Film Festival Secrets Podcast

Jen West and James Martin are partners in life, partners in filmmaking (they alternate between directing and producing on each film), and partners in a string of successful crowdfunding projects. Now they face a new challenge -- distributing their most recent completed film (a doc short about a famous New Orleans cocktail) online and on the festival circuit while raising funds for the next film. The new project is their first feature, a musical fantasy called “Electric Bleau.” Listen in as they reveal their secrets to keeping all these balls in the air at once.

In this episode: Chris Holland talks about the legwork of creating a festival strategy, in particular the research you should be doing about the festivals you think you want to submit to. Things like: * What things can tell me if the festival I'm looking at is legit or not? * How can I tell if this festival is appropriate for my film? * How can I make the most of my time on the web? * What are the red flags that might make me think about spending my money elsewhere? If you find this podcast useful please review the show on iTunes, your ratings and reviews really do help. Also be on the lookout for my new online course, Film Festival Hacks - learn more at filmfestivalsecrets.com/hacks

Since meeting filmmaker and startup founder Emily Best in November I've wanted to get her on the podcast to talk about her company Seed and Spark, which reimagines crowdfunding from the perspective of an indie filmmaker and takes the experience way past fundraising into audience building and distribution. In this episode you'll hear Emily tell the story of how the company got started and her vision for making it a touchstone of the indie filmmaker experience. We'll even talk about how to use your crowdfunding platform during your festival run.

Sometimes filmmakers face the classic "bird in the hand" problem. Case in point: my friend Amy's short film "Pickle" was accepted by one festival, but her "dream date" festival is still on the fence. That's a problem, because showing at the first festival to extend an offer might lessen the dream festival's interest. Should she go ahead with the sure thing, or wait for her dream festival to make up its mind? See http://filmfestivalsecrets.com/ffs/2015/12/podcast-30 for show notes.

Excerpted from their online course “Film Festival Hacks,” Alex Ferrari (Indie Film Hustle) and host Chris Holland talk about the career building and networking opportunities to be found at film festivals. http://filmfestivalhacks.com