So…you’ve poured all your blood, sweat, tears and inter-personal skills into making your film – what’s next?
Well one of the next steps could be to find some film festivals to submit your film to.
I’m currently in the process of submitting our short film ‘Two Fat Ladies’ into some festivals and here’s some good advice I’ve received that’s helped me along the way:
- Set an overall budget of what you want to spend including both submission fees and travel/accommodation of the festival location.
- Look at some festival submission sites such as reelport, FilmFreeway and Withoutabox (there are others out there but I found these the most useful)
- Have a look through each website and note what festivals you’d like to submit to, the cost and deadline for each.
- Subscribe to the site(s) and fill in the info – this is the time consuming part and you’ll need things like an online link to the film (password protected), synopsis, cast/crew names, budget of film, trailer, production photos and other bits and bobs.
- Once your profile is complete you’re able to submit. I’m targeting fairly local festivals as well as ones where I can stay with friends/family to keep costs down and some festivals are free to submit to, which is great.
- Make sure you find out how established the festival is – this generally relates to how long it’s been going, judges and venue. You don’t want to travel hundreds of miles only to be disappointed.
There’s arguments for and against submitting to festivals due to time, cost and overall benefits. Ultimately, we all want to find an audience for our films and continue to make films.
I’ve heard that being shortlisted/winning can potentially help your profile as a film maker and boost your reputation. Also, attending festivals means you’re likely to meet other like minded people and contacts.
If you’re prepared with a synopsis/treatment/ideas for next projects then you never who know you’ll end up chatting to – this can open up further opportunities.
Feel free to comment with any top tips you have!