How to Upload My Movie in Youtube and Send Its Link to Film Festivals
A filmmaker proved a festival lied about watching his picture. He got his money dorsum.
[Editor'southward Note: No Moving-picture show School asked Chris Suchorskyto write near his experience figuring out how to track which festivals watched his screeners —and belongings them answerable.]
Submitting to moving-picture show festivals is an exciting and miserable experience all rolled into one. There'due south a moment of joy and relief when yous hit that submit push, and total low when yous become that brusk email that starts with, "Thank yous and so much for assuasive us to view [INSERT FILM Championship WE DON'T WANT]...."
Being accepted to flick festivals is an entirely different experience. I like to tell the story of the time a top North American film festival rejected my moving-picture show in 2007, only to send me an e-mail xi months later that said, "Hey, and so-and-so (famous musician) said we should cheque out your film. Tin can we see it?" I well-nigh called them out on their bullshit, but instead bit my tongue and threw a DVD in an envelope with a copy of the email. Iii weeks later, I received my acceptance letter to the film festival that had rejected me a year earlier.
What'south the moral of the story? It really helps to have an advocate or inside person to help your film along its festival run.
Three weeks later, I received my acceptance letter to the picture festival that had rejected me a year earlier.
When I began submitting to film festivals in 2003, filmmakers were required to send a VHS record of screeners. (For the millennials out there, a VHS record was a big black plastic box that magically played a low-resolution copy of films, boob tube shows, and homemade pornography.) Making these copies was an exhausting experience: you played your moving picture through a miniDV thespian, striking record on a VHS deck, and watched paint dry as you lot duped record after tape. The worst function of the experience was that in that location was no proof that anyone at these film festivals was actually watching the event of these countless hours of tape-making.
A year afterwards, I met actor Vic Argo (Taxi Driver,Mean Streets). He told me that any time he was asked to be a programmer at a festival, he was handed a pile of VHS tapes and sent to a room with a note that said, "Spotter the first five minutes. If it sucks, throw it away." This didn't reassure me that my fourth dimension as a filmmaker was well spent.
In 2007, I made my first feature-length flick. The process of submitting screeners had transformed from VHS tapes to DVDs. This was a bit easier. I programmed a DVD on my figurer and would burn a copy every time I submitted to a festival. Nevertheless, there was no way of knowing whether or not my film was getting a off-white shot at playing said festival.
Around this time, I met a successful director who had played Sundance in 2005, won multiple MTV Music Video Awards, and would later become on to be a very successful television producer. He was actually impressed with my film and wanted to help me get into festivals. During our first chat, he asked if I had already submitted to i of the "premiere festivals" in the country. When I told him yes, his response was, "Oh damn…if I'd met you lot sooner, I could've walked it in the door and, at the very to the lowest degree, made certain someone watched it. Information technology's kind of a boy's society over in that location. You need to know someone." Yikes.
My filmed concluded upwardly having a very successful festival run, simply I was never able to crack the illustrious Top x (Sundance, SXSW, Tribeca, TIFF, etc). This process of submitting "blind" took its toll on me—and so much that I didn't finish another motion picture for 10 years. At that place are but so many times you lot tin can take the door slammed in your face before you brainstorm to ponder your life and the career choices yous've fabricated.
What if I sent private screeners to particular flick festivals and fabricated certain they were watching my film?
That brings us to three months ago. I recently locked moving picture on my second characteristic-length documentary, A Shot in the Nighttime, nearly a blind high school wrestler attempting to win a New Jersey State Championship. I was in search of a big premiere and needed to become back in the game. My Withoutabox account hadn't been opened in nine years and I had no idea what FilmFreeway was. When I began to fill out the submission forms, I was pleasantly surprised to see that the festivals had moved over to online screeners. No longer did I take to dupe tapes or burn DVDs! I could but send a link to a private screener and be done with it.
With that said, this new process also gave me an idea: What if I sent private screeners to particular motion-picture show festivals and made sure they were watching my film? I upgraded to a Vimeo Pro account and began to bask in the glory of tracking analytics.
This process was easy for film festivals that require you submit through their website, similar SXSW and Hot Docs. I would fill up out the forms and send them private, password-protected links to my film with titles such as "A SHOT IN THE Night - SX" or "A SHOT IN THE DARK - Hd." I could become into my Vimeo business relationship, open the SX link, and non only brand certain that SXSW watched the moving-picture show, but also see how long they watched the motion picture for.
I had to become creative with festivals that simply let submissions through Withoutabox and/or FilmFreeway. The LA Film Fest merely accepts submissions through FilmFreeway, for case, so that was an piece of cake one: I submitted to LAFF through FilmFreeway, gave the screener a unique championship that included "LA," and countersign-protected it. I didn't use FilmFeeway for any other festival. As for festivals that simply accept through Withoutabox, I had to fix up a single screener for multiple festivals to view. I was still able to track their viewing habits through Vimeo's analytic arrangement that comes with a Pro business relationship; if my password-protected Vimeo link was viewed, I would simply become into "See all video stats" and then click "View more > Dashboard." This brings up analytics that include the metropolis the screener was viewed from, which app was used, and for how long the person watched the pic. So if I submitted to a handful of festivals and saw that someone in San Jose watched the film for 97 minutes on their desktop, I knew that the film was viewed in its entirety by someone at Cinequest. If it was viewed in Seattle, I knew SIFF was watching it; if information technology was viewed in DC or the suburbs of Virginia, I knew AFI DOCS was watching my moving-picture show.
This besides gave me insight into festivals that were interested in my film and those that were not. If you know anything about the festival process, the first screening of whatsoever blind submission goes to a low-level screener who then gives it the "OK" to exist sent upward the ladder to someone who is of import. When I submitted to Tribeca, someone watched my motion-picture show from beginning to end. A few days after, someone watched the moving-picture show again, but they only watched the start 60 minutes. That led me to believe that the intern at Tribeca dug the film, passed it upwardly the ladder, and the higher-level screener wasn't a fan and/or they had to stop the movie because their child needed to go to soccer practice and maybe they would lookout it afterwards that twenty-four hour period. Two weeks later, the screener was stuck at 1.five plays. It was at that point I realized I was dead at Tribeca.
You should never throw your money abroad on a festival that has no intention of ever watching your film.
What's funny about this story is that after I launched my Kickstarter—around the aforementioned fourth dimension I was submitting to festivals—a loftier-profile sales agent reached out to me and asked what the plan was for my festival run. I told her I was waiting to hear from Tribeca, but that I thought we were dead in the water. She simply said, "I'll telephone call them." A few days subsequently, the flick was viewed again in its entirety. That brings me back to ane of my earlier points: It'south proficient to know the correct people.
Over the last iii months, I've been surprised to learn that the majority of festivals accept been watching the film. It's become a flake of an obsession; I check every morning to see if my film has been viewed and who is watching it. I have to tip my chapeau to some of the larger festivals, like SXSW, Total Frame, and the LA Movie Fest. All of these festivals have watched my film a number of times. LAFF has watched it around ten times.
On the other paw, there was one festival that really surprised me. I won't proper name names, but it is a large N American documentary festival that is known for playing a lot of Sundance, SXSW, and Tribeca premieres. It's essentially the second stop after your premiere; they fifty-fifty state in their rejection alphabetic character, in so many words, that there are very few spots available due to all the films they play from other festivals. Regardless of this questionable business practice, this festival is a good proper noun to have on your affiche. Then I submitted in mid-December. It took the festival a month to watch my flick—and they merely watched the get-go 21 minutes, never to play information technology over again.
For the last seven weeks, I've been waiting for this particular rejection letter. Yesterday, I got it.
What really bothered me well-nigh the rejection alphabetic character was one uncomplicated phrase: "Please be assured that all submissions were considered thoroughly and thoughtfully."
I sat there for an hour staring at that phrase. I had the proof that they did not consider my film "thoroughly and thoughtfully." I pondered the consequences of calling this high-profile festival out on their BS. This is ane of those moments where veterans of the festival excursion tell you not to burn down bridges, just after 14 years of filmmaking, I've been biting my natural language for too long.
I took a few screen grabs of my Vimeo analytics that testify the film was viewed only once and that a 97-infinitesimal moving picture was played for less than 21 minutes. I went to the festival website and institute the Programming Managing director's email, forth with emails of the President and Executive Managing director of the Festival. I wrote them the following e-mail:
Hi [Programming Director's Name],
I just received my rejection from [Name of Festival]. In the email below, it states that "all submissions were considered thoroughly and thoughtfully." I submitted my film, A SHOT IN THE DARK, on December twelfth, 2016. It was viewed but once on Jan twelfth and was watched for 20 minutes and 56 seconds. My film is 97 minutes long. I've included screen grabs from the private password protected link only [Name of Festival] had access to. I don't see a 21-minute viewing of a 97-minute film as a "thorough and thoughtful" consideration. I'd appreciate information technology if you could refund my submission fee of ($XX.20 USD).
Sincerely,
Chris Suchorsky
Honestly, I never idea I'd hear back. Simply less than 24 hours after, I got a response from the Managing director of Programming:
Hi Chris,
Thanks for your message, and for bringing this to my attention.
Nosotros can refund your submission fee and will offset that procedure today.
Give thanks you,
[Programming Director'due south Name]
I appreciate this response and am grateful that, in some way, the festival is righting their wrong past refunding my submission fee. Simply to my dismay, there was no apology, no admission of wrongdoing, and no offering to actually sentinel the motion-picture show.
So, what's the moral of the story as a filmmaker? You have a responsibility to your investors, your backers, and your personal checkbook to brand sure your money is existence spent wisely. You have to accept the fact that your picture will be rejected by film festivals. In that location are limited numbers of slots to screen films and not every pic is right for every festival. But with that said, you should never throw your money away on a festival that has no intention of ever watching your moving picture. Get someone to advocate for your film from the inside.
And the takeaway if you're running a film festival? Just because Alex Gibney or Judd Apatow didn't hand-evangelize a film to your door doesn't mean the fiddling guys should be overlooked.
Source: https://nofilmschool.com/2017/05/film-festivals-submissions-actually-watch-your-movie
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