Strike One...

So, we didn't get accepted as a selection at the San Francisco Independent Film Festival. It's disappointing to say the least. I had my hopes up that we would be chosen to participate in the festival (after waiting a long amount of time to figure out whether or not we got in or got the boot). San Fran has some tough competition. Did I shoot too high for the first festival? Perhaps. I keep going over the various points of the film, wondering what the screeners see in the film... what they like or don't like... Whether or not they think it's good or if they see it as another movie in amateur land.
A Cowboy's Silver Lining is a good film. I just wonder what the hell the competition looks like. So, we've got some other festivals out there I'm still waiting to hear from. I'm sending out to some more festivals today with the hopes that we will get accepted and possibly win some respect. That statement brings me to the present dilemma.
There is an exorbitant amount of money to be spent on sending your film to festivals.
First off, one has to buy all of the different supplies to put together the packet for the festival. This includes: DVDs, VHS tapes, disk labels, disk cases (single and double disk), case labels, ink, photo paper, folders, CDs (for Electronic Press Kit)... including the time and effort put into getting all of this wonderful stuff packet into an eye-catching press-kit with the hopes that it will make a difference. In addition you have to make sure that the DVD is readable by most DVD players.
Secondly, there is the shipping issue. Most of the shipping I do has to be done after work hours because I cannot find the time to ship things during my work day. I work as a news photographer. It's not exactly top priority to car wrecks, shootings, and politics. Therefore I have to spend a lot of time at FedEx/Kinkos. They're open 24hours a day... and their prices reflect it. One might think that with FedEx's hub being located here... FedEx being created here... that there might be some amount of kickback for using a local service. No... screw that. They also don't ship to P.O. boxes. WTF? The number one shipping company in the world won't ship to P.O. boxes. You have no idea how many festivals ask you to ship to P.O. boxes. I'll give you an idea 80%... and I might be underestimating.
Third, one has to pay an Entry Fee for submitting to a festival. This money usually covers festival costs. They range anywhere from $30 to $100 dollars. So, you've got to be very, very picky about which festivals you really want to send to and really want to get into. So, while shipping off to another 3 festivals, I'm looking at a minimum average of $80 for submisson fees... somewhere around $30 for shipping... I'm not even going to mention how much we spent on putting all of this crap together. Did I mention it gets expensive?
Fourth, all of the above expenses and efforts to not guarantee you a damn thing. You can spend all of this time and money on a festival and NOT EVEN GET IN! I'm not bitching. I'm warning all of you of the troubles ahead. I just want everyone to be accutely aware of this issue... so that when I say "We got accepted" or "We didn't get in" everyone is on the same page... and should equally be as excited or as disappointed. It's getting tougher to get into festivals that were once little nothing venues. To tell the truth... some of them just want your money and don't give a crap about your film... even if it's really good.
-B