The Five People You Need to Meet at a Film Festival
If you read our recent article about how to make the most of your first film festival, you’re ready to start thinking about the five people you need to meet when you get there. This list is not necessarily comprehensive, but it will help you accomplish what I like to call “surgical networking,” which involves research, strategy, and a little bit of chutzpah.
1. Festival Programming Staff
These are the people that liked your film enough to include it in their program. At a minimum, you should seek them out and at least thank them for the opportunity to screen your film at their festival. But why stop there? Ask them about how they got into film programming. Ask them about their favorite things to do in the city. In other words, have a normal conversation with them. Make a positive first impression and then give a friendly wave when you see them around the festival venues. And make sure to say farewell (if you can) before you leave. After you return home, send them an email thanking them again and wishing them good luck with next year’s edition.
2. Fellow Filmmakers
These are your people! Get to know as many of them as you can. Chat them up at happy hours. Try your best to see their movies. Go to their screening after-parties. I really can’t emphasize enough how vital your filmmaking peers can be to your career development. When I was a programmer for the Seattle International Film Festival, I created a sidebar program called Catalyst, which was akin to Sundance’s NEXT section. Over the course of five years, we grew a community and more than a few filmmakers and producers collaborated with each other after connecting at SIFF’s Catalyst weekend. In addition to the opportunity to commiserate with each other about the brutal trench warfare that is independent filmmaking, you might also find a future creative collaborator. Maybe you’ll never work on a project together, but you might give feedback on each other’s scripts or offer a critique of an early rough cut of their next film.
3. Members of the Press
It also doesn’t hurt to get to know a few film critics while you’re at it, either. You will find that they are normal people and not just a bunch of snobs with an axe to grind. Plus, they can help get the word out about your film. Press relations are often transactional, but that doesn’t mean you have to approach them as such. Whether or not someone is able to cover your film or feature you on their podcast is not the point here. Your goal is get on their radar and let them put a name to a face. Journalists receive hundreds of pitches a week (maybe a day!) and if a writer/reviewer recognizes your name and remembers meeting you at a festival, you’re that much closer to having them at the very least read and consider your pitch.
4. Panelists and Speakers
Most festivals spend a lot of time, effort, and money to bring marquee industry names to their festivals, often as jury members, panelists, and keynote speakers. Go to these panels. Listen to these keynotes. Introduce yourself to jury members. These can be once-in-a-lifetime opportunities to forge industry connections, especially if you’re at a brand name festival with high-profile guests. These initial conversations can have huge impacts on your career, or just make for interesting stories. For instance, I was fortunate enough to sit next to Werner Herzog at a festival dinner and we ended up talking about the time he ate his shoe and how much he enjoyed watching his son, a professional magician, perform. I didn’t ask him to read my script. I didn’t ask him to hire me as his assistant. But I did gain a large measure of confidence by holding my own in a conversation with someone that, before then, I considered to be an intimidating artist who could never be interested in a first-time filmmaker like myself. Oh, and the reason I ended up at a dinner with Werner Herzog? Because I was invited by one of the programmers whom I had met the night before at an after-party.
5. The Audience
More so than almost any other person or group of people you’ll meet at a film festival, the audience at your screenings might be the most important. At a typical film festival, your film will screen two to three times with an average audience size of 100–200 people. These people are taking a chance on your film, especially if it’s a world premiere. And by extension, they’re taking a chance on you. Take note of the demographic make-up of the group. Are they older? Younger? These top-level demographics might come in handy down the road when you’re determining target audiences for your eventual VOD release.
More importantly, though, your audience can give you insight into what elements of your film really clicks with them. When do they laugh? When do they cry? This can be especially helpful when it comes time to cut your trailer. Or, on the other hand, it might tell you that a specific storyline or character isn’t quite working the way you had hoped. Without a screening in front of a real live audience, it can be difficult to know what works and what doesn’t. Many filmmakers recut their films following festival screenings thanks to this very specific type of feedback. It can make your film even better…if you’re open to it. And don’t forget to stick around after your Q&A and connect directly with your new fans. Invite them to join your mailing list and follow you and/or your film on social media.
The most important thing, of course, is to enjoy sharing your work with fellow filmmakers and film lovers from around the world. Make the most of it by being present throughout the experience and you’ll be well on your way to launching a sustainable filmmaking career from the ground up.
J. Brad Wilke (@jbwilke) is a co-founder and principal of Smarthouse Creative, a full-service publicity and marketing agency that works with independent filmmakers and creative entrepreneurs. Brad holds an MBA from the University of Washington’s Foster School of Business, a Master of Communication in Digital Media from the University of Washington’s Department of Communication, and a Bachelor of Science from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. Brad designs and executes digital, social media, and creative distribution strategies for Smarthouse’s clients. Brad is also an adjunct lecturer in digital marketing & film studies, as well as an award-winning filmmaker, produced feature-length screenwriter, and former artistic director of the Portland Film Festival.
