Film festivals acceptance tactics or how to make a film for the big screen

Within a day, a brilliant film may get you to the high-league of filmmaking. The questions is how to get that brilliant film that will open you the gates to your future? What makes a film that special? And how to get into the hallway of your dreams – the film festivals? There is nothing clandestine in anything you will read below, however, if you keep all of those ideas in mind then a success is guaranteed to your work!

Most filmmakers believe that to get accepted for a film festival, one needs to make something popular and likeable so that the audience helps to shove a film into a festival. In reality, those likeable films without a deep story or great camera work, and extraordinary special effects rarely get into the festivals screening lists. Moreover, you don’t need to fetter a film into some genre to get it into a festival. There are numerous genre-specific film festivals. All you need is find your one instead of cutting your creative thinking to match it the mainstream logic.

In the past year the idea of emancipation, women’s rights, and equality, in general, has gained its peak. Thousands of parades all over the world are organized in support. The right of every human being for the freedom of speech and actions are fought for. And then comes Harvey Weinstein who got accused of sexual misconduct from numerous parties. You see the conflict here? Well, you probably do. And so did Plan B and Brad Pitt. They already announced the creation of a film based on the story. However, if you want to be smart and widely-selling, production experts from Red Rock Entertainment advise doing the second twist in such a story – turn, for example, Weinstein into a victim. Just imagine, how much resonance it will cause and how much attention you can get!
What’s the trick here? As an expert in film production and financing, Gary Collins (the CEO of Red Rock Entertainment) explains that to get even more coverage and so draw attention to your film, you need to take a usual controversial story known to the whole world and make an unexpected twist in it (for example, you make a film about how Weinstein is a victim in all this media bullying). Once you do that, you can be a guaranteed guest at several festivals. Of course, it will happen provided that you have a good production and camera work.

Do you know the rule of the first 3 shots? The first three shots have hooked the audience and festival programmers. The first three minutes after the three shots needs to drag them even deeper into your film. Unless the programmers and the audience is not interested in your work during the first three minutes of a film, be ready that it won’t pass the test and will get tossed in the rejections pile. And keeping mind that if for features this rule is important, then for shorts and documentaries it is literally vital.

Film festivals and their staff receive thousands of films for consideration. And they literally don’t have time to watch resubmissions. For this reason, most film festivals don’t allow re-submitting your projects twice.
Of course, you need to learn the precise rules of a particular festival, but this is a common practice. Your goal is to send the final version of your film, not the draft, not the rough cut, not the director’s version, the final product. First of all, unfinished work has smaller chances for acceptance. Secondly, festival staff may be unsatisfied with your resubmission requests (even though it’s unprofessional, it might influence on their final choice).
To get to the point of readiness for a festival, it is advised to make a couple of screenings among people you know and see their reaction, note their comments. Only when you hear nothing negative in a feedback and you feel completely satisfied, the film is ready for submissions. Remember that a film that sells is the one that has a soul and the final touch of the director.

Now it’s time to tell a few words about what makes a film pass the examination of the film programmers.
·   DVD with your and your film’s names – clean cover and readable names, that’s all you need. No special covers, additional (useless info), weird packaging.
·   Fully playing film – before you send the disk, watch it cover to cover and ensure that it plays all the way through.
·  Follow the rules – carefully research the submission rules of a particular festival and ensure to follow them. Nothing frustrates the programmers more than the most common submission mistakes.
·  Contact the programmers – many festivals encourage filmmakers to contact them and share their work before submission and even earlier. This will give the programmers a chance to track your film’s success and tell you if your work is a good fit. But don’t abuse this contact privilege. Too much in touch is bad as well.

To sum up. Carefully approach your filmmaking process and submission procedures. There is no right and wrong genre in the film industry, but there might an inappropriate festival for your work. Be attentive to what you do and scrupulous towards the requirements film festivals have. Only the combination of these factors and the knowledge of what irritates film programmers will lead to the festival screening of your film.