Write to Shoot

11Getting Seen

The Festival Circuit

Let’s face it—every filmmaker intends to show at film festivals. Unfortunately, there are no guarantees that a film will make it into a festival. And then, of course, there are entry fees that stack up if you apply to many of them. The average filmmaker spends between $2,000 and $3,000 on submissions. But festivals are the first go-to if you want your work to be seen and taken seriously.

It will take a lot of work and deep-thought strategy to negotiate the festival world, but you’ll need to do that if you want to make any headway in your career. And it’s a given that career will involve getting feature films made. Because your short is your calling card (as we’ve talked about before), you’ll want to use festivals ...