The Kindness of Programmers
By J. Brad Wilke
Filmmakers are a festival’s most valuable resource. Without filmmakers, there wouldn’t be any films. And without films, there wouldn’t be any festivals. And that’s why it’s important for festival staff (especially programmers) to do everything they can to build strong relationships with filmmakers by making them feel like a valued part of the process.
Based on the data, most filmmakers submitting to festivals are first-timers. Like any neophyte, they are still trying to figure out how the system works. As such, they’ll have a lot of questions before, during, and after the process of submitting their film. Here are a few ways to build better relationships with
Respond to Their Questions With Empathy
As a former festival programmer (SIFF), artistic director (PDXFF) and current consultant, I’ve probably heard variations of every question in the book. Go ahead, think of the most ridiculous, out of left field question you can imagine and I’ve probably heard it. But, no matter how crazy it might sound, it is a genuine source of concern for the filmmaker who asked it. So please be kind to them in your response. Don’t ignore their message. If the answer is in the FAQ, send them a link. Remember the golden rule. We were all beginners at something.
Make Them Feel Welcome at Your Festival
One of the greatest feelings for a filmmaker is attending their first film festival. And one of the worst feelings is getting there and feeling like nobody cares they came. Roll out the red carpet for your visiting filmmakers. Introduce them to other filmmakers and your festival staff. Make sure they know about all the cool things happening while they’re in town. Even if events are well promoted via your marketing materials, nothing beats a personal invitation from a festival staff member to the evening’s post-screening after-party. This is a great way to cultivate relationships with filmmakers while ensuring that everyone has a great time between their screenings.
Prepare for Their Q&As
Filmmakers know when the person moderating their Q&A hasn’t seen their film. The questions are vague (or worse) and lacking in enthusiasm. It’s a big downer for everyone in the room, especially the audience members who stuck around to hear more about the film they just watched. So don’t just send a volunteer up there with a microphone. Do it yourself, or find someone who loved the film as much as you and give them the honor of conducting the Q&A. Maybe it’s a board member, someone from the screening committee, or a staff member that saw the film and loved it. You don’t have to personally cover every Q&A, but you should make every effort to ensure that a qualified festival representative does.
Do What You Can to Put Them in the Spotlight
Do you have an open seat on a panel? Give it to a visiting filmmaker. Have an eager local blogger looking to interview filmmakers? Connect them to a young director who’s in town for their screening. For many filmmakers, this is their moment in the sun, so let them shine.
Be Ready for Anything
Sure, this is the catch-all, but it’s an important catch-all because you never know what’s going to happen at a film festival. To illustrate this point, I’d like to share something that happened to me while attending the Tacoma Film Festival.
Believe it or not, I made a short film last year that played a few film festivals. This two-minute horror short was scheduled to play Monday night at 9pm. Unfortunately, I put the screening in my calendar for Tuesday at 9pm. On Tuesday, I drove down from Seattle and got there around 8:45pm. Making my way through the crowded lobby of Tacoma’s venerable Grand Cinema, I saw Wade Neal, one of the lead programmers at TFF. He was surprised to see me, but not as surprised as I was when he told me that my film had screened the night before to a sold-out house. To make a long story short, Wade added my film to that night’s shorts package. I didn’t ask him, I didn’t make a scene; he just did it. And it absolutely floored me. He had no obligation to try and fix my mistake and it never would have even occurred to me to ask. In over 13 years of festival programming, I’ve never seen someone do this. And it made me a life-long fan of the Tacoma Film Festival.
If you’re a filmmaker that has a similar story about the “Kindness of Programmers,” please share it below in the comments!
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.
