Hosting Hybrid In-Person & Virtual Film Events

Sometimes innovation has to be forced, and while COVID-19 has hurt economies and taken many lives, it has also forced some industries to progress forward. For example, it’s now socially acceptable to work fully remote, a trend that will likely stay as companies save money on expensive office space. It has also forced film festivals, and film premieres to be online — something few were willing to do before and creating new opportunities for distribution.

As society will eventually return to normal, the online portion does not have to disappear but instead become a new hybrid model for festivals and film premieres that want to reach and engage wider audiences. We will be discussing this for festivals and premieres of feature films, documentaries, and even web series, how to do hybrid film events. We will also be using Playhouse West Film Festival as a case study.

To view other articles on film events, visit our Film Blog. To test the platform, please visit https://distribution.bingewave.com/.

Misbelief — If Online, People Won’t Show Up

One of the fears of doing something online is that people will not show up because they would rather stay home. This is not true and the problem has to be looked at from the perspective that your festival or premiere has two different audiences it is serving. One audience values great films and content; the other values the in-person elements that events have such as:

• Meeting Investors
• Distribution Deals
• Casting Opportunities
• General Networking
• Job Seeking

We surveyed why people attend festivals, which resulted in this chart:

It looks like 39% of people come for general networking. But if you add meeting film investors, distributors, casting, and jobs — the total is 68%. This means 68% of people come to a festival for an activity that involves meeting and interacting with other people.

Film events, especially festivals, create unique opportunities to meet people, and the majority of people come for that reason. This means that even with having an online component, your core audience will come to an in-person event because of the value they are getting. Having a virtual component for casual film watchers can be a way to extend your audience, which will be discussed below.

Why Do Both Online and Offline Events

Now that we have established that your film event has two different audiences, the next part is why even allow a virtual audience to participate. There a few good reasons that are:

1. Socially Acceptable: Before, virtual was an unheard of or considered taboo. Who would pay for a virtual screening? Now it’s socially acceptable and proven to have a paying audience. On BingeWave, we’ve done virtual premieres that have generated 100’s of dollars for indie filmmakers and $1000’s for festivals.
2. Increased Audience: In lieu of geo-restrictions imposed by film licensing, your audience is global and can entice the film enthusiast to watch. The filmmaker can also invite friends and family to watch their film that normally wouldn’t fly out to an event.
3. Increased Tickets: With the increased audience comes increased ticket sales revenue. Even if they are virtual, being virtual should not be free, and they will have to buy their tickets or passes like everyone else.
4. More Sponsorship Opportunities: The increased audience also allows more opportunities to sell sponsorships. Include it as an extra benefit you are offering with your normal sponsorship packages.
5. Overcome Capacity Limits: During the pandemic, you are likely operating at 50% capacity or less. Allowing a virtual audience will allow you to reach more people despite restrictions placed on you by a venue.
6. Allow People To Feel Safe & Comfortable: During the pandemic, some people will not feel safe going into a venue, or being in a car can be uncomfortable. Virtual screenings allow them to be comfortable in their own home.

How To Do An Hybrid In-Person & Virtual Event

We have an understanding of our different audiences for hybrid events, and the benefits of having this kind of event. Next are the general steps for setting up and hosting a hybrid event.

1. Get Approval From The Filmmaker or Distributor: The first step is to get the filmmaker or distributor’s approval with their content being online. This can be a lot easier to obtain if it’s NOT Video-On-Demand but a live stream. One-time only live streams that are only available at a specified time feels much safer.
2. Decide On The Experience For Each Audience Type: What are you delivering to your online audience versus what are you delivering to your in-person audience? Remember the two audiences value you different things and you do not have to make everything one package.
3. Price Each Experience Accordingly: With each experience defined, price them accordingly. Typically your online audience experience will be cheaper because they will not have amenities as the in-person audience. But your online audience can outsell your in-person audience in volume.
4. Decide On A Technology & Platforms That Can Handle Your Approach: Next, decide on the technology that can handle your approach. Do you want a single ticket system or a separate system? How will the movies be played to the virtual audience? Do you want the audiences to be in sync? Should the virtual audiences be able to interact with the in-person attendees? Your technology choice should derive from the desired experience.
5. Market The Event As A Whole: Finally, market the event as one, with the option of choosing the online or offline package.

Case Study — Playhouse West Film Festival — Philadelphia

Now that we have a good understanding of a hybrid film event, let’s close it with an actual real-life example of one — the Playhouse West Film Festival — Philadelphia. They had a unique approach to their festival.

Ticketing: For their ticketing, they used two different ticketing systems. FilmFreeway handled their in-person ticketing, and BingeWave handled their online ticketing. The audience members were directed depending on the experience they wanted.

Simultaneous Screening: The Playhouse Film Festival has a reputation for being punctual with their program and their screening execution reflected that. They had the in-person films start in their theater and used BingeWave’s live streaming to play the films at nearly the exact same time. The in-person and virtual experience was only a 1–2 minutes apart.

1st Day Live Q&As: After each screening, they had a Q&A panel. The audience who was in the theater watched the Q&A on stage from their seats. The festival had an assistant live stream the panel through BingeWave using a cell phone to the online audience. Both audiences had a simultaneous film and panel experience.

2nd Day Virtual Screenings Only: On the 2nd day, there was no Q&A, and they automated their live screening on BingeWave to start at the designated times. They used the online chat to feature to talk with each other about the films.

Overall Results & Revenue: The festival was a positive experience for the filmmakers, the in-person and the online audience. From a revenue standpoint, the ticket sales between online and offline were nearly evenly split, with the online sales slightly more than the offline.

Your Next Event

Some areas can hold events in a limited capacity during the panedemic; others are forced to do virtual events only. If you are stuck at a limited capacity for your event, consider having a virtual component. And when things fully re-open, use hybrid events to increase your audience reach and revenue.

BingeWave is live streaming, community building and revenue generation platform for filmmakers. We serve everyone from festivals, web series, documentaries, to features, and champion diverse narratives.

For information on hosting your own film even or obtaining live/cinematic distribution, please visit: https://distribution.bingewave.com/