It seems like everyone’s just winging it hoping something will stick. Especially with social media trends we’ll never know quite what works so it’s good to just enjoy the ride.
Festivals are a beacon of hope. They like drama with serious themes but they also like innovative genre movies. Jeff is a bit of a hack. He basically makes the same story over and over again. He is as far from artistic as you can get.
This is quite possibly the most straightforward, transparent thing I've watched regarding these matters. 99% of the other videos regarding distro and festivals are from washed up hucksters trying to get someone to watch their 12-year-old trailer. Thank you for this actually informative piece.
Agree with this completely. I love this channel. Thanks so much!! I understand that entry fees are a big part of a festivals income, which I don't object to because I also understand that it costs a lot to run a festival, unless you have many, many sponsors. I have entered several top tier festivals and had limited success and though it's disappointing not to get in, what I find most frustrating is the lack of feedback. For the entry fees we pay, the very least we should get is the assessment that the jury or screeners provide when rejecting a film. Their feedback would be so useful. Tell us what you didn't like or what didn't work, give us something. Or give us the score sheet. Getting a kind rejection email just doesn't cut it. That's why I'm done with festivals.
Hey, as a filmmaker I agree that it would be nice to get some feedback back from the preselection screenings but as someone who also worked at a (medium big) festival, I experienced that it is really difficult to give feedback to every submission (especially when it contains thousands of submissions) since every festival has their own selection process that most of the times, they don't even watch the whole movie. For example, in one (even short film) festival, the preselection jury only watched the first 5 minutes of every film and then decided to keep watching to the end or not to get through all the submissions faster. So it's impossible to even feedback most of the films when you haven't even watched the most part of the movie. In an ideal world that would be amazing to get more back than just a general rejection mail and when I founded a small film festival a few years ago myself, I started to write personal feedback to every filmmaker but then also only because there were only like 20 films and that alone took me several days, so this is quiet a difficult topic unfortunately. :/
I just finished the Phoenix Film Festival. I had a great time and I'm sad that I didn't get to see all the submissions. Next year I will be smarter about attending, though. There's a learning curve. You do what you want, but here's what I have learned... I asked a board member and they said there were 800 some-odd submissions for 267 screenings this year. Many of the films were screened more than once, some as many as three times. I did not ask what the submission fee was. You have to realize that the Festival took over an entire half of a movie theater (seven auditoriums) for 10 days solid. Somebody has to pay for that and all the work that goes into coordination, advertising, printing, signage, office rental, catering, etc. I have to take umbrage with Jeff's statement at 7:16 that festival goers are not ticket buying customers. I paid plenty to attend this festival as a movie-goer. By my calculations I paid over $10 per screening, which if I'm not mistaken is barely shy of normal for ticket buying customer. There are no buyers at this Festival, normally. You could get Word of Mouth advertising, if you're outstanding enough. Plus you get to display the laurels on your thumbnails, if that's what you're after. All in all it's another chance for YOU to show how much YOU care about promoting YOUR vision.
Thanks for this. I’ve been waiting for someone to speak on this subject. So far I’ve been rejected by numerous festivals. Ironically, the only festival that has accepted my film so far had no submission fee (International Moving Film Festival). I honestly believe that the festival circuit is like the movie industry itself; very political. Just how execs at major studios are gatekeepers, it’s the same with jurors and programmers at festivals. Festival programmers can simply reject your film just because they felt offended by its message, or didn’t agree with the filmmaker’s voice. They have the power to do that, no matter how genius or high quality your film is. I personally and truly believe that my film was rejected because I have a strong artistic voice, and they want to silence my voice (don’t want my voice to be heard by not giving me an audience). Am I going to get into every festival I submit to? Of course not. However, being rejected by over twenty festivals in a row is highly suspect. Thank goodness we at least have RUclips, Vimeo, and other platforms. For my next project I’ll probably take a different approach; I probably won’t go the festival route unless I get an invite. Blindly submitting is just too risky and too expensive. All the best with your filmmaking. Don’t give up!
BLACK MAN, no shade to you, but are "Owe/Oh", "TagHD", "Vocals", "Where You From?", & "Past, Present, Future", representative of what you submitted to the film festivals?
@@raynaudier8622 No. LOL!! The film I submitted actually had a budget and some production value behind it. I’m glad you asked, though. Sometimes it’s hard to know if you’re ready to submit to festivals or not. Even if I wasn’t ready, my original speculation on festivals still stands. I do respect the Denver International Film Festival, because even though they rejected me, they sent me a personal email saying that I almost got in and that my project was strongly considered. It wasn’t one of those generic automated emails. Lastly, many festivals won’t accept films that contain violence or certain content. But they won’t tell you that, because they want to seem inclusive. They should just be transparent about their criteria from the beginning. Anyway, the link to my project that I submitted is below. Thanks for reading. ruclips.net/video/TfjnkfnhUFY/видео.html
Joker was festival friendly. I'd argue Logan and The Dark Knight have a sense of auteurism... but I think Jeff, overall is right. Good advice on festivals for DIY guys like me...I think local buzz is better for the shorts and stuff and just build a rep in your locality to start...
It’s all about nepotism on how you get in and having A-List actors in your film in order to get sponsors for their festivals. I also believe that a few festivals provide financing conferences to help filmmakers as well. However they are a Big waste of money and time for filmmakers. They tend to give studio films more advantage than the indie films without stars. It’s just best to go to a few festivals that are cheaper.
My 1st film was to see where I stood, entered into festivals (but apparently I was ambitious with the festivals I went after). I do want to be a part of a project that gets in to some prestigious ones & now I know how to do my homework to do that. I didn't know as much when I shot my 1st film. Thanks for sharing this info though, it definitely makes sense!
I hate never hearing back or being rejected without a reason why. Because sometimes you’ve waited for several months, and built up anticipation, and then it cuts your legs out from under you. Other times, you get rejected so quickly that you feel like the festival has to be a scam, and there is no way they had time to watch it. So they are just rejecting tons of films and collecting submission fees, which is scummy. But when I have won a small award, it can be quite validating. So many people on Facebook, Instagram, clubhouse, etc, flaunt the fact that they have awards, laurels and accolades. It’s all part of their, “look how great I’m doing,” dance.
Pro: Seeing a good film you wouldn't normally have a chance to see. Con: Festival films can sometimes be too artsy and not entertaining enough to justify the time spent.
This topic really caught my eye today. There is a film critic that I follow named Mr. H who has actually just made a film (Black Fields). He shared with us what a pain it was to get accepted to participate after petitioning quite a few festivals. I far as I know, he's only managed to get picked up by one festival so far. I can't imagine the boatload of money he had to shell out. It's almost like gambling in Vegas. 🤑 At any rate, he's premiering it on RUclips tomorrow (April 3). I'm very impressed to have a critic put his head on the chop like this. I think we all critics should go through the filmmaking process to see both ends so-to-speak...
This is an interesting discussion as a lot of distribution and exhibition of films are tied to event marketing, like, the French Film Festival or the anime film festival, or the ‘independent’ film festival etc etc. it’s event marketing which is a real thing to provide a USP for a film. But the generic festivals, he’s on the money. This said, what is not said is the legitimacy that festivals provide to a filmmaker to get investors, funding, for future films made. That is what festivals do for filmmakers that don’t have big name actors or directors etc attached.
They say to be precious with your feature films premiere as many of the Top Tier ones only accept those. If they supposedly already accepted film before submissions what is the point? I'd like to believe that they would accept something. Also, as someone who loves history, what is the track record of independent period piece films being accepted? I still think Film Festivals are useful, it's just that filmmakers need to take a hard look at their film and see if it's productions values are up to par to what's usually accepted at these top festivals otherwise we just enjoy pain and waste our money (lol) Regional, and genre and mid their festivals are great, but the conseus is that if your film isn't selected into the top fests, then your chances of distribution are very low.
Yea, I was kinda disappointed that festivals are interested in making money off of filmmakers rather than show their films...I wish there was some kind of law to refund the filmmakers money in case they don’t want to include their movie at the festival...
@@aaronharper444 that might be true, but they can also not watch your movie at all because they think they got the movie that will blow away everyone without watching your film...I had to email a film fest a few times cause the deadline was up, and they told me that they are not finished watching, this could be ALOT of things..perhaps not watching my film cause it’s past deadline, or they did watch it, and rejected it with a reason..
Your not paying to get in. Your paying for the time it takes to have a person(s) whom has worked within in the financially lucrative section of the filmmaking industry to watch your work, and analytically critique it. After they watch it and decide its something of quality to showcase under their brand, they give you the opportunity. You can decline it just as easily as you could accept it, but your paying for their time you cant refund time.
@@ahmedhashmi3584 it's really not, and it's not feasible. you want a handfull of people (whom already take time out of their daily regular) to watch thousands of videos (3-10K), that range from 5 to 90 mins, and write a synopsis of what worked what didn't, and why they didn't select it for every single one? That's preposterous. Some (a couple) festivals do because of sentiment like this (sxsw comes to mind when they had smaller submission numbers, I'm not sure they even still do this) but the reason they don't, is because of the time, physical, and mental capacity needed to do this. It would be literally a year round full time job
Of course its absolutely ok to talk about movies mainly from a commercial perspective and Deverett is very open about that, which is why I like his videos. But here I get the feeling that there is no romm for the other possibility: That people really make movies as a form of art, and that "festival films" are not worse, just because they are harder to sell. Actually, even the simplest blockbuster today owes a lot to such pieces of art, film or otherwise, which broke new grounds in the spheres of narration, cinematography and so on.
Festivals are a beacon of hope. They like drama with serious themes but they also like innovative genre movies. Jeff is a bit of a hack. He basically makes the same story over and over again. He is as far from artistic as you can get. He knows his films are anathema to festivals.
That's why the general audience doesn't like the movies exhibited in those film festivals and prefer to make their own festivals. There is no variety nor fun in them. All movies are required to be artsy fartsy material that touches the same exhausted topics over and over again; movies made with the sole intention to please only the pretentious snobbish people that like to smell their own farts, over and over again. Just like that episode of South Park. And then those winners whine when their winner movie fails with the general audience, but why? They didn't make it for them, they already pleased their tiny goal audience, hence their award. And you can always please both kind of audiences with the same movie if you just care to do it. There is no excuse for an artistic movie to fail at the box office. "Art" is not a festival exclusive. And there is "good art" and "bad art".
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This is very insightful but God does it reinforce my fears of the industry. I always looked at film festivals as a beacon of hope.
It seems like everyone’s just winging it hoping something will stick. Especially with social media trends we’ll never know quite what works so it’s good to just enjoy the ride.
Festivals are a beacon of hope. They like drama with serious themes but they also like innovative genre movies. Jeff is a bit of a hack. He basically makes the same story over and over again. He is as far from artistic as you can get.
This is quite possibly the most straightforward, transparent thing I've watched regarding these matters. 99% of the other videos regarding distro and festivals are from washed up hucksters trying to get someone to watch their 12-year-old trailer. Thank you for this actually informative piece.
Here's another one - ruclips.net/video/3KpIiWy4SN0/видео.html
Agree with this completely. I love this channel. Thanks so much!!
I understand that entry fees are a big part of a festivals income, which I don't object to because I also understand that it costs a lot to run a festival, unless you have many, many sponsors.
I have entered several top tier festivals and had limited success and though it's disappointing not to get in, what I find most frustrating is the lack of feedback. For the entry fees we pay, the very least we should get is the assessment that the jury or screeners provide when rejecting a film. Their feedback would be so useful. Tell us what you didn't like or what didn't work, give us something. Or give us the score sheet. Getting a kind rejection email just doesn't cut it. That's why I'm done with festivals.
Hey, as a filmmaker I agree that it would be nice to get some feedback back from the preselection screenings but as someone who also worked at a (medium big) festival, I experienced that it is really difficult to give feedback to every submission (especially when it contains thousands of submissions) since every festival has their own selection process that most of the times, they don't even watch the whole movie. For example, in one (even short film) festival, the preselection jury only watched the first 5 minutes of every film and then decided to keep watching to the end or not to get through all the submissions faster. So it's impossible to even feedback most of the films when you haven't even watched the most part of the movie. In an ideal world that would be amazing to get more back than just a general rejection mail and when I founded a small film festival a few years ago myself, I started to write personal feedback to every filmmaker but then also only because there were only like 20 films and that alone took me several days, so this is quiet a difficult topic unfortunately. :/
Your videos are very helpful. Thank you
I just finished the Phoenix Film Festival. I had a great time and I'm sad that I didn't get to see all the submissions. Next year I will be smarter about attending, though. There's a learning curve.
You do what you want, but here's what I have learned...
I asked a board member and they said there were 800 some-odd submissions for 267 screenings this year. Many of the films were screened more than once, some as many as three times. I did not ask what the submission fee was. You have to realize that the Festival took over an entire half of a movie theater (seven auditoriums) for 10 days solid. Somebody has to pay for that and all the work that goes into coordination, advertising, printing, signage, office rental, catering, etc.
I have to take umbrage with Jeff's statement at 7:16 that festival goers are not ticket buying customers. I paid plenty to attend this festival as a movie-goer. By my calculations I paid over $10 per screening, which if I'm not mistaken is barely shy of normal for ticket buying customer.
There are no buyers at this Festival, normally. You could get Word of Mouth advertising, if you're outstanding enough. Plus you get to display the laurels on your thumbnails, if that's what you're after. All in all it's another chance for YOU to show how much YOU care about promoting YOUR vision.
Thanks for this.
I’ve been waiting for someone to speak on this subject. So far I’ve been rejected by numerous festivals. Ironically, the only festival that has accepted my film so far had no submission fee (International Moving Film Festival).
I honestly believe that the festival circuit is like the movie industry itself; very political. Just how execs at major studios are gatekeepers, it’s the same with jurors and programmers at festivals.
Festival programmers can simply reject your film just because they felt offended by its message, or didn’t agree with the filmmaker’s voice. They have the power to do that, no matter how genius or high quality your film is.
I personally and truly believe that my film was rejected because I have a strong artistic voice, and they want to silence my voice (don’t want my voice to be heard by not giving me an audience).
Am I going to get into every festival I submit to? Of course not. However, being rejected by over twenty festivals in a row is highly suspect. Thank goodness we at least have RUclips, Vimeo, and other platforms.
For my next project I’ll probably take a different approach; I probably won’t go the festival route unless I get an invite. Blindly submitting is just too risky and too expensive.
All the best with your filmmaking.
Don’t give up!
BLACK MAN, no shade to you, but are "Owe/Oh", "TagHD", "Vocals", "Where You From?", & "Past, Present, Future", representative of what you submitted to the film festivals?
@@raynaudier8622
No.
LOL!!
The film I submitted actually had a budget and some production value behind it. I’m glad you asked, though. Sometimes it’s hard to know if you’re ready to submit to festivals or not.
Even if I wasn’t ready, my original speculation on festivals still stands. I do respect the Denver International Film Festival, because even though they rejected me, they sent me a personal email saying that I almost got in and that my project was strongly considered. It wasn’t one of those generic automated emails.
Lastly, many festivals won’t accept films that contain violence or certain content. But they won’t tell you that, because they want to seem inclusive. They should just be transparent about their criteria from the beginning.
Anyway, the link to my project that I submitted is below. Thanks for reading.
ruclips.net/video/TfjnkfnhUFY/видео.html
Joker was festival friendly. I'd argue Logan and The Dark Knight have a sense of auteurism... but I think Jeff, overall is right. Good advice on festivals for DIY guys like me...I think local buzz is better for the shorts and stuff and just build a rep in your locality to start...
It’s all about nepotism on how you get in and having A-List actors in your film in order to get sponsors for their festivals. I also believe that a few festivals provide financing conferences to help filmmakers as well. However they are a Big waste of money and time for filmmakers. They tend to give studio films more advantage than the indie films without stars. It’s just best to go to a few festivals that are cheaper.
My 1st film was to see where I stood, entered into festivals (but apparently I was ambitious with the festivals I went after). I do want to be a part of a project that gets in to some prestigious ones & now I know how to do my homework to do that. I didn't know as much when I shot my 1st film. Thanks for sharing this info though, it definitely makes sense!
Keep at it!
Don’t give up!
What do you love about film festivals and what do you hate?
Seeing a film I've never seen.
I hate never hearing back or being rejected without a reason why. Because sometimes you’ve waited for several months, and built up anticipation, and then it cuts your legs out from under you. Other times, you get rejected so quickly that you feel like the festival has to be a scam, and there is no way they had time to watch it. So they are just rejecting tons of films and collecting submission fees, which is scummy.
But when I have won a small award, it can be quite validating. So many people on Facebook, Instagram, clubhouse, etc, flaunt the fact that they have awards, laurels and accolades. It’s all part of their, “look how great I’m doing,” dance.
Pro: Seeing a good film you wouldn't normally have a chance to see.
Con: Festival films can sometimes be too artsy and not entertaining enough to justify the time spent.
@@TheWalkingDavid
Well said.
A great characterization & verbalization of how I've always looked at film festivals.
So true. I get reminded why i dont submit every once and a while. Agree with everything this guy says.
Deverett nails it once again
Is there one place I can find all indy films released and scroll through them like I do mainstream movies on Netflix and Amazon? Thanks.
Kanopy is a pretty good one
@@Jackhoppy Thanks!
Mubi
Indieflix
This topic really caught my eye today. There is a film critic that I follow named Mr. H who has actually just made a film (Black Fields). He shared with us what a pain it was to get accepted to participate after petitioning quite a few festivals. I far as I know, he's only managed to get picked up by one festival so far. I can't imagine the boatload of money he had to shell out. It's almost like gambling in Vegas. 🤑 At any rate, he's premiering it on RUclips tomorrow (April 3). I'm very impressed to have a critic put his head on the chop like this. I think we all critics should go through the filmmaking process to see both ends so-to-speak...
Thanks for sharing.
Festivals. Mostly financed by those who didn't get in.
And very few mean anything to distributors, so prizes mean zero except at the top five.
Superb insight. 👍 Thank you for sharing.
very insightful
There are very bad film festival's and it is hard to tell what is the best to enter.
This is an interesting discussion as a lot of distribution and exhibition of films are tied to event marketing, like, the French Film Festival or the anime film festival, or the ‘independent’ film festival etc etc. it’s event marketing which is a real thing to provide a USP for a film. But the generic festivals, he’s on the money. This said, what is not said is the legitimacy that festivals provide to a filmmaker to get investors, funding, for future films made. That is what festivals do for filmmakers that don’t have big name actors or directors etc attached.
They say to be precious with your feature films premiere as many of the Top Tier ones only accept those. If they supposedly already accepted film before submissions what is the point? I'd like to believe that they would accept something.
Also, as someone who loves history, what is the track record of independent period piece films being accepted? I still think Film Festivals are useful, it's just that filmmakers need to take a hard look at their film and see if it's productions values are up to par to what's usually accepted at these top festivals otherwise we just enjoy pain and waste our money (lol)
Regional, and genre and mid their festivals are great, but the conseus is that if your film isn't selected into the top fests, then your chances of distribution are very low.
How to contact Jeff Deverett
These Rock!
Only in USA and Europe film festivals make a good revenue from film entry fees... in Asia they don't have high fees and still show great movies...
I never saw Birdman. Was it good?
Eclectic
Very interesting talk.
Yea, I was kinda disappointed that festivals are interested in making money off of filmmakers rather than show their films...I wish there was some kind of law to refund the filmmakers money in case they don’t want to include their movie at the festival...
Time is money and it takes time to watch a movie and experience to analyze it. Not a film fest advocate but my first impression
@@aaronharper444 that might be true, but they can also not watch your movie at all because they think they got the movie that will blow away everyone without watching your film...I had to email a film fest a few times cause the deadline was up, and they told me that they are not finished watching, this could be ALOT of things..perhaps not watching my film cause it’s past deadline, or they did watch it, and rejected it with a reason..
Your not paying to get in. Your paying for the time it takes to have a person(s) whom has worked within in the financially lucrative section of the filmmaking industry to watch your work, and analytically critique it.
After they watch it and decide its something of quality to showcase under their brand, they give you the opportunity. You can decline it just as easily as you could accept it, but your paying for their time
you cant refund time.
@@StudioXer0 I’d like reasons for the rejection, that is far fair than nothing in response from some film festivals..not some copy paste statement..
@@ahmedhashmi3584 it's really not, and it's not feasible. you want a handfull of people (whom already take time out of their daily regular) to watch thousands of videos (3-10K), that range from 5 to 90 mins, and write a synopsis of what worked what didn't, and why they didn't select it for every single one?
That's preposterous.
Some (a couple) festivals do because of sentiment like this (sxsw comes to mind when they had smaller submission numbers, I'm not sure they even still do this) but the reason they don't, is because of the time, physical, and mental capacity needed to do this. It would be literally a year round full time job
Film Festivals = Vanity Feel Good
Of course its absolutely ok to talk about movies mainly from a commercial perspective and Deverett is very open about that, which is why I like his videos. But here I get the feeling that there is no romm for the other possibility: That people really make movies as a form of art, and that "festival films" are not worse, just because they are harder to sell. Actually, even the simplest blockbuster today owes a lot to such pieces of art, film or otherwise, which broke new grounds in the spheres of narration, cinematography and so on.
You tell it how ive always seen it.
Moonlight was not a festival fave and made 67 million. I wish i had directed it lol.
Dang!
This by has clearly not seen The Dark Knight Trilogy, Joker, or Logan.
Nothing wrong with Superhero movies
Festivals are a beacon of hope. They like drama with serious themes but they also like innovative genre movies. Jeff is a bit of a hack. He basically makes the same story over and over again. He is as far from artistic as you can get. He knows his films are anathema to festivals.
That's why the general audience doesn't like the movies exhibited in those film festivals and prefer to make their own festivals. There is no variety nor fun in them. All movies are required to be artsy fartsy material that touches the same exhausted topics over and over again; movies made with the sole intention to please only the pretentious snobbish people that like to smell their own farts, over and over again. Just like that episode of South Park. And then those winners whine when their winner movie fails with the general audience, but why? They didn't make it for them, they already pleased their tiny goal audience, hence their award. And you can always please both kind of audiences with the same movie if you just care to do it. There is no excuse for an artistic movie to fail at the box office. "Art" is not a festival exclusive. And there is "good art" and "bad art".
A lot of tourists
egos and egos