UGFTV Chair Ezra Sacks spoke with Sharon Badal, UGFTV Film Festival Advisor, about how to research and select festival submissions, what festival programmers look for, and how to make the most of your festival experience.
Ezra Sacks: Hi Sharon, thank you for taking the time to speak with me about film festivals. First, can you tell me about your role as UGFTV Festival Advisor?
Sharon Badal: I am the person that researches and compiles a monthly calendar with upcoming deadlines, fees, and links for both major and smaller short film festivals. In addition, I am responsive to any student inquiries about navigating the festival circuit, and research/respond to emails the chair receives from festivals..
Ezra: What research do you recommend that a student should do on a specific festival before submitting?
Sharon: First, many festivals have student rates and student discounts that are not always advertised. Students should research whether there’s a cheaper submission rate for their films. You can typically look this up online by looking at the film festival’s previous edition and all the past press releases. It’s important to see if there’s a student award, whether it’s a festival that just puts student films in one program or if they nestle them side-by-side with non-student films – this gives you a sense of how the festival programs – and to check out what sort of films were selected in prior years.
I advise students not to just take FilmFreeway’s emails as gospel. FilmFreeway might send an email about a festival opening for submissions. The email isn’t an endorsement of that film festival, but often students think that because FilmFreeway sent it, that they should submit to that festival. They are just letting you know that festival is open for submissions.
Ezra: What is FilmFreeway?
Sharon: FilmFreeway is the digital platform where the majority of festivals post their submissions. It’s easy for the filmmaker because the filmmaker only needs to do one of everything – it’s a submission portal that most festivals use. A lot of international festivals use Shortfilmdepot. There are a couple others, but FilmFreeway is the big submission portal most used.
Ezra: Beyond the main festivals that most of us have heard of – Tribeca, Sundance, Toronto, Berlin, Cannes – how would a student find more festivals specific to their project, especially if their project might be a genre film or a children’s film or something that fits a specific niche?
Sharon: These are very important for filmmakers to consider because these are very powerful circuits. For example, the LGBTQ+ festival circuit – think of that pool of submissions versus a big pool of submissions like Sundance. Your chances are already increased because there are fewer films made that meet the criteria. All you have to do is Google LGBTQ+ festivals. Those are what we refer to as specialized festivals… You have the genre – horror, fantasy, a whole circuit of genre based; then there are ethnic film festivals – Jewish festivals, Latin film festivals, Asian film festivals, those are all opportunities; then there’s human rights film festivals, political film festivals, documentary film festivals, short film festivals, African American film festivals… It’s very important for filmmakers to look not just at their film but also at their identity and then see what the film festivals are looking for. For example, a festival might be looking for films by Asian American filmmakers. We see a lot of film festivals that are looking to promote underrepresented voices. For example, we see a lot of indegenous peoples film festivals which are not about the content of the film, but are filmmaker-driven. So students should think not just about what type of film they have but about who they are and how they fit into this specialized circuit. Thinking about that will really give you a leg up as you consider festival submissions.
Ezra: We often hear students asking how long their short film should be. Thinking about festival submissions, is there a sweet spot for the length of short films?
Sharon: 12-16 minutes. That’s it. That is absolutely the perfect time. The closer you can get to 12 the better you are. 15 is absolutely fine for narrative. For documentaries, you can give a little more breathing room. Docs take more time to develop so a 20 minute doc is certainly acceptable and easy to program. For a narrative, you really want to aim for under 15 minutes. That gives the programmers the most flexibility – you can program it before a feature or in a program… Think also about the change in festival structure since COVID. We have a lot of festivals that are hybrid, with certain films in-person and some online. We know that people’s attention spans are very short. They’re more likely to watch a 12 minute film online than a 20 minute film online. Programmers are always thinking about that aspect of the audience as well – who’s the audience at home and what are they interested in.
Ezra: Can you talk about exclusivity when it comes to festival submissions? Does the festival typically want to be the world premiere of the film?
Sharon: Every festival has its own premiere requirements. Some festivals mandate a certain premiere requirement such as Toronto states that they want North American or World Premieres. A festival like Cannes wants World Premieres. A festival like Tribeca states that World Premieres get priority, but as long as you maintain a New York Regional Premiere status, the film remains eligible. It’s up to the filmmaker to look at these requirements. That being said, the film premiere is the first time your film screens publicly in front of an audience. Just like ‘you’re only a virgin once’, you only have one World Premiere. That should mean something to you. There’s nothing that makes me more sad than a filmmaker who submits their film to a festival they don’t really care about, the film gets in and World Premieres there, but it means nothing to them. For your World Premiere, you’re going to get that laurel that says ‘official selection’. That’s going to be your world premiere for the history of that film.
Every festival, even if they don’t mandate world premieres, wants world premieres. Part of every festival’s mission is to discover new talent. If a festival is picking films entirely that other festivals have screened already, they’re not really discovering new talent which is why most festivals will have a combination of world premiere films, regional premiere films etc.
Ezra: What about the importance of having rights cleared before submitting to the festival? Are there other types of rights besides music that a filmmaker needs to consider?
Sharon: You should clear everything you need to clear before you submit to film festivals. Every festival is going to make you sign something saying that you have obtained the rights and clearances necessary. They’re not going to ask you for that paperwork but rather they legally put the onus on the filmmaker. In addition to music, any artwork is another thing to consider. You don’t want to have movie posters behind you on set. When we talk about incidental use, like shooting in a grocery store, that doesn’t need to be cleared. However, if the character is drinking Coca Cola throughout the film for example, that’s not incidental but rather is a part of the film and needs to be cleared. Dress anything that is a brand. Think really closely about someone wearing a tshirt with a Nike swoosh on it – that’s the brand.
Ezra: What about somebody sitting and watching a TV show in the background?
Sharon: Exactly, that sort of thing needs to be cleared. Documentary films have a little bit more leeway because of the Fair Use Doctrine for using news footage, etc. For narrative shorts, anything visual needs to be cleared. For music especially, never marry yourself to any music in your film unless you know you can get the rights, or try to use a local band or something you’re certain you can get the rights to.
Ezra: I guess the same thing would apply if, say in the background or at the start of the scene, somebody is listening to an old radio show.
Sharon: Correct, you’d absolutely need to consider the rights there.
When you clear, maybe the only thing you need to clear is festival rights as opposed to worldwide all-platform perpetuity rights. That gives you permission to enter into festivals but nothing else. You also need to clear if you are going to post it online, such as on your website, you’d need to have the rights to do so. You need to ensure the rights for anywhere you publicly share the film.
Ezra: What are the costs typically associated with a festival submission?
Sharon: Submission fees range anywhere from $30 to $100. A lot of international festivals don’t charge a fee because many are funded by the country.
Ezra: Tell me more about how a student should consider what festivals to submit to.
Sharon: Before a student starts thinking about submitting their film, they should have a dollar figure in mind, a budget for festival submissions. Then really look at all the festival options. Festivals often are floated with a specific agenda. There are thousands of film festivals in the world. Does the student come from the area where the festival takes place? If so, there’s a kind of hometown aspect to it that could be valuable. Can the student actually go to the festival? That should also be considered… What is the point of applying to all these festivals if you can’t go there? The experience is a major part of the festival journey – networking, seeing the film in front of an audience, meeting other filmmakers. If that’s not going to happen and your film is just going to be showing at random festivals around the world, I’m not sure how much value that is.
Ezra: If a student has their film accepted to a festival, how important is their attendance at the festival?
Sharon: If they can go, it’s very important. This is an industry of networking and collaboration. Networking means not just meeting other people in the industry, but meeting other filmmakers and potential collaborators. There are so many filmmaking stories of people who met at a festival and then worked together on their next film. That’s how you get out there in the industry – exposing yourself and exposing your work to an audience. If you can’t go, then you’re denying yourself that experience. You get the laurel and you get to put it on all of your materials, but you’re losing part of the experience. Now, as we come out of the pandemic, I really encourage students to investigate and determine if the festival is online only or if there is an in-person component. When you submit to a festival, you want to understand if it’s fully online or in-person and the different opportunities that both bring. A lot of online festivals do offer online meet-ups and networking opportunities.
Ezra: Is attending the festival equally important for the major collaborators on the film– the producer, the cinematographer, the writer?
Sharon: For the producer, yes. I always encourage directors to bring their producer as their ‘plus one’. They helped you get the film made. I love seeing the entire film team showing up for their premiere. It’s a really fun experience where the cast, the DP, the full team show up, and then have a little party afterwards. I encourage students to celebrate their accomplishments, especially if it’s your world premiere. Take a photo with everyone on the red carpet in front of the step and repeat. Sometimes directors take full credit for everything. You have to understand that in your career, you want to build a team around you full of people who want to work with you again. You want everyone to feel invested in your work.
Festivals love when your cast comes with you. Depending on how they program, often the cast can be a part of the Q&A too.
Ezra: What’s the biggest mistake students make when they submit to festivals?
Sharon: I think it’s not getting enough feedback on the script before they start. What I’ve often seen is scripts where I’m with it all the way through, but they didn’t quite know how to end it. It feels rushed at the end, or it feels like they didn’t get enough feedback on the ending. Does the ending satisfy the viewer? Sometimes it feels too rushed in general, like they wanted to get it finished so they could submit in time for the Sundance deadline. That doesn’t do the film justice. You can only submit once to Sundance. So I encourage students to wait until it’s ready and really take time, especially in post-production. Make it tight. Especially at a school like this, with these amazing faculty members, you have people here who will give you feedback on your film. You need feedback on your script, it’s not a one-man band.
Ezra: Are there festivals that will look at a fine cut, or does it have to be totally finished?
Sharon: Everybody will look at a fine cut. We’re concerned with picture assembly. We need to see the story. So if you come up with a text card at the beginning of your submission that says “This is a fine cut. Still to be done: VFX, end credits, final mix” then we know what we’re looking at. Every programmer is so used to looking at non-final cuts. We don’t want rough cuts, because we don’t know yet what it’s going to turn into, but fine cuts are totally acceptable.
Ezra: Is there any other festival advice that you'd like to share with our students?
Sharon: It’s all about strategy. The filmmaker knows their film better than anyone else. In Senior Colloquium, I always get asked ‘how do I get a manager or an agent?’. I always say that you need credentials. Getting into a film festival is a credential; it’s an important part of the journey. You need to strategize: come up with a list of ten festivals that you think you have the best shot. It shouldn’t just be Toronto, Cannes, Tribeca, etc., because the bigger the festivals, the smaller your chances. All the top festivals accept fewer than 1% of the submissions. If you consider the London, or Chicago, or Seattle, or San Francisco festivals – there are any number of festivals that are amazing festivals but don’t get as many submissions as top tier fests. It all comes down to the student understanding what their film is about and who their audience is. If you submit to the ten film festivals that you think you have the best shot at and you get rejected from all ten, don’t take it personally. The odds are really tough. Then you need to figure out what your next step is. Is your next step going open gate on Vimeo, or contacting Short of the Week, or trying to get Vimeo staff pick, or putting it on your website or getting it out there on social media? Not every film is going to have a festival journey and at some point you may have to decide that you tried and the film is better suited on another track. That doesn't mean you failed.
Ezra: Let’s say a student makes a film and it gets into a notable film festival and they are able to go. Other than the short, what should they be bringing with them?
Sharon: Every single person is going to ask them what they’re working on next. That doesn’t mean just one idea. That’s where the phrase ‘in development’ comes in really handy. Those agents you meet might look at your work and say ‘this isn’t for us, but we see something in this filmmaker’. They want to know what you’re interested in – episodic, features, narrative, doc– and who you are. You have to be able to speak about yourself and your work. Having a conversation is really important. That includes listening as well. Having a conversation means you say something and you also stop talking and listen to the other person. Students should have postcards– that’s really the only physical thing you need. A postcard will remind a person who you were and what your film was, while a business card won’t. Postcards are cheap, they’re visual, and people love them. Students should make sure the festival materials that are being utilized are what they want, with a well-written bio, a solid logline and synopsis, good stills, maybe a 30-second clip if required, etc. They should have an award speech prepared. Everything lives on the internet forever now, and we don’t want a filmmaker to be fumbling and stumbling around. Be prepared as if you’re going to win an award. Also prepare your answers for Q&A. Think about how you’re going to answer questions about your shoot, the cameras, the budget. Don’t answer questions about the budget. If anybody asks you about the film costs, you should always say “I’d answer but my producer would kill me” – it’s nobody’s business how much your film costs. Festivals have press offices that might ask you what’s interesting you can speak about from your shoot. LIke you shot in the desert and there was a huge sand storm. Be able to speak at the Q&A, and be ready to introduce your film. Thank the film, thank the cast, thank the school, and be ready to speak about why it’s important to you. I think students need to be ready to present themselves in the best light and have future work to talk about.
Ezra: Expanding on that, it would seem to me that it might be more important to be able to say “I have this idea for this pilot, or this limited series, or this feature, or this documentary” versus “I have this idea for my next short.” Is that true?
Sharon: Yes, think about growth. You should have your next step in mind. Once you’ve played a festival, you’re the center of attention for that ten-day period and after that you’re not. Take advantage of that ten-day period to promote yourself in a way that furthers your career, not necessarily another short.
Ezra: What about following up with people you meet at the festival? Everybody is cordial and nice when you meet at festivals, but for example, how do you know if and when you should follow up with agents you meet.
Sharon: A lot of younger filmmakers get overwhelmed with their first festival journey. Don’t ever be afraid to ask for someone’s business card. Take it, and every night when you get home from the festival, write on the back of the card: the date, where you met them, and if you’re supposed to do anything. For example, you meet an industry professional and they say they can’t make it to your screening but would love to see your film. The onus is on you to follow up. You should follow up as soon as possible but not during the festival, because everyone is busy. Follow up in the week following the festival. Everyone will have this avalanche of emails when they get back from the festival, so you wait, give a breather week, and then respond. The subject line is very important, for example, ‘Met at Toronto festival’. An example message might be:
Hi XX,
To refresh your memory, we met at the cocktail party for new filmmakers at Toronto two weeks ago and you offered to take a look at your film. Here’s a link and here’s my logline. Please let me know if you need any further information.
You don’t need to send a really long dense email with too much backstory. A direct email the week after the festival is the best way to follow up. If you don’t keep track of all the people you meet, you will go home after the festival with a pile of business cards and you are never going to remember what you’re supposed to do with each. We get so overwhelmed with the festival that we can’t possibly remember every individual interaction. The onus is on you to do all follow up. The follow up is very important.
Ezra: If your film is screening more than once, is it important to stay for all of the screenings?
Sharon: We typically screen every program at least four times. What’s really nice is for the director to be at at least two of them and then have someone else represent the film at the other Q&As. It could be the DP or the Producer. It’s really nice to do it this way and it gives a different vibe to the Q&A. It’s very important for the director to be there for the first Q&A.
Ezra: It sounds like one of the things a student would want to know from a festival is what events they’re creating other than the screening for the filmmakers to meet other industry professionals.
Absolutely. For example, today the Dublin Film Festival is releasing their program. I’m going to go online and look because I want to go during the period of time when the festivals have events for industry professionals. Festivals have those events planned for the filmmakers to meet each other and to meet the industry. There’s nothing wrong with asking when those events will be before you book your plane ticket. Don’t book your travel the moment you get accepted, because you won’t yet know your screening times and when the important networking events will be. Most festivals are created to discover and nurture new talent so they do have filmmaker-only events or filmmaker networking events or panels or masterclasses, something for them to participate in as well as the screenings.
Ezra: Do you have a few names of lesser known festivals that can be important opportunities for students?
Sharon: Palm Springs Shorts, the biggest short film festival in North America. Due to its proximity to LA, a lot of industry and film buyers go. They select 400 films. There’s a market component to Palm Springs, which means even if you’re not selected for competition, you’re part of the market catalog and part of the market library, which means that other programmers if they have an industry pass will be able to see your film anyway. That festival is so geared towards filmmakers. Especially if you have a short, you want your work to feel important. At some festivals the shorts are very much overshadowed by the features. So with a short, you want to pick festivals where you know that there’s a strong support for shorts. Believe it or not, the Cleveland FIlm Festival programs one of the largest number of shorts. The head programmer loves the filmmakers. It’s a fantastic experience for them, and it’s a smaller festival. There are these little pockets– most of which are on the calendar I send to seniors every month. If you did a doc, a festival like Big Sky Documentary Film Festival is fantastic and is something you might not think about when you think of the festival scene. That’s why the calendar I send to our students has a lot of different options.
I think there are so many choices of festivals and so much information out there that part of the recipe of film festivals is trying both top tier festivals, festivals in places you’ve always wanted to go, and try niche festivals where you yourself as a filmmaker might get some attention.
Ezra: Do you have any final advice you’d like to share with our students?
Sharon: I think what filmmakers really need to realize is that every time a programmer watches a film, they want to love it. They’re not your enemy; they want to love your work. There are never enough slots to program all the films you want. If you don’t get in, don’t be an ass. Let’s say the programmer only has room for 80 shorts and you were #81. Bummer for you, but you don’t know. You don’t know if the programmer then called two other festivals and said “hey, I have something I really loved and I didn’t have room for it” or if that programmer has another initiative coming up in two months for which your film would be great. There’s a lot behind the process, and you don’t know what’s going on. If you get rejected, handle it with maturity and respect and you’ll have a better shot of being looked at professionally.