Sundance Dreams Are Cute, But Do They Fit Your Film

Want your film to do more than collect laurels? We dig into the festival world with a practical, no-fluff blueprint that starts in development and ends with real distribution opportunities. Michelle, EP, filmmaker, and your resident Showrunher, lays out how to build a festival roadmap that actually fits your project, budget like a pro, and turn screenings into meaningful industry wins.

We walk through setting clear goals, press, sales, premiere status, awards, and using them to choose the right tiers: top prestige showcases, mid-tier staples, niche identity festivals, genre-specific hubs, and regional platforms. We also unpack Oscar-qualifying festivals for shorts, the reality of theatrical qualifying runs, and when to consider a festival agency.

Michelle shares runtime guidance for shorts, script alignment tips based on recent winners, and a social rollout playbook to amplify selections and premieres. Networking isn’t an afterthought here, you’ll get a plan for mixers, panels, and Q&As, plus the simple follow-ups that turn handshakes into collaborators, sales agents, and press.

If you’re mapping a 2–3 year festival run, this guide will help you protect your budget, raise your odds, and position your film where it belongs, on screens in front of the right people. Subscribe, share with a filmmaker who needs a strategy boost, and leave a review to help us grow the community.

Transcript

Welcome And Showrunher Mission

SPEAKER_03 0:00

What's up? It's your girl Michelle, aka Showrunher, your filmmaking coach. I'm an EP and a filmmaker who probably watches more filmmaking content than actual films. And I hope that that makes sense. So I decided to start a freestyle podcast where I just talk all things filmmaking. No heavy edits, no overproduction, just real conversations about filmmaking, funding, faith, and the real business behind getting your project from concept to screen. If you want to know more, you can head over to showrunher.com. That is S-H-O-W-R-U-N-H-E-R to download free resources, watch pre-recorded webinars, grab some freebies, or book a one-on-one session. I am also available for hire. All right, now let's get into today's episode.

Why Festivals Matter For Distribution

SPEAKER_03 0:49

Today we're gonna talk about film festivals. And I think it's really cool because I'm gonna record this class in case y'all want to listen to it. I love it for distribution. I love it for uh filmmakers, uh awards and being acknowledged for bringing a group of people together and creating something beautiful. So I think it's really good. But there is some strategy that is involved in film festivals. So we're gonna talk about that today. How to get into the festivals, how to increase your strategies. Um, also a little bit about film festival agents, and I'll touch on um sales agents, how they kind of help get your film into the festival world. And then I open up with a QA session. So any questions that you guys may have that is about the film festivals or just an indie filmmaking question, I'll answer it. So I cut my video off um because I'm recording this. So please feel free to cut your video off as I teach the class today. Hello, welcome. Welcome. All right, if at any time you guys cannot see um my screen or it starts to stall or my audio go out, please uh let me know. All right, all right, so welcome to uh mini uh masterclass and fest film festival world. And so you're probably here because you do want some type of distribution and film festivals um is one way to get your film seen and also probably probably picked up and acquired

Michelle’s Background And Resources

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for a theatrical release. So we'll talk a little bit about that. But first, let me tell you guys just a little bit about myself. My name is Michelle. I go on social media platforms as Showrun Her. I have been an indie filmmaker for 17 years, full time. I started off in the web series world and from there created uh content and had an S-Vod platform. And I have moved over to working on feature films, short films, documentaries. Um, from my experience on the web, I was then uh hired from a TV network where I learned brand and sponsorship. So I like to bring that to the indie film world because it's possible to work with brands and product placement. So I was grateful for that. And since then, I have been running a showrunner brand where I just literally um post out tips and gems for filmmakers so that you can achieve your dreams and most importantly, not have to shed some of the tears that I have had to shed along my 17-year journey. I love talking anything, filmmaking. So I'm glad that you guys are here. You could be anywhere else, but you're here. Um, also, I have a 21-day challenge that starts on Monday where I teach um every day is a different day of filmmaking from development to post-production, and festivals is one of those days. So we're going to try to condense in about an hour and 15-minute class into uh 30 minutes. Um, but please feel free to join if you want to be um a part of my 21-day challenge. Also, I have some free resources and downloads that you can grab at showrunner.com. So make sure you guys check that out. All right. Now that that is out the way, uh let's get started.

Class Agenda And Goals

SPEAKER_03 4:04

Well, welcome to the festival game. And in this 30 minutes crash masterclass course, I'm going to talk a little bit about um why a smart submission strategy really helps and pays off for uh filmmakers, um, how to find your festival that actually fits your niche, and then understanding what Academy Award Oscar festivals actually mean for your project, um, and how to maximize some of the freeway tools. I don't know if I have time to give an example, but we'll talk a little bit about uh film freeway and then how to really network at festivals. They're really important. Um what I like to tell or start off with when I am coaching or mentoring is understanding what it is that the filmmaker would like to do in their film career currently. Um, every season is just not the same. Sometimes filmmakers want distribution where they're streaming or theatrical. And then sometimes the distribution lane is to go through film festivals. And so, whatever it, wherever you are as a filmmaker, I want to be acknowledged for the work that I am doing. I want to have some press write-ups and and some things about myself and kind of get my name out there. I think festivals is um one of the best roadmaps to go down, the places to go for your actual film project. So um, first let's talk about the role of festivals um when we are trying to see what page I want to start off. Okay. Let's talk about the role of festivals when we're talking about in um distribution. So when we would like to have industry exposure, festivals really provide that platform. Um, it gives you an opportunity to meet and um get to know more about distributed distribution. You get to uh meet some distributors, um, buyers that are actually come to festivals and sales agents. So it's a great way to be exposed to the industry with key players

Festivals’ Role: Exposure And Feedback

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that actually come out to festivals to get to know filmmakers a bit more. Um also, when we're talking about film festivals, it's a good way to screen your actual film and get some audience feedback. Um, if you have ever been to festivals and the room has been crowded, at the end they do a QA session with directors or producers or somebody that is actually representing the team. Um, and then you get to people get to ask questions and they get to see where you are as a filmmaker, what made you create this film? And as you are watching that, you get to hear some real-time audience reactions. Um, and it kind of really gives you a boost of energy to see if, you know, the film that you are putting out there and what you intend the audience to get from it is actually getting from it. So I think it's a good way to get some audience feedback from real filmmakers and people that actually support who you are as a filmmaker. Um, also, festivals offer a lot of credibility and visibility. So if you are selected at some of the top festivals, it can definitely boost your film career with press partnerships, distribution opportunities, and really open doors uh for other producers and again um directors that come to uh these festivals and they're looking for the next, you know, hottest director, screenwriter, producer, or project to actually go onto um their streaming platform. So if you're nominated at some of the top festivals, it is amazing for um visibility with where you are in your career. Um I do want to talk a little bit about selecting the right film festivals because listen, when we do a short film, like our first response is hey, I want to go to the Sundance, I want to go to the Cannes. And you want to make sure that you are researching what your focus is to do at a festival and um what festivals work really well with your project? So it's about finding festivals that actually align with your genre, your theme, and your style. Every festival is not for every film or every film is not for every festival, you know. I do think it's really good to uh try to get some of the big festivals, but

Picking Festivals That Truly Fit

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um, you know, does that festival actually represent the type of film that you're trying to um, you know, go through distribution? Does it represent you as a filmmaker? Um, and so researching the festivals to make sure that they align with who you are and your project that you are actually submitting really matters. Um, I always tell people to build out a festival roadmap. And this, again, if you attend any of my classes, I always talk about all of this should be done in the development phase. You should know where your project is going to go, what you're doing with your project in development, because this will allow you to make some decisions in pre-production, production, and also post-production, especially with deadlines and timelines to festivals. Some, you know, uh have deadlines for June and some have deadlines for February. And depending on what type of festival you want to be a part of, what festival you actually want to premiere at, knowing the deadline for submission is going to help with your post-production team as you're finalizing your project. This is why it's important to understand what you're doing in development so that everyone knows what the deadline is and what our goal is and how to make your film fit whatever festival you're trying to have it to be a part of, even as something with the timing of your film. Some festivals take 40-minute short films, some festivals only take 20-minute short films. So if you don't know what you're doing before you start, um, you're gonna run into some problems when you come into post-production. But as you are building out your festival roadmap, I do advise to have some A-list festivals to be a part of your uh festival run, which should last about two to three years. So, hey, I want to be at the Sundance and the Cans, and then you're going to start to pick uh genre-specific niche festivals to help really complement and get your festival the best opportunity for a nomination. So decide whether you are targeting domestic or international markets because this matters in the festival world. Um, if you're thinking about like the Sundance and uh any of the ones that are here domestically, that is a different audience. Um, an international Cannes, this is a different audience. And so your project also, the what you're trying to say

Build A Festival Roadmap Early

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needs to be able to come over to the festival programmers at Cannes, just like at Sundance. So remember that you're making, um, when you're deciding which festival to be a part of, if you're going to choose international projects, make sure that your project has a, you know, global conversation where people can definitely understand what it is you're trying to say, whether it is, you know, okay, boy meets girl, they fall in love. We all understand that. And then you want to implement whatever, you know, horror or whatever it is that you tone are different type of take or understanding to it. But make sure your festival has a global reach if you're planning to be a part of any international markets as far as the storyline goes, because that does matter. Um, there are different types of festivals. There are some that are network festivals, there are some that are industry exposure festivals, and then there's some festivals that are really audience-driven where people want to come and watch and see um the hottest new films that are out there. So decide whether, hey, I'm gonna be a part of this festival because I want to go and network, or I'm gonna be a part of this festival because they have an amazing PR press attached to their festival and it's gonna give me a lot of industry exposure. So it's really about sitting down and figuring out which festival is, again, is going to work for you. Um, creating a festival strategy consists of submitting early. Um, I prefer to be a part of the early deadlines. You know, something like, you know, a festival like Sundance, where they have 16,000 submissions uh from this last run. I mean, that's a lot of films to watch. And, you know, I'm not saying that they don't watch the films. I do not know this. It's just my personal take. But 16,000 is a lot to um to go through. So I like to submit mines early while everyone is feeling fresh and inspired um to actually watch the films. And they're probably still watching them, but you get my point. Um, also is cheaper when you are submitting to festivals early. The late deadline, the last final deadlines, they become expensive. And so submitting early can definitely save you a lot of money. Plan for multiple festivals across different tiers to kind of keep that momentum going. So your prestigious festivals, your genre festivals,

Domestic Vs International Strategy

SPEAKER_03 13:15

even applying for smaller new year, first-year festivals. Do not say to yourself, oh, this festival has just been around for the first year. I don't want to be a part of it. It's not known, it's not popular. Um, every festival started somewhere. And I always tell the story about how in 2018 my short film went to the ABFF, and that is the year that Ryan Kugler was there. And so one of his first films actually started at the ABFF. He won one of his first shorts there, their first, you know, in their new season. And so um he has become a regular, you know, you build those relationships. Also, attending festivals is about building relationships with the programmers, the um, the people that actually run the festival. And so if you be a part of the festivals in your first year, more than likely or not, a lot of people have not submitted. Um, so you probably are hands-on with whoever has started the festival, with who the programmers are, and you can build a really good relationship ongoing in your film career with some of the festivals. And I always like to tell people when is a win. Like, you know, nobody knows if the Showrunner Film Festival is not like, you know, a new festival. You get um a win, you get a nomination, and it's added to your social run of um films actually wanting and liking your project and also declaring you the winner. So a win is a win, and that's what I say. So mix it up when you are thinking about submitting to festivals. Have your tears out. Do not keep a festival um off the table because it's new or it's not as popular. I think those are some of the best ones to be a part of um in your festival strategy. Um, when you are applying for festivals and you know that's what you're going to do in the development phase, you should be adding money to your festival marketing distribution run because festivals cost a lot of money. They're not cheap. And you're going to be doing a festival run for about two to three years. And so the average submission $55, $75. But the cost of actually getting to the festival, um, getting more than one pass, because some festivals only give out one and two passes. So if you want other crew members to come, you know, they're going to have to pay for those passes.

Submit Early And Mix Tiers

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Um, how you get there, the lodging, you know, wardrobe, clothes, all of that preparing for the festivals takes a lot of work. Um, so make sure you're really considering the cost before you start submitting. Because if you get nominated at a festival, you should go. Even if you do not take the win, because some festivals announce the winner before, you should still go. If your film is being screened, they ask for QA. Producers, sales agents, distributors are in the audience. They're looking to speak to the filmmaker if they love that film project. And so you need someone there, either yourself or some type of representative. So if you're going to be applying for these festivals, please make sure you are planning to attend these festivals. Um, also having some money for some marketing materials. When I go to festivals for a project for myself, I always have like free pens and, you know, printed documents, QR codes, whatever, you know, so that people can, because once you're at a festival, you can actually promote your festival time slot and you can invite people there. So people have marketing materials to invite people to come and watch their film at their time. I went to uh Bronsland's about two years ago, and it was a film and it had hot sauce as one of um the it was hot sauce was featured in the short film. And so the above the line, they were passing out free hot sauce bottles. And I thought it was a really cool marketing tool to get you to come to the screening. You got a free bottle of hot sauce um with a QR code and their time that they were screening. So I thought it was really cool. So having some marketing materials when you go to these festivals, cards and things like that to hand over, um, in which brings us to our next topic at industry events, at panels, and at mixers, you want to be in those. And so you want to be able to give people your card or have them scan a QR code so they can learn more about you. Um, the mixers and the events is where you want to be. That is where distributors and sales agents and other filmmakers are that you may possibly work with in the future. So don't go just to watch the films. Please be a part of any of the mixers and events that are happening and network and get people's information and do a follow-up. I also want to add that when I go to festivals, um, I usually fly in a day before and I stay a day after because anyone that I have met while I've been there, I may invite them for coffee

Budgeting For A Two-Year Run

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or may do lunch after the festival is um over. You will see when you go to some of the bigger festivals, there are a lot of meetings happening happening outside of the festival the day after, the day before. A lot of other um things going on where people are networking and meeting each other. So you want to make sure you have some time that you may want to possibly sit down with an EP, or you may invite a group of people for coffee after the festival is over. Networking, getting other filmmakers' numbers and information is so important to your career. You never know who you're going to work with. All right. So understanding, you know, what are niche markets when we're talking about the festival run. So there are different film festivals based off of different uh conversations that you're having. So there are some festivals where it's more about race and ethnicity. And so you have the Pan-African Festival, um, you have Urban World, you have the ABFF, the American Black Film Festival. So they have some depending on the type of project that you told with the type of filmmaker that you told them with, because some festivals require that whatever race or ethnicity you are a part of, that, okay, this is the director, you know, make sure the director is African American to apply for this. So there are some festivals that are race and ethnicity based. And there are some festivals that are gender-based where they have the real sisters and women in film. So if you are a, you know, female writer or producer or director, then being a part of these niche film festivals are just as important as being a part of the Sundance and the Cans festivals. Just as you have a lot of faith um film festivals for Christian films and things like that. So it's about really understanding what your theme of your festival, I'm sorry, the theme of your project is and aligning it with the festival for the best outcome. You're not here to say, oh, I just have to win at the Sundance. You're here to make sure that you're aligning your film with the best festival for the best outcome for a nomination and a possible win. There also are um, you know, like sexuality outfest uh film festivals. They have youth voices, experimental film festivals. So if you fall into that category, amazing as well. And this is your, these will be your niche festivals outside of building for your prestigious festivals. So you

Networking, Materials, And Mixers

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have, you know, 12 prestigious festivals that you plan on being a part of. And then you start to break it down into niches. Okay, I'm gonna be a part of the Real Sisters and Urban World and ABFF because I am a black woman. So I want to increase my odds at these festivals. The better fit equals a better chance of winning. So um, you know, you have that built-in audience that definitely understands the direction of your film, the story that you're trying to tell. Um, and then niche wins because they have a lot of community press and, you know, a lot of local uh nonprofit organizations that usually are a part of some of these conversations when we're talking about niche festivals. All right, we're gonna talk a little bit about Oscar qualifying festivals and what that means. Well, there are some Oscar qualifying festivals that allow winning short films to actually qualify for Academy Award considerations. So if you go look at the Oscars um this year, you will see the short films that are possible that are being nominated. So what happens is um not all of the festivals are Oscar qualifying, but they have a specific category at some of these festivals that are. And once you win or take on, not be nominated, but once you win um that festival that was um Academy Award qualifying, then you're put into a bucket to possibly win an Academy Award. So again, festivals are more than just hey, press right up visibility, but you have a very strong chance of being nominated for an Academy Award if you do a short film and get it into an Academy Award consideration film festival. So keep that in mind. Also what I saw the other day, which I thought was super cool, is Rego Theaters have where you can go and watch the Oscar nominated short films. So check that out if you have a Rego in your area, you can go to the movie theater and watch the films that have been nominated. All right, we're going to breeze through this a little bit. So I just want to give a little bit more detail about what does Oscar qualifying festival mean? Well, you know, if you are nominated in that best narrative short, then you are going to get that visibility of winning a possible Oscar. And so I always find this super cool because there are so many indie filmmakers that end up winning an Oscar for their Shuar film. And I think that that is um super amazing. So festivals like Sundance and Cans um also provide major platforms that can launch, you know, your filmmaking

Niche Festivals And Better Odds

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career. To talk a little bit about who attend festivals, you have distributors that are there to look not only for short films, but they acquire a lot of feature films. So if one of your distribution roadmaps is to get acquired at a major festival and then to get picked up for distribution for a theatrical release, that is another way to plan out your distribution. Hey, we're going to go to festivals and we're going to get acquired and then we're going to have a theatrical run um A24 shutter a lot of distributors actually come to festivals to find feature films to acquire, to purchase, to license and then have theatrical releases. So not only just for short films, there is a good place for feature films to potentially be in theaters. And we see this a lot with a lot of feature films that are out there. There are journalists that are there to write reviews about the festival, about the nominees, about the people who have won. So always, you know, network, see who is there, ask for write-ups, you know, talk to the media, take pictures. This is going to definitely help you with your career as you're building it out as a filmmaker. There are some academy members that actually attend festivals. They're on the lookout for films. And then there are sales agents that are at festivals that actually help you with distribution deals and theatrical releases as well. So if they see your project and they love it, documentary, short, feature, they will actually work with you to work with a distributor. They're the middle person and get your film acquired for theatrical release. And the cool things about theatrical release is that once you have one, then you qualify um for an Academy award. You can possibly be be nominated for it. So I think that that is uh super amazing. So you know you want to target some of your top tier festivals first. Well let me say this there's a few ways to scan a cat. It's really up to you where you are in your film career. I've seen some people start off with hey we would love to have a premiere at Tiv or Sundance or Cannes. So that is going to be the first festival that we apply for to see if we can get a premiere there. After they apply for one of those festivals, they get a premiere and then they start to apply for some of the smaller niche and genre specific festivals. Some people like to start off small like hey I want to start off with the smaller festivals, the newer festivals and build my way up to have some nominations and wins under my belt before I actually apply for the Sundance or the Cans. I've seen it work both ways. It's just really about the strategy that you feel the strongest about when you're filling out your application on Film Freeway for festival for submissions they ask, you know, does this has this film been nominated anywhere else? Has it been screened anywhere else? Does it have any you know write-ups? And so if you started off small and you've been winning you can definitely benefit off of putting that into your Film Freeway profile because then festivals are like well who is what is this film that's been

Oscar-Qualifying Shorts Explained

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you know have 30 nominations like we will love to actually have that at our festival as well. Remember that film festivals is a business. So they want the hottest they want to be the first they want to be the person the festival that actually help with selling projects because that helps their reputation so um you can either start big work your way down or you can start small and then work your way up it's really about the strategy that you and your team decide to uh come up with I do want to advise that when you are nominated, you should align your wins and your posts and all of your films, whatever it is that you're going to be doing around your project for a social rollout, you should align it around the same time that you announce that you've been nominated for max to maximize your visibility. So always plan a social rollout around your festival premiere or nominations, etc. Um, and then we talked a little bit about for most Oscar categories, a qualifying theatrical run um is required. So if your film gets um acquired and it has a run in a few theaters in certain cities that the Academy Awards deems, then you can qualify for an Oscar. All right so just on how to kind of build a festival roadmap you if you start with hey I want to start with my top tier festivals to see if I can get a premiere and work my way down you would pick a few prestigious festivals to be a part of your festival run. Then you will pick some mid-tier festivals your slam dance your Atlanta festival your Cleveland film festival and then you're going to pick a few niche film festivals and then you're going to pick a few genre specific festivals. So if you have a horror film then you want to be a part of festivals that cater to horror projects. If you are part of sci-fi then you want to be a part of some festivals that cater just to sci-fi so these are your genre specific uh festivals. And then you have regional festivals where it's like your Indy, your Memphis, your Nola, you know, the whole Chicago Florida all of those things you have your regional festivals that you should be adding to your festival run as well. So these are the top five that I pick for you know getting a strategy together so that you can know which ones you actually want to apply for. So always think fit not necessarily fame. You know you have something like the South by Southwest where you know people may not feel like they're the Sundance, but they still are Academy award qualifying. So you know you can get to the same place you're trying to go. It may just be with a different route of festivals. I also just want

Who Attends And Why It Matters

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to talk about making sure that you research some of these festivals to see what makes them very unique, what makes them stand out, what have made some of these films actually win at these festivals so that you can incorporate that into your script, your screenplay this is why you need to know what you're doing in development because if you need to adjust your screenplay to actually fit a festival that is extremely important. So whatever festival you have your eyes on if it's the Sundance then I advise to go watch all of the recent nominations over the last couple of years what are they doing to their films to be nominated? How are they opening? How are they closing? Do they prefer slow burns? Do they prefer a layered a world type of film? So understanding the festival that you're submitting to and making sure that your screenplay actually meets that is important. Just to talk about a few festivals that have had some breakouts um as far as feature films that have been launching we saw Get Out at the Sundance and Precious really dominate Sundance. La La Land was at the TIFF. We have Parasite that was at the Cannes Festival. So it doesn't matter how big the film is they really love to be a part of these uh festivals and these festivals help get their feature film out there even more than originally and the stars love to come out and be a part of it. There are what should I say you know times where who you know matters and they are festival agencies that you can actually add to your budget if you are budgeting in the development where they will take your project and they help indie filmmakers, they help sales agents and distributors um and it just kind of takes the stress off of your festival strategy and they will do it for you. So there are some festival agencies that you can work with and they can submit your film to you know the Sundance, etc. Again, it's all sometimes in who do you know? And sometimes these festivals um take these films from these agencies. So here are two um that you guys can look up and see

Start Big Or Start Small

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you know do you want to add them to your distribution plan? And then they will help get your film into festivals if you want to do an agency um instead of doing it yourself. All right so how do you build your festival strategy? First you want to set your goal you want to say am I going to you know go to this festival because of press do I want to be at this festival to get a sale do I want to be at this festival to actually do a world premiere or am I looking to win an award because all of those are completely different depending on the festival that you have your eyes on. Some are really good at sales. We see Sundance do it does a very good job. Also um you know the TIFF does a very good job at getting films acquired. And then you have some festivals that have so much press around them that the write-ups is what matters. The networking the mixers is what really um matters. And then you have some festivals that allow you to do world premieres. And then you have some festivals that have cash awards and things like that. And if you win you get a $30,000 Panavision camera package. You get to get streaming on the airlines. So it's really about setting what your goal is for your project. And you can have a little bit of all of them but just know which festivals provide what it is that you are actually looking for. And then you want to pick from your tiers your niche your regional or your top tiers um and then that's going to be the films that you start to um the festivals that you actually start to target. You need to know your deadlines and the premier um the world premiere requirements so you can tell your team what day you need your project from by always recommend 30 days before the submission opens. All right and then you want to plan for to be a part of the festivals and this can be anywhere between one to three thousand dollars um each festival they are super um expensive um and so that's what we will cover today and I just want to say that I'm opening up for any questions. I want you guys to have some time to um ask some questions but if you're going to be on Film Freeway make sure that you have a very high resolution poster board your log line matches you have a trailer that actually goes with your film a press or EPK kit any custom letters actually really work cover letters um referral

Social Rollouts And Qualifying Runs

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letters you can upload that to film freeway as well um and then you want to make sure that for your tags you are really listing what type of genre niche or location that your film is in. All right that is a little of the mini festival uh masterclass I do want to open it up to some questions in case you guys may have any any questions hello thank you for going through that um you're welcome I feel like you answered this but this is still tripping me up okay from your status and all that because when I do strategy in here you know there's a way to do so right now I'm in I I finally finally ready to be preparing for some of the festivals.

SPEAKER_00 34:49

But in terms of like figuring out festivals so high for like niches and all that but when it comes to like when should I care about that and when should I not care about that? Because essentially I would like to just submit my film to like you know to all the ones that I feel like I could get in or not even that I feel like I could get in but like you know the ones like the niches the ones that fit my niche the one that fit my genre so what when should I care about that?

SPEAKER_03 35:22

So it depends if a world premiere is important to you because world premieres are extremely important to festivals Sundance, South by Southwest, Tribeca like they really are big on we want to be the first person to screen your project. Remember, they're in competition with each other and they want to be the first to screen it the first to possibly get it

Tiered Roadmap: Prestige To Regional

SPEAKER_03 35:42

acquired the first to get it talked about and everyone is like the buzz around it. So if the premiere is that if it's as important to you as it is to festivals um premiere status does equal a lot of press is um saying that hey you guys kind of have the exclusive way to actually do it and they just do a lot of marketing for you. Like it it can be major um especially if you have a world premiere for a feature film because if you decide to take your feature to Sundance and it has the world premiere status, a network, a distributor like A24 will actually watch it and pull it before it goes to any other festival because they're trying to hurry up and get it, have a theatrical run before everyone sees it. So pretty much it's just about the being the first public screening of your film. So if the premieres matter, again it's about deciding what matters to you if awards visibility credibility premiere status if that matters then you want to start with your top tiers that only want the world premieres. And then you got to really look at the premieres because there are some international premieres they're North American premieres. So you got to really look at the festival you want to um be a part of if that doesn't matter you're like hey I don't really care about the premieres as much then you want to start off with um the festivals that you think you have the strongest chance in whether that's genre niche or your first year festivals.

SPEAKER_00 37:10

You're welcome if it's okay um and then when it comes to the press kit what when is the best time to send them off?

SPEAKER_03 37:20

So for me my press kit is usually done once I am in post production because I like to make sure all of my credits, the people that I have a part of the team a sizzle reel, any steals from set, I include all of that in my EPK EPK press kit um and I then start to send it off to um outlets because in there I want to make sure you have all of the information about the film the time the runtime the cameras that we use everybody that's on the team any pictures that you want to use log line synopsis anything. So I usually do my EPK and my press kit during post-production yes so I send it

Research Festivals And Align Scripts

SPEAKER_03 38:06

off as soon as the project is pretty much edited because I always have a screener when I send off the EPK as well especially if I'm sending it to uh blogs then I want to send them a screener so they can watch it, write about it and then they have all of the information from the EPK to actually post and make an article.

SPEAKER_01 38:28

You're welcome any other questions?

SPEAKER_04 38:32

Yes I had a quick question thank you for me so far to join in the past couple um I had a question in regards to what is one area that you see a lot of short films kind of lack in terms of prepping for festivals for as a kind of the You kind of went out a little bit you said where they lack with where um where do you think they are lacking in terms of when they're preparing for a festival to like PR or something like along those lines?

SPEAKER_03 39:00

Uh yeah I think um oh that's a like a really good but loaded question. I think it's always for me it's always going to be about development. I don't think people spend enough time in the script going through drafts and preparing it for whatever festival you would love to get your big win at so for example I'm working on a short film right now and our eyes are on the Tribeca and the South by Southwest. Those festivals are completely different from Sundance and Cans like the type of story that you're telling the world that you're telling do they prefer slow burns? Do they love to open up you know some of these films you open up with no dialogue it's you know that's the festival short film like type of thing where you're setting your audience and putting them into the actual scene scene and getting them prepared to to settle in what they're getting ready to watch. I think the development phase, the screenplay phase never matches up with the festival. And so they don't have a tight cut you don't have the right elements that the festivals are actually looking for. And so I think that's the biggest thing for me. If you get a script for a festival ready in the development phase I think it increases your chance versus I just want to film something amazing and then just shoot it at a festival and see if they like it. Well you got to know your audience you got to know what it is that they want and that is what you provide to them based off of what they want. So I would just have to say the screenplay doesn't get enough attention and alignment for the festival that people would love to win at great thank you you're welcome any other questions any other questions about film festival strategies all right I do want to let you guys know that I have a film festival tracker and a free download. So you can download it I keep up with all of my festivals

Festival Agencies And When To Use Them

SPEAKER_03 41:04

that I am going to be applying for so my team knows especially post-production line producer hey what are our what are our deadlines what are our festivals run this year um and then I list all of the festivals that I know we're going to be at and then I know how much that's gonna cost how much it's gonna run us where we are so you can go download that tracker I think it's really cool if you're gonna be planning some strategy in the development phase for your actual film.

SPEAKER_00 41:29

I guess you remember the last minute question. Go ahead sorry it's okay so currently my short film is 16 minutes um and I know that 12 minutes is like the magic number and I'm struggling because I'm I can't cut into the story. So what would you what would be your advice in terms of that so for me my magic number is 12 to 15 minutes.

SPEAKER_03 41:56

I think that's a really good um time frame I some festivals do 40 minute short films and I don't know that's just a lot of story. If you don't if you don't have one if you just have one storyline I think the shorter the better um you could possibly do script coverage you can get someone to really help you take out what it is that you need. You got to ask yourself are you trying to do more telling than showing are are there some things that the director can show that you don't necessarily have to write down on paper. You could do script coverage with your actual film. Send it through script coverage let someone critique it give you some feedback give you some things that they don't understand or things that you could possibly cut out but you want to make sure you got a really tight script. If a tight script is 15 minutes then it's 15 minutes. I've seen plenty of films at festivals I've seen some 20 minute short films, 30 minute short films. I've seen some where I'm like, okay this is 20 minutes too long. So it really depends on your story. And if some of that you may can cut in post-production where you guys can kind of really cut a lot of frames a lot of dead space a lot of like holding the audience hands. So I think it really comes down to the storyline. But 15

Set Clear Goals And Track Deadlines

SPEAKER_03 43:10

minutes is not that bad. 15 18 minutes is not that bad but you got to ask yourself could I make this shorter could I make this to the point the biggest thing that you're really focused on is what are you the first two minutes like you got to be able to grab it like grab their production um festival person in the first couple of minutes because they're not gonna watch the the rest. Yeah so but if it's good enough it kind of I've watched films I'm like man I didn't feel like I was sitting here for 30 minutes. Wow because it was just that interesting that kept me on the edge. So I think it really comes down to your uh film project yep you're welcome any other questions around film festival and strategy any other questions All right. Well, please feel free to go download that tracker or go watch some pre-recorded classes that I do have on my domain. Or you can be a part of the 21-day filmmaking class, book me for services one-on-one, whatever. Like I'm here. I do want to see you guys thrive in your film career and get some of these projects off of the ground this year. And then stay tuned. I'm going to, I really have enjoyed doing these free classes. I'm going to drop this one off in my podcast if you want to do a replay. If you missed the class from last night where we talked about Chain of Title, that's in my podcast as well. So you can go check it out and listen to it. But other than that, stay creating, guys. And if you need anything, I'm here to support. Remember, we are in a community together. We have to support each other to get to where we need to be. And that's a wrap. All right. If this has helped you think differently about your film, do me a favor, share this to another filmmaker who needs it. Turn on your notifications so that you never miss an episode and leave a review because that's how we grow the community. If you're ready to go deeper and actually build your project the right way, head over to showrunherd.com. You can download free resources, watch pre recorded trainings, or book a one on one with me. I'm also available for hire if you need an executive producer who understands strategy. I'll see you on the next episode.