Film Festival Secrets: A Handbook For Independent Filmmakers [Paperback]

Christopher Holland (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 6, 2008

Every year thousands of filmmakers like you unleash their newly completed movies upon the film festival circuit. Whether you're a first-timer with a comedy short or a seasoned veteran with a documentary feature, you all face the same set of problems. You all ask the same questions. You all want the pleasure of seeing your film play before a festival audience and gain the recognition it deserves. This is your book. Film Festival secrets will help you select the right festivals for your film, prepare your festival screener, save money on festival fees, create marketing collateral, and craft a screening sell out plan. And that's just the beginning.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Chris Holland has been writing about movies since 1991. In 1996 he co-founded Stomp Tokyo, a film review web site described by the New York Times as "a place to indulge one's questionable cinematic taste." In 2003 Stomp Tokyo published a compendium of reviews in a book called "Reel Shame: Bad Movies and the Hollywood Stars Who Made Them." After moving in Austin in 2005, Chris spent two years at the Austin Film Festival as a marketing coordinator and now puts his expertise in movies and film festivals to use at B-Side Entertainment as the Manager of Festival Operations and as a marketing consultant for independent filmmakers looking to make a mark on the festival scene.

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Stomp Tokyo (October 6, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0971835616
• ISBN-13: 978-0971835610
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (40 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #570,368 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Very Good, a little basic and a little pricey, July 3, 2009

By 

Graduate Film Student (Los Angeles, California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Film Festival Secrets: A Handbook For Independent Filmmakers (Paperback)

I recently finished reading film festival secrets. I appreciate much of the advice found therein, but it can be exceedingly basic at times. The book is divided into the following categories:

1. Before You Submit
2. When You Submit
3. While You Wait
4. When You Get The Call
5. The Pre-Festival Push
6. At the Festival
7. Aftermath

Holland's enthusiasm is apparent, and he gives solid advice about Withoutabox, organization, and promotion as well as an amusing list of Filmmaking cliches. There is a reiteration that you need goals going into festivals, and a review of the basic marketing materials used for them. There are also good checklists to end each section.

That said the book feels very much geared to the neophyte filmmaker setting out on his very first festival run. A lot of common sense and little new information for twenty five dollars. Much is rehashed here, although in a convenient form all in one place.

Some books that I would recommend are Chris Gore's Ultimate Film Festival Survival Guide, Friends Fans and Followers by Scott Kirsner, The New Rules of Marketing and PR by David Meerman Scott.

If you are very new, this is for you, but I find it a little too expensive for what is offered.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Helpful and inspiring., December 5, 2008

By 

Travis Betz - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Film Festival Secrets: A Handbook For Independent Filmmakers (Paperback)

I finished FILM FESTIVAL SECRETS the very same day I received my rejection letter from Sundance. The strange thing was how well the book prepared me for the rejection and also lifted my spirits, convincing me how much more is out there for a indie filmmaker like myself. For someone who has never done the festival circuit this is a great book to help you prepare in all aspects of festival fun. I feel ready and well prepared for the war ahead of me...the fun, awesome war!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars intimate look behind the film festival curtain, November 18, 2008

By 

Jeffrey D. Goodman (Shreveport, LA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Film Festival Secrets: A Handbook For Independent Filmmakers (Paperback)

I read the book cover to cover and found it to be a great, extremely helpful read. The film festival circuit is so daunting, and there's so little material out there to help filmmakers navigate it all.

Little things in the book really stuck with me, like don't be nervous at the Q and A. If they've stuck around, they already have some interest in you and the film.

Thanks for writing this, Chris. It was really great!

Jeffrey Goodman
Director
THE LAST LULLABY
www.thelastlullaby.com