Film Festival Help

Getting a movie submitted to the South-By-Southwest (SXSW) Film Festival is a goal a videographer friend of mine has. I have been working with him in getting a business formed for the camera mount we want to produce and sell. His business is called Guerilla Gear and can be found at http://guerillagear.net/. We have a good team of writers and are close to completion on a script, but we need to make sure we have everything we need before we submit to SXSW.

While looking around, I came across a really good site to help me with, not only SXSW, but any other film festival. Film Festival Secrets’ site is really helpful in that it’s pretty much a one-stop shop for getting any question you may have about film festivals answered. The website’s creator, Chris Holland, has written a book called “Film Festival Secrets: A Handbook for Independent Filmmakers” and he offers the first to chapters of it downloaded for free as long as you sign-up for his newsletter. Not a bad deal in my opinion. The first two chapters deal with what you need to do before you submit and then when you do submit, however, the book covers a number of different topics like selecting the right festival for your film, preparing the screener for the festival, saving money on festival fees, creating marketing collateral and more. At $24.95 for a print version and $9.99 for Kindle or from the iBookstore, it’s priced quite reasonably for the amount of information it gives you.

The one thing that I thought really stood out on this page was that Mr. Holland offers his professional consulting on the film your company is planning on submitting. Having a your film screened by a festival programmer is very appealing because it gives you a direct sense for what the judges will be looking for when viewing submissions.

This site is definitely going to be of great help when our production company gets going. We have a lot of plans in the works and we all realize that film festivals will be an intricate part of our operations. Not only will we be able to showcase our films but gives us a chance to perform one of the most important aspects of this business…networking.

Useful Tips for Getting Your Script Noticed

I was wondering what some good tips for getting a movie script noticed are and I came across this article by Billy Mulligan of Jane Startz Productions. He says that he has worked for a high profile feature film company in New York City for six years so, in my opinion, he has the credibility for speaking on such matters.

Tip #1 – PUT YOUR BEST SCRIPT FORWARD

Have your writing skills perfected and have more then one fully developed script. When these two objectives are met, you have a better shot at getting noticed. By having your writing skills perfected, you come across as professional which translates into someone a film company would more want to work with. When you have more then one script, it is also a demonstration of your professionalism. If the studio likes your first submission, they could very well ask for more material. On the other hand however, you may have to provide the studio with other work if they aren’t immediately sold one your initial proposal. After getting everything prepared, then it would be time to send your queries.

Tip #2 – ESTABISH YOUR TARGET

When the time comes to start submitting your script, be sure to target agencies that have handled the genre your film falls under. Also, have a name of someone who works at the agency who you can address it to. Mr. Mulligan had a great suggestion of targeting your work at the low men on the totem pole (i.e. development execs and assistants). These are the ones who are fighting to show how valuable they are to the agency and thus are the most eager and willing to read your script.

Tip #3 – THE QUERY

Mr. Mulligan suggests that when submitting your query, the best way to go is either email or a one-page fax. Producers can sense an unsolicited query letter and even having to just open the envelope makes some producers feel like its taking valuable time away from projects. An email can be easily deleted and can reach them anywhere and a one-page fax is just that and can be viewed quickly in a short amount of time.

Tip #4 – ONE PROJECT AT A TIME

Don’t start mentioning a list of work you have ready and are shopping around. It gives the notion that you have a lot of projects that no one is interested in thus seeming that what you are tying to sell is nothing you would be interested in. Keep queries short and with enough information to grab the reader’s attention but not so much information to answer all their questions.