I was honored to be asked by the Woods Hole Film Festival to participate in a recent discussion with some of this year’s filmmakers about the current state of filmmaking during this pandemic, including the importance of film festivals.
This week, we’ll be looking at what makes film festivals so essential, and what you need to know about them!
Part Three: Some Pluses And Minuses Of Film Festivals That You Might Not Have Considered
So far, film festivals seem like an incredibly positive experience for an independent film or any other type of project - and they are! The exposure, word-of-mouth, and distribution opportunities that film festivals can bring all make them a game changer, particularly for independent filmmakers.
However, there are a few other things that you should know about participating in a film festival before you sign up to one, things that you might not have considered if this is your first time.
In one of my previous jobs at a studio, I was in charge of festival relationships for the company and learnt a few things along the way, both good and bad. I want to highlight some of these here for your consideration:
Screening Fees
Some film festivals will pay you a screening fee when they program your film, especially if it is in competition.
Now, don’t get too excited as this isn’t usually a lot. But for ultra-low budget films in particular, a few hundred dollars here and there from multiple festivals can amount to a nice little return for your investors, so it’s nothing to sniff at!
Not all festivals pay screening fees. This shouldn’t be a defining factor when choosing a film festival or not because, as we’ve already seen in our previous post, there are so many other great reasons to be part of the film festival circuit.
The prestige, exposure, and distribution opportunities that a festival can offer should far outweigh any possible screening fees. So, for most projects, you should look at screening fees as a bonus, rather than as a justification for whether or not you participate in a festival.
In practically all cases though, the festival should at least cover the costs of transporting your screening materials (such as a print or DCP) to their location. Participating in a film festival should never actually cost you money from your own pocket (other than some possible deliverable costs, as we discuss shortly).
Over-Exposure
But before you start getting ready to spend all those lovely screening fees that you’re about to make, a word of caution: a festival strategy still needs to be managed very carefully.
A producer or filmmaker that says “yes” to every single festival invitation that they receive might actually risk over-exposing their film, particularly if they are programmed in festivals that aren’t particularly relevant or appropriate for them.
This can be problematic, especially if your film is extremely niche or genre-specific. While it can be gratifying to see the film play in front of large and enthusiastic audiences at festival after festival after festival, it can sometimes result in most of your target audience having already seen the film before it ever gets any kind of public release.
Distributors who specialize in your particular niche will often look carefully at which festivals the film has played at, and, if they feel that it may already have been over-exposed in their territory, they may be reluctant to commit any substantial backing for a wider release.
As I discuss in more detail in my book on sales and distribution, a film festival (or festival circuit) should be the launchpad for a distribution strategy, not a distribution strategy in itself.
However, this has to be judged on a case-by-case basis. And for an ultra-low-budget film that isn’t realistically likely to make a huge amount of money at the box office anyway, the screening fees that might be generated from multiple festivals may actually represent their best chance of making some money back.
If that’s the case, they might well be saying “yes” to every festival they can in order to gain maximum fees and maximum exposure, and whatever happens with distribution happens.
Remember: there is no one correct strategy. Every film is different, every finance plan is different, every market is different, every year is different. Your festival strategy has to suit your circumstances and your goals.
Just bear in mind that over-exposure on the festival circuit might bring you short-term gains, but actually sabotage your long-term distribution strategy.
Deliverables
Festival selection may also incur some additional deliverable costs for you. Always check a festival’s list of deliverables before accepting their invitation.
You may be required to produce a new print or DCP for the festival, as well as dialogue lists and promotional materials that the festival will need. In some cases, you may even need to produce your own dubbed or subtitled version of the film, although the festival may be able to contribute to some of the costs of doing this if they feel it is worth it for them.
While these may seem like minor concerns, for some lower-budget productions (many of whom would benefit the most from participation in a festival) this can be a huge additional cost that they had simply not budgeted for.
In those cases, filmmakers must be very selective about which festivals they go in for and what they can realistically expect to gain from them to ensure that the costs are really worth it.
I have seen filmmakers reluctantly reject a festival invitation simply because the cost of producing the necessary materials would have been too onerous for them.
Filmmakers should keep this in mind when creating their budget, and also later when submitting to the festivals themselves.
And, if it does become an issue, talk it through with the festival directors. It's likely that they have experienced this before and will be willing to work with you to try to find a solution.
Festival Attendance
Speaking of additional costs, just remember that the smaller the festival, the smaller their budget, and the less likely they are to be able to pay for you to attend your own screening.
Now, most festivals are pretty good about this. They know that, in order to maximize their own exposure, they will need at least one of the filmmakers and possibly some of the cast as well in attendance.
Having a Q&A or other events with the filmmakers after a screening is one of the things that make festivals such exciting events for local audiences that might not be used to hearing from the people behind the camera. So, most festivals will generally have some money set aside and/or sponsorship deals to cover some reasonable travel and accommodation costs.
But if you think that they’ll be flying your whole cast and crew down and putting them up in a luxury hotel, think again. I’ve seen producers fight tooth and nail over who gets the golden ticket to attend a film festival premiere, a fight which often ends with the production having to find extra money to send them all.
So, whenever you get accepted by a festival, always check to see how many tickets they can offer you for your screenings, and how many flights and hotel rooms they can cover.
Set realistic expectations among your cast and crew, and know that you may end up having to use that trusty production (or personal!) credit card one last time to keep everybody’s ego happy…
Deadlines
Each festival will also have deadlines that filmmakers must meet to have their film play in competition. You need to be very confident that you can meet your deadline with the final version of your film before you accept the festival’s invitation.
Given the length of the average selection process, festival programmers are used to seeing rough cuts in various stages of post-production, even if they don’t have the correct mixes, grading, and other finishing touches that you need.
However, your finished film must be ready in time to be prepared and screened by the festival. If it’s not ready, it’s going to be a major problem for the festival, which could also have serious consequences for you and your project.
I’ve seen filmmakers who had no chance of meeting their festival deadline cut up their films, submit whatever version they could put together in time, and then continue working on it once the festival was over.
This is not only disrespectful to the festival and its audience, but also a really dangerous strategy.
While the odd tweak here and there further down the road shouldn’t be too problematic, it’s a huge risk to present a version of your film at a festival that you’re not completely happy with and have no intention of ultimately releasing.
If this is not the final version of the film, but rather one that you rushed to complete just to have the prestige of playing in the festival, that could backfire with bad reviews, and all the consequences that come with them (see below).
If you change the film in any substantive way after it plays, the festival likely won’t be too impressed, and nor will other festivals, who might think twice before offering you a place in their program for future projects. That could negatively affect your reputation as a filmmaker.
Be realistic about your timeline. Try to make your deadlines wherever possible but remember: if it’s not going to happen, there will always be another festival. Better to create the best possible version of your film and premiere it there than rush through a cut that you’re not happy with and may end up re-working later on.
Bad Reviews
There’s also the obvious risk that nobody really wants to think about: what if you play at a festival and get bad reviews?
What if, instead of a standing ovation, the audience throws popcorn at the screen, gives you a slow clap, or boos (which actually happens pretty regularly in Cannes!)?
You need to feel really confident in your material before putting it into a festival.
Remember, you might think that a festival wants your film because they believe it’s the best thing they’ve seen all year, but, in reality, the festival could have very different motivations for accepting your film into their program.
For example, you might have a big star in your movie that the festival wants to have in attendance, and whose face they can splash on their promotional brochure and videos.
That star can generate huge publicity for them, especially if you run your own marketing campaign to promote your selection in the festival. You’re doing them a real favor by promoting their event, but if your film is poorly-received it is you that will suffer, not the festival.
They want to be known as a destination for A-list talent - that is what people will remember the following year more than the badly-reviewed movie that the actor starred in.
The festival programmers know that not all of their films are going to be winners. As long as they have a couple of headline-making hits on their hands each year, then their reputation as an essential acquisition place for distributors and sales agents should remain intact. People won’t stop going there just because they have a few duds mixed in as well.
It's a hard fact of life: some films simply don’t work out as well as we had hoped. That’s the nature of the business and it’s happened to all of us.
There are still plenty of things that distributors can do with a movie that isn’t quite as good as it should have been, especially if it has name cast attached. Sometimes, simply putting the movie out there (without a festival run or reviews) is the best thing you can do.
Never forget: film critics are not the general public. Film critics are tough. They are harsh. They do this for a living and their praise must be earned.
There are plenty of examples of films that have been well-received by the public and made lots of money despite poor reviews from critics. However, in most of these cases, those reviews came out after the film already had a distributor and a successful marketing campaign behind it, and was already eagerly awaited by an audience that didn’t care too much what some stuffy high-brow film critics might think anyway.
Getting bad reviews at a film festival, on the other hand, can sound the death knell for a film, particularly if it is still looking for distribution.
These bad reviews can discourage the distributors from looking at the film in the first place.
Festival audiences can be very vocal about what they have seen and liked or disliked as well. Word-of-mouth works both ways, especially in this age of social media.
So, even if a distributor believes that they can do something with your film, they may feel that they face an uphill battle when the first thing that anybody discovers when they look it up online is an “F” rating from multiple reviewers.
Be smart before you submit a film in which you don’t have full confidence. Sometimes under-exposure can actually be your best strategy, even if it means turning down a festival or two.
And don’t just rely on your own opinion. Have you had test screenings and honest audience feedback? What did they say? If they noticed problems, the reviewers at the festivals probably will too, and so will the audiences.
So, where does all this leave us in this bizarre and unique festival season of 2020? We’ll take a look at that in our next post…
In Part Four, we’ll look at film festivals in the age of the pandemic, and some of the positives and negatives of the festival circuit going online this summer.
Ricky Margolis is a producer and financier with over twenty years’ experience in the entertainment industry.
We want to hear from you! Let us know some of your best - and worst! - festival experiences so far.
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