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June 8 , 2004 Volume II, Issue 6

Three Rules of the Film Festival Game
(Watch Out! The Game's Rigged!)

When most independent filmmakers complete post production on their films, they don't have distribution lined up. In fact, it's generally accepted that an indie film is, by definition, a film produced without studio financing or distribution in place. How do most indie films find a distributor? Most filmmakers assume at film festivals. But in fact - and this is the first rule of the film festival game -- the vast majority of independent films find a distributor at film markets.

A filmmaker who knows and understands this rule has an advantage in finding a buyer for his or her film. In a moment, the difference between a film market and festival will be explained, as will how a filmmaker can use this information to his or her advantage. But the point here is that if a filmmaker knows and understands this "rule" - and two others that are covered later in this article - the odds of finding distribution for his or her film increase dramatically.

What follows are the three rules of the film festival game:

Rule #1: The vast majority of independent films find a distributor at film markets, not at film festivals.

What's the difference between the two? In general, a film market is just that - a market where producers and financiers of films pay large fees to show any movies they wish to sell to prospective buyers from all over the world. Think of a film market as a flea market, where dozens of people rent a booth and try to sell their wares to hundreds of buyers. Only at a film market, the sales people in the booths are producers and financiers and the "wares" aren't baseball cards or antiques, they're films.

A film festival is a very different animal. Film festivals, in general, use a competitive, and, in theory, egalitarian selection process in determining which films are shown, and are put on primarily for the enjoyment of festival attendees. A film festival is not designed, created or intended to be a place that brings producers and buyers together; a film market is.

It's crucial, as a filmmaker, to understand that these differences mean, in general, that very few, if any, buyers attend festivals, while dozens or hundreds of buyers attend markets. Given that fact, it should seem obvious that a filmmaker's best shot at selling a film is at a film market, and not at film festival.

But in fact, it's not that obvious. Film markets revolve around relationships; that is, buyers seek to purchase films from producers and financiers from whom they've bought many movies in the past. Were a filmmaker to rent a booth and a screening room at a film market, chances are, no buyers would stop by his booth or attend the screening without either a) some big star in the film; b) the credibility gained by a film through its acceptance at a major film festival; c) established relationships or d) a track record of selling past films.

If it's impossible to draw the attention of buyers at a film market, and no buyers attend film festivals, where then should a filmmaker try to sell his or her film? At the handful of "dual" events that concurrently run film markets and festivals. These dual events include Cannes, Sundance, Berlin, Toronto and Venice. The goal of any filmmaker seeking buyers for his film should be to get accepted into the festivals of these events - thereby receiving the credibility that comes with that acceptance -- and then to entice buyers who are attending the market-side of the event to attend the film's screenings.

It's difficult to overstate the value to a filmmaker of getting into these major dual events. But it's likely that acceptance into any one of them increases the filmmaker's odds of selling his film more than getting into, say, 50 film festivals that don't have markets.

That said, there are a few festivals (not markets) that are known to attract some buyers. They include Los Angeles, Telluride, Tribeca, Santa Barbara and Palm Springs (because of their proximity to Los Angeles) and South by Southwest.

Two other points: First, the fact that most festivals don't attract buyers doesn't mean a filmmaker shouldn't enter his film in them and attend them. A film festival can be incredibly enjoyable - especially if a filmmaker's own movie is playing in it - plus it's a good place to network with other filmmakers while gauging audience reaction to a film. Finally, it's possible that showing a film at multiple festivals will gain the film some credibility and "buzz," which might open unexpected but beneficial doors.

Second, one of the confusing issues is that film markets, like Cannes and Sundance, are called film festivals, when in fact they are both.

Rule #2: All films are not treated equally by film festival selection committees (whether or not it's a stand-alone film festival or one run in conjunction with a film market).

This is a rule that virtually all film festival organizers deny, but the evidence supporting the rule is overwhelming. Just look at, for example, the Sundance lineup for 2004. Fully three-quarters of the films in dramatic competition have A-list stars. And that makes sense: film festival organizers, eager to attract filmgoers and media attention, prefer a line-up of films with big stars over one with unknown actors made by unknown directors and producers.

Given that, how do most film festival selection committees structure the film application process to automatically favor films with A-list stars? The simplified answer - again denied by film festival organizers - is that they divide submitted films into two groups: we'll call one group Group A, which is comprised of films with A-list stars and with films whose producers have personal connections to the film festival organizers; and we'll call the other group Group B, which is comprised of films without stars and with films whose producers do not have personal connections to the film festival organizers.

Films in Group A have an enormous advantage over films in Group B because they go directly to the selection committee's Final Decision Makers. Films in Group B, on the other hand, are first seen by the dozens of interns and volunteers film festivals hire to screen the thousands of hours of movies that are submitted to festivals each year. The vast majority of films in Group B will be screened right out of the selection process before ever getting a viewing by Final Decision Makers.

A filmmaker's challenge, therefore, is to maximize the odds that his or her film goes straight to Group A. What, specifically, can a filmmaker do to maximize these odds? Find someone with a personal connection to the film festival organizers who will make sure their film starts the selection process in Group A, and not in Group B.

For those filmmakers lacking such personal connections, they have one alternative and it's imperative that they use it: buy connections. How? First, they need to find films that are similar in genre or tone to their film that have in the last few years gotten into the festival/market the filmmaker is targeting. This information can usually be found at the film festival's web site, where past films are almost always listed. Then, the filmmaker needs to track down the producers of these previous, similar films (this isn't that difficult, as most indie films have a web site and their producers often list their emails right on the site) and ask them who their Public Relations representative was. Then it's just a matter of calling the PR reps and asking them some tough questions, like do they have good contacts at, say, the Toronto Film Festival? Or at Sundance? Are they willing to push their contacts to get a film into Group A, and not Group B? Eventually, a filmmaker can find the right PR rep with the right connections. At a price, yes. But a price that may make the difference between getting a film into a festival and in front of buyers, or not.

Rule #3: Getting into a film festival that has lots of buyers doesn't mean a single buyer will see your film.

There are films that have gotten into Sundance, played twice, and had less than 5 people in the audience for both screenings - and none of those people were buyers. The reality is, at Sundance, for example, between the festival, the market and all the different categories of films (documentary, drama, short, etc.) there are dozens of movies playing every day, and perhaps 4 or 5 playing at any given moment. This means that even a well-represented distributor like Miramax can't possibly see all the films.

So once a filmmaker gets his or her film into a festival, his work has only just begun. Now the filmmaker has to start finding innovative, compelling ways to get people - and buyers in particular - into their screenings. And it's not easy. At a busy area of Park City, when Sundance is in full swing, there are filmmakers putting posters up that are covered by another filmmaker's poster within minutes. And this process repeats itself, endlessly. A filmmaker must spend the time and the money to differentiate his or her film from all others at the festival, and strive to create some sort of "buzz" that drives people - including buyers - to their screenings. THE END

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