3 Things About Creating a Film Festival

I've been trying to find things I can do within my new set of constraints:

-Can I work on it from home, whether the baby is napping or not?
-Is it in keeping with my overall goals?

Viola! There is something that fits that criteria - a film festival!

About eight months ago, two of my film-maker friends and I decided to start a film festival in my new hometown of Princeton, NJ. (Yes, my husband and I are that cliche couple that moved to the suburbs when we had a baby.)

You can check out the festival at www.princetonindependentfilmfestival.com, @prindiefest, Facebook.com/prindiefest.

But even though it may seem simple at first, a film festival actually requires a ton of planning and networking to get it off the ground.

I'm sure I'll do many posts on the process of putting this together in the months to come, but for now, before the baby wakes up (!), I'm just going to offer my three key observations for anyone who might be looking to start their own fest down the line.


1. You will be inundated with waiver fee requests from the moment your festival goes "live." For us, "live" meant the moment we listed it on Film Freeway. For every one real submission we get, we get about three people asking us to let them submit for free.

I get it. We're "artists," and we're broke. But we're basically not giving waivers and here's why:

- Our entry fees are super cheap as it is. $15 for students, $20 for a short, and $30 for a feature. Most tests typically charge $40 for even a short film, and think about it: if you have a two hour feature that at least five people have to watch and grade during the selection process, the team is spending 10+ hours on you. That works out to cost less than $3/hr, and the festival founders are actually watching many submissions more than once to give them our all.

-We're giving free access to the festival to all submitters (not just selected filmmakers), which represents a value of a lot more than max $30.

-Of the three of us,  all filmmakers, none of us would EVER have even THOUGHT to request a fee waiver when submitting our shorts!

We have granted very few waivers (at this point, 3 out of over 100 requests.) They either:

-Wrote a very fabulous and convincing letter about why they needed one. (Everyone else sent basically a one-line "Can I have a waiver?" email, sometimes not even signing their name or providing a link to a trailer. Why on earth would we give them one?)

-Have a "name" involved with their film. Hey, celebrities will help sell more tickets to screenings. It makes sense for us. (Even having said that, though, it's not a guarantee of a waiver. Kelly Ripa executive produced one project that requested a waiver and we said no based on other criteria.)

I'll wrap this section up just by saying that while there are very cost-effective ways to put on a festival, it still does cost money, and we need to make that money back. We haven't yet.

If you're going to create a festival, expect a million waiver requests.

If you're going to create a festival that actually survives financially, turn about 99% of them down.


2. Join the Chamber of Commerce. This would never have occurred to me. Thankfully, it did occur to one of my partners, proving that three heads are better than one.

It's easy to think of your area's Chamber as for corporate businesses only, but it's not. Joining as a film festival, we're making priceless connections to other businesses that can donate equipment (thank you Bristol Myers Squibb for the AV equipment!), locations for screenings, and more. It's also a great way to get the word out. We've connected with two local newspapers that will run stories on the event, and the Chamber will also promote the event and help us build a strategy.


3. Film Freeway vs. Withoutabox. Ugh, Withoutabox.

Ok, here's the deal: Film Freeway is free to list your festival. They only take a percentage of the money you make when people actually do submit, which is awesome. It's also easy to set up and very user-friendly.

But, sigh...

You are going to get a much higher caliber of submission from Withoutabox. And it's also going to make you more "legit."

The reason why is that Withoutabox, at this moment in time, requires you to be an incorporated business before it lets you list your festival. It's also still the industry standard, pretty much, and gets both your festival and the people submitting to it on IMDB - a big plus.

So, even though Withoutabox is our biggest expense to date - costing us in the four digits to get our fest on there - it's unfortunately a must!

Career Lessons From My Infant Son

8 months ago, I gave birth to my baby boy, Nicholas. Since then, it sometimes feels like I’ve done nothing other than care for and feed this little miracle.

Motherhood has come with a million challenges. One of my favorite things to say is that I never realized I was always a super-irritable person just trapped in a well-rested body. 

The sleep-deprivation and constant demands on a person’s attention are enough to give any new parent a melt-down. I’m not exactly sure what my impressions of babies was before Nicholas came along… I think I envisioned him sitting there like a loaf of bread while I worked from home… but, needless to say, I was way off.

I’m beginning to claw my way back toward being productive, though, with the help of some baby-sitters and also my baby (finally) taking a nap here and there. As I tackle some pretty big projects in the near future, there are three key lessons I’ve learned from my new motherhood that I take with me:

1. Efficiency is everything. 

On days when I have a baby-sitter, I get two hours. If he takes a nap, I get one hour. You better believe that in those precious hours, I am hustling. Not one minute is wasted - it is all 100% devoted toward my writing and my career (such as it is nowadays). I will never take time for granted again. 

1. Plan ahead and stay focused.

This goes hand in hand with the efficiency thing. What am I doing when we’re in the car and I don’t have to be occupying the baby in my arms? I’m planning out all the steps I need to take to accomplish the things I want to accomplish under my new, more challenging circumstances. And when I get the time to work? It’s all about focus. Same as when I’m with my now-crawling and standing little man, and I have to maintain constant focus to make sure he doesn’t get hurt. 

1. Don’t sweat it.

It suddenly occurred to me one day as I held a sweet, sleeping Nicholas in my arms: at the end of my life, no matter how the films turned out or whether or not the scripts got sold, it won’t really have mattered, because I will, God-willing, still have this boy thriving and a part of my life. So it’s not only ok to be fearless - it’s the only option that makes any sense! What’s there to fear in your career so long as what’s really important is safe and happy?

So go out and take risks, because at the end of the day - life is good, regardless!

Getting There...

Hello, No MFA'ers!

The title 'Getting There,' in this case, refers to how I'm slowly moving along now that I'm currently eight and a half months pregnant.

I've been trying to make progress despite how lethargic and oftentimes sick I feel, and think that this is relevant not just to any No MFA'ers who might become pregnant in the future, but also any who suffer any kind of physical or emotional set back that slows them down in their careers.

One of my biggest challenges has been that, since I've had nausea sickness the whole nine months (I'm one of the lucky few women that got to have it the entire time I was pregnant) I wasn't able to do any of the filming I'd hoped to do in the Spring. The super-physical nature of an indie film shoot - especially when you're the one organizing it - ruled out the particular projects I'd had in mind, which would have involved a lot of travel, lugging heavy equipment, etc...

Of course, as I write this, I'm asking myself why I didn't just shoot more stationary, doc-style interviews during this time and realizing that would have been a great idea. So, my advice for any filmmakers who might be in my situation or any situation which keeps them somewhat incapacitated in the future is to do just that - find a way to simplify filming and shoot whatever they can given what they can do! If that means staying in one room, finding a friend to set up a camera, and just straight up interviewing folks, then do that.

Another challenge has been the overall exhaustion that I didn't expect from the pregnancy. I guess I've always been a fairly fit person with lots of energy, and the sheer difficulty of just moving myself around as I've gotten further along took me by surprise. Feeling sore is the norm and I'm usually longing for bed by about 7:30 each night, and having to force myself to crawl out of it in the morning.

Anyway, all this aside, I've been plugging away and 'Getting There' as best I can. I've tried to use this time to focus more on my writing than on filming, since sitting in a chair has become my best friend. I wrote a web series for a client and also got to take part in the filming by doing voiceovers (a first for me, and something that didn't require physical strain.) I connected more with a female producer (also a mother) and, in addition to trying to plan future shoots that will allow us to be closer to home with small children, I've gotten a nice new job writing outlines for her (which will hopefully lead to a feature collaboration.) I've worked on my own writing and also put together a master database of industry contacts, using the fact that I feel lazy and chair-bound to push me to do lots of online research. Luckily I had filmed a short in October, right before getting pregnant, so I was able to get the editing finished and submit it to some festivals. (Still waiting to hear back.) Also, I made two new connections and together, the three of us are making plans to organize a film festival next year. More on that to come!

Finally, of course, I'm still writing for the DFA film school blog. :) Here's a few of my recent posts that I think might be of particular interest to you all:

2014 Emmy Nominations (including a poll to vote for who you think will win!)

Actor Advice, Part 1 and Part 2

4 Things Screenwriters Should Know About Selling Their Screenplays

3 Ways for Indie Filmmakers to Learn from the Numbers at Sundance

(Enjoy those!)

All of the above might sound like a lot, but really, each one was tackled pretty slowly, over the course of many months and with a lot of generous 'rest' time. Hopefully it's inspiring to see what can get done even with just a little energy - whether you have just a little energy or are working on a creative career outside of a regular 9 to 5 that eats up most of your time and focus.

So I guess the message of this post is to try to figure out what you can accomplish in the face of certain obstacles. It might mean throwing some of your previous plans and timeline out the window, but you can still be making progress even when some bigger goals have been temporarily put on hold.

I'd love to hear about any challenges you all have faced and how you worked around them. In the meantime, happy writing/filmmaking/living!

Theater-Going

This blog mostly focuses on screenwriting and filmmaking, but I also love theater.

This past weekend, I got to catch two shows in NYC and was reminded how fantastic it is to get to watch a live performance – and how much richer the experience can feel than watching my TV screen.

Every once in a while, if you can spare the cash, I highly recommend catching a play. The musicals are the real bank-breakers, but the small dramas can be pretty affordable, often around $40 – and pack a punch.

What struck me the most about watching the plays was how my focus was heightened sitting in a live theater. We can get numb to our TVs/computer screens/etc. Not only does the live environment immerse us that much more in the story – but the story itself is much more focused. Movies nowadays are all about quick pacing: short scenes, constant developments, etc., etc. It keeps us interested but can also feel confusing. A staged drama is typically in one setting, about one long conversation, which contains one strong idea to be explored.

Here’s my two cents on the shows I saw:

Mothers & Sons – This falls into the drama category. Tyne Daly, nominated for a Tony for this one, dominated the stage as Katharine Gerard, the mother of a deceased gay son who visits her son’s former lover for the first time in more than a decade. The lover now has a husband and a son of his own. Daly’s performance is phenomenal, the play offers a lot of food for thought, and the way in which the conversation develops – only subtly dropping hints as to who they are and why she’s there until we get to the meat of the story – was interesting and kept me searching for clues.

It had its flaws… there were a few lines that my sister and I agreed should have been cut, since they just seemed a bit unrealistic and pulled us out of the moment. The ending was also a little unsatisfying, despite the fact it had me crying. Overall, we felt like it had maybe needed one more rewrite to really be perfect – but that didn’t change the fact we had an emotional response and were thrilled that we went.

Cabaret – INCREDIBLE. (And obviously, falls under the more pricey musical category, although you can occasionally find good deals.) This show, about people whose lives are entwined via a shady nightclub and a boarding house as the Nazis rise to power, seemed flawless to me. If not the best musical I ever saw, then the best performances I ever saw, bar none – Alan Cumming as the Emcee and Michelle Williams as Sally Bowles (the latter of which I think is also up for a Tony. He already won for the same role years ago).

Williams and Cumming doing their thing.

I had seen this performed once before. Granted, that was a college production – but it didn’t even come close to the depth of this one, performed at Studio 54 via the Roundabout Theater Company. A new dimension was added when it seemed that Sally Bowles suffered a complete psychological break – something I hadn’t felt in the other production or even seeing the movie long ago.

An added bonus - you can stay for a Q&A with some of the performers after the show. Worth every penny. Go.

Main things I picked up, applicable to all entertainment: don’t underestimate a steady build; subtle hints and clues, moreso than outright telling, play really well and make an experience more emotional; subtleties of a performance can add a lot to a story that may or may not otherwise show up; and finally, keep characters consistent and never forget the power of a larger-than-life personality.

I Sold a Feature Screenplay!

Ugh – I can’t believe it’s been so long since my last post. Hopefully, that stands as a testament to how busy I’ve been. (I feel like I’ve said that before.) I have a few big pieces of news to share, the biggest of which you can already tell from the title.

For starters, I’m pregnant. HUGE deal in the life of me, and a big reason why I haven’t blogged much. I seem to be in the small percentage of women who wind up being sick throughout the entire course of their pregnancy (5 months now and the nausea’s still going strong!) so I’m learning a whole new level of working around being tired and sick. (Next new level will come when our bundle of joy arrives in August 2014!)

Also, I’m now the blog manager for the Digital Film Academy (dfablog.com), which is a part-time job I absolutely LOVE. So, admittedly, I’ve been cheating on this blog by doing at least one post for them per week. Here are a few in particular I think you might be interested in (but of course, check out the whole blog when you get a chance!):

5 Rules of Successful Crowdfunding Campaigns

4 Rules for Writing Your Screenplay

5 Rules for Doing a Web Series

But onto the news that’s probably most interesting to YOU, which is, yes – I’ve sold a feature screenplay! This was news I actually had back in November, but I wanted everything to be official and signed before I started spreading it around. (Although I hinted at it quite a bit in my last post.) This is the first feature-length script I've sold.

It’s a screenplay I wrote about 8 years ago back in grad school… it underwent a massive revision in Columbia’s Screenplay Revision course last year (a pricey course, but definitely wound up being worth it) and began to get shopped around last fall. I had listed the logline on the International Screenwriters’ Association website, where an indie producer found it, asked to read it - and the rest is history.

So the most direct piece of advice I can give you out of this? Have a presence on networkisa.org, and list your ready-to-sell screenplays there.

Another, less direct but no less important piece of advice? Make sure your screenplays are in as good a shape as possible before you send them around. I had this screenplay sitting, occasionally rejected, for 7 years before biting the bullet and revising. I rolled up my sleeves, did the hard work of getting critiqued, making changes – and only a month after putting it out there again, it found a home. (And I made some decent money and got an IMDB credit.)

Let this be proof, No MFA-ers: you can do it, too! The script is going into production this month - I can't wait to send you updates of how things progress.

Owning It (Or, Coming Out of the Career Closet)

Two years and three weeks ago, I quit my stable, average job. I quit to pursue writing and film-making, two things I cared about. I quit after forcing myself to stay longer than I wanted to, because telling people you’re a “writer/filmmaker” before you’ve made the kind of films they’ll see at a multiplex can feel a little, well... embarrassing.

But I did finally quit and have been, over the past two years, gradually becoming the writer/filmmaker I set out to be. So why was it that up until recently, my Facebook and LinkedIn pages didn’t say anything about it? At least, not in my ‘employment’ info section. (Under hobbies and projects, fine.)

Well, it goes back to that embarrassment mentioned above - and owning one’s choices. 

It’s not hard to get the sense that when people ask you what you do and you answer “writer/filmmaker,” they’re secretly thinking you’re an unemployed flake. Of course, that might just be insecurity talking, but a lot of people, when I’m at that point in a conversation, will start to say things like “Do you have a day job?”, “Yeah, but what do you do for money?”, or “Oh, I wish I made more time for writing, but it’s hard with my job.”

For the record, I have a part-time job, a small business, and several standing freelance gigs with weekly deadlines - which can all feel like having more than one full time job, especially when balanced with my number one priority: my writing/filmmaking career.

Having numerous smaller jobs in place to help support a creative career offers an easy out when someone asks the “what do you do?” question and I don’t want to get into what sometimes feels like an apology/explanation for my choice not to have a standard 9 to 5... instead, I can say “I work at a publishing company,” or “I own a small business,” because these things are also true, and generally better accepted. But, saying them really doesn’t tell people who I am - because I’m a writer/filmmaker, and, at any time of day, writing and filmmaking are on my mind.

So a few months ago I looked at my LinkedIn page... because employment ONLY listed my small business and said nothing about writing/filmmaking, which felt very out-of-whack.

I realized I needed to put it out there, to everyone, without feeling shy about it. I imagined former employers and “frenemies” reading my page and being snide about it - but then I thought, “Hey - I can’t own their career choices, but I can own mine - and I’m happy about the choices I’ve made.” There’s no reason to feel shy about what I’m doing in my life. I’m doing it because it gives me a feeling of pride and accomplishment.

And so, I changed my career info.

And I was rewarded. I was flooded with invitations from other writers and filmmakers looking to connect. What’s more, people looking to hire a writer took notice and I was contacted for new job opportunities.

About two weeks ago, I went ahead and added it to my Facebook info, as well. 

It’s like coming out of the career closet. My friends and fellow writers/filmmakers knew, but most other people didn’t. I wonder how many people, when they answer that “What do you do?” question with “respectable” answers, wish they could say they do something else? It’s easy to get stuck with labels from a job that might not fit who we are - yet it becomes how others see us.

Own who you are and what you want to do. Own it 100% and go for it with all that you can. Great things will come of it.

If you don’t believe me, just wait until my next post... I have a great update in progress.

I'm Sara McDermott Jain, and I'm a writer and a filmmaker… and in 3 years of having this blog, that's the first time I've ever posted my full name. 

Blogs, Blogs, Blogs

Last weekend, not quite recovered from filming, another intense but super-rewarding task came my way: attend the AES Convention and writing three posts for Avid Blogs.

AES, for anyone who doesn't know, is the Audio Engineers Society, and I definitely had my plate full since audio is NOT my area of expertise…

I got the job through the DFA (who recommended me thanks to my No MFA blog). Determined to help me succeed, Guy Mor, a Master Pro Tools instructor at the DFA, brought me in for an audio crash course, then let me sit it on one of his advanced Pro Tools classes. The result was that in about two days time, I learned more about the world of audio than I had learned in the previous two years.

This is not unlike what I feel film people go through on most any project. True, they don't always have to become proficient in an unknown field in two days, but they do typically have to immerse themselves in their current project, whatever it may be. The result in both cases is a feeling like your head might explode from so much over-thinking.

At any rate, I'm so grateful that this opportunity came my way. I now have a way better understanding of audio, and I firmly believe that the more a filmmaker knows about all different aspects of film, the better - never mind whether or not they'll be the ones handling that particular area.

I've come across would-be directors in film classes who have (literally) rolled their eyes and whined about how they "don't need to know any of this" - they're only interested in directing. That makes my skin crawl, not only because they'll likely, on their way up the ladder toward directing their first feature, need to take on other jobs in the film industry where they're not, you know, THE BOSS, but also because when they do finally become "the boss," they might quickly discover that the difference between being good or bad at managing all those other people is actually knowing how they do what they do.

I think, to be a good director, you need at least a rudimentary understanding of everything going into your production… but I digress!

You can check out my posts on Avid blogs at http://www.avidblogs.com/author/smcdermottjain/ (and give me a few likes while you're there!)

In other blog news, I've now been hired to create and manage the DFA's up and coming blog, a job I'm super excited about. I've written my first post following a screening of students' new work last Wednesday, and am eager to get the blog up and running. More on that to come!