I have spent many thousands of dollars submitting to film festivals over the years. Shorts, features, documentaries, all of it. After many years of doing it I have some conclusions, and the short version is that I have started to believe most of them are a scam.
It is mostly pay to play
I do not mean every festival. There are real ones. There are rooms where people actually watch the work, where you can meet other filmmakers, where someone can recognize you as a filmmaker even if nothing comes of the specific project. Local festivals can be meaningful. Incubators can be meaningful. Getting in front of actual decision-makers can be meaningful.
But a lot of the short film ecosystem is pay to play. You submit because the categories look like good fits. They are priced right. You feel competitive for them. And you are competitive, because they will give you a laurel. But there is no screening. No one is ever going to watch it. There is no visibility, no marketing. They get your money and you get a pat on the back trophy.
The math gets stupid fast
$30 to $50 to submit a short. $50 to $100 or $125 for a feature. If your strategy is to apply to 10 or 20 festivals, that is thousands of dollars that never appears on screen and never really benefits the film. Everyone wants to submit to Sundance and Tribeca and the big names, but if they do not know you and they are not aware of your work, the odds of getting in from coldly submitting are almost zero. They are happy to take your money anyway.
You can also see it in the numbers if you look. Clicks on the link, time on the page. It is hard to believe these people are actually watching the films all the way through. They can tell pretty quickly if something is a fit. But you are still paying for it.
I am not anti-festival. I am pro-audience.
I am not anti-festival. I am not. I am just pro-audience, your audience. So you have to find a way to reach them.
Do your own screenings. Put the work on the internet. Bang the drum even though nobody likes doing it. Find a lane to directly connect with people who might actually care.
What I am doing instead
That is what I am trying to do with The Wilted Flower, The Great Balloon, and the anthology those shorts are becoming. Carve a niche by being authentic to the work, the voice, and the project. Build the audience one person at a time. Make the next film with a little more leverage than the last one.
If you are submitting to ten festivals a year and not building any way to reach people yourself, I would think hard about whether that money is actually doing anything for your film or your career.
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