Starting A Film Festival From The Ground Up

Film festivals are recognized as a massive driving force of the independent film industry, often gathering eclectic audiences and film buffs from all over the world. While Sundance and Cannes instantly come to mind when you mention film festivals, if you dig a little deeper, you will find an abundance of independent theaters across the country hosting their own film festivals. Where large film festivals aim to support the film industry as a whole, local film festivals focus on supporting the community and providing local filmmakers with the visibility needed to climb the ladder. Even the most well-renowned film festivals started as an idea, so here are a few tips to make your idea into a reality. 

The first step to creating a film festival is establishing a vision. This vision heavily depends on the resources in your area. While most film festival hosts try to mold their vision around local filmmakers, the cost of quality filmmaking often makes it inaccessible to the average person. While communities closer to metropolitan regions have a higher chance of access to local filmmakers, rural areas may not. In rural regions, theaters may try to connect with schools to collaborate on a filmmaking project. This will not only spur passions for filmmaking but also ground your theater in the community. If this is not available, you can ask your community what films they would like to see. You can hold a film festival around classics, faith-based films, independent films, or whatever your community is craving to see on the big screen. The most important aspect is creating a theme that actively involves your community’s interests. 

Once your vision is complete, the next step is creating your budget. Your budget must include licensing, labor, travel, marketing, fixed costs, and any additional costs for offerings usually not provided at your theater. While ticket sales alone may cover this budget, many theaters also partner with local businesses, churches, and charities to sponsor the festivals. Theaters can also hold bake sales, popcorn sales, merch sales, and other small-scale ways to generate revenue. 

When you are aware of your budget restrictions, you can begin to program your schedule. If you are scheduling local films, reach out to filmmakers and negotiate fair terms. Your film booker can help negotiate terms as well as scheduling. When booking films, always stick to minimums and ticket sale percentages. Filmmakers or distributors should never ask for a percentage of your concession sales. If you are looking for large studio films or classics, you can create a schedule and leave it to your film booker to request the dates and secure fair licensing fees. Once your schedule is programmed and booked, you can share it with the public. 

Marketing is a crucial step in gaining visibility for your film festival. Your programming should be clearly stated with a set schedule and information about each film. If you are having special events, such as scholarship events or award ceremonies, this should be clearly outlined in your schedule as well. Costs for each film and event should be readily available, along with the ticketing website or box office locations. Advertisements for your film festival should be placed in as many places as possible within social media websites, newspapers, local businesses, and flyers. Film festivals are an incredible way to support the artists and film lovers in your community. Even though planning a film festival seems daunting, these steps should lead you in the right direction. If you run across any issues planning a film festival, please reach out to the knowledgeable staff at Clark Film Buying.