festivals could be considered scammy. Not only do they tend to be disorganized and not answer filmmakers’ emails, but they often feel like a bit of a money grab. I’ll illustrate with a few examples we’ve dealt with of scammy behavior to look out for:

How to Sniff Out a ‘Good Festival’

Most film festivals do have the best interest of the filmmakers at heart, and do their best to promote the films and put on a good show. You won’t necessarily be able to sniff out all the bad ones right away, because sometimes you can’t see that they’re disorganized or scammy until you’ve already been accepted and you’re knee-deep in the process. However, if you research these things beforehand you’ll have a better chance of submitting to the right ones and spending your money wisely:

Another way to find good festivals is in the lists that get released each year from publications like MovieMaker Magazine. However, make sure that you still vet these festivals to make sure they’re a good fit for your film and your pocketbook.

Okay, I’ve talked your ear off for long enough! But I still have more to say about festivals, so be on the lookout for more articles coming soon about how exactly to submit your film to festivals and what to do once you’re accepted, to give yourself the best possible shot at success!

The Complete Filmmaker's Guide to Film Festivals:
Your All Access Pass to Launching Your Film on the Festival Circuit

Targeting the Right Festivals
Promoting and Branding Your Film
Promoting and Branding Yourself