movies

My buddy Lee and I had a blast making our animated film Period last year and attending every film fest within driving distance. Of course, hindsight being 20/20, I make a bunch of oopsies that I won’t make next time. Like Oscar Wilde said, “Experience is the name we give our mistakes.” Keep reading to learn from mine.

Everything takes more time than you think.

If you think something will take one month, give yourself three. Make sure you research the due dates of all the film fests, so you don’t miss your shot. Speaking of:

Get an IMDb page as soon as possible.

This takes a while because an actual human being checks the information for accuracy. Here are the requirements. If you haven’t written a bio for you and your crew, start today. Make sure everyone has their other credits in order!

So many film people have spelled my last name “Levandoski” wrong that “Steve Lewandowski” is apparently my official stage name. 

You will need a poster, a synopsis and a trailer.

Almost every festival requires a trailer, a poster, a synopsis, and picture stills. I recommend making a shared folder so they are always handy for everyone on your team. Some festivals require certain formats and aspect ratios, so make sure you research your favorite festival’s requirements before you export. For review sites, you may also want to make a presskit, but I’ve found that most modern review sites use automated submissions instead of email queries. 

Use JPEG or PGN formats for your images, not PDFs. 

People are wary about opening PDFs because they could potentially contain viruses. Some email providers actually block emails withPDF attachments, so JPEGS and PGNs are the way to go. It doesn’t hurt to export multiple formats and sizes, while you still have the project open.

Remember to budget for review sites.

We blew our whole wad on the film fests when we should have put money aside for paid review sites. I’d say to start sending out to review sites as soon as you get a laurel or two from film fests that you can use as bragging rights when you send your baby off for review. 

Sign up for Film Freeway.

FilmFreeway is the way to go. The interface is really well done, and they keep everything nice and organized for you. Usually, the more expensive the festival, the more prestigious it is. 

I paid for the gold plan for one month and banged out all the submissions in that time frame to save money. You can even print your own laurels (trophies) so they all can all share the same format and size. Here is one from Cologne fest. I also learned that “official selection” means that you made it into the fest. That’s the lowest rung of the awards, the next being “honorable mention,” “third place”, “second place”, and “first.”

Make sure that the festivals aren’t scams.

For every legitimate artist trying to make their way, there are ten con artists putting up fake festivals and charging an entry fee. The best resources for research are Google and Reddit searches. For example, you can google “Is Stevefest Filmfest a scam? Reddit”  and do some sleuthing. Make sure the festival pictures on the sites don’t look AI generated. And just because it takes place in Cannes, France, doesn’t mean it’s legit!

Take your time with responding to every email and make sure you share all your information and social media handles when you respond.

Festivals don’t have time to add your links after they post it. You get one shot for them to post stuff, so include every link you wanted shared and every laurel you’ve won.

Make a designated youtube page for the site.

Make sure you keep it private with password protection before you officially unleash it into the world. Here is a link to our site. For larger projects, I’d recommend shelling out money for a site with the film name as your domain name.