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The shoot has wrapped, the final edits are done, the color grading is finally right, and the score has been expertly mixed. You’ve got a finished project you’re proud of and you’re ready for the world to see it.
You know your next step is applying to film festivals.
But how do you actually get into film festivals, and what do you need–besides a stellar project–to do it? How do you make sure the significant time and money spent on your film festival submissions is worth it?
Read on to learn how to craft a strong film festival submission that will make the best use of your resources!
There’s a lot to consider and keep organized as you begin your film festival submissions.
To simplify that process, download our film festival submission checklist! With it, you can quickly and easily track your submission to-dos and save time, energy, and frustration as you do.
Once you have that checklist in hand, let’s get back to making that submission process a success!
FilmFreeway is the only platform for digital worldwide film festival submissions. Over 10,000 film festivals around the globe accept submissions through FilmFreeway, from the big and established to the new and niche.
To use FilmFreeway, you’ll first need to set up a free account. The initial process takes seconds–either sign up with Google or with an email and password.
You’ll then want to spend some time creating a robust FilmFreeway profile for yourself as a filmmaker (this is different from your project’s profile). You can add photos, a bio, articles about your work, resumes, links, and more. Invest some time in creating a polished profile. Programmers may review your profile when you submit to their festivals, so consider it a defacto part of your submission packages!
You can also sign up for FilmFreeway Gold. It can be a money-saver in the long run, particularly if you’re planning on a large number of film festival submissions. FilmFreeway Gold is $12.99 for a month, and you can cancel anytime. You’ll be eligible to save 10%–50%off of some film submission fees (for festivals labeled “Gold”). There are also a few other money-saving perks.
Once you’ve signed up for FilmFreeway, it’s time to create a Project Profile Page. A Project Profile Page is essentially a FilmFreeway-hosted web page for your project. You set this page up once, and it becomes the basis of your submission package for any festival.
You can set your Project Profile Page to private so that only festivals you submit to can see it. Or you can set it to public and share it on social media.
Not all of the elements of the Project Profile Page are required, but a more complete profile will only help your chances of being selected. Think of all the time, passion and energy you poured into your project. Channel that same passion into your asset preparation to tell the story of your project as engagingly as possible.
If your project is selected, festivals will use information from your Project Profile Page to market your project’s screening. So when programmers see you’ve put time and effort into a killer marketing package for your project, they clock that as less work for their own staff when it comes time to market the festival, which is definitely a point in your favor.
Let’s look at some of the major elements of your Project Profile Page for your film festival submissions.
Consider a poster a non-negotiable piece of your film festival submission package. Your poster is typically the first thing festival programmers will see when reviewing your submission, so it counts for a lot.
Does your poster communicate the story and visual tone of your project? Is it visually arresting? Will it stand out from the pack? Is it size-flexible? In other words, will it look as good shrunk down on your FilmFreeway profile as it does blown up and printed for a theater poster case?
If you choose to use FilmFreeway’s paid project marketing tools, your poster is typically the asset that will be featured the most. With these tools, a standout poster can be the difference between being overlooked and being invited to submit (often with a fee waiver or discount!) by a festival programmer.
Unless you have graphic design skills, it's best to work with a professional to design a perfect poster for your project. If that’s not in the budget, a free graphic design tool with a user-friendly interface, like Canva, can help. You can utilize one of its many film poster templates, then customize images, text, colors, and placement.
A brief synopsis of your film is a key asset that–alongside your poster–is often the first thing programmers will see about your project. Your synopsis should entice programmers to want to know more, but also make it clear what they can expect from your project in terms of basic plot and genre.
This is an asset worth investing in if you can. Hire a writer who specializes in film marketing to help you craft a synopsis.
If you do write your own synopsis, keep in mind that you may be too close to your project to be objective. Have friends who have not seen your project read the synopsis and tell you what kind of film it makes them expect. Conversely, have people who have seen the project review your synopsis to see if it’s totally different than what they experienced watching your film.
Festival programmers are going to watch your actual project, so what’s the point of including a trailer with your film festival submission?
A trailer is often the first impression festival programmers will get of your project, so it’s an opportunity to get them excited about it. It’s also visually prominent on your Project Profile Page, as it’s huge and right at the top.
Plus, programmers get hundreds–sometimes thousands–of film festival submissions. They might use trailers as a tool to refresh their memories about a project over a long submission process.
Finally, remember that film festivals rely largely on your marketing materials to promote your project–and, by extension, their festivals. Providing them with an engaging trailer makes it that much easier to promote your film.
For a little inspiration, here’s a trailer that’s widely applauded in the industry.
Take the time to cut a solid trailer. You can also consider hiring a trailer house or freelance trailer editor as you prepare your film festival submission.
Don’t underestimate the importance of dynamic, high-quality stills for your film festival submission.
Make sure to take them directly from your editing software for the best image quality. In other words, don’t just screenshot. Be intentional about the frames you choose.
Here’s an exercise to try if you’re not sure whether a given still should make the cut for your Project Profile Page. Download a flier or other ad from a festival you’re considering applying to. Choose one that features a film still. Overlay your still on that flier. Does it work? Is it dynamic and eye-catching? If so, that’s the still to choose!
Stills are important for communicating the visual language of your project at a glance. Try to choose stills that show a generous range of characters, backgrounds, and colors. It usually works best to stick mainly to close and medium shots, but a few wides will round out the selection nicely.
Highlighting the experiences of your crew and key cast by including bios in your Project Profile Page is worth the time. This often-underutilized asset can help lend your project credibility and weight.
It’s true that festival programmers may not read every single bio you include. But they will likely at least skim, and mentions of high-profile or artistically interesting past projects will definitely catch their eye. Keep bios concise to promote skimmability.
At the very least, you should include your own filmmaker bio. You can also easily add any major prior credits your cast and crew have worked on in your “credits” section, even if you don’t have their bios.
If you’re still figuring out how to promote your project on social media, don’t worry–we have a whole separate article on that!
Briefly though, we’d recommend at least having a website set up for your film before submitting to film festivals and including it on your Project Profile Page. A website lends your project credibility and shows that you’ve thought about basic marketing for your film.
Of course, a strong social media presence is going to be an asset for your film festival submission. If people are excited about your project on social media, festival programmers are absolutely going to want to leverage that for their festivals, particularly if there is a fit in terms of the audiences they’re looking for.
And note that you don’t necessarily need to have a dedicated social media account for your project. If you’ve been posting about the project on your own social media account, you can include links to your own account on your Project Profile Page. Definitely include these links if you have a large following and/or high engagement.
If you or your project don’t have much of a presence on social media, don’t panic. It’s okay to leave the social media links off for now. You can always add them later as you build your social media marketing strategy. Just make sure to create a website so you have some web presence to link on your film festival submission. As long as your other elements are in place, you can still have a strong film festival submission even without social media links.
Make sure to completely fill out the “credits” and “specifications” sections of your Project Profile Page.
The “credits” section is where you can highlight prior major credits of your cast and crew.
Items like project type, genre, runtime, completion date, countries of origin and filming, language, shooting format, and aspect ratio are particularly helpful for festival programmers. Don’t make them chase you down for this information!
Outside of your Project Profile Page, you’ll have the opportunity to submit a cover letter for each festival you submit to on FilmFreeway. So do programmers actually read the cover letters that come with film festival submissions?
The answer is, sometimes. But we recommend always including one, because a good cover letter can set your film festival submission apart and make it more personal.
Prepare a template version of your cover letter with the basics of your project, any unique details, and major bio highlights from you and your team.
But make sure to customize your letter for each film festival.
Show that you did your homework and detail why you think your project would be a great fit for their festival in particular. If you have any ties to the community their film festival serves or to any festival alum, be sure to highlight that. Finally, spotlight the premiere status your project would hold for their festival–for example, “If selected, this would be the East Coast premiere of this film.” The tone you’re going for is professional but personable.
As with your project bios, keep your cover letter concise to increase the chances it will get read.
Now that you’ve got a strong filmmaker profile and Project Profile Page set up, it’s time to make a plan for which festivals to submit to.
First, though, you need to get clear on your budget. Submission fees, marketing, and travel can add up. How much do you have to spend on this festival run, and where is the money coming from? Be sure to break down your budget into specifics. Exactly how much can you allocate for submission fees?
Once you have a sense of how much budget you’re working with, you can make a list. There’s a lot to consider when creating your film festival submission list. Getting clear on your goals with your project’s festival run can help narrow things down and keep you within your submission budget.
Do you want to network? Focus on applying mostly to festivals you know you can attend, either online or in person. Is exposure important to you? Maximize your chances of getting into as many festivals as possible by looking at festivals with higher acceptance rates. Looking for distribution offers? Look at festivals with a history of distribution for filmmakers.
It’s also important to do your research. Understand the mission of the festival itself. Are you and your project in alignment with that mission? Take the time to view trailers for previous films that have been screened at that festival. Does your project fit in?
Also take your identity as a filmmaker into consideration. Festivals often prioritize local artists, since they usually come with some built-in audience. So make sure to submit to any festivals in your area that your project is a fit for. If you identify as a queer filmmaker, consider adding some LGBTQIA+ film festivals to your submission list. Are you a BIPOC artist? Maybe your project is a good fit for some BIPOC film festivals.
FilmFreeway has a pretty strong festival search tool that can help narrow down your list. You can search by film category, event type, entry fees, project runtime, entry deadline, event date and more.
Finally, consider that many of the bigger festivals may not see your project having played at smaller festivals previously as an asset. In fact, they may see it as a reason not to pick your project. So if you have any mid or large festivals on your list, see if you can time your submissions so that you hear back from them first, before moving on to the smaller festivals. Remember that your film festival run can be long–one to two years isn’t uncommon. Just be aware that your project will likely have to be made within a certain time frame in order to be eligible for submission.
Almost every festival offers discounts for early bird deadlines, so you can apply to more festivals if you plan ahead.
As we mentioned, joining FilmFreeway Gold can also save you money, if you utilize its services the right way. Before deciding if it makes sense to join, look at your list of festivals to apply to. How many of them are “Gold” festivals (it will be listed on their festival profile under “Event Type”)? How much of a fee discount would you get as a Gold member for each festival you plan to submit to? From there, it’s pretty easy to do the math to see if your Gold membership fee is less than the money you’d save by submitting as a Gold member.
Gold members also get 50% off of FilmFreeway’s project marketing tools. With these tools, you pay various rates to be featured directly to festival programmers on different platforms. Programmers can then invite you to apply to their festivals with one click, often with fee waivers or discounts. So utilizing these services, particularly as a Gold member, could potentially help you cast a wider film submission net within your budget.
It’s crucial to read all of the information on a film festival’s FilmFreeway profile page before submitting. This is where festivals will highlight any eligibility rules and special requirements.
For example, most film festivals will want your project to have been completed within a certain recent timeframe, like within the last two years. Some festivals are okay with your project not being completed at the time of submission, as long as you can guarantee completion by a certain date. Many festivals have rules against your project being available on the internet. Most festivals have runtime requirements, which can vary by project type.
Some festivals want your project to be a premiere within their region or state. For some festivals, this is a requirement, but for many, it’s more of a preference.
Does this all seem like a lot of information to keep track of? It definitely is!
The planning phase of your film festival submission process is the perfect time to set up a system for tracking your submissions. It can be as simple as a spreadsheet with columns for film festival name, date, location, submission dates and fees, special requirements, and whether or not you submitted. Don’t try to keep all this information in your head.
As you start getting notices from the festivals you submitted to, this spreadsheet will be valuable for planning your attendance. It’s also helpful for seeing if you have any competing premiere status to communicate with the festivals about.
Alongside your spreadsheet, consider building out a dedicated festival calendar (either digital or physical). Highlight the deadlines (early and late), notification dates, and event dates for all of the festivals you submit to. These are all listed on a festival’s FilmFreeway profile, so you can put them on your calendar when creating your submission list.
Finally, remember that your project’s FilmFreeway Project Profile page is editable, so make sure to update it whenever you play a new festival, get new press or reviews, or gain awards or distribution. You’ll also need to add laurels to your poster as you gain festival screenings.
Your work doesn’t end once you’ve submitted to a festival! Festival staff may be in touch with follow up questions or requests for more material. Be on the lookout for these communications and respond as soon as possible.
If a festival is reaching out, that probably indicates interest on their part. Be prepared to keep that interest up by being a responsive filmmaker.
Best of luck with preparing your film festival submissions and don’t forget to download our checklist as you do. By taking time to organize, investing in your assets, and having a solid plan, you’ll set yourself up for a successful film festival circuit run.
If you need help starting your submission list, check out our roundup of some of the best film festivals and short film festivals to bookmark!
At Wrapbook, we pride ourselves on providing outstanding free resources to producers and their crews, but this post is for informational purposes only as of the date above. The content on our website is not intended to provide and should not be relied on for legal, accounting, or tax advice. You should consult with your own legal, accounting, or tax advisors to determine how this general information may apply to your specific circumstances.
Shaudi is a Seattle-based musician, theatre artist, writer and social media marketing specialist. She holds degrees from Berklee College of Music and the University of Washington School of Drama.
