Press Article.
FILM FESTIVAL MAGAZINE FEATURE 3 COPY
Header – Build your own film festival
Dear Penny. Q & A.
Question: I am embarking on producing my first film festival. Can you give me any advice on planning, programming and raising sponsorship?
Answer: As a consultancy we have advised a number of film and cultural festivals on how to plan, raise funding and promote their activities to sponsors.
The key questions you need to consider are: What is my overall budget? How much can I afford to invest and do I need to make a profit and if so, how much? What is the deadline for my festival? What is my overall objective or mission statement? And finally, what am I bringing to my audience that no one else has brought before?
You should have a clear written view of all these and make your objectives SMART: specific, measurable, accurate, realistic and timely. For ease of management let’s break your project management plan into these specific areas: Funding and Sponsorship, Resources, Venue and Programming.
Your box office is very unlikely to cover all your costs, expect to make 40% of box office after film hire and venue hire costs alone. When building your estimates of return from box office I suggest building a best, worst and middle case scenario based on audience attendance and using middle case in your planning. Typical costs include: venue rental, film rental, staff and expenses, postage of films and marketing and PR fees. Any returns will be generated by ticket sales, sponsorship, advertising revenue if you can sell advertising space in your programme and any ticket sales from other events such as opening and closing night galas and special talks, seminars, art exhibitions or anything else you can think of that your audience will enjoy and pay for!
If it’s your first fest it will be incredibly difficult to raise sponsorship, as it’s hard to convince sponsors you can attract any, let alone, 'their', type of audience. You can, however build a plan and try your hardest. You should aim for a headline sponsor who will contribute hard cash and get the most brand exposure plus smaller donations from back up sponsors who can sponsor screenings, talks, awards or specific events. In addition, compile a list of goods that can be obtained through ‘sponsorship in kind’, such as drinks, food, printing, graphic design, promotional goods for goodie bags and promo goods that can be sent to the press with your press release. In your sponsorship proposal, define your minimum and maximum required budget, the kinds of sponsors you are approaching, your mission statement and objectives, the festival team and their credentials, your timelines for print and advertising as brands need to know your timescales are realistic for their marketing departments, the socio demographic of your target market and why it complements their brand. Don’t forget to specify your overall expected audience volume and also, your ‘reach’, i.e. the number of people who will be exposed to your advertising. Aim to get the attention of bigger brands first, if one bites the rest will follow but if this approach fails try to tempt local businesses and use 'the less contribution per sponsor but a higher volume of sponsors' approach. Smaller businesses may be more prepared to take a punt on a new type of advertising and are more likely to be seduced by the ‘glamour’ of it all! If you are chasing foreign titles speak to the cultural affairs department at the consulate as they may be able to help with shipping or promotion. Their role is to promote films from their country and they have a budget for this.
In all likelihood you will be the person who manages the process day and night but you can acquire volunteers from film networks, film schools and maybe from web networks. If you are accepting new films, you will need a film selection board with industry acumen. It is also worth considering whether you require an advisory committee for planning the event. Also you must make sure you make your volunteers feel valued with guest lists, a degree of autonomy and a closing party to reminisce about it too.
When looking for a venue, consider cinemas, exhibition spaces, colleges and universities. If you enter into a co-operative agreement with an institution you will get more planning and marketing support and have a ready-made target audience. Make sure you know any format limitations of the projection facilities at the venue and you may need to apply for new distribution rights if you wish to screen a film on digital as opposed to 35mm as on the whole, distributors have film opposed to DVD. Bear in mind the size of the venue, access to public transport and staffing limitations. Make your requirements clear in writing and get confirmation in writing regarding what the venue will deliver so you don’t have any nasty shocks after the event. Finally, double check that the venue has the relevant entertainment licence to screen film.
It’s good to break your programme down into traditional areas such as features, shorts, documentary, experimental and again a clear idea of your programming objectives, is helpful. Programme with an eye on what is popular at the moment and the tastes of your particular audience and always aim for content that is new or has not been screened or released in your area. If you are looking to show any controversial or avant garde content make sure your audience know what to expect before they attend the screening and don’t forget to include certification in your programme, as this is often missed. Try and schedule two screenings per evening with matinees at weekends and some late night horrors, premieres or more risqué content. Try and get as many titles from one distributor as possible and negotiate a bulk discount and ensure you have a vision of your ideal screening programme before you speak to distributors, so you can be flexible on dates. Call up distributors at least 3 months before you require the film and build in lead times for delivery of film and postage costs if you are transporting the proverbial 54 kg of film per one and half hour feature! IMBPro hold production company details who should be able to help find distributors or sales agents. Most UK distributors know who hold which titles or the best people to approach for specific types of titles anyway. And lastly don’t forget to let the FilmFestival Magazine know about your event!
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