When it\u2019s finally time to premiere a project at a festival, filmmakers might believe that the hard work is over.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI know many directors that think\u2026everything will come together magically,\u201d says writer-director Maryam Keshavarz, whose feature films (including \u201cThe Persian Version\u201d and \u201cCircumstance\u201d) have premiered at the Sundance and Toronto film festivals. \u201cBut you\u2019re up against a lot of other films at the same time. You have to get people into your film.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For independent producer and festival programmer Drea Clark, it\u2019s paramount that filmmakers treat their world premiere as a \u201ccurrency that has to be spent in the best way possible,\u201d she says. \u201cYou have to get the most out of the press and sales possibilities and attention. You need to have a premiere plan.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is how filmmakers can make their big premieres as successful as possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Often, filmmakers will be working on their movies up until the final hours before their project screens. That was the case for Keshavarz and her comedy \u201cThe Persian Version\u201d; she admits that she and her team were color-correcting and subtitling the film \u201cright down to the last minute\u201d before it premiered at Sundance in 2023.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
By that point, she\u2019d already been speaking to journalists about \u201cThe Persian Version,\u201d as she knew that many outlets were sending fewer people to cover the festival that year. \u201cWe showed the unfinished film to a select number of journalists before the festival started. I was doing interviews with the press before I got there,\u201d she shares.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For Keshavarz, it\u2019s essential that filmmakers pick the right PR and sales partners. She advises young filmmakers to \u201cleave a part of their budget for that, because it\u2019s an important investment. You don\u2019t want to make the world\u2019s best film and no one sees it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
South by Southwest\u2019s senior film and TV programmer Peter Hall suggests filmmakers get the word out about their project any way they can. Not only should they go to other screenings and events to promote it, but they can also take more creative approaches. \u201cThat could be hanging up posters on the street or handing out postcards,\u201d Hall says. \u201cWe had a midnight horror film called \u2018Bitch Ass\u2019 a couple of years ago that hired a guy to dress up as the killer and play games against people, like he does in the film. Then, if they managed to beat him, they got a ticket to the film. It drove so much attention to the film.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Filmmakers can\u2019t just \u201croll in there and think that the work is already done,\u201d says Keshavarz. \u201cThe most important aspect of making your film is the premiere, because you only get that once. It\u2019s the one time to position the film to the press and introduce it to sales people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Check in with your festival to see if they have orientation events available. \u201cWe give the filmmakers a lot of information ahead of time and make ourselves available for all of their questions,\u201d says Hall about SXSW. \u201cWe give them weekly emails leading up to the festival, which then become daily emails. These are packed with all of the information for their own films\u2014start times, how a step-and-repeat works, how a red carpet works, how to opt your film into the screening library, how to get a publicist, etc.\u2014as well as information about how to do other things at the festival\u2014how the badge system works, how express passes work, how the conference works. We also hold in-person orientations in Austin, NYC, and L.A., as well as a virtual one for anyone who can\u2019t attend those.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n