The Great Laurel Debate

For a novice film-maker, receiving those first set of laurels is a monumental occasion that goes right up there with the first IMDb credit. It makes no difference which festival they came from, they are like a badge of honor that proves that somebody out there thinks the film is good.

More sets of laurels follow. Most are Official Selections, but there might be some Semi-Finalist or Finalists in the mix. And if the Film Gods are smiling down on the project, there may even be a few Winners. All are proudly displayed on the film's poster for everyone to see. 

If the film is good and the film-maker keeps it in the festival circulation for a while, the laurel collection can grow into a vast forest that reaches beyond the open spaces on the poster and begins to deface it.

And so the great debate begins as to how many laurels should be displayed, from which festivals, or should they even be there at all?

It really boils down to what message the film-maker wishes to send and the audience that is to receive that message. 

If the goal is to impress the masses who aren't keen to the hierarchy of film festivals, then a poster overflowing with laurels certainly does the trick. It's a good idea to plan ahead for this and make sure that the poster design has plenty of open space to display the laurels without obstructing the artwork.

However, if the aim is to impress saavy film-makers and investors, a poster covered with laurels from lower-level festivals may bring about little more than a few snickers. To make an impression on that crowd, you need laurels from top-tier festivals like Sundance or Cannes tastefully displayed on the poster.

There is some debate as to whether or not Official Selection laurels should be displayed. It seems unfair that these are looked down upon by some, given that they are earned by beating out hundreds, if not thousands, of other entries. A truly knowledgeable person will recognize it as an honor, but there are those uppity folks who argue that only winning or nomination laurels should appear on a poster. 

The safest route is just to keep laurels off of your poster altogether and just use them on the film's website or other promotional materials.

Yes, this is a real movie poster.

Another option is to have three versions of the poster: one clean, one with only Winner laurels, and one that showcases every set of laurels the film has earned. That way you can use whichever poster best suits the occasion.

Regardless of how you decide to decorate your poster, don't ever let the laurel snobs get you down. You may not have a Sundance-worthy film, but you do have a film that several other festivals have a high opinion of.

 

 

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Improving Your Chances at Submission Roulette

You have a new film or screenplay ready to go and there are hundreds of film festivals out there clamoring for new submissions to choose from. It can be both overwhelming and also pretty hard on the wallet. For many film-makers it can seem like you'd have better luck at the tables in Vegas than getting your project into most of the festivals you submit to.

The first thing to remember when you submit to a festival is that your project's fate is generally in the hands of a few judges who simply just might not like your story.  Even the very popular indie films have their share of critics and it's not uncommon at all for such a film to sweep up all the awards at one festival and not even be accepted into another.

Entry fees can be pretty expensive so it really pays to do some research on the festivals you'd like to submit to. See if you can find some of the films that screened at a particular festival to get an idea of the festival's  quality standards. Some will reject films that don't earn high scores all across the board on technical aspects while others are more forgiving and will accept flawed films that have a really good story.

It's important to have realistic expectations here. If you dream of getting into Cannes or Sundance, you have to be able to compete with the type of films that regularly screen at those events.

Setting your sights on smaller festivals is a good choice if your project has a few snags in the weave, but it's important to read the submission rules carefully and follow instructions. When a festival gets hundreds of submissions in that they have to cull down to a few lucky dozen, any deviance from the rules gives the judges an excuse to reject a project.

If the festival has specific genre categories for submissions, make sure that your project is easy to identify as fitting into that genre. One of the top complaints we've heard from festival judges is the amount of submissions they get that aren't appropriate for the genre. (One festival we know rejected over 400 submissions for this reason alone!)

Pay attention to run time limitations. There are many one-day festivals that only accept films that are less than 15 minutes long. The reason for this is that they can screen more films in a short period of time.  For films that just miss this mark, speeding up the end credit roll may do the trick.

Read all the policies and rules before submitting to a festival. Never just assume that a festival will make an exception for your film no matter how good it is.

Many festivals have film age restrictions, premiere/release status rules, and require additional materials from their selected projects. If your film or screenplay doesn't meet those requirements then you are just wasting your money and their time. 

Honor a festival's policy about not issuing student or hardship waivers.  Sending a sob-story letter to a festival that has clearly stated that it does not issue waivers will generally be ignored. If you cannot afford the submission fee then look for competitions that offer waivers or are free to enter. 

If you are ever unsure about whether or not your project is eligible for a particular festival the best course of action is just to contact the festival with your question before submitting.  Most submission fees are non-refundable, so a little bit of research can save you a lot of money while navigating around festival submission sites like Withoutabox and FilmFreeway. 

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