But it does seem that short film allows filmmakers to be more independent and take more chances, and once they move to features, that independence is taken away.
What advice do you have for novice filmmakers planning to make a short?
I suppose the best advice is to stay true to yourself – make it for you and no one else. We get fed up with short films acting as calling cards to get into the industry, proving what they can do rather than concentrating on a truthful and honest piece of work.
INTERVIEW WITH JOE BATEMAN (FESTIVAL DIRECTOR)
Rushes, which began in 1977, is one of the world’s leading visual effects houses. Rushes Soho Shorts Festival is an annual event for the work of both established filmmakers and newcomers. www.sohoshorts.com
How did rushes Soho Shorts Festival come about?
The festival was born from a ‘pub’ night out. Over a few pints of beer a group of frustrated filmmaking colleagues bemoaned the lack of a Soho-based festival celebrating material that was being created in the area. During the course of the evening they put a simple plan together and over the following weeks contacted everyone who they thought would be interested. They found nothing but support. All employed at Rushes, they decided to work around their day jobs to put the idea into action.
How do you see the festival in the context of other short film festivals?
Being in the centre of London we are very much the focus of the local production community. As such we’ve earned a reputation for being a festival to be seen in if you want to be commissioned to make commercials, promos and advertisements. Our programme is certainly more mainstream and less experimental than most festivals. Our core programme is the six competition categories, which highlights work made in the previous year. We are also very aware of the number of other film festivals out there and look to provide a platform for those festivals by screening their latest winning films and showcase programmes. As with most film festivals we want to provide a showcase programme, highlighting and profiling work we believe should be seen, alongside networking and educational events that generate further projects and productions.
Does the festival specialise in certain genres of shorts?
Yes. We look at titles sequences, animation, documentary and music promos as well as the fictional short films. We have a broad range of experience showcased in the festival and so we also have our newcomer category, which allows us to highlight the best of the entry-level filmmakers.
How long does the festival run for?
So far we’ve run over a period of one week from the last Saturday in July to the first Friday in August, but this is likely to change in the future as we’ve already begun to run out of space.
Have you seen an increase in the amount of people submitting and attending the festival over the last few years?
Definitely. Each year we have a steadily rising number of submissions and people attending the festival. With the expansion of our programme, 2007 sees the addition of the Documentary category, and with the development of a number of other initiatives and strategies over the next few years we hope to further increase our audience on a global level.
What kind of people do you have on your judging panel?
We have a large and varied judging panel. Each judge is very experienced in their particular field whether they are a film critic, magazine editor, commissioning editor, artistic director, director, actor, comedian, sales agent, production manager, casting director, programmer or producer.
SUBMITTING TO FESTIVALS
Most festivals, whether large or small, will have a website. Beyond gauging whether the film festival looks suitable and the deadline for submissions, you will also be able to download their application form and carefully check the requirements of entry. This can be filled in and sent along with a preview copy of your film on DVD, which will be screened by the selection panel. If accepted, a screening copy will be requested. Various festivals require different formats for screening. Conventionally the most common formats are 35mm, DigiBeta and DVD. When sending either a preview copy of your film or the screening copy, always ensure it’s clearly labelled. If you are entering an international festival, check which video format they require the preview and screening copies to be in. Different countries may require PAL, NTSC or SECAM. In addition to the information you give on the submission form, you should also supply some kind of info sheet or press kit. This can take any form you like and can be as lavish or mundane as you want, but it should contain as much useful information about your film as possible. The following is a useful list of info that you should try and supply:
Title, running time, screening formats
Synopsis, theme
Director/producer contact details
Cast and crew list
Production stills/film stills
List of other festivals where it has screened
Any press or reviews of the film
ONLINE SUBMISSION
Conventionally film festival submission has consisted of finding suitable festivals, keeping track of deadlines, filling out submission forms as well as physically posting them all off; a process both time-consuming and difficult to organise. But now this standard method is undergoing a significant change. The last few years have seen the arrival of new Internet-based resources that not only give you comprehensive lists and information on film festivals, but also allow you to apply online.
At the most basic level these companies allow you to avoid endless form filling, but still require you to send the DVD preview. However, several companies now allow you to upload a preview-quality digital file of your film, so that it can then be viewed by the relevant selection panels to make their decision. This entirely removes the need to send anything except the screening copy if your film is selected. Although this is a new occurrence, with many film festivals still following the traditional method, this is the future of film festival submission.
Beyond hugely simplifying the submission process and reducing the hours you would spend queuing at the post office, companies also allow you to create a custom profile for your film, so that you can automatically filter and categorise the types of festival you want to submit to, and upload an online press kit, with extra information and stills of your film.
At present three of the most established online submission sites are:
www.withoutabox.com
www.reelport.com
www.shortfilmdepot.com
INTERVIEW WITH JOE NEULIGHT (FESTIVAL DISTRIBUTION)
Joe Neulight and David Strauss set up Withoutabox.com in order to facilitate the film festival submission process. With over 1,000 film festivals taking place every year, finding submission deadlines and organising an application strategy has conventionally been a nightmarish task. Withoutabox.com has developed a revolutionary service that allows you to search out the festivals that you want to apply to via their extensive database and create a profile for your film. Amongst the many features offered, you can create your own online schedule with automated email reminders and upload online press kits that can be accessed by festival organisers. It’s an indispensable resource for most short filmmakers.
What inspired you to set up Withoutabox?
Withoutabox was born of adversity and necessity while my partner, David Strauss, and I were filmmakers ourselves, attempting to untangle the world of festivals on paper, in an analogue world. We knew there had to be a better way, and the Internet afforded it. We also felt that by bringing the world of independent filmmakers together in one place, we could help spearhead a movement to democratise film distribution and give more self-determination and expression to filmmakers through emerging and traditional distribution channels. Now the site has 100,000 filmmakers in 200 countries, listings of thousands of festivals around the world, with more opportunities and features rolling out every month.
Figure 56. Withoutabox website. www.withoutabox.com
So if a director had just completed a short film how would they go about using Wit
houtabox?
It’s pretty easy, and 3,000 new films a month do it. Just create a free account on the site and input all the data common to festival entry forms into one master project form. After that there are clever ways to search out the right festivals for your film, helpful weekly deadline updates and automated reminders you can set. When you find a festival you want, you just click and apply. If there’s an entry fee, you can pay it online. Users can also upload press kit contents and other marketing materials free and put a trailer online free, through our relationship with Google. And starting in October you’ll also be able to send us a copy of your DVD and we’ll take care of getting your screeners out – for a reasonable fee through our relationship with US-based CustomFlix – so it can be a ‘fully clickable service’, with nothing to touch once you are set up.
Filmmakers have an option to pay for an annual subscription package, which gets them discounts on every festival to which they submit, plus a bunch of other bonuses. We’re happy for filmmakers to use it free, though.
Filmmakers are also encouraged to create a public marketing page on our social networking platform, called Audience by Withoutabox, to start the process of amassing a following before, during and after the festival circuit. This becomes a great asset in distribution or self-distribution, for which we are forging new ways and efficiencies as well. Audience – found at http://audience.withoutabox.com/ – is growing fast. Festivals are beginning to use Audience to post their complete schedules, manage ticket sales, and encourage audience participation and feedback as part of the festival process. It integrates seamlessly with the submission system for filmmakers and festivals, so when you are set up in one, you are ready to go with the other.
Does the director need to have previously shown at film festivals to use Withoutabox?
Absolutely not. We have everyone from Academy AwardTM winners to first-timers using the site, even kid filmmakers submitting to youth sections of film festivals. It’s for anyone with any kind of film. Festivals are looking to discover; that’s their job, and that’s what we facilitate at all levels. The people who use Withoutabox are naturally the ones who want to take their work seriously and take it the next step to market, which is to say it’s not – by nature – hobby or ‘throw-away’ content (à la ‘user generated content’).
What else would you need to supply apart from a finished version of the film?
The finished version of the film is actually not required, unless you want Withoutabox to send out your screeners for you. Filmmakers themselves decide how much they want to do and how much they want Withoutabox to do, and base their set up on that. At minimum, they need to fill out the entry form. Everything else is optional. The more filmmakers do via Withoutabox, the easier it is on the festivals, because it lets them focus on watching films instead of administering submissions.
Do you specialise in certain kinds of film festivals or genres of film?
We run the gambit. Film festivals have proliferated more than 300% in the last five years, and Withoutabox has helped make that possible. We’re the first ones to say that not every film is for every festival, but it would be hard to imagine a film that could not find a home among our enormous list of partners.
Do you have a quality control system for films that use Withoutabox?
Withoutabox is not a filter; it’s just a tool. Festivals want it that way, and so do filmmakers. We’re a matchmaking system, but we don’t control the match, the users control it.
Do you have any advice for first-time short filmmakers who have never shown at festivals before and are trying to work out which ones to submit to?
We encourage filmmakers to study the offering a bit and submit to the festivals that seem to fit the profile of their film. There are different reasons for applying to different festivals. Some are to attract industry and reach into the market. Some are more to get your work in front of regional audiences and play to ‘real people’. Some are in your mum’s hometown so she can bring her friends to see what you’ve done. Some give you an excuse to travel to far off lands (which we always found to be the best way to travel – with a film). Others offer ancillary distribution or large cash prizes to winners. Our Short List feature can help to intelligently narrow the field as soon as a filmmaker puts in their film info. And narrowing is half the battle.
DISTRIBUTION COMPANIES
Beyond self-distributing your own film via festivals and associated markets, there are a growing number of short film distribution companies that market and distribute a select range of short films. With access to clients in search of short films whether for television broadcast, Internet entertainment or pod casting, these companies act as sales agents for short filmmakers, taking on commercially viable films and potentially making a profit for both the company and the filmmaker. Distribution companies will normally take a percentage of any revenue from the sale of a film, ranging from 20% to 40%. Distributors will generally require exclusive rights to distribute the film for a prescribed number of years, either for worldwide distribution or specific territories.
Distribution companies can be submitted to directly, but often select the majority of their films from screenings at major international short film festivals.
MARKETS
Theatrical release
Traditionally the commercial potential for most short films has been fairly limited due to their length. Outside of film festivals there has never really been a demand for theatrical screenings of short films and this market has conventionally been small to non-existent.
Television
Starting in the mid-1980s with the advent of cable and satellite channels, television broadcast has been by far the largest commercial market for short films, with most sales being made to television channels have consistent programming slots for shorts. Television channels source most of their acquisitions from the international film festival markets and from distribution companies, and these sales have largely been responsible for the possibility of directors and producers reaping financial rewards from their work.
Internet
The Internet, in particular broadband streaming, is having a massive impact on short film distribution. Whether it’s filmmakers who are setting up their own websites for their films, or companies like AtomFilms providing entire libraries of short films as downloadable entertainment, the Internet is potentially offering short filmmakers the biggest audiences ever.
With AtomFilms leading the way in successfully showcasing short films online, generating profit from advertising rather than sale of the actual shorts, it looks as if the Internet market might become the largest short film market ever.
Figure 57. AtomFilms website. www.atomfilms.com
New technologies
Both mobile phones and iPods potentially offer short films a new arena for distribution. Podcasts and downloads are perfectly suited to short form films, and it’s no coincidence that both Nokia and Orange have set up their own short film competitions; Nokia’s for 15-second films and Orange’s for 60-second films. iTunes are also beginning to offer short films for download. Similar to the rapidly expanding online market, these new technologies look set to become a potentially huge market for shorts.
DVD
Although a single short film release on DVD is rarely a commercially viable option, compilations are becoming increasingly popular. The series of Cinema 16 compilations (European, British and American) have compiled series of shorts by renowned feature and short film directors. Major festivals are also beginning to release their own annual compilations, with onedotzero now on their fifth release and Raindance festival also bringing out compilations of shorts.
INTERVIEW WITH DAVID RUSSELL (SHORT FILM DISTRIBUTION)
David Russell set up Big Film Shorts in 1996 as an exclusively short film distribution company. Big Film Shorts acts both as a sales agent for the films in their catalogue and also as consultants for film bookers and programmers.
What inspired you to set up Big Film Shorts?
Ten years ago I attended the Palm Springs Short Film Festival and saw lots of people paying $5 to see films with no stars and I thought something might be going to happen for the short form in the industry.
What kind of markets and territories do you distribute to?
We contract to represent films in all markets:
Theatrical (very little opportunity here)
Television (we license to channels around the world on all continents)
DVD (we do some collections for manufacturer/distributors, mostly in the US)
Internet/broadband (any licence to do with this is worldwide)
Non-theatrical (schools, libraries, airlines, military, hotels etc)
Figure 58. Big Film Shorts website.
Do you find that there is more market interest in shorts now than say ten years ago?
Absolutely. I knew it would come eventually. It’s just taken longer than I hoped. But the general market, particularly the new technologies, are finally focusing on shorts, and we are launching our own video on demand channel, called NANO, on Comcast cable in October.
Do you see new markets emerging with the advent of new technologies like podcasting?
Yes, they are emerging. It’s hard to tell yet if they are going to be the big break short films need. We’re hopeful. Certainly there is interest from many to get short films for free but this all could develop into real paying markets in the future.
Short Films Page 22