short film Distribution guiDe

NIGEL R SMITH

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Nigel has produced a number of award–winning short films, including Scotland’s most widely successful short to date, Cry for Bobo, which has made more than 150 film festival and other event appearances spanning 34 countries. It has received 25 awards and commendations along the way, including a Méliès D’Argent for Best European Fantasy Film, a Royal Television Society Award , a BAFTA nomination and several festival Audience Awards. Nigel’s efforts to promote Bobo saw him both sweeping the streets of Harajuku and dining with the King of Morocco. Films he’s produced have variously screened: for a remote island community; at a convention of US vocational guidance counsellors; in Italian school classrooms; to staff aboard an Antarctic exploration vessel; and at a European circus clown convention.

about theauthor

STRATEGY FOR YOUR SHORT

YOUR FILM

INTRODUCTION

DEVISING AN OVERALL

Delivery materials

2

3

7

9

contents

APPENDICES

FINAL COMMENTS

OTHER OPPORTUNITIES

THEATRICAL SCREENINGS

DIGITAL DISTRIBUTION

DVD SALES

UK & INTERNATIONAL

INTERNATIONAL DISTRIBUTORSSALES AGENTS /

THE FESTIVAL CIRCUIT

TELEVISION SALES

ONLINE DOWNLOADSAND STREAMING

FOR PROMOTION

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36

42

44

64

65

52

58

61

NIGEL R SMITH

Cry for Bobo

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You like your film. Love it, even. There were problems along the way (there always are) but you feel that your film is a success. If you’re a producer, you’re still talking to the director. If you’re a director, you can still stand to be in the same room as the producer. You’ve shown the film to friends who all love it. You’ve shown it to enemies who begrudgingly tell you that it’s pretty good.

Since, as a filmmaker, your primary reason for making films is presumably that you have something to say or a vision to share, you should want to make every feasible attempt to reach as broad an audience as possible.

You may have made the film as a stepping–stone to greater things – although we do appreciate the short as an art–form in its own right – so you will want to have it seen by industry figures who will be able to assist you reach your goal of become a professional filmmaker.

How do you go about finding your audience and increasing the film’s and your own profile?

YOURINTRO-

YoU’vE MADE A gREAT SHoRT FILM – Now YoU wANT AUDIENcES EvERYwHERE To LovE IT AS MUcH AS YoU Do!

This booklet is aimed at those with little or no experience of short film distribution or marketing, and will look at the promotion and distribution of the short film form – be it animation, documentary, narrative or experimental. It aims to provide you with a slew of practical information that will help you to make your film as successful as it can be.

There’s been an explosion in the number of short films produced in Scotland over the last ten years – an increase that’s been echoed across the globe – brought about by the availability of increasingly cheap

production equipment and non–linear editing software aimed at both the industry and home consumers. It’s never been easier – and perhaps cheaper – to make a short film and hundreds are produced in Scotland alone each year.

That’s a LoT of films. Some are inevitably more accomplished than others but they have all been made by filmmakers with something to say and a desire to communicate this to an audience. Yet the general public is only able to see a small fraction of these films – and in this country, levels of awareness outside of those connected with, or aspiring to work in, the industry, remain low.

why spend all the time, effort, expense and heartache to make a short film if you’re not subsequently going to go through all the time, effort, expense and heartache of getting it seen by audiences?

The good news is that there have never been more opportunities for short filmmakers to reach audiences with their films. The traditional routes of the international festival circuit and television screenings have been augmented by the possibility of DvD sales and the increasing prevalence of on–line streaming and downloading to a variety of devices.

The bad news – primarily for producers, but also for directors who’ve taken the driving seat on a low–budget production – is that, having spent several months getting to a point where they’re sitting with a master tape of their film in their hand, they’re still less than half–way through the process. They still need to get it seen by audiences and that’s what this booklet aims to help them do.

This is a question you should be asking from the very earliest stages of project and script development – because the answer can at least partially determine your shooting format, running time, subject matter and all manner of variables. It would seem wasteful (and very expensive!) to shoot and post–produce your film on 35mm if your sole intent is to place it on a low–resolution website, for example. Many companies won’t involve themselves with a project until they know how and where it can be marketed, and have made an informed ‘guesstimate’ as to its likely chances of financial – and to a much lesser extent critical – success. A short film is a different beast from a studio feature, but it can be useful to think along those lines when coming to make your short.

FILMDUCTION

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The first thing that you need to consider is what you’d ideally like your film to achieve.

Perhaps your goal is to connect with the film and television industries and you feel that appearing at international film festivals and winning awards is a good way to attract attention to your film and to yourself. Perhaps you’d like to see some revenue back from your film as soon as possible and plan to sell it yourself on DvD, bypassing the festival circuit altogether.

Perhaps you’re entirely uninterested in any prospect of financial return or industry involvement, and extremely keen that the widest possible audience be able to view your film as soon as possible, and have an online streaming website like YouTube in mind as the film’s home.

The plans you construct to help your film reach its audience can play an important part in any potential funder’s decision to provide your film with a budget. No one wants to finance a film that, on completion, will sit unseen on a dusty shelf.

WHAT IS YOUR BUDGET FOR

WHAT DO YOU PLAN TO DOWITH YOUR FILM ?

PROMOTING YOUR FILM

All short film promotional activities carry both financial and time implications. You have to consider how much money you can afford to spend promoting your film, and how much time you are prepared to commit. As a general rule of thumb, the larger a film’s scope and budget, the greater your efforts should be to ensure it reaches audiences.

whatever you feel you might be able to do to promote your film will inevitably impact on its visibility to both industry and the general public. It’s unlikely that any producer will be able to afford to do everything that can be done, and so an effective strategy is necessary, prioritising some activities over others.

Some short film funders now require a promotional strategy and accompanying budget to be in place as a pre–requisite of their funding a short film and will only allow access to this money once a film has been completed.

You can find a sample promotional budget supplied as an appendix to this guide (Appendix 1 – page 65).

Our Tartan Short film Cry for Bobo has made over 135 film

festival appearances in 33 countries over the last five years, in

addition to numerous other event appearances and television

screenings. This cost me (personally) in excess of £5,000

during the first two years of the film’s l ife, with only around

£4,000 returning in the form of festival award cash and sales

agent revenue returns.

I spent almost a day each week for the first six months, and an

evening a week thereafter to help the film on its way.

I have to admit, if I ’d budgeted it al l out in advance, I might

have been deterred from doing what I did. That said, I believed

strongly in the film’s potential, and seeing a relatively small

amount of money trickle from my bank account each week

didn’t seem so bad. I ’m proud of what the film has been able

to achieve internationally, and of the various accolades it has

received along the way.

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Are you familiar with the idea of a ‘value chain’ for feature film revenue generation?

Theatrical (cinema) release is still seen as the economic driver (though no longer the major source of revenue, and no longer even stand–alone profitable for the studios on all but low budget surprise successes).

Some studio films receive film festival premieres, but the film festival circuit is only crucially important for those independently produced films which don’t have major distribution muscle behind them and therefore need all the publicity they can muster. Festivals like Sundance, at which independent producers seek distribution and sales deals, or distributors and sales agents seek to sell unsold territories, are major players in this respect.

Theatrical release is followed by a film’s exploitation across a number of territories, through the following markets, each allotted its own time ‘window’. This is a simplified model of what happens:

Festival premiere• Theatrical release• DvD rental• DvD sell–through• Pay–per–view/video on Demand cable/satellite Tv• Premium (pay) cable/satellite channel• Free–to–air television• Internet distribution•

Up until recently, many short film producers sought to replicate the feature film value chain in their promotional efforts for their films:

Take the film out on the festival circuit initially•Try to engage a sales agent to sell to television and cable•Look at the possibility of DvD sales, either through a sales agent or independently•Place the film on the internet only after every other avenue has been exhausted•

SHORTOVERALLDEVISING AN

FOR YOURStrategyFestival premiere

DVD sell–through

DVD rental

Theatrical release

Back up copy Final Edit

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Film print and/or video master •tape of broadcastable quality

An English language subtitled •copy of the film print/master tape (if not in the English language)

For tape masters, a full stereo •sound mix on channels 1 & 2 and an M&E mix on channels 3 & 4. M&E stands for music and effects – necessary if your film is to sell to television in countries where re–voicing is preferred to subtitling.

Digital stills (or 35mm slides) – a •variety. Best to liaise with your photographer before you shoot the film so that you know what you’re going to get.

Underlying rights and screenplay •agreements

Director agreement•

cast and crew agreements/•employment contracts/releases

Location permissions•

Music cue sheet•

Synopses of varying lengths•

A director biography/filmography•

Full credit listing of the film•

An English language dialogue list•

when you make a short film, the film itself is the most important outcome of your blood, sweat and tears but it’s by no means the only end product that you need to consider.

whether your film is entirely self–financed or has been made with money from a television broadcaster, media workshop or other source of funding, you will need to gather together a variety of legal documentation, promotional materials and other information in order for your film to be seen outside of your own living room. If your film has a financier or broadcaster on board, they will contractually expect that the producer

of the film supply them with a number of different legal and promotional materials.

Production financing is typically delivered to producers in cash–flowed stages throughout production, with the final amount of money only being released on delivery of all the required materials. Legally, no film festival will be able to show your film unless you’ve agreed to their terms and conditions, stating that you have all the necessary copyright clearances and permissions. No sales agent will handle your film until they’ve received copies of all necessary clearances and permissions.

There are some crucial differences between the feature film value chain and the market for short films; short films don’t tend to make money theatrically or on the festival circuit as the economic incentive to screen short films theatrically in cinemas and at festivals is largely missing.

However, the festival circuit remains incredibly important and you’d be unwise to ignore it. This is where your film could win awards and reach its most appreciative and committed audiences. It is also one avenue through which to secure a sales agent, who is more likely to consider your film if it’s a proven festival success.

But how long can festivals demand premier status and stipulate a film’s absence from the web given that they offer little by way of financial return (prize money is the best you can hope for)?

Festivals – particularly short film festivals – have realised that they’re

in competition with DvD and online delivery of short films. It’s a battle they’re unlikely to win.

The days of festivals rejecting short films because they’re available online, on television or on DvD may well be coming to end – though festivals will still typically insist that films be less than one year or eighteen months old. Festivals won’t want to disappear so it’s likely they’ll have to learn to peacefully co–exist with the other media.

what producers and producer/directors of short films will increasingly come to realise is that their efforts to promote their films might best take place across all media simultaneously, in order to absolutely maximise a film’s audience and revenue generating potential.

clearly a producer can’t physically do all of this at once. Selecting priorities based on the potential of individual films will become increasingly important.

DELIVERYMATERIALs

This booklet aims to introduce you to the following areas:

Film festivals•Short film sales agents•DvD inclusion•Digital streaming and downloads•cast & crew/showcase/cinema screenings/other events•Showreel usage•

whichever method (or methods) of distribution you decide to explore there are some basic things to consider. Perhaps most important of all are your deliverables.

The basic required delivery materials(deliverables) usually will include

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THE FESTIVALThe Edinburgh International Film Festival produces the Film UK guide to British Film, which publishes in–depth information on all British fiction features and short films completed in the last year. A completed Film UK Yearbook form is essential if you want your film to register on the industry radar. visit www.filmuk.org.uk for more info.

Your financier should supply you with a list of expected materials, and the technical aspects required to fulfill delivery – film or tape specifications, the number and type of still images etc – but the above list is an excellent starting point.

Even if you have no financier to satisfy, it’s essential that you have these items in place at the end of production if you want your film to screen in a public forum. If you have a specific sales agent in mind, contact them before you finish production on the film to ascertain the materials that they require.

It makes things easier if you begin to gather together your deliverables during production. gathering all these materials together at a later date will prove costly and time–consuming. without them it will be difficult for you to have your film screened at festivals and other events, and impossible for you to either engage a sales agent or sell the film to television yourself.

These materials should be budgeted for in the first instance, and it’s advisable to set aside an amount of money to have someone pull them all together for you if you lack the time to do it yourself.

Let’s assume that you have all the required delivery materials to hand, together with your completed film.

What do you do with it all now?

Despite the increasing profile afforded short films via the internet, the international festival circuit remains a hugely productive arena for the promotion of your short film.

Festivals screen to cine–literate and adventurous audiences who seek out new and fresh short films, with many festivals also offering awards to short filmmakers. Awards and accolades – while nice in themselves – also have the benefit of furthering your filmmaking career, drawing attention to your film and raising its potential as a commercial product – and some of them look pretty fine on a mantelpiece too!

Producers, distributors, sales agents, talent agents, development executives and other industry personnel attend festivals in search of new talent. If your film has been selected for the festival there’s every chance that it could be you who catches their eye.

“Multi–award–winning director/producer/writer” certainly doesn’t look bad on a cv, and could help convince potential financiers that they should be backing your next project.

There are currently over 600 film festivals across the globe, with new ones starting every year, so you can’t entertain entering them all unless you have an unlimited supply of time and money.

certainly your film won’t be eligible for them all anyway – there are festivals that only accept feature films, or films of a specific genre – so think carefully which types of festival your film could appeal to. There’s little point in submitting your grim social realist drama to a comedy or fantasy film festival, or your gross–out black comedy to a human rights–focused documentary festival. This is something you should be considering at idea and script stage before you shoot your film: who will it appeal to and where’s the audience for it?

CIRCUIT

DECIDING WHAT YOUR FILM ISAND WHAT IT ISN T

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Some film festivals are prestigious, some not. Some show feature films only, some accept features and shorts, some are specifically for short film, some concentrate on a single genre – and so on.

Unfortunately there is no single reliable, consistently up–to–date publication or website listing all the current international film festivals together with their focus and entry requirements so you’ll need to visit a number of websites and compile a working database or spreadsheet. That’s a lot of work, so consider choosing four or five sites to begin with (see below).

You also need to keep this database up to date as best you can, and if you’ve the time, periodically search for new festivals. It’s an onerous task, but the good news is that once you’ve a database up running you can update it for any subsequent films you make.

If you’ve crafted a hilarious and dramatic Star Wars spoof then consider its themes and target appropriate festivals to which you’ll submit it: festivals looking for drama, comedy, perhaps children/youth, perhaps fantasy, perhaps science–fiction. No dialogue? what about festivals for the deaf? Silent film festivals?

what about you, the filmmaker? Are you female? gay? Jewish? A student? A small child? There are festivals out there seeking your film.

Sadly, if your film is between 40 and 70 minutes in duration, most film festivals – short and otherwise – will be reluctant to accept it at all. It’ll be too long to qualify as a short film under most festival guidelines, and not long enough to qualify as a feature film.

If your film is longer than 25 minutes, most festival programmers agree that it’ll have to be a truly excellent film before they’ll give up their perhaps limited programming time to it, although documentary festivals are generally more forgiving in this respect.

overall, if your film falls within the 3–18 minute range it stands a much better chance of being programmed. of course, the length of your film is a decision that you have to take even before you begin writing the script.

A number of festivals now have a ‘short short film’ category specifically for films under 10 minutes in duration – under 5 minutes in some cases – and even under 3 minutes in others.

The current optimum length, both for film festival programmers and television buyers appears to be, for better or worse, around 10 minutes.

Let’s assume that you’ve crafted a film that’s of an acceptable length to short film festivals and the short film section of feature film festivals – where are the festivals that could be most receptive to your work?

weekly film trade publication Screen International annually issues a printed booklet based on the information held on its website – www.screendaily.com.

FINDING YOUR FESTIVALS

The following websites carry

lengthy lists of international

film festivals:

www.britfilms.com

www.screendaily.com

www.eurofilmfest.org

www.filmland.com

www.filmfestivals.net

www.filmfestivals.com

www.filmfestivalspro.com

www.indiebin.com

www.indiewire.com

www.insidefilm.com

www.moviemaker.com

www.reelmind.com

www.prohub.com

www.withoutabox.com

www.marklitwak.com

www.german–cinema.de

www.lefilmfrancais.com

www.withoutabox.com

www.shortfilmdepot.com

www.reelport.com

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Your database of festivals should ideally contain:

Festival name•where it is (city, country)•Festival dates (month)•Submission deadline (month/date)•Film/tape formats accepted•Admission fee charged?•competitive?•Priority in your festival strategy – suitable at all?•Date submitted to•Receipt of screener confirmed by letter/email•Date film accepted/rejected•Date film sent and how sent•Date film returned or where forwarded on to•

SHORT FILM AWARDS

OSCAR – must win one of a short list of approved festivals or screen theatrically in the Los Angeles area – then apply direct to AMPAS (www.oscars.org)

Jamieson European Short Film Award – must win one of a short list of specified European festivals (www.eurofilmfest.org)

BAFTA – must participate in a short list of approved festivals or be available on 35mm (under review) – then apply direct to BAFTA (www.bafta.co.uk)

Scottish BAFTA – must be produced in Scotland within the 12 months prior to the awards – apply direct to BAFTA Scotland (www.baftascotland.co.uk)

Scottish BAFTA New Talent Awards – must be produced in Scotland within the 12 months prior to the awards – apply direct to BAFTA Scotland(www.baftascotland.co.uk)

Jim Poole Award – film should be produced in Scotland in the last year - contact cameo cinema (www.picturehouses.co.uk)

Even if you’ve no interest in pursuing awards or commendations, consider whether submitting your film to festivals which are non–competitive is a worthwhile exercise. given the time and expense involved in submitting a film to a festival, shouldn’t it offer the prospect of something in return over and above the promise of an audience?

Be realistic in choosing the festivals to submit your film to: is it really of a quality that would attract the attentions of the major film festivals such as cannes, Berlin and so on?

High profile festivals can have very strict criteria for entry; if your film isn’t a premiere in their country or their region, they may not be interested in screening it. For example, cannes and Berlin ask for world Premiere status, Edinburgh asks for UK Premiere status.

cannes and Berlin each only accept 15 short films into competition every year, require 35mm prints to screen, and demand world Premiere status – so if you complete your film in July or August, do you really want to delay it’s premiere for six months or more? what if your film isn’t accepted – you’ve wasted precious months during which it could have been touring the festival circuit.

once you’ve constructed a festival database or spreadsheet which contains all the festivals you’re keen for your film to screen at (or that you suspect could be receptive to it) revisit the festival websites for those festivals which have submission deadlines coming up in the next three or four months to double check they are suitable for your film.

If everything looks positive, bookmark the festival on your web browser and set aside some time to apply for it. If it’s not, strike through it on your database and move on.

It helps to have concrete ambitions and goals for your film, besides reaching audiences. Do you want to chase an oscar? A BAFTA? The European Short Film Award? A win at cannes, Berlin or Edinburgh? what’s the highest accolade your film could realistically achieve?

Look closely at the home websites of the respective organisations to discover how your film might qualify, and research and submit to festivals accordingly.

KEEPING A FESTIVAL TRACKING

DEVELOPING A FESTIVAL STRATEGY

DATABASE OR SPREADSHEET

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There are two types of festival screening for the short film form – those dedicated to screening only short film and those which run some short film programmes, typically as a side–bar to their feature film programming. A few festivals choose to screen shorts in front of features.

Plan on entering both, but bear in mind you stand a much better chance of acceptance at a dedicated short film festival, which obviously allots all of its programming time to the form.

You must think and act well ahead of the festival itself, since typically submission deadlines are three or four months before the actual event – some much longer. You have to be aware of upcoming festivals and submit in plenty of time. For some festivals, the earlier you submit, the cheaper their entry fee.

It’s worth subscribing to e–roughcuts, Scottish Screen’s weekly newsletter (email roughcuts@scottishscreen.com) or Brit Films (email film.department@britishcouncil.org), the British council’s monthly round up, to keep up to date with all upcoming festivals and submission dates.

visit the individual festival’s website, and ALwAYS read the

Since your film has a festival circuit lifespan of two years (few festivals screen work that’s over two years old), consider entering the higher profile festivals in the first year, leaving smaller festivals to the second year.

High profile short film festivals in Europe include:clermont Ferrand (France) – www.clermont–filmfest.comoberhausen (germany) – www.kurzfilmtage.deHamburg (germany) – festival.shortfilm.comMilano (Italy) – www.milanofilmfestival.itEncounters (UK) – www.encounters–festival.org.uk

North America:Palm Springs (USA) – www.psfilmfest.org/festivalAspen Shortsfest (USA) – www.aspenfilm.orgcFc worldwide Short Film Festival (canada) – www.worldwideshortfilmfest.com

Rest of world:Message to Man (Russia) – www.message–to–man.spb.ruSao Paolo International Short Film Festival (Brazil) – www.kinoforum.org

That’s by no means a comprehensive list of the major short film festivals – there are a huge number of other festivals, which are very worthwhile. Have a look at Scottish Screen’s website for a more extensive list of international festivals and markets (www.scottishscreen.com/festivals).

The UK has a smaller circuit and lower profile than France, germany, Italy, the USA and canada. Despite the large number of short films being produced here, we don’t have the same culture for short film viewing – festivals for short films in the UK, while excellent, are few in number and television screenings restricted to occasional slots.

rules and regulations for each festival BEFoRE you spend time filling in their form and mailing off your materials.

It’s worthwhile taking a look at what sort of films have screened at the festival in previous years, and what sort of films have received awards there.

Also look at how many short films are actually screened during the festival – some festivals, like cannes, Berlin and Marrakech, only show 15 films in competition each year. what chance does your film have of being accepted, given that major festivals deal with anything between 500 and 2,000 film submissions each and every year?

Almost all festivals require you to fill in an entry form, either online or on paper, and send a preview DvD copy of your film together with additional materials. So, make your application, sit back and wait – there’s no point in continually hassling the festival as to the progress of your submission.

Film accepted? The festival should contact you regarding the screening format they require to discuss shipping details and so on at least a month before the festival dates.

FESTIVAL SUBMISSION

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If your film is being accepted by less than 10% of the festivals you’re submitting it to then consider whether it’s worth changing your strategy to focus more on the type of festivals, or perhaps the countries, that have been accepting the film – or whether it might be an idea to abandon festival promotion altogether and cut your losses.

Losses? Submitting to film festivals and promoting your short film is certainly not free, and there’s obviously no guarantee that any prize money the film might be lucky enough to win will cover your costs!

check whether the festival has print/tape insurance – so that if your film or tape is lost whilst in their possession, they’ll bear the brunt of replacement costs. confirm that they’ll pay the cost of shipping your film or tape to the onward destination of your choice in a timely manner – most will. Ask them to provide you with a festival programme and any relevant press quotes or reviews. You’re unlikely to get the latter from larger festivals, but some of the smaller events can be quite obliging.

A word of warning: although festivals accepting your film are quick to get in touch with you, those who decide that they don’t want your film are frequently slow to tell you, some you’ll submit to and never hear from again.

If you’ve not heard from a festival six weeks before the event starts, it’s worthwhile checking their website for programme details – and if these haven’t been announced, send the festival a chaser email asking what’s happening with your film. If your film has won any awards or had any significant screenings since you submitted to the festival, tell them – make them feel guilty should they turn down a successful film!

Keep a record of everything you’ve sent to each festival so that if your film is accepted, you already know

Cry for Bobo was accepted by approximately half of the

festivals it was submitted to – extremely good going. At one

point there were eight 35mm prints doing the rounds, and six

Beta SP tapes.

The Return of Peg Leg Pete was accepted by around 30% of

the festivals to which it was submitted – very good going for

a film that was also available on the internet - but my strategy

for this fi lm avoided major festivals where there’s stiff

competition for screening places.

When they contact you, you should:

what preview format you sent (DvD usually) and whether your submission included a cD with supporting documentation and promotional materials.

If your film is doing well, check that you have enough screening copies to go around. You should keep a high quality master in reserve so you can strike another screening copy. If another 35mm print is required, get in touch with your lab and pay the price – and if you can’t afford another film print, why did you enter so many ‘35mm only’ festivals? Remember that festivals will typically forward your film from their festival to anywhere you specify instead of returning the film to you and you should allow at least a week for this to happen.

After about six months on the festival circuit, assess how successful your film has been before spending more money into sending it out.

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All festivals ask you to sign their submission form thereby signifying your acceptance of a whole slew of their rules and regulations – in effect, you’re entering into a legally binding contract.

what the festival requires is that you confirm that you hold all the necessary rights to offer them the film to screen and that they will have the right to screen it. If someone views your film and there’s material in it which infringes on their rights, the festival wants to be sure that YoU are the one who might be sued, not THEM.

Be aware that festivals can put onerous clauses into these agreements – look out in particular for clauses which give the festival the right to offer your film to a cable channel which sponsors their festival, free of charge, for unlimited screenings as this can well have a detrimental effect on any later Tv sales.

Some festival rules and regulations contain clauses that allow them to put the entirety of your film online – often well past the festival dates, and there’s the potential that viewers could download the film free. You might be perfectly happy with this – if you own all the rights and haven’t licensed them to a sales agent you can make these decisions yourself.

BUT, if your film is lucky enough to have secured a sales agent, they’re likely to take a dim view of your offering the film up for nothing. You may be in breach of your contract with them, and legal proceedings could follow. More about the role of sales agents later on (see page 36).

one final word of note: ALwAYS READ THE FESTIvAL RULES AND REgULATIoNS BEFoRE YoU SUBMIT A FILM. Understand what you’re agreeing to before you sign any agreement.

LEGALITIES

The onerous form–filling of the festival submission process has become much easier in recent years with the arrival of online services such as withoutabox (www.withoutabox.com), where you enter your film details and samples of stills, and so on. once on their website, you can submit to an increasing number of festivals associated with them at the click of a button and a pinch of the credit card. An added advantage is that submission fees via withoutabox can be slightly reduced. However it’s primarily aimed at the feature market.

Two major European short film festivals (clermont Ferrand – www.clermont–filmfest.com and oberhausen – www.kurzfilmtage.de) now offer a very similar service to withoutabox, specifically tailored for the short film festival circuit – seemingly in direct

competition with each other, and each claiming the allegiance of other major short film festivals. It’s not clear yet whether one or other will triumph for the hearts and minds of short filmmakers. But they are worth checking out, and could, in time, make withoutabox redundant in the short film arena.

Be wary of uploading a high–quality digital version of your film to such sites – you can never be sure where the copy might end up. If you do upload a digital version of the film, make sure there’s something on the screen clearly identifying it as a preview version.

ONLINE SUBMISSION SERVICES

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The number of copies you can afford to make partially determines your ability to access the festival circuit – there’s no point in making 30 festival submissions each month if you only have one screening copy – what happens if the film gets into every festival you submit it to?

SUBMISSION NUMBER OF COPIESThe number of submission copies you’ll require of your film largely depends on the type of film you’ve made, and on your festival strategy but if you want to go as wide as possible (and can afford to) a good rule of thumb is:

Approx 350 multi–region DvD copies. From this, you can give some to cast and crew (which you should do anyway, particularly if they’ve worked for food!).

Approx 30 vHS copies – 20 PAL and 10 NTSc should suffice.

You might want to restrict yourself to sending out DvD screeners only, to save on vHS duplication costs, since the balance has shifted between DvD and vHS, with ever fewer festivals accepting the latter. Be aware that you have to provide copies capable of being viewed on PAL and NTSc screens.

You can cut costs by burning individual DvD copies at home (or at someone else’s home), but this is time–consuming. Best to get them all done at once to take advantage of economies of scale if you can afford it.

chose a copy house from which you can also order DvD boxes, packing boxes and DvD/tape labels.

You’ll also need a convenient and cheap method of gathering together all the supporting materials that festivals ask for – cD is the best format for this.

Festivals across the globe screen a variety of film formats, and they also ask for initial submissions to be on specified formats.

SCREENING COPIESFestivals usually accept the following screening formats but double–check the guidelines before sending your film:

35mm film•16mm film•Super 8mm (very few small festivals left)•Digibeta (PAL & NTSc)•BetaSP (PAL & NTSc)•Dv (very few, non–specific)•MiniDv (PAL & NTSc)•DvD (PAL & NTSc)•vHS (PAL & NTSc)•Upload to Server•

COPIES TO MAKEWHAT SCREENING SUBMISSION

when setting out to participate in the international festival circuit, it’s wise to decide in advance the formats on which your film will be available. This will, of course, depend on what format the film was originated on, how much you can afford and where you’re keen for your film to screen. In an ideal world you’d have a number of different formats available for every possible situation.

Major festivals such as cannes, Berlin and some smaller French, Italian and Spanish festivals still demand 35mm screening copies, and won’t accept anything less.

It’s probably best to restrict yourself to three or four formats, the most popular being BetaSP (PAL & NTSc), MiniDv

(PAL & NTSc), DvD and Download to Server. For maximum festival penetration, having at least one 35mm print is advisable, but it’s still possible to hit a huge number of important festivals with tape formats.

Producing tape formats is an expensive business; asking duplication houses to prepare extra copies can cost up to £100 for a single tape standard conversion from BetaSP PAL to BetaSP NTSc. Even MiniDv can cost £75 for a single standard conversion from PAL to NTSc. The more copies you can persuade a post–production house to supply you with when you’ve completed your online layback, the better.

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Festival programmers are dismayed by the number of entries they receive where the screeners aren’t immediately identifiable – and are therefore more likely to be lost or overlooked.

If it’s tape, then the spine label should have: Film Title, PAL/NTSc, Director’s name. The top label should have: Film Title, Director’s Name, Running Time, colour/B/w, Aspect Ratio, Screening Formats available, Sound Format, Production company return address, contact phone and/or email.

If it’s DvD, provide basic details on the actual DvD, and everything else on the DvD case or paper sleeve.

These should be on no more than one page of a letterheaded sheet, word–processed. Keep a master copy on file and make individual letters based on it; update as required.

The letter should include:Title of the film•Any entry number given by the festival if a submission form has been •completed online and one has been assigned to the film.Say what you are enclosing with the letter – DvD or vHS (NTSc/PAL), •information cD, entry fee (credit card details, cheque or International Money order).Briefly pitch the film’s narrative and sell its successes.•If you have previously had a film accepted by the festival, mention it.•consider including favourable press quotes or other festival blurbs.•Ask the festival to email you confirming they’ve received your submission.•Tell them you hope that they’ll love your film and will include it in their festival.•Provide a list of enclosures.•

In addition to the screener copy, there will likely be additional information required by the festival. It is worthwhile gathering all this information together and keeping it updated so it is ready to go out. For a suggested list of additional information festivals may require, see Appendix 2 (page 66).

obviously, not every festival requires all of this information. Nevertheless, if you have to address each festival individually and print all their requirements out on paper every time the cost of printer toner and postage will be enormous. So, send each festival a cD containing ALL the information and let them pick and chose what they need.

Keep a folder containing all these materials on your computer so that you can drag and drop to quickly burn a cD. Since software compatibility is an issue, store the text files as both .pdf and .rtf format.

And make sure that the file titles are clearly understandable. For example, FilmSynopses.pdf is much better than Blurbs.pdf. You might like to send a list of the disc’s contents together with it.

Alternatively, you might like to construct a promotional website or webpages for your film, on which you place as many of the above as you can in a downloadable format. If you’re regularly using an online submission service like withoutabox, you should be able to upload all your materials to them.

For a sample letter, see Appendix 3 (page 68).

COVERING LETTERS

SUBMISSIONsupporting materials Details to include on Tape Labels

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This can include:

Tape/DvD duplication•Tape/DvD stickers•vHS/DvD covers (optional)•Information cDs•Stills and slides•Festival submission fees•Submission postage & packing•Screening copy postage & •packing

Travel expenses to festival or •eventPaper and printing costs•Promotional items – postcards, •posters, other appropriate items

EXPENSES SHEETKEEPING A F

ILM PROMOTION

For a sample expenses sheet, see

Appendix 4 (page 69).

All your festival and promotional–related activities will cost money and someone will have to pay for this up front. You should ideally have a prior written single–page basic agreement between the principle parties involved in promoting the film (usually producer and director) which covers:

what film or tape formats you make the film available in? •who will take overall responsibility for submissions?•what percentage of total costs will each person be responsible for? •where will this money come from? •How any revenue made by the film will be divided?•what about award money, trophies, certificates etc?•what to do if award monies are intended for writer, cinematographer or •composer?who will attend festivals/events if a festival offers to pay travel and •accommodation? Alternate between director and producer?

A typical agreement would involve each party placing some money into a central pot, in the control of the person doing most of the work – usually the producer, though you could agree on an amount of time each week/month where both parties will get together to work on submissions and top up the funds.

once ALL expenses have been repaid, persons either agree to place any monies remaining into the further promotion of the film, split the proceeds evenly, or pay off deferred fees from the film.

PRINCIPAL PARTIES

PRIOR AGREEMENT BETWEEN

You should be able to account for everything you spend on

promoting the film on paper, with receipts where possible.

Why bother keeping this?

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SALES AGENTS/DISTRIBUTORSThey may take your film to festivals like clermont Ferrand in France – which has a large short film market – but it’s unlikely that they will enter you film to festivals on your behalf, since this isn’t seen as a profitable enterprise.

FESTIVALSFestivals will usually cover your return shipping costs and can sometimes be persuaded to waive their entry fee, particularly if they’ve seen the film at another festival and have approached you. You might also win some prize money if you’re lucky enough.

Accessing the festival circuit involves a large financial commitment, but the ability to reach a wide audience and raise the profile of yourself and your film makes it worth the money – and effort – involved.

OF FESTIVAL SUBMISSION

WHO CAN HELP YOU MEET THE COSTS

Cry for Bobo director David Cairns and I could not afford to attend any

festival unless they (or someone else) provided our travel and hotel costs.

We decided to take any invitations that we received on a turn about basis,

depending on our availability.

David ended up going to Britshorts in Berlin, Reus in Spain, Puchon in

South Korea, Cinemagic in Belfast and the Milano festival.

I ended up going to the CFC Worldwide festival in Toronto and Short Shorts

in Tokyo.

We both went to the Royal Television Society Awards in London and the

Marrakech Film Festival in Morocco.

The onus is on you to pay for every aspect of your film’s journey around the festival circuit, but there are places you can turn to for assistance.

SCOTTISH SCREENIf your film was made through a Scottish Screen–associated scheme an amount of money will have been allocated to your film’s budget specifically for promotional purposes. Try not to spend this on the production itself! They also have the Markets and Festivals Fund to support Scottish–based talent to attend international markets and festivals to promote themselves and/or their projects. More information is available on the Scottish Screen website (www.scottishscreen.com/investment).

BRITISH COUNCILThey can assist with shipping costs to foreign festivals (but you have to get the materials to them in London first). They can sometimes help with the travel costs of producer or director attending a foreign festival – though they’ll only do this for each individual film oNcE.

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There are two reasons for you to attend a film festival, particularly one that has a strong industry presence, or even incorporates events aimed at the film industry. Firstly to promote your short film and see it play to audiences – there’s a lot to be learned from watching groups of people react to your film. Secondly and more importantly is to promote yourself and your future work.

(okay, there’s a third reason for attending a film festival: to relax and watch as many films as possible!)

Audiences at film festivals will hopefully be interested in seeing your work screened, and in offering their responses to it. So far, so good.

Film industry figures at the festival may also be interested in viewing your work but for them, perhaps, it’s an uncomfortable truth that your film is ‘old news’. Short film sales agents excepted, they can’t get involved with your film since it’s already been made.

Assuming that your film has screened successfully, industry personnel will be (a lot) more interested in what you plan to do next – projects that they can potentially be involved with. So, whilst it’s important that you pay attention to audiences at film festivals, as a filmmaker your attention should focus elsewhere – on the industry members present.

How might you handle your presence as a filmmaker at a film festival?

As your film travels the festival circuit, you should keep a record of where and when it’s played. Adopt the following categories for your list:

Awards won and commendations received•Film festival appearances•confirmed upcoming film festival appearances•Theatrical runs and non–festival appearances in support of feature films•other event appearances•

Also keep a note of any anecdotes you receive from the screening – audience numbers, reactions and stories.

NET SEARCHINGIt’s worthwhile doing a google/Yahoo search on your film title every two or three months – if it’s out on the festival circuit you may be surprised by some of the hits you find – local newspaper reviews and entries on blogs run by film fans are potentially things that you can add to your file of press quotes and recommendations.

FILM'S APPEARANCES AND AWARDSKEEP A RECORD OF YOUR

FESTIVAL LIFESPAN OF

A SHORT FILM

ATTENDING A FESTIVAL WITH YOUR FILM

A short film has a festival lifespan of around two years from the month in which the film was completed. There are a few festivals across the globe that will accept older films, but not many. So, you really need to make the most of your film’s festival lifespan.

Put into perspective, the lifespan of a short film online can be endless depending on the success of the film and your efforts to promote it.

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Some film festivals have a strong industry presence and publish a guide of delegates present. As previously mentioned, try to get hold of this guide before the festival and scan it for companies and individuals who could be of interest to your future endeavours.

conduct some research on the individual you’d like to meet, and the company they work for – what production credits does the company have, and how close a ‘fit’ is there between the films they handle and the project/s you’re seeking interest in?

If you feel that a company could be interested in your work, send a brief, friendly email to the individual representing them at the festival, requesting a short meeting with them, letting them know who you are and why you’d like to meet them, and passing on your festival contact details (mobile number and email address).

Before your screening, let the festival staff know that you’re in attendance – they might like to introduce you to their audience. Be prepared to stand up in an audience to be identified, or even to step on stage – and if you do, have something interesting to say about your film. Jump at any opportunity to participate in a Q&A session on your film after a screening or take part in a panel discussion. The more you can do to create a ‘buzz’ around your film the better.

given the opportunity, let the audience know that you’ll be available after your screening and would be happy to meet them (most often in a bar or cafe attached to the cinema) to talk about your work.

BEFORE THE FESTIVAL YOUR SCREENING

MEETINGS WITH INDUSTRY MEMBERS

BEFORE THE FESTIVAL Prepare brief verbal pitches for your projects, optionally backed up by single page pitch documents you can leave behind with the person you’re meeting as a memory jogger.

Arrange somewhere convenient to meet during the festival, and be mindful of other commitments the person might have – don’t expect to monopolise their time. Decide what, ideally, you want to achieve during a meeting – would you like your screenplay to be considered? Are you interested in being considered for directing work on the company’s projects? Plan a meeting strategy to achieve your aims.

If you can’t get a message to someone you’d like to meet before the festival, ask the festival how you might best contact someone. Some festivals have alphabetised message boxes for delegate use, but be aware that not all delegates regularly check them.

If your film is accepted into a festival it’s always worth contacting the festival well in advance to let them know that someone from the film could be available to attend their screening/s (if that’s the case). Some festivals are able to offer accommodation for visiting filmmakers either free or at a reduced hotel rate. Some are even able to offer basic travel expenses.

Ask the festival if there’s an industry presence and if there is a Delegate guide that your contact details and details of your film can be included in. If there is such a guide, try to get hold of a copy in advance of the festival (some festivals place their guides online) so that you can identify anyone of interest to you and arrange to meet them.

Make sure that the festival lets you know the screening dates and times of your film as far in advance as possible. It would be less than ideal to discover that the dates you’re at a festival don’t coincide with the screening/s of your film, or that your film is set to win an award and you won’t be there to receive it.

You might also like to let Scottish Screen know that you plan to attend a festival – it’s possible that they might have a presence there and might be able to offer advice, assistance and networking opportunities.

Be prepared and pack business cards. You are likely to meet people of interest to you at screenings, in Delegate centres and bars and you should aim to make a professional impression at all times. You might also take DvD copies of your film to hand out to industry personnel.

Resist the temptation to take copies of screenplays that you’re working on to hand to industry personnel you might meet. Inevitably, they’ll more than likely end up (unread) in a hotel room bin at the end of the festival. A single page document or brief treatment for each project would be more appropriate, something that you can use to accompany the verbal project pitches you’ve prepared and rehearsed.

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when meeting someone, be professional in your approach. Turn up at the agreed meeting place at or before the agreed time, and be ready to fully engage. For this reason, arranging meetings early in the morning is best avoided, particularly later on in a lengthy festival!

Festivals can be frenetic hives of activity, and delegates are frequently on–the–go from dawn ‘til dusk (and beyond), often in hot and stuffy environments.

Ask how long the person can spare you, and try not to overrun an agreed slot. offer up your business card so that the person you’re meeting definitely knows your name!

Before you leap in to pitch your project/s, engage the person by asking them what they’re currently looking for – your research into a company is unlikely to apprise you of gaps in their project slate that they’re looking to fill, or new opportunities that they’re interested in pursuing.

This new knowledge may result in you realising that the one or more of the projects you’ve planned to pitch are not currently suitable for the company. Try to have a back–up project you can turn to, or be prepared to adapt your pitch ‘on the hoof’ to make it seem suitable. Don’t be afraid to admit that

you don’t currently have a suitable project for the company – you can still appear keen to work with them, and agree to send new material to them.

Be prepared to answer any questions the person might have about you or your work – and don’t agree to something which you can’t realistically deliver (saying that you have a draft screenplay or full treatment of a project ready to mail them the week after the festival, when all you currently have are some rough thoughts jotted down on the back of a napkin, for example).

As your meeting draws to a close, thank the person for sparing time for you, and make sure that you both know what the outcome of the meeting is, and what’s required to follow it up after the festival.

THE MEETING AFTER THE MEETING

INDUSTRY SIDEBAR

FESTIVAL CHECKLIST

Some festivals incorporate a series of industry–related events – interviews, workshops, seminars, open pitching sessions.

Attend as many of these as you can, even if you have no immediate interest in a session’s subject. New and useful information and inspiration can often come from unexpected sources – and you never know who else might be in the room.

Here’s a quick reminder of basic materials that, as a filmmaker, you should take with you to a festival:

Business cards•DvD copies of your film•Page pitches•

within two weeks of the festival’s end, send any materials you’ve agreed to, requesting a quick response confirming their receipt.

You may have to wait some time for a full response to your material – UK companies typically take anything between a week and two months to reply. Hopefully the person you’ve sent material to will let you know roughly how long a response will take.

Don’t be downhearted if the eventual response to the material you submit isn’t positive. At least you have made a new contact, who will hopefully be receptive to your work in the future.

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A sales agent is a company or individual that you, as the holder of all necessary rights to your film, enter into a time–limited legally binding agreement with, to allow them to try to sell your film as widely as possible to their network of contacts across the globe.

Sales agents attend selected film festivals (clermont Ferrand and Sundance are favourites) in search of new, saleable short films to add to their catalogue. If you’ve a short film in a festival, check the Delegate guide and make sure that any attending agents are made aware of your film.

You may be approached at a festival by a sales agent who’s seen your film and is interested in representing it – or, failing that, you may decide to contact them directly.

The bad news is that sales agents are not interested in entering your film on the international film festival circuit, since film festivals don’t pay to screen films (the reverse is true in fact, through entry fees) – there are no ‘sales’ to be made there.

The good news is that agents have a broad range of contacts and expertise that you don’t. Selling short films is their business.

Traditionally, sales agents have primarily done business with broadcast television and cable companies, selling short films either singly or in packages from their catalogues. However, the increasing availability of short films on the internet has made many broadcast and cable companies reluctant to pay for short film content.

Sales agents continue to search for and adopt new business models to help them exploit their catalogues, with most efforts going into online streaming or download distribution – more on that later.

DISTRIBUTORS

SALES AGENTS/INTERNATIONAL

Atom Films – www.atomfilms.comBig Film Shorts – www.bigfilmshorts.comLa Big Family – www.labigfamily.comBritish Film Institute – www.bfi.org.ukDazzle Films – www.dazzlefilms.co.ukFuture Shorts – www.futureshorts.comMicrocinema International – www.microcinema.comNetwork Ireland Television – www.network–irl–tv.comoneDotZero – www.onedotzero.comShorts International – www.shortsinternational.comSND Films – www.sndfilms.com

Films are currently licensed and sub–licensed under international copyright law using three basic variables:

TIME – how long is the license for? (and how many screenings are allowed 1. during this time)TERRIToRY – what countries does the license cover?2. MEDIA – what media are included (theatrical, television, DvD, web distribution 3. etc..)?

If a sales agent is interested in representing your film, they’ll want to license it from you for the longest period of time in as many territories as possible and across as many media as possible in order to then sub–license it to their buyers and perhaps display it on their own website.

They will want to be the only company able to represent your film – to have the EXcLUSIvE rights to sell it.

So, what might you expect from a sales agent deal?

HOW SALES AGENTS DO BUSINESS

SALES AGENTS

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This is the main area for negotiation when making a deal with a sales agent, and many ask for exclusive rights in all media. You might want to consider arguing that their DvD rights should be non–exclusive so that you can attempt to sell the film on DvD yourself. certainly, agents will aim to place the film on as many DvD compilations as they can, granting a non–exclusive sub–license in each case. As DvD and online rights become increasingly important to agents’ business models, you will find non–exclusivity increasingly difficult to argue for.

If you grant a sales agent the license to sell or display the film as web content, you can ask for a holdback – a time period that the sales agent must honour, within which they can’t exploit the film in any agreed areas – to be placed on this right, particularly if you plan to ‘hit’ the festival circuit.

TIME

TERRITORY

MEDIA

In terms of a license period, you don’t want to allow them to have the film for the duration of copyright. In the past, seven years was adequate time for an agent to sub–license a film around their contacts. Now that online rights have become a real issue and longevity a real possibility, agents will be looking for longer license periods.

Agents will seldom look for anything less than a global license – particularly as their business models increasingly rely on online viewing that crosses national boundaries.

Many festivals are reluctant to screen short films which are being streamed (downloadable or not) from a website which can be accessed from anywhere in the globe. They want their festivals to show films that can’t be seen elsewhere by their audiences. And they want to be able to show them first.

In the world of feature film, cash advances based on expected revenues from films can be involved, with sales agents guaranteeing payment up front. Unfortunately, in the case of short film, this never happens – so you’ll never see any money up front from a sales agent.

on reaching an agreement with a sales agent, you’ll have to supply them with their required list of deliverables (see page 9). So, what kind of revenue can you expect from a sales agent?

Sales agents don’t work for free.They’ll aim to sell your film to television stations across the globe, either individually or as part of a package of shorts.

But for doing so they’ll take a commission on each sale and may also levy a charge for the costs involved in making the sale (such as their attendance at festivals and markets, supplying copies of deliverables to broadcasters and so on).

You might typically expect a sales agent to keep between 35% and 50% of each sale amount, though models for agents’ returning revenue are becoming more complex, particularly in relation to online content. Similar principles should be in operation when an agent succeeds in placing your film on a DvD compilation.

If your film is available from a sales agent’s website or has been

sub–licensed by them to a third party website (itunes.com for example), then revenue models vary greatly between sales agents.

There appear to be two basic online distribution models though:

The first involves the sales agent placing an advertisement in front of your film. Every time your film is viewed, a tiny proportion of the advertising revenue received by the sales agent is attributed to your film’s account.

The second involves the sales agent charging an amount for the viewing or downloading of your short film, and you receiving a small percentage of this amount.

other models may emerge over time; this is still a new and largely unproven area of business for the short film form.

REVENUE FROM SALES AGENTS

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How can you be sure that you’re choosing the right sales agent for your film? You should research your sales agent and find out what other short films do they represent? Are they similar to your film? Ask them what they’ve been able to do for films similar to yours. How much revenue typically returns to the producer/rights holder? And when? How often do they send out statements of account?

contact the producers of films in the sales agent’s catalogue and ask them what their experiences of the sales agent have been. How well do they think their film has been selling? Have they seen any money, heard about any sales? Received regular download or online viewing figures?

CHOOSING

A SALES AGENT

Don’t be nervous about aiming to negotiate points on a contract the sales agent offers. often, short filmmakers lack in–depth legal knowledge, but if you bear in mind the three basic variables of TIME, TERRIToRY and MEDIA, you’re off to a good start.

A WARNING

Sales agents typically demand exclusivity; they want to be the only company through which your film can be seen (other than on the festival circuit).

You might find that simply by entering a short film competition or festival that you’re expected to grant the festival or organisation the right to freely screen your film on a cable channel or over the web. There are even US festivals that ask for the right to include any films submitted to them on a compilation DvD showcasing the festival – a DvD which is available for commercial sale! watch out for this in festival submission guidelines and in the Terms & conditions of the agreement you sign with a film festival as such clauses are typically ‘hidden’ in the small print.

If you allow this to happen, your sales agent will feel justifiably annoyed

unless they’ve agreed to your doing so beforehand.

A sales agent is a great thing for your film to have in terms of reaching audiences worldwide, and in terms of prestige (someone in the industry thinks it’s marketable) – but not necessarily in terms of financial return – it remains to be seen just how much can be made by a filmmaker from their film’s online presence.

A sales agent should be able to make sales and help your film reach audiences in a way you couldn’t under your own steam but be realistic about the likely returns from any sales; they are likely to be modest.

That said, few producers set out to make a short film with the specific intent of making a profit from it.

So what might you be able to do as an individual trying to sell your film?

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channel 4, BBc2 and cable channels have in the past paid around £100 a minute for short film but these rates are slipping and they are no longer offering as much, if anything. with the proliferation of websites making short films freely available on the net, the commercial potential of a Tv screening has reduced considerably in recent years.

The money you receive from a single television sale could be greater than what you’d receive from a sales agent who’s made a number of sales on your behalf, but deducts commission and expenses before paying you. Perhaps you might like to try to sell to a UK Tv company first (so that you can become aware just how hard it is) then leave the rest of the world to a sales agent.

Selling to a foreign television company is even more difficult than making a sale to a UK company, there’s the

possibility of language difficulties to be surmounted for a start.

Factor in the likelihood of a broadcaster not knowing your reputation, their preferring to buy from contacts they already know (sales agents) and their preference from buying a number of short films in a ‘package’ deal, and the prospect of an individual film sale is fairly remote, unless your film has had significant success on the festival or awards circuit

But it’s not just about sales. It’s also about reaching audiences.

Television has, in the past, been an important arena for short film – giving access to potentially huge audiences and providing revenue to short filmmakers.

You will need to research the constantly changing television commissioning landscape in a number of different territories across the globe to discover which television stations are currently buying short film and approach each broadcaster or cable channel individually. This can be quite time consuming and costly when you consider that you will be expected to supply a copy set of deliverables with each sale.

In the UK – where broadcast slots for short film form are few – you are limited to channel 4’s 3 Minute wonder slot, cable channels such as TcM or dedicated shorts channel Propellor, occasional late night slots on BBc2 and channel 4, and very occasionally a whole night on BBc3.

SALES

UK ANDINTERNATIONALTELEVISION

You can aim to sell your film on DvD, either singly or as part of a compilation. This has been a growing area of business for the short film form over the last five years or so, and a quick hunt on Amazon or on eBay will uncover numerous examples.

If you have a sales agent attached, they will want the exclusive right to sub–license your film for DvD releases. If you have granted them this right, you may find yourself in the strange situation of having to renegotiate with them to release your film on DvD yourself.

Short films typically appear on two types of DvD – short film compilations containing a variety of work from a variety of filmmakers, and single DvDs, which contain one or more works by a single filmmaker or production company.

DVDSALES

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This is a far more tricky and speculative venture. Essentially, you take all the financial risk and responsibility with little guarantee of what returns (if any) you’ll be able to make.

Things to Consider: You can either place a single short film on your DvD, or collect together a •number of works, either produced by your company or by a specific filmmaker you work with.You have to be sure that you have the right to use all the materials you plan to •on the DvD.You have to think of DvD extras which will add value to the product – a •documentary ‘making of’, commentary tracks, director’s notes, picture galleries and so on – and budget how much these will cost to prepare.You have to investigate the design, manufacture, distribution, advertising and •sale of your DvD yourself.

It’s becoming common for companies in the UK to offer one–stop shops for design and mastering, packaging and multiple copying of DvDs and the economies of scale come into effect here; the more you order, the cheaper the cost price per unit will be to you. Let’s assume that you get all of this together and one morning a huge box arrives on your doorstep containing two thousand copies of your DvD, ready for you to sell. How might you go about doing this?

once you’ve tested the generosity of your family, friends and acquaintances you need to consider wider sales – this inevitably means advertising and distribution – and hopefully a USP (Unique Selling Point), which would boost saleability.

Let’s look at three different examples of DvDs that have gone on sale in this manner, using three different models (whilst also bearing in mind that there will be other routes you could follow).

SELLING DVDs

INDEPENDENTLY

compilation DvDs are a relatively new method of distributing the short film form – attempts to market vHS compilations didn’t catch on, but with the increased versatility of the DvD format, and menus allowing rapid access to individual films, business has blossomed. The ever–increasing number of compilation DvDs suggest that it can be a profitable enterprise.

Here’s how your film could appear on a compilation DvD:

By invitation from a Film Festival •(Milano, Hamburg, Raindance)By submitting to or invitation from •a company creating compilations (cinema 16, Short cinema Journal etc)By invitation from a public body for •inclusion on a showcase DvD (UK Film council, Scottish Screen)By invitation from a film school •(definitely no payment involved!!)

If you’re a shrewd negotiator, it’s possible that you may be able to secure payment for use of the film on DvD, particularly if it’s going to be released for profit (although typically you shouldn’t expect more than a couple of hundred pounds). The figure will depend hugely on how many territories the DvD publisher plans to make the DvD available in.

You may even be able to negotiate a percentage of each copy sold over a certain number. Realistically, though, don’t expect to see any money past an initial advance.

once you’ve supplied the DvD publisher with their required deliverables, it’s up to them to do all the hard work of manufacturing, distributing and selling the DvD. They should send you a few free copies for your archive.

COMPILATION DVD

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the Chris Morris DVD,My Wrongs 8245–8249 and 117

The format was a single film on DvD in a booklet package,

with minimal extras. The film won the short film BAFTA a few

years ago, and is by an established comedian and satirist with

a proven track record – so that’s a fairly strong USP.

The company which produced the DvD was warp Films,

the film arm of established electronic music record label

warp, who were able to access nationwide DvD sales, both

through their mail order website and through distribution

to cD shops nationwide.

The DvD had an RRP of £7.99, which fell to £5 within a year.

(Possibly a sign that they’d manufactured too many and

needed to offload them quickly to stimulate cash flow.)

Nevertheless, this DvD had perhaps the highest commercial

visibility of any individual filmmaker DvD – the cinema 16

DvDs have had a higher profile, but these are compilations.

a DVD by Austrian experimental filmmaker Virgil Widrich

This DvD compiles three short films and an early feature film from Austrian avant–garde producer/director virgil widrich, whose short films Fast Film and Copy Shop have won numerous awards on the international film festival circuit.

The films are all experimental narratives using new animation techniques – a USP of sorts.

The DvD is for sale through his website, from the websites of a number of international film festivals, and it was also for sale at a table during the Hamburg Short Film Festival, together with a few other independently produced short film DvDs and compilations.widrich has sought – and found – a method of getting his DvD into outlets that should be sympathetic to his work.

Ashvin Kumar’s DVD, Adventures in Shorts: A Filmmakers Journey toHollywood

This DvD was initially advertised on the Shooting People

message board (shootingpeople.org) in the UK.

Kumar has compiled his two short films Road to Ladakh

and Little Terrorist together with two ‘making of’

documentaries and an additional documentary, Can you

Cannes? that documents his team’s efforts to promoting

these films and their other projects at the cannes

International Film Festival.

Pitched very much as an experiential ‘how to’ DvD,

this has been marketed to the aspirational Shooting

People network, and made available for sale through a

US website portal called customFlix on–Demand DvD

Publishing (now called createSpace – www.createspace.

com).

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PoD (Print on Demand) publishing is increasingly popular in the book world, and its DvD equivalent holds similar promise. Because there are no (or few) up–front manufacturing costs, it reduces the financial risk and you can always consider switching to higher volume traditional replication if your sales grow immensely. on–demand publishing can also allow you some more flexibility and control over your materials; within reason they can be presented in the way you’d like them to be.

Let’s take a look at three DvD PoD models:

www.createspace.com The producer sends a DvD copy of their film together with box artwork to createSpace and sets the price of the DvD. when customers order it, createSpace duplicates DvDs and artwork then ships them direct to the customer. createSpace sends the producer regular profit statements, taking a percentage of the purchase price from each sale they make, however it’s up to you as producer to attract potential buyers to visit the createSpace website to make a purchase.

www.shortfilmcentral.comShort Film central hold a catalogue of content from short film producers and allow customers to pick and choose to create their own short film DvD compilations. The company then makes an individually tailored DvD which is mailed out directly. Producers receive a percentage of the DvD’s purchase price based on the number of films on the compilation.

www.ebay.co.ukThe cheapest and most widespread hard copy distribution network of them all. A home colour printer, a DvD burner and an online connection are all you need here. Use ‘Buy It Now’ rather than an auction format. Buyers do search for and do buy short film DvDs on eBay if the price is right and the package made to seem attractive although all efforts on your part to direct buyers to your eBay link will help drive sales.

This mention of the internet brings us neatly into another relatively new avenue for the exploitation of short films.

POD PUBLISHING OF DVDS

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Advertising income–based royaltyA website licenses your film, puts adverts before it and after it, then places it on their website for streaming or download. The site will then offer you a percentage of their advertising revenue income for each view or download.

Percentage of a download feeA website charges a fee for the streaming or download of your short film and returns a portion of this revenue to you.

As mentioned above, sales agents are already offering streaming and downloads, both paid and free. In addition, many other sites – already too numerous and fast–changing to identify them all – are offering short film content.

Short films content onlinewww.bliptv.com•www.brightcove.com•www.cruxy.com•www.one.revver.com/revver•www.stage6.divx.com•www.iTunes.com •www.wamclips.com•www.amazon.com•www.youtube.com•www.bbc.co.uk/dna/filmnetwork•

For mobile phone users:www.bango.com•www.atomicwedgietv.com•Mobile phone service providers•

The online film content revolution is undoubtedly gaining momentum – and short films are at the forefront of its development. It’s not clear yet which business model – free to the consumer or paid for content – will become dominant, however with the huge success of sites such as YouTube offering short films for nothing it may be almost impossible to ask consumers to pay for content in future.

The early proliferation of companies attempting to distribute and screen short films on the web led to several high–profile ventures either going bust or drastically scaled down their operations as there simply wasn’t the market for it at the time.

However, there’s a second wave now gaining steam, with what – at this point in time – appear to be solid commercial models for streamed watching online or for downloading to a variety of personal viewing devices.

Digital distribution is very appealing to short filmmakers: digitise your film, register with and upload it to an increasing number of websites, and potentially millions of people around the globe have to opportunity to watch it streamed, or download it to watch later at their convenience.

In some cases filmmakers will be able to make money from this method of distribution and there are currently two revenue–generating models for online downloadable and streaming content.

DIGITALDISTRIBUTION– ONLINE

DOWNLOADSANDSTREAMING

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If it’s industry members that you want to impress – presumably they’ve already seen your work at a festival, or you’ve sent them a DvD copy of the film – consider what they will be looking for. Probably not your film (which is already ‘dead’ in terms of their ability to get involved) but evidence of other extant work that might convince them you’re a talent to be watched, or pitches for upcoming work that they might be able to get involved with by contacting you.

Arguably, a website that exists solely to promote a short film is of limited usefulness – and costly if you register a domain name for it – but maintaining a website that both demonstrates your work as a filmmaker and alerts the industry to projects that are upcoming can be of some use.

By placing your short film in its entirety up on your own website people will be able to view it but you’re unlikely to be able to make any financial return in the process. If all you want is for people see your film – with the tantalising thought that a major industry figure will see it and snap you up – then go ahead.

It’s important, however, to bear in mind that as soon as your film is available on the web it becomes of less interest to film festivals, sales agents and DvD compilers.

By all means, if you’re able to do it cheaply and have the time to do so, set up a website to promote your film and the personnel involved or include promotion for your film on your broader company website. Some film festivals do ask if the film has a weblink, and will publish this link in their catalogue.

when setting up a website it’s important to consider who’s going to visit the website, and why? what should this website contain?

A WORD OF WARNING

BUILD YOUR OWN WEBSITE OTHER WEBSITES

Should you place your film on a third party website for viewing and perhaps even downloading?

It depends how old the film is and if you have a sales agent. A sales agent would be rightly annoyed if a short film they were trying to sub–license to television stations or for inclusion on DvDs or even stream online were to be freely available elsewhere (ie not via their website) to anyone who wanted it.

There are now many websites which freely offer short film content (see above) so take a close look at the legal agreements that you enter into when posting your content onto each one – in effect, you’re granting them a non–exclusive license to do whatever they want with your film. Are you happy with that? what happens if you then try to engage a sales agent? can you withdraw the film from websites you’ve placed it on?

The BBc Film Network now carries hundreds of UK short films, and is a great resource for filmmakers and film fans alike. But they won’t pay you for your content either unless it is selected to be offered for free download (as it does with a few shorts every month).

Unless you have no other options open to you – or unless you are ideologically disposed towards the free availability of your work – don’t put the entire film on any website yourself for either streaming or download until you’ve explored all other possible avenues for promotion.

Incidentally, check out www.nightisday.com for an interesting business model. It’s a Scottish–based website set–up by independent filmmakers to promote their six–part short film series about a glaswegian superhero. You could watch the first part free online, then pay £1 per episode to see the next five online for a limited time period. If you bought them all, they sent you the DvD of the complete series when it came out.

If you have a sales agent, they’ll want your film to form part of their catalogue and may also want it to be available for screening/downloading from their own website exclusively. If you want to place the film anywhere else online, you’ll have to make sure that the deal you strike with your sales agent gives them non–exclusive rights for the internet and that they’re happy with what you plan to do. If not, you have to leave the film in their hands.

If you don’t have a sales agent, what might you do?

If you envisage film festivals looking at your website, you could include, in downloadable form, everything that a film festival might ask for in terms of publicity materials (see Appendix 2, page 66) but this may not stop the festival from requiring that you ship them these materials anyway.

If your website targets curious members of the general public who’ve seen the film at a festival and have read the festival catalogue and found the web address, what more can you offer them that would enrich their experience of the film?

If you are intent on making sales of your film on DvD, provide payment options (including shipping costs), and for best effectiveness offer a PayPal link.

page 56 page 57

construct an emailing list for your short film – include cast, crew, relatives, industry representatives, contacts, festivals the film has been to – and do an occasional mass mail–out bulletin to them updating them on the progress of the film. Useful information such as what festivals it’s been to, where it’s going next, what awards it’s won and any amusing anecdotes collected along the way. You might even include projects that the team who made the film are currently involved in.

This costs next to nothing – just a little bit of your time – and can do a lot to maintain awareness of your film. Remember to offer people the

option of unsubscribing from your mailing list. once your film has done its promotional rounds, stop sending your bulletins and be aware that you can’t sell or pass on the email list to anyone else without permission from each address. (For more information read about Data Protection: www.ico.gov.uk/Home/for_organisations/data_protection_guide.)

The internet is a superb resource and potential ‘shop–front’ for your activities and your film, and it’s developing all the time.

Let’s turn our attention to another avenue for promoting your short film.

If you decide to place your entire short film for online viewing or download from your own website, how are members of the public going to stumble across your unadvertised website? You could engage in a spot of ‘viral’ marketing. This is an important tool at your disposal, particularly if, like the makers of Night Is Day, your ambitions outweigh your resources and traditional forms of advertising and publicity are either too expensive or not possible for you.

The internet has led to the creation of an extraordinary number of special interest websites, newsgroups, chatrooms, and so on, so consider who might your film appeal to. Look at the central themes and issue and seek out groups that exist to discuss them.

Drum up interest in your film by providing clickable links that lead them to your film or place clips from the film on YouTube and other websites directing the viewer to

somewhere that the film – or further content related to the film – is available.

To increase the chance of making revenue from your film – having gotten a number of people to your website – it makes sense to have something that they can buy there. If you’re offering a DvD for sale, for example, then make it easy to purchase with a PayPal link or similar payment system. convenience is crucial!

If you do attract visitors to your website, try to get some simple feedback from them – did they like or dislike the film? And, above all, try to get a contact email address. These website visitors could be your customers in the future, perhaps buying the next film that you produce or even possibly helping to finance your next film if you have the brass neck to ask.

VIRAL MARKETING

EMAILING LIST

page 58 page 59

Regular short film events are becoming increasingly popular in the UK, USA and germany – many are monthly, some occasional, some one–off. They either have a submission procedure to follow or are hand–picked by the programmers.

Typically these events will screen either DvD or MiniDv shorts in a cinema, pub or club environment that’s been hired or secured for the purpose.

You should consider why you want to hold the screening? Are you looking for a local cinema (or other quiet venue with a large screen video projector and good sound facilities) to hold a cast and crew screening and give them the opportunity to see it on the big screen? or are you looking for a cinema or screening room venue in central London that you can invite a throng of industry talent spotters to as well?

cinemas will only be interested in hosting a screening outside of their normal feature programming hours, for obvious reasons. Independent, non–multiplex cinemas are usually the most approachable but it’s worth talking to all your local screening venues to see if they would be willing to support local filmmakers.

SCREENINGSTHEATRICAL

CAST AND CREW OR SHOWCASESCREENING

PUB CLUB SCREENINGS

The days of shorts preceding features are sadly long gone and it’s very rare to see a short in front of a commercial feature in cinemas. So how might your film make non–festival appearances in cinemas in the UK, either on it’s own, as part of a programme of short films, or screening before a feature film?

Here’s some things to consider:

Do you rely on local cinema largesse – or will you have to pay?•what formats can the cinema screen on? Is your film compatible?•will you ask for a morning or a late night slot? A weekday or the weekend?•Do you call this a premiere/public screening?•who do you invite – cast, crew, extras, family, any local industry financiers, •sponsors, journalists, media, distributors, local film festivals, Tv buyers – anyone else you want to impress and get involved with?will you use publicity material – such as a page of text on the film director’s •thoughts – that gives the audience some further info on the film?Do you provide some level of catering? Do you invite everyone to the cinema •bar afterwards?will you offer a small gift of some kind for the projectionist/cinema staff for •giving up their time?

The Magic Lantern – regular themed screenings across Scotland •(www.themagiclantern.org)Future Shorts – takes place monthly in Edinburgh, glasgow and around the •globe (www.futureshorts.com)curzon cinema – monthly short film programme in central London cinema •(www.curzoncinemas.com)

There are hundreds more such events across the globe. These events are small–scale, and are often difficult to find out about without having local knowledge. The best way to find out about this kind of event in the UK is by subscribing to the Shooting People website (www.shootingpeople.org).

These events can be fun evenings. Your film will be seen by audiences who have a real interest in the short film form, but such screenings are likely to fall below film festivals in terms of their priority on your submission strategy.

Pub and non–cinema screenings are also on the rise thanks to the Public video Screening Licence (http://tinyurl.com/5emj4o) so approach the landlord and see if they would be willing to screen your film before the main feature.

Examples include:

page 61

Back in the heydey of cinemas a night out at the pictures involved a whole programme of films and shorts before the main feature – but it’s very unusual for this to happen in the UK nowadays.

A friendly independent cinema might be open to the idea of screening a short before a feature, but you must be prepared to offer your film for free and do so for the sheer joy of seeing your work on the big screen.

Recently there has been a new initiative between Mini UK (the car manufacturer) and Future Shorts to screen shorts before features across the UK but only a few titles have been selected and this deal has now ended. Keep your eyes open for similar

opportunities in future however. (Read more about the initiative here: http://tinyurl.com/6dyesq.)

The British council constructs cinema programmes for screening at showcase events abroad, so if they’re aware of your film, they may request it. Scottish Screen is also occasionally asked to put together short film recommendations for overseas events and festivals. Make sure you are in the Film UK guide as they will refer to it when looking for titles.

THEATRICAL RUNS

Cry for Bobo has screened a few times at The Stand Comedy

Club in Edinburgh. It’s also screened in the film tents at

Glastonbury and T In The Park festivals.

The Return of Peg Leg Pete made an appearance at a

conference for vocational guidance counsellors in America

following an approach I received from a conference

organiser who’d seen the film in a US festival and thought it

appropriate.

occasionally you might hear of an event – local or national – which might suit your film – and if you do, don’t hesitate to get in touch with the organisers. The opportunity could come from almost anywhere....

OTHER EVENTS

OTHEROPPORTUNITIESFORPROMOTION

page 62 page 63

A few magazines acknowledge the short film form; here are a couple it might be worth sending a copy of your film to:

Showreel magazine – quarterly •short film reviewsLittle white Lies magazine•

Think creatively – where else can you place your film? Try not to refuse any opportunity that’s offered you – unless you’re ideologically opposed to the aims of the organisation that’s shown an interest.

Having exhausted all other possibilities, let’s take a step to the side, away from all thoughts of financial recompense and reaching an audience, to look at how you might use your short film as part of a showreel of your work.

I don’t recommend that you speculatively send your film out to schools, further education institutions and film schools, but do consider whether your film might be thematically strong enough to be of educational interest.

If you can persuade an educational body to incorporate your short film as part of their teaching materials, you could very well see a small financial return for its use in this context.

EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS

FILM MAGAZINES

SHOWREEL PURPOSES

This stands alone because, as soon as your film is completed, you can use it as all or part of a personal or company showreel on DvD.

You can include your entire film, or restrict yourself to clips from it, but you should consider who else you might allow to use your film on their showreel – presumably you don’t want a production runner claiming a more significant involvement in your film?

The following cast and crew members make significant creative contributions to the film:

Producer•Director•writer•cinematographer•Production Designer•Sound Recordist•Editor•Principal cast•Sound Designer•Animator•Title Designer•

Do you supply them with the entire film, or extracts from it? what about your own showreel? who are you

going to send this to?

This depends largely on what you do – producer, director, cinematographer – but in almost all cases a reel is likely to be going to companies and individuals who might potentially employ you in a professional capacity at some point in the future.

This might include larger production companies, advertising agencies, corporate video production companies, post–production houses, sound studios, production companies etc.

Don’t just send your film out blindly.

If you’re a producer or writer, there’s little point in sending out your showreel to production companies, development executives and so on unless you have other projects in the pipeline that you’re trying to get their interest in: something which might appeal to their company in particular – there’s little point in sending your blood–drenched splatter movie to Disney – or even their adult division Buena vista.

page 64 page 65

The short film form is generally under–promoted and under–valued, and the blame for this can at least partially be laid at the door of producers who are reluctant to devote their time and money to promoting their films.

Producers are always looking for their next project, and so they should be – but if they’ve spent time, effort, money and heartache putting a film together, why not make sure that it’s seen by as many people as possible?

Ultimately, producers – and producing directors – should take responsibility for promoting their own work. If they can’t be bothered to make the effort to promote their own films – and by extension, themselves – why should anyone else bother?

The opportunities are certainly out there – it’s up to you to grasp them firmly.

FINALCOMMENTS

APPENDICESAppendix 1

SAMPLE PROMOTIONAL BUDGET

Description Budget Actual £ £

MARKETING & PROMOTION graphic design 99.00 80.00 Postcards 50.00 50.00 website design 30.00 00.00website hosting 20.00 20.00Posters/Banners 50.00 50.00 vHS/DvD covers 30.00 30.00Total 279.00 230.00 MATERIAL DUPLICATION vHS - viewing copies 50.00 50.00 DvDs - viewing/promotional 30.00 30.00 35mm Print 99.00 80.00 other 30.00 80.00Total 209.00 240.00 COURIERS & TRANSPORTATION Festival submissions 88.00 99.00Marketing materials transport 60.00 70.00Duplication carriage charges 30.00 40.00Print/tape transport 30.00 40.00Total 208.00 249.00 FESTIVAL ATTENDANCE Travel 99.00 99.00Accommodation 99.00 99.00Subsistence 70.00 50.00Hospitality/receptions 60.00 99.00Total 328.00 347.00 GRAND TOTAL 1024.00 1066.00

page 66 page 67

Depending on where you plan to submit your film, you should gather together the following required and optional materials, and keep them updated.

THE TITLE OF THE FILM in other languages.

SYNOPSESa variety of lengths:

less than 15 words•less than 25 words•less than 50 words•less than 100 words•

Having the shortest synopses in a variety of languages would also be helpful. You should enlist the help of a fluent speaker of the language for this, as free internet translations will not necessarily be coherent.

DIRECTOR BIOGRAPHY & FILMOGRAPHYA few brief prose paragraphs of cv highlights with the director’s filmography at foot of page.

DIRECTOR STATEMENTA few brief prose paragraphs – the director’s thoughts on the film.

PRODUCTION HISTORYA few brief prose paragraphs – who funded the film and why, anecdotal information.

FULL CREDIT LIST OF THE FILMTaken directly from your opening and closing credit sequences.

TECHNICAL DATA SHEETFormats available for screening•Running time•colour or B/w•Screen Aspect Ratio•Sound•Language of Dialogue•

Appendix 2ADDITIONAL MATERIALS SCRIPT AS PER FINAL EDIT (optional)

A PDF file is necessary to retain script formatting

ENGLISH LANGUAGE DIALOGUE LISTAs per the completed film, NoT the shooting script. •Also include any English language signage that appears.•You can construct this by removing all the business/action sections of your •Script as Per Final Edit, leaving just the dialogue.

A LIST OF APPEARANCES AND AWARDSUpdate this constantly. Divide into sections under the headings below:

Awards won/commendations received•Festival appearances made•Festival appearances upcoming•Tv sales (if any)•other appearances (runs in support of feature films, events etc)•Include the full name of the festival, its city/country, the month/year, and any •colourful information that you glean from each festival.

IMAGESMaximum of 10 .jpg images at photographic resolution (300dpi is generally acceptable). These should include:

oNE preferred promotional shot•oNE shot of director or director/producer team•oNE shot of each of the two lead actors•A few festivals still ask for 35mm slides if possible. But they’ll all accept a cD •with digital images.

A CAPTION LIST FOR THE PHOTOSA festival obviously needs to know what’s contained in each photograph.•Make sure that the numbering of the captions matches the numbering of the •photographs.

OPTIONAL MATERIALSPress pack (containing some of the items above):

Press & festival quotes – if you’re lucky enough to get good reviews•Postcards – full colour best, unless film is in b/w•Posters•Film–specific promotional items – beermats, plastic bags etc•List of favourable press quotes and blurbs from festival websites where the film •has participatedPromotional website address•

FOR FESTIVALS

page 68 page 69

Sample expenses formSample submission letter

Appendix 3Appendix 4

Anchorage Film Fest1410 Rudakof CircleAnchorageAK 99508USA

10th April 2008Hi there...

CRY FOR BOBO

Please find enclosed entry materials for your festival - a DVD preview copy, together with

a completed application form (with credit card payment), a list of prior appearances and

awards and a CD containing all the photographs, synopsis, biographies etc... that you’ve

asked for.

CRY FOR BOBO was produced in August 2001 for BBC Scotland/Scottish Screen’s award-

winning Tartan Shorts scheme, and is quite unlike anything they’ve handled in the past - the

film is proving itself a real crowd-pleaser with audiences of all ages, fast-paced and very

funny, with an underlying message of tolerance towards oppressed minorities.

In addition to numerous international festival and UK theatrical screenings, the film has

won three major UK awards; a Royal Television Society Programme Award; the TAPS

Writer of The Year Award for ‘Best Completed Short’; and the Jim Poole Award for Best

Scottish Short.

Amongst its international accolades, CRY FOR BOBO has won Best Narrative Short at

the Athens (Ohio) Independent Film Festival; a Méliès D’Argent for Best European Fantasy

Film from Sitges International Film Festival; Best Fiction from FIKE Évora International

Short Film Festival; the FICE Award from Napoli Film Festival, and Audience Awards from

Brussels International Festival of Fantasy Films and the Down Under International Film

Festival.

“Cry for Bobo is beautifully written, directed and produced and works on every level, as

knockabout silliness, as a serious satire on racial intolerance, and as a visually sumptuous,

technically perfect short film. This is an absolute must-see.” - Review from MJSIMPSON.

CO.UK

I do hope that you’ll love the film and will want to include it in your December 2008

programme.

Please confirm receipt of this application by email to the address below.

I look forward to hearing from you...

Best Wishes

Nigel R. SmithPRODUCER

ENC:DVD

Entry form/list of appearances press CD

Nigel R. Smith, 35A Brittania Row, Glasgow, G2 3IG

DATE EXPENSE £17/7 UPPSALA FILM FESTIvAL - postage £ 4.41 18/7 BRIEF ENcoUNTERS SFF - postage £ 0.84 24/8 FoYLE FILM FESTIvAL - postage £ 1.72 5/9 BREST FILM FESTIvAL - postage £ 1.74 5/9 STocKHoLM FILM FESTIvAL - postage £ 1.83 13/9 - oLYMPIA FILM FESTIvAL - postage £ 2.10 13/9 gIJoN FILM FESTIvAL - postage £ 2.10 13/9 ZINEBI FILM FESTIvAL - postage £ 2.10 1/10 BRITISH coUNcIL - requested, postage £ 0.44 1/10 BERLIN FILM FESTIvAL - postage £ 2.10 1/10 oSLo FILM FESTIvAL - postage £ 2.10 1/10 BERMUDA FILM FESTIvAL - postage £ 3.36 5/10 BRITSPoTTINg - postage £ 1.56 12/10 BUENoS AIRES FILM FESTIvAL - postage £ 3.36 5/11 unspecified postage £ 1.91 5/11 MANHATTAN SHoRT FILM FEST - postage £ 2.685/11 MANHATTAN SHoRT FILM FEST - $30 cash entry £ 21.545/11 oBERHAUSEN SHoRT FILM FESTIvAL - postage £ 2.106/11 PoST oFFIcE - PoSTPAcKS FoR FESTS £ 9.507/11 BRADFoRD FILM FESTIvAL - postage £ 1.007/11 BUFF MALMo FESTIvAL - postage £ 1.657/11 SANTA BARBARA FILM FESTIvAL - postage £ 3.197/11 SANTA BARBARA FILM FESTIvAL -c/c $45 entry fee £ 32.857/11 ASPEN SHoRTSFEST - postage £ 3.537/11 ASPEN SHoRTSFEST - IMo entry fee £ 29.777/11 unspecified postage £ 0.958/11 SAN FRANcISco FESTIvAL - postage £ 2.518/11 SAN FRANcISco FESTIvAL - c/c 55usd entry fee £ 40.158/11 NEw ZEALAND FILM FESTIvALS - postage £ 3.629/11 NASHvILLE FILM FESTIvAL - postage £ 3.369/11 NASHvILLE FILM FESTIvAL - c/c 30usd entry fee £ 21.549/11 Hazel - postage £ 0.1913/11 cRAcow FILM FESTIvAL - postage £ 2.1014/11 wASHINgToN Dc FILMFEST - postage £ 3.3614/11 wASHINgToN Dc FILMFEST - entry fee $15 cash sent £ 10.7720/11 unspecified postage £ 0.3820/11 MATERIALS To SND DISTRIBUToR £ 6.1821/11 unspecified postage £ 1.0122/11 DRESDEN FILM FESTIvAL - postage £ 2.1023/11 PoUNDSTRETcHER - BLANK cDRS £ 19.98

ToTAL AT 1ST DEc £ 257.67 TOTAL £ 257.67 PAID IN FRoM gIJoN FILM FESTIvAL (AwARD) £ 50.00 NEw ToTAL £207.67

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