Be Strategic With Your Festival Run

Festivals exist to showcase your work, maybe win some awards, and network. It's not common to be able to go where a lot of people are in the same position as you, so take advantage!

Think about what is truly going to benefit you as a film maker. Do you really want a laurel from a festival you probably won't attend or think about after? I've made that mistake before, I applied for festivals in Texas. Why? Because I thought I'd get something from it, recognition, future work, so on. What I really did is give $45 to people I'll never meet or communicate with again.

It's also important to think strategically about when to spend your money. Let's use this unnamed festival as an example, which you can submit to on FilmFreeway.

As you can see, this festival is currently on it's late deadline. This means it will cost more to enter your film than any other time. How much?

This is where being strategic will save you money. This festival will be around next year. If it's not running again, then I guarantee it wouldn't have been worth spending £50 on. It says the opening date is September 1st 2022. This would also tell us the opening date for next years festival would most likely be September 1st 2023. I highly recommend waiting until next year, as the cost of applying during the opening date, early bird and regular will be considerably less! I'm not just saying £45, I'm talking £35, £30 and maybe even £20.

I hope this helped, but if you need more questions answered, a helpful list of things to do and be aware of during your festival run and more, then check out the unabridged version of this article on my Patreon! It only costs a $1 a month (but you can give more if you think I've been helpful!).

Sean x