Getting the Most Out of the Festival Circuit for Your NonDē Film
An interview with Jon Fitzgerald, former Slamdance co-founder & AFI Festival director, current director, writer, and consultant.
There’s a good reason people equate making a film with birthing a baby.
Two events that seem utterly impossible, and yet, both happen every day. It’s this impossibility of making a film that is, perhaps in some ways, its romance1. It can’t possibly be done, right? Everything’s impossible until it isn’t.
For Jon Fitzgerald, it’s been 30 years of navigating the impossible. From running festivals, to consulting with filmmakers, to producing his own films, Jon has a vantage point of having seen some stuff.
While I have a very different career path, in our conversations, Jon and I have agreed wholeheartedly on this point: there is no one good answer for how to do this. There are only good questions. And the better the question, the better path you’ll find for your film.
Jon and I are partnering on a series of questions we think are important for non-dependent filmmakers to ask all the way through the process from development to distribution.
ICYMI, here are the first two sets of questions for beginning a project & what happens during development:
In the interview below, you’ll read Jon’s festival advice, get his thoughts on eventizing, and honestly, you’ll get a bit of consulting he should probably charge us for! But he’s giving it away for free. So dig in, take some notes, and make sure to bookmark for a re-read.
Here’s my interview with Jon Fitzgerald.
You have an interesting vantage point, Jon. You’re a filmmaker with your latest feature Alchemy in Venice in post. And you’re also a film festival organizer, and a film festival consultant. You are on both sides of the table, so to speak.
I imagine you’ve heard the discourse around abstaining from film festivals and giving up on them altogether. Is that ever a good decision for a filmmaker? How do we shift the goal of a film festival strategy to meet the reality of distribution right now?
JON: I think it’s unfortunate that it has become more competitive to get into credible film festivals, which can lead to frustration on the part of many filmmakers. As a general practice, I still firmly believe film festivals can serve a great value for a majority of filmmakers. Most filmmakers I meet out on the circuit, whether it’s a top tier, second tier or third tier, say positive things about their experience and value in participation. They are meeting other filmmakers, experiencing new cultures and communities, getting audience feedback and in many cases, connecting with some combination of industry veterans.
For the small percentage of filmmakers who are ONLY playing the festival circuit as a path to SELL their film to a reputable buyer, then yes, they will likely come away disappointed. But I would argue they are missing the point. If filmmakers are playing the festival game properly, they are taking advantage of built-in marketing and exposure opportunities. In addition to the positive attributes mentioned above, they can connect with venues, build fan base, collect emails and foster future collaborations.
Most importantly, filmmakers need to (a) have specific goals for their festival run and (b) create a custom festival strategy that works for their film, with targets that can help them achieve their goals.
There’s a lot of chatter about “eventizing” screenings (either virtual, IRL, festival, etc.). Can you define “eventizing” as you understand it and how filmmakers should be implementing it with their film?
JON: While the particular bells and whistles should be customized for every film, the filmmakers with entrepreneurial sensibilities are making the most of these events by bringing their own energy and participation to the event. Audiences have responded to the unique opportunities presented by events, where a filmmaker does a Q&A (ie Festival screenings), has a song performed by an act from their film, has characters dress up (Hundreds of Beavers), or has a unique giveaway. While this does work better IRL, and people will get off their streaming sofas at home to experience them, there have been many cases where this works virtually as well. They just need the offering to be more than just seeing the movie.
In the NonDē Film Movement, we often talk about creating opportunities (for audience-building, for revenue generation, etc.) at every point in the film’s process. From where you sit, are there any big obvious opportunities filmmakers tend to neglect that could make a big difference for them?
JON: I’m a big fan of having a presence on Substack, for many reasons, least of which is you can be building community around your story, project, or issue (collecting audience/fan emails along the way). You can also embed your Substack on your website, which again, is collecting emails. Some of the other email marketing platforms start charging hefty prices when you get into the 4 or 5 figures of addresses.
Another area filmmakers need to really dig into is their particular audience niches and partnerships. Chances are, as a NonDē filmmaker, they are not making a 4-quadrant movie that requires mass marketing formulas. Whether there is a connection point through music, art, causes, or genres, there are likely groups, fans, clubs, websites, and publications that cater to their audiences. Build community there. Create partnerships, with exchange of benefits.
Social media continues to be important, and if it’s not in their wheelhouse (I can relate), hire someone or get intern help to keep it alive and grow the audience from the early stages of a project. Don’t wait until production is done.
When greenlighting yourself, do you give yourself any kind of rubric, set of values, or standards that the film must hit? How do you decide which story is worth going all in on?
JON: I think there are 3 key considerations before you go all in:
The story is something you’re passionate about and can pull off. And you can see yourself going all in on the subject and community it will connect with. I’ve seen too many filmmakers trying to fit trends or read the market. 99% of the time, that doesn’t work. And it comes from the wrong place.
You believe it can be made for a price and that has a good chance to generate sales (whether you just want to recoup or generate strong profit). In some cases, that might mean less than 200k. In others, it could mean under a million. But we’ve all seen how the MG is harder than ever to get, and without recognizable talent, some dramas will struggle internationally. So, the less you spend, the greater the chance for ROI. (Even better if you can earn a living, and carry over proceeds to make the next one.)
Is there an audience for the film? I understand filmmakers have to retain a sense of belief and optimism in their vision, story and dream; BUT realism has to factor in. There needs to be vision behind the project and target audience(s) it can connect with if the filmmaker executes properly.
What do you hope for the future of non-dependent filmmaking?
JON: I truly believe in the mission and the philosophy behind this. Studies (like NonDē Quarterly, Keri Putnam’s and those by Stephen Follows) prove there is an audience hungry for art house fare. Not needing someone (or some company) to say yes. I just think the filmmaker has to be able to answer a number of key questions before they jump into this sandbox.
It’s not for everyone. The NonDē filmmaker is not going to deliver the footage to the editor, walk away and move on to the next project. The NonDē filmmaker has to either wear the entrepreneurial hat, or find a producing partner who can. Visionary or not, filmmaking takes a community to succeed. So surround yourself with an all star team and live the dream.
Jon Fitzgerald has 30 years of experience in the independent film, festival and streaming communities, a rare leader with a unique combination of, filmmaking, festival production and curation skills. As a co-founder of the Slamdance Film Festival (1995), he led the event the next two seasons before being named the Festival Director for the prestigious AFI Film Festival in 1997. After running AFI Fest for three years (1997-1999), he created a consulting business, guiding the launch of numerous film festivals (Bahamas, Lone Star, Abu Dhabi), directing several others (Santa Barbara, Topanga and Naples), and consulting to dozens more.
As a filmmaker with impact driven Cause Pictures, he has produced a number of award-winning documentaries; and as a consultant, he has guided thousands of independent film filmmakers through the maze of festivals and distribution models. In October of 2012, Jon authored his first book, entitled Filmmaking for Change: Make Films That Transform the World. He has also created numerous podcasts, blogs and courses, serving as guest, host and author as appropriate.
Currently, Fitzgerald is in post on a feature production (Alchemy in Venice), and continues to share insights, articles and videos through his On the Circuit Substack.
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Read the entire NonDē series:
Went to Slamdance, and all I got was renewed faith in the future of film
The (not so) hidden agenda of non-dependent film (part 1 of 3)
The love of the game is a power move (part 2 of 3)
Who gets to speak about the future of film? (part 3 of 3)
Props to jake S. weisman for calling for more romance in his Slamdance talk this year!
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Thanks for your note Jon. This may be of interest, as each of these filmmakers had some level of eventizing on their tour. https://onthefestcircuit.substack.com/p/cinema-on-tour
More to come from Courtney and I on this when we get to our Distribution section.
Great read and look forward to any more thoughts on "eventizing."