features and shorts.
1000 submissions: 65% shorts 35% features
How many films do they aim to screen each year? How many papers/presentations do they accept?
Again, for films make sure to ask them to distinguish between features and shorts.
100 official selections 70% shorts 30% features
What is their pre-screening process?
A programming team of 2 professionals and a handful of interns screen the films and look for themes in submissions that help determine the categories for the year
How do they score entries? Do they use a scoring template/rubric? Are there scoring guidelines?
The programmers use a matrix system to evaluate films for technical provisions, style, content, themes, etc./ they also look for how long a film has been on the festival circuit and if the filmmaker will grant Savannah Film Festival premier status although it is not required
Do you have a jury after the pre-screening process has ended?
Yes, they have a professional jury for feature submissions and then a jury for student and short submissions usually consisting of 5-7 people
How far in advance do they send out their call for entries? How do entries typically roll in? Early?
Late? In waves?
Call for entries go out on the last day of the festival and are pushed out in waves throughout the year/ all call for entries are digital except for within the Savannah College of Art and Design
How many paid employees do they have each year? How many volunteers?
There are 5 paid employees and 10 interns that work throughout the year/ during the festival they rely on 400 volunteers
Do you use specific programming, trafficking, budgeting software? Do you like it?
No, but they said if we know of any please let them know!
What community outreach do you do outside of your festival season to keep your event on the
public's radar and/or to raise funds? (Workshops, mini-festivals, fundraiser dinners, etc.)
They have what is called a SCAD Cinema Circle which functions as a film society that shows classic films throughout the year/ partners with high schools to do workshops and tours
Do you give out swag bags to visiting filmmakers? Presenters? Guests? If so, what type of items
do you include in those bags?
Celebrity guest get swag bags with "special gifts" worth roughly $300-$500 and filmmakers get a swag bag with a t-shirt and local gift donations
Do presenter/filmmaker pay registration to attend?
This fee is covered!
Are you able to provide presenters/filmmakers with funds to cover travel or lodging?
Savannah Film Festival pays for every filmmakers travel and lodging expenses
What "perks" do your filmmakers/scholars enjoy at your festival/conference? What else do you
encourage them to do while they're in town? m(Free dinners, tours, exclusive activities...in Wilm,
we'd try to take them to the beach, Screen Gems tour, etc.)
Filmmakers are provided with breakfast, lunch, and dinner everyday and have a personal concierge service available to them throughout the festival as well as a filmmakers only reception
Do you have special donor perks during the event? Or how do you thank them?
Concierge service throughout the festival and expensive gift bags or baskets
Additional information
-over 200 industry professionals attend the event every year
-works with a publicity firm to reach out to studios in LA and NY twice a year
-provides panels for large sponsors such as Adobe, Avid, and RealD
-choses panel themes according to what is relevant in the industry such as original programming, alternative distribution, switch from film to digital, etc.
-gets a large grant from the tourism department of the City of Savannah
I think it is cool they had a panel discussion on topics relevant to the industry and how to be an "ameture" filmmaker. We should incorporate that into a second day because I feel like it's a way to encourage and inspire filmmakers and each other.
ReplyDeleteThe SCAD Cinema Circle is probably my favorite thing. I think that it's important to keep the community consistently involved. I also like the involvement of high schools (recruiting future filmmakers yay).
ReplyDeleteI do not know about what items we prepared in the swag bag for Visions4, but I think to include some local special items or UNCW items in Visions5's swag bags would be a good idea, just like how your festival have local gifts
ReplyDeleteIf we had a program like the SCAD Cinema Circle that involved various students from UNCW and also promoted to high schools in the area, that could be really awesome! It would be a great way to promote Visions as well as promote the film department to high school students.
ReplyDelete$300- $500 swag bags is crazy! Is that for all the bags combined or is each bag worth that amount? I wish we had that kind of money. But Visions is going to have just as great, if not better "special gifts." The SCAD cinema circle is pretty cool, too. I think it is smart to involve high schools. It could open up another potential career path for many. I know Adrienne was really trying to incorporate our local high schools.
ReplyDeleteInteresting that Call for Entries go out the last day of the festival the year before and then they have them rolling in throughout the entire year. Definitely one way to get a lot of entries!
ReplyDeleteThis is literally blowing my mind right now. The swag bag price, 1000 entries, with over 100 final selections, and over 400 volunteers...?! That is insane. I can't even begin to imagine the experience that those interns must have when they go through this!
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