Want To Get Your Film Into Sundance? Secrets To Successful Submissions

Ok, so we are actors, right? Why do we need to know tricks on how to get films into Sundance? Because knowledge is power! Actors that write & produce are “the norm” these days and you need all the knowledge of the entertainment industry you can get. Every time you learn a new facet or skill in the industry you make yourself more valuable & you gain knowledge that helps you understand what everyone around you is doing which in turn helps you focus more clearly on your task of telling the story. Sundance is a great way to launch your career into the next phase. So why not understand how to get your project shown there?! The following article is from Film Independent, Enjoy!

“Submitting to festivals can be a daunting process—especially when you’re aiming at the internationally renowned Sundance Film Festival, which received 12,000 submissions last year vying for a select number of coveted slots. With this year’s deadlines fast approaching (August 26 for shorts; August 30 for features), Film Independent asked Sundance programmers Kim Yutani and Lisa Ogdie to give us the scoop on how the process works and tips to help filmmakers give their films a fighting chance. Yutani, who first came to Sundance while working on Gregg Araki’s The Doom Generation, and Ogdie, who learned the ropes through seasonal work before transitioning to programming at SFF, sat down with FIND’s Paul Cowling to share advise and dispel misconceptions about applying to Sundance. Here are the top five take-aways.

1. Focus on the film.
What is the most important part of the submission package? Do press materials make a major difference to programmers? Yutani and Ogdie can’t emphasize enough that a director’s focus should be on the final film and not on supplementary materials. Most of the paperwork gets separated from the actual film or discarded during processing. Don’t waste time with excessive packaging, DVD design, or elaborate credits, says Yutani. If you’re submitting a hard copy using Withoutabox’s Secure Online Screener system, be sure to test your films and provide a backup link to a password-protected Vimeo or YouTube video online. If you’re submitting a short film, keep in mind that longer shorts (more than 25 minutes) are more difficult to program since Sundance likes to screen six or seven films in each shorts program and keep total running times between 90-100 minutes.

2. First-timers do stand a chance.
First-time applicants, take heart. While some think that having close ties to the Festival equals an automatic invite, think again. Having connections doesn’t give you a guarantee. “If you know someone, you might get a personal rejection letter,” Ogdie says. Even having a sales rep or distributor doesn’t serve as an advantage, says Ogdie, adding that they have “so many relationships with people who rep films that it would be impossible for us to take everything they present to us.” Sundance alumni shouldn’t expect special treatment either. While Sundance does keep in close contact with alums and their current projects, programmers can “almost be harder on those films,” according to Odgie “because then they’re taking up a slot for someone who’s a fresh new talent and someone we’ve never heard of before that we want to introduce to the Sundance family.”

3. Premiere requirements vary.
When it comes to world premieres, Sundance is more lenient with shorts that have already played at a festival or even online. However, programmers are stricter when it comes to features. All U.S. Competitions slots are required to be world premieres. Nevertheless, Sundance’s Park City at Midnight and Spotlight sections, which in the past have featured prominent films such as Jeff Nichols’ Mud (2012) and Denis Villeneuve’s Incendies (2010), do not have to be premieres. If another festival accepts your film and its dates are before Sundance, make sure to inform programmers by contacting them at programming@sundance.org. While they may not be able to provide a definitive answer on whether your film’s been accepted, they can often let filmmakers know what your chances are so you can make the most informed decision on what’s best for your film.

4. Your film will get the attention it deserves.
A filmmaker’s greatest fear is that your film won’t get the attention it deserves by a festival screening committee. However, Yutani assures that as Sundance has grown, so has its programming staff. The Festival retains eight features programmers and ten shorts programmers to accommodate all the submissions. In addition, they rely on trusted industry professionals as pre-screeners to analyze and rate features before passing them along to the programming staff. How can you be sure programmers are motivated to be meticulous and watch films from start to finish? Yutani promises that it’s of prime importance to their dedicated team, especially since “the worst thing you can do as a programmer is to pass on a film and not give it the careful attention you should have and then it turns up at another festival and breaks out there.” Furthermore, if there is an oversight, she adds, programmers will return to their records and look to see who watched the film, so there’s always a level of personal accountability involved.

5. Remember, Sundance is not the end of the road.
If your film isn’t accepted at Sundance this year, it’s important to keep perspective and act graciously. Avoid burning bridges with the programming staff since they can also be your greatest advocates. Sundance does, in fact, accept resubmissions as long as filmmakers have made significant changes to the new version. Yutani also reminds filmmakers that, “there are so many great festivals out there. I know a lot of people set their sights on Sundance, [but] it isn’t the only festival that can help you and help your career and be a great place for you to show your film.” The festival circuit is such a close-knit community that if Sundance programmers see a film that has a lot of promise but doesn’t quite make it into the lineup, they will gladly pass it along and recommend it to colleagues at other leading festivals, including Film Independent’s Los Angeles Film Festival.
By Laura Swanbeck / Guest Blogger”

Competition Films

Competition films are one of the easiest ways to build your reel & resume.
The 48 Hour Film Project & Cooperative Film Project as well as many more festivals exist to help inspire filmmakers to create. As an actor these are generally short film projects that require little commitment from you. Maybe you get the script a day ahead of the shoot days but typically you are on set less than 5 days with a competitive project. I’ve been in several of these projects, had lead roles and only been on set 1 day. Generally these competitions screen as part of a festival and festival films automatically go up on imdb. Another perk of these projects is that they are covered under SAG-AFTRA (most of the time – check to make sure).

The 48 Hour Film Project (48HFP):
Takes place different weekends in large cities around the world. Filmmakers create teams & events are held in each city to help the filmmakers create the best film possible.

In LA & San Diego (the 2 cities I’ve participated in) they hold casting sessions where actors are asked to present a monologue. After the casting event you will be contacted by whichever teams would like to use you in their film (be aware you can be asked by multiple teams). Team leaders might call, email, facebook message, or even call your agent (all of these have happened to me). When they contact you ask about the people that make up their team, ask for clips of previous work, and tell them you will let them know your decision by a specific date.

Your goal is to work on the best possible film with a good crew & cast. You want good footage but it’s also about building your personal network.

Teams go to a kick off event Friday night of the project. At their event they draws cards out of a bowl telling them the genre of their film (comedy, dark comedy, mockumentary, silent film, noir, drama, western, musical). They also received a prop, line, and character that must be in their film (all teams get the same list & different genres). Most schedules after kick-off are Friday – write, Saturday – shoot, Sunday – edit. Films are due Sunday afternoon/evening. If films are turned in late but before the end of Sunday they will be screened but not eligible for awards.

After the weekend is over 2-3 weeks later the screenings happen depending on the city it could be one night or in LA there are over 100 teams they screen multiple screening groups multiple nights. All films are shown at movie theaters. Each screening has an audience award you vote on your top three films you saw that night. Then the judges give awards as well. In LA after the hoopla there is a best of screening where audience favorites and judges favorites are screened. They announce the best films of the city & then those films get screened at filmapolooza a one week festival in Los Angeles (last year at Grauman’s Chinese Theater) where top films from each film are screened. The winners from that festival are then shown in Cannes Film Festival in France.

So, for an actor, 1 day of shooting could mean going to see yourself on a movie screen in Cannes.

Los Angeles has a very diverse group of filmmakers that participate from film students, to PA’s, and even established directors. It’s easy to rent high quality equipment & call in favors from friends who work on big movie sets to use as locations. It’s a mixed bag & you never know what you’ll get. But, you will enjoy it.

These competitive projects have no pay. Meals are generally provided as well as sponsors donate craft services for snacks throughout the day.

The 2013 Los Angeles 48HFP casting session will be held on July 19, 2013 please visit their website for more info.

The cooperative film project is 2 teams of filmmakers that have 2 weeks to make 2 films.