Film Festival Screenings
What First-Time Filmmakers Need to Know for Marketing Their Movies
Congratulations! Your movie finally got accepted into a film festival. But wait, there's plenty of fun (and work) still ahead of you.
Bogged down by scheduling conflicts, equipment breakdowns, bad reviews, transportation headaches, and inflated egos, film festival staffs have little time left over to promote specific films or cater to individual filmmakers. With a few exceptions (due to good luck, right timing, media buzz, hot topics, or industry contacts), you – not an overworked staff of mostly volunteers – will be in charge of your own networking, publicity, and enjoyment at the festival. Here’s how to prepare yourself for the big event.
Think ahead about scheduling and publicity.
During the months and weeks before a film festival, films – especially shorts or sidebar selections – are grouped with similar works at the discretion of the festival staff. If you’re given the choice, however, select a time slot that fits with the theme of your film. Scheduling directly affects turnout. A film about children, animals, or other family-friendly content should be a weekend matinee or perhaps an early weeknight screening. Films that attract seniors/retirees can run successfully during weekday afternoons while the younger generation is working or at school. Frightening, gory, violent, or sexual subjects that push the limits of good taste should be scheduled in the late night or midnight shows to attract a younger, edgier audience. If allowed, select a time that is most convenient for your intended audience, not a time that is most convenient for you.
In addition to careful scheduling, you can also attract more people to your screening by getting press coverage. One month before your screening, ask the festival’s marketing manager for a contact list of media covering the festival. Send them polite emails describing your film and offer to provide a screener copy and press kit, upon request.
Attend festival screenings whenever possible.
When a festival accepts your film, do your best to attend for at least part of the event. Ideally you should attend all your screenings to introduce the films and host a Q&A session afterward. Watching your film with an audience will alert you to which scenes work and which ones don’t. Interacting with the audience after the screening also will give you direct feedback about the strengths and weaknesses of your film.
Festivals may/may not finance your entire visit (and may/may not allow you to bring guests). Typically film festivals have limited budgets for entertaining the many short film directors, so if that’s the case with you, then set aside travel funds to attend your festival screenings.
Bring an actor or someone else from the film with you to the screenings, if possible. Besides lending moral support, audiences like to hear stories about the making of your film from the various people involved with it. Sometimes filmmakers participate in panel discussions at the festival. Your guest might be able to sit on the panel for you in case of sickness or scheduling problems, or he can pass out promotional materials before/after the event.
Participate in the entire festival.
Watch the films in competition with yours to get a better idea of how your film ranks among them. Attend as many parties, mixers, seminars, and screenings as possible to network, pass out promotional materials (postcards, posters, flyers, clever gimmicks), learn about filmmaking, and have fun.
Even if you’re promoting a silly comedy or raunchy midnight movie, you need to exude professionalism when people meet you at the festival. It might be a small crowd, in a small city, at an obscure festival, but you never know who could be watching. Often VIPs are hidden among the audience – looking for new talent to sign a distribution deal, in town for someone else’s film, or just relaxing on vacation.
