The particular piece I’m sharing with you was Jason’s submission for his #BetterFesting blog series and was passed over by FilmFreeway. It discourages filmmakers from the “lottery ticket” method of submitting films to festivals, also known as bulk submitting. The idea is to not submit to every single festival you can, in the hopes that maybe you’ll get lucky because it’s far better to do some research and be selective with your choices. Quality over quantity. Strangely, since they get a percentage of every entry fee, FilmFreeway doesn’t think this is the best advice for filmmakers and decided to pass on this particular article.
Fun story, I’m not FilmFreeway and I think it’s bloody great advice that would serve to make a lot of indie filmmakers more successful. So, obviously, when Jason asked if anyone would be interested in sharing his article I was more than happy to volunteer. I hope you enjoy the read and I truly hope you take the advice!
BETTER FESTING: THE “LOTTERY TICKET” LIE
Want to give your film or screenplay the best chance to get selected by festivals? Be selective yourself, says our #BetterFesting correspondent, Jason Tostevin, in his newest blog entry.
One of the first people I met on the circuit was a serial submitter. He had just started out with a horror comedy short, and the guy’d never met a festival he didn’t want to submit to.
When we were introduced, he said he’d already submitted his short to 400 festivals.
“It’s like the lottery,” he said to me, “and submissions are like lottery tickets. You can’t win if you don’t play.”
That was almost 10 years ago, and despite filmmakers having become savvier regarding just about every other aspect of filmmaking and fests in that time, the belief in lottery ticket submissions doesn’t seem to have changed (especially when it comes to Sundance, but that’s for another column). So many folks in independent film feel like submissions are a game of chance, and the best way to maximize their chances of being selected is to gamble more.
And the only thing that’s really wrong with that idea is … well, everything.
Because festival submissions aren’t the Lotto. They’re an invitation to partner. And they need to be approached that way. So sending more submissions that aren’t tailored to your potential partner is a good way to rack up only two things: rejection emails and wasted dollars. Where’d this idea come from, why does it persist, and why is it the wrong way to submit your films? Let’s explore…
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This article continues – read it here: Superficial Gallery.
Jason Tostevin is “a kind of indie prophet” according to Cinema Runner, which in 2017 named him independent horror’s most influential short-film maker. In addition to his hall of fame career as a genre director, he’s also the co-founder and programmer of FilmFreeway’s top-ranked genre festival, Nightmares Film Festival — called “the Cannes of horror,” by iHorror. Find him @jasontostevin.