Film Festival Secrets Podcast

The Sundance deadlines are just days away, and Chris encourages you to submit to the Park City festivals lest you regret it later. However, you should also acknowledge that a Sundance acceptance is a miracle no matter what your film is. In this mini-episode Chris talks briefly about the possible costs of waiting on Sundance. Also, learn about his upcoming talk at the IFP Festival Forum in New York.

Filmmaker & Cinema Eye Awards producer Will Lennon joins Chris on the show to discuss why “small” films can do better on the festival circuit than their bigger-budget cousins. Also: how many calories in a McDonald’s cheeseburger?

Episode #15, in which Chris Holland talks crowdfunding with Joseph Beyer, Director of Digital Initiatives for the Sundance Film Festival & Institute. As one of the founders of Sundance's Artist Services program, Beyer has worked with Kickstarter on the successful funding of more than 90 crowdfunding campaigns, raising more than 2.8 million dollars since 2011. Joe now faces his biggest challenge in his first personal crowdfunding campaign — and because of the nature of the project, he can't use Kickstarter as his platform. Tune in for an informative and personal look at the technical, strategic, and emotional aspects of fundraising online.

Episode #14, featuring ATLFF Artistic Director Charles Judson and yours truly. This time we talk about 3 essential tools for networking at a film festival: business cards (lots of 'em!), screeners, and postcards for your film. Learn the basics about what should be on them and when to offer them.

Episode #13, featuring Charles Judson and Christina Humphrey, programmers I work with at the Atlanta Film Festival. Humphrey deals exclusively with short films and shares with us the emotional roller coaster of wading through thousands of submissions. If you've made a short film or you're just thinking about it, you want to listen. Some of the resources we discuss in this episode: Short of the Week Sundance Shorts on YouTube Vimeo Staff Picks

Episode #12, featuring Sheri Candler, Director of Digital Marketing Strategy for The Film Collaborative. Sheri shares the three questions that filmmakers should be asking themselves about their films – and usually don't – as they begin to contemplate that picture's distribution.

Chris sits down with Charles Judson, head programmer for the Atlanta Film Festival. Topics discussed: women in filmmaking, the finer points of festival programming, and "disease docs."

Chris & Jesse revive the podcast after almost 2 years. In this episode: the expedited death of 35mm exhibition, the protracted death of the Withoutabox message boards, and how to time your submissions to festivals.

People and things mentioned in this episode: Cannes, Pete Docter from Pixar, the Dallas International Film Festival, Tex Avery, Universal Soldier IV, Bill Hicks, Gayby, and more.

Jesse Trussell sits down with Landon Zakheim (from the programming staff of Sundance, among other fests) to talk about his experiences "on the other side" of the festival fence as a filmmaker with a short in the Dallas film fest.

In this episode Jesse Trussell and I are joined by filmmaker Mark Potts and a surprise guest or two while waiting to see MacGruber at SXSW 2010. This was a really fun episode to record.

South by SouthWest is just days away and we're all fired up. Learn about the ups and downs of being included in a local film spotlight. Also, there's another big Texas fest around the corner, if only we can remember its name correctly.

Sundance! Oxford Film Fest! South by Southwest! A smorgasbord of film festival delights. Plus, some pointless Star Wars references brought on by the phrase "episode four."

The festival year begins. We talk about Sundance's efforts to focus on more than just famous faces, the new Filmmaker Summit at Slamdance, and more. Shout-outs to SXSW and Hollywood Black Film Festival.

In which the Film Festival Secrets podcast is rebooted after just one episode.

Interview with Fred Andrews, president of the KC Jubilee Film Festival, which will combine with KCFilmFest to create a new festival this coming Spring. Fred talks about the kinds of films they're looking for and what you can expect from the new festival.