Once you’ve figured out your film festival strategy, it’s on to actually submitting to them! But, how do you know if your film is a good fit and if the high submission fee is worth it? Well let’s go over some tips for submitting to film festivals so you can save money and get selected!

➜ All of my Filmmaking equipment: [ Ссылка ]
➜ Get Free Filmmaking Checklists through my newsletter: [ Ссылка ]
➜ Get my Filmmaking Templates on Patreon: [ Ссылка ]
➜ Learn how to shoot video: [ Ссылка ]
➜ Learn how to be a successful YouTuber: [ Ссылка ]
➜ Rent gear like a pro on BorrowLenses: [ Ссылка ]
➜ Get $10 off of Subtitles and Captions for your videos: [ Ссылка ]=...

➜ Follow me on Twitter: [ Ссылка ]
➜ Follow me on Instagram: [ Ссылка ]
➜ My Website: [ Ссылка ]

First up, look for festivals that are genre specific to your film. For example, if you have a horror movie look for horror film festivals. Or if you have a movie about a bunch of people playing D&D, maybe look for comic cons or game fairs that also have film festivals.

Also, take advantage of any special situations your film might have. For example, are some of the key crew members of your film women or minorities? If so, look for film festivals specifically celebrating female or minority filmmakers. Or perhaps your film focuses on important LGBTQ issues. Again, look for film festivals that are celebrating that community.

Next up, submit early! Most film festivals offer deep discounts for early submissions, so making sure you submit early is key to saving potentially lots of money. Also, make sure you’re submitting your film to the correct category. Sometimes festivals can have multiple categories that might fit your film, such as Thriller Short, Film Noir Short, and Mystery short. Make sure you do your research into each category to figure out which one is the best fit.

Once you’ve picked out a film festival, research it to make sure your film is a good fit. To do this, I recommend going to the film festival’s website and looking up the previous year’s winners and selections for whatever category you plan to submit to. Then look for the winning film’s trailer on YouTube or Vimeo and consider if your film is similar or even better than it. If so, then submit.

However you might also find the types of films selected are very different and thus the festival might not be a good fit for your film. As filmmakers we always think our film is the best, but just remember to be realistic about what that specific film festival is programming and how your film measures up. Pro tip, if you’re planning to submit to big time film festivals, keep in mind that they will want to be the first to premiere your film, so make sure you submit to them first.

Once selected, consider if that specific festival is the one you want to premiere your film, because by doing so you might eliminate the chance to be selected into other film festivals. Once you submit, make sure you include a cover letter and keep it short and to the point.

Pro tip, if your film has already had its initial world premiere, consider if this would be the film’s European premiere, or maybe its East Coast premiere, or maybe even its LA premiere. Film festivals love stamping the world premiere on there any way they can, so make sure you mention it.

Next, applying to film festivals can be expensive, and the costs can add up fast. That’s why I recommend you create a spreadsheet to keep track all of your submissions. This way you can quickly see just how much you are spending and stick to a budget.

And finally, don’t take rejection personally. Film festivals usually have thousands of films to wade through and they just can’t accept everyone. Just because they didn’t accept your film doesn’t mean it’s not great. It just might not be what they are looking for. But that doesn’t mean they might not accept one of your films in the future, so always make sure to accept rejection with grace instead of burning down bridges with angry emails.

*This video contains affiliate links which give me a small commission once clicked on.

#FilmItYourself #FilmFestivals #FilmFestival

свернуть