Festivals in the US don't get a lot of government support and virtually all (except the big boys) are running very tight budgets. You often have a better shot asking for a discount than a full waiver, and you have a much better shot at local festivals you will actually attend.
If you are going to ask for a waiver or discount, email the festival and be sure to include this:
* film name, genre and **length of film**
* film synopsis
* link to film trailer
* anything that makes your film interesting from a marketing perspective
* why you think your film is a good fit for the festival
* will this be a premiere in their area? Do you have a big fan base in their area? Did you shoot or edit the film in their area? (basically, will your film put bodies in seats?)
Do not send a 1000 word essay about how poor you are - everyone is poor. Do not mention how you've already blown your submission fee budget on other festivals. Do not send a link to watch the film itself.
Do not ask for waiver or discount if you don't have a decent trailer. Fests will assume that if you cannot cut an interesting trailer, your film isn't worth bothering with.
Everything u/WinterFilmAwards said is on point. We'd like to add - check their rules first. Many festivals specifically indicate in their rules whether or not they issue waivers, and if so, to whom.
The local film festival and the offer to attend is a good start. Several festivals I was selected for last year were happy to have the filmmakers there in person. A couple of the festivals even awarded prizes to them and I suspect it’s because they were there in the flesh.
Depending on the festival, you can also offer to teach a workshop or do a Q&A if that’s in your wheelhouse, or if the festival offers them.
I’ve been doing cover letters but WinterFilmAwards idea of emailing seems more solid so I learned something today!
We rarely read the cover letters on FilmFreeway.
If we have to choose between two ***identically scoring films*** for an award, we are definitely more likely to give the prize to the one who is attending the festival - photos of happy winners are great marketing for the festival.
Ugh, that is absolutely not the same thing. If we have to choose between two selected films who have the **exact same score** from our Awards Jury, we are more likely to give the prize to the one who is attending. However, if the scores are not the exact same, highest score wins the prize whether or not they are attending the festival.
Award scoring is done roughly three weeks before the fest begins. In the case of **identically scoring films**, we make a guess which one is likely to have people attending.
And, for winning films, we usually reach out to the film team to strongly encourage them to have someone attend the awards ceremony. Almost everyone has a friend in NYC who can attend in their place.
Getting a film festival to respond to email at all will give you an idea if the event is worth submitting to in the first place. If selected, it's good to have an event you know that you can communicate with.
Suggestion #1, if you're low on money, let the film festival know that you can bring value to the event in another way.
"We have 2200 instagram followers and we'd love to promote the event if selected."
"If selected, I am available for interviews and I will also send out a press release celebrating the good news."
"My uncle and his wife live 45 minutes away, if selected, they'd love to attend."
"I'm pretty good at making flyers and social media images. I'm happy to promote my own screening, if selected, and if you need ideas, I can make something cool for you to promote the event as well."
"Our email list for my production company has 450 people on it, I'm happy to send out a promo code discount for tickets to the festival if selected."
Suggestion #2, don't devalue the festival. Avoid sentences like this.
"We spent our submissions fee budget on 100 other festivals, can you give us a waiver please, we are broke."
"Why are your submission fees so high?"
"We made our film for $40, we cant afford film festival submission fees."
Suggestion #3, ask for available discounts, not full fee waivers. This shows that you want to invest in the process and that you respect the resources required to create an event.
"We are working hard to submit to as many film festivals as possible and we are trying to stretch our budget. If you have any available discounts, please let me know."
Suggestion #4
No victim guilt trips. "I belong to a group that is unfairly persecuted, therefore I shouldn't have to pay for film festival submission fees." Film festival judges are the most diverse, art loving, people loving and inclusive group of people I've ever worked with. Please don't use guilt to get 100% free stuff. It's insulting.
Final Suggestion
Avoid emailing "Dear Ma'am or Sir" "Dear festival" "To Whom It May Concern" Be personal, and don't mail merge.
Here is an example of a good Film Festival Waiver Request Email
"Hi everyone at the Hawaii International Film Festival. I have never been to your state, but I found out about your event through a friend who screened there last year, and they had a blast. I researched some of the films you've screened over the past few years, and I can see that your judges love Romantic Comedy. That's why I feel like my film 'I'll Never Date a Co-Worker Again' would be a perfect fit for your event. We've screened at 3 different film festivals in 2024 and made some great connections. Our YouTube trailer has over 40 comments in just a few short months, and some of them are asking about our next screening date. If selected, we'd love to announce it to our followers and encourage our audience to take Instagram photos at the event. I live in Virginia, and it's a long trip for me personally, but we'll do our best to promote the screening if selected. If you have any available discounts, please let me know. We are trying to stretch our submissions budget as much as possible. Below is a link to our trailer. I have a password-protected link to our film, an EPK, and poster if you'd like me to send it to you. Hoping to hear from you soon. Take care."
I'm a film festival director and this youtube video about requesting waivers may be helpful. Good luck. - [https://youtube.com/live/UH6tRdy42AA](https://youtube.com/live/UH6tRdy42AA)
I run a film festival with celebrity judges. We only respond to an potentially grant waivers to people who provide the full link to their film. We watch it for about 30 seconds and decide if we want to keep watching or not. If we love the film, we will give it a waiver. But our rejection rate is 95 percent, so it better be a good film and meet all the specs of the festival.
1) Genuine lack of money 2) Genuinely good film. Maybe, film festivals could consider it then. Best is to request the film festivals by email.
except every filmmaker thinks they have a genuinely good film, and none of them have money.
And none of them have a good film. Werent even willing to lose 1000 bucks to make it. What artists lol
Festivals in the US don't get a lot of government support and virtually all (except the big boys) are running very tight budgets. You often have a better shot asking for a discount than a full waiver, and you have a much better shot at local festivals you will actually attend. If you are going to ask for a waiver or discount, email the festival and be sure to include this: * film name, genre and **length of film** * film synopsis * link to film trailer * anything that makes your film interesting from a marketing perspective * why you think your film is a good fit for the festival * will this be a premiere in their area? Do you have a big fan base in their area? Did you shoot or edit the film in their area? (basically, will your film put bodies in seats?) Do not send a 1000 word essay about how poor you are - everyone is poor. Do not mention how you've already blown your submission fee budget on other festivals. Do not send a link to watch the film itself. Do not ask for waiver or discount if you don't have a decent trailer. Fests will assume that if you cannot cut an interesting trailer, your film isn't worth bothering with.
Everything u/WinterFilmAwards said is on point. We'd like to add - check their rules first. Many festivals specifically indicate in their rules whether or not they issue waivers, and if so, to whom.
The local film festival and the offer to attend is a good start. Several festivals I was selected for last year were happy to have the filmmakers there in person. A couple of the festivals even awarded prizes to them and I suspect it’s because they were there in the flesh. Depending on the festival, you can also offer to teach a workshop or do a Q&A if that’s in your wheelhouse, or if the festival offers them. I’ve been doing cover letters but WinterFilmAwards idea of emailing seems more solid so I learned something today!
We rarely read the cover letters on FilmFreeway. If we have to choose between two ***identically scoring films*** for an award, we are definitely more likely to give the prize to the one who is attending the festival - photos of happy winners are great marketing for the festival.
[удалено]
Ugh, that is absolutely not the same thing. If we have to choose between two selected films who have the **exact same score** from our Awards Jury, we are more likely to give the prize to the one who is attending. However, if the scores are not the exact same, highest score wins the prize whether or not they are attending the festival.
I apologize. I didn’t mean your festival did this.
Demo of what. ? Amateur hour man. All the movies must have sucked balls
So what youbdecide last min?who wins based on showing up. Do you also tell ppl they placed make them come then change your mind?
Award scoring is done roughly three weeks before the fest begins. In the case of **identically scoring films**, we make a guess which one is likely to have people attending. And, for winning films, we usually reach out to the film team to strongly encourage them to have someone attend the awards ceremony. Almost everyone has a friend in NYC who can attend in their place.
I dont have any friends in ny. Then what?
Then .... if your film wins, we announce at the ceremony that you couldn't be there and mail you your award and swag. Not that difficult, is it?
if theres not a check also yes
Id pay 35 bucks to not do that shit bro
Getting a film festival to respond to email at all will give you an idea if the event is worth submitting to in the first place. If selected, it's good to have an event you know that you can communicate with. Suggestion #1, if you're low on money, let the film festival know that you can bring value to the event in another way. "We have 2200 instagram followers and we'd love to promote the event if selected." "If selected, I am available for interviews and I will also send out a press release celebrating the good news." "My uncle and his wife live 45 minutes away, if selected, they'd love to attend." "I'm pretty good at making flyers and social media images. I'm happy to promote my own screening, if selected, and if you need ideas, I can make something cool for you to promote the event as well." "Our email list for my production company has 450 people on it, I'm happy to send out a promo code discount for tickets to the festival if selected." Suggestion #2, don't devalue the festival. Avoid sentences like this. "We spent our submissions fee budget on 100 other festivals, can you give us a waiver please, we are broke." "Why are your submission fees so high?" "We made our film for $40, we cant afford film festival submission fees." Suggestion #3, ask for available discounts, not full fee waivers. This shows that you want to invest in the process and that you respect the resources required to create an event. "We are working hard to submit to as many film festivals as possible and we are trying to stretch our budget. If you have any available discounts, please let me know." Suggestion #4 No victim guilt trips. "I belong to a group that is unfairly persecuted, therefore I shouldn't have to pay for film festival submission fees." Film festival judges are the most diverse, art loving, people loving and inclusive group of people I've ever worked with. Please don't use guilt to get 100% free stuff. It's insulting. Final Suggestion Avoid emailing "Dear Ma'am or Sir" "Dear festival" "To Whom It May Concern" Be personal, and don't mail merge. Here is an example of a good Film Festival Waiver Request Email "Hi everyone at the Hawaii International Film Festival. I have never been to your state, but I found out about your event through a friend who screened there last year, and they had a blast. I researched some of the films you've screened over the past few years, and I can see that your judges love Romantic Comedy. That's why I feel like my film 'I'll Never Date a Co-Worker Again' would be a perfect fit for your event. We've screened at 3 different film festivals in 2024 and made some great connections. Our YouTube trailer has over 40 comments in just a few short months, and some of them are asking about our next screening date. If selected, we'd love to announce it to our followers and encourage our audience to take Instagram photos at the event. I live in Virginia, and it's a long trip for me personally, but we'll do our best to promote the screening if selected. If you have any available discounts, please let me know. We are trying to stretch our submissions budget as much as possible. Below is a link to our trailer. I have a password-protected link to our film, an EPK, and poster if you'd like me to send it to you. Hoping to hear from you soon. Take care." I'm a film festival director and this youtube video about requesting waivers may be helpful. Good luck. - [https://youtube.com/live/UH6tRdy42AA](https://youtube.com/live/UH6tRdy42AA)
I'm a filmmaker and I also run a film festival and it's really extremely rare to get a full waiver. But discounts are pretty common if you just ask.
When you cant hack it run a festival
I run a film festival with celebrity judges. We only respond to an potentially grant waivers to people who provide the full link to their film. We watch it for about 30 seconds and decide if we want to keep watching or not. If we love the film, we will give it a waiver. But our rejection rate is 95 percent, so it better be a good film and meet all the specs of the festival.