1. Over 5,000 submissions, usually 900 features (narrative) / 700 documentary features + shorts; 3,000 shorts; 1,000 narrative features; 200-300 beyond features. Screenplay competition = 2,500 (7,000-7,500 people submitting)
2. 100 films every year. 10-12 narrative features are programmed. 8 documentary features. 5 beyond features. 3-4 special screenings are held.
3. Programmers are all filmmakers who have previously been selected to Slamdance. We invite them to screen for next year. All alumni, some sign up. We usually have 100 programmers. We have many online programmers for our shorts category (all over the world). Local programmers for feature categories (return scores). Every film that is submitted is watched at least 2 times. You have to watch 145 shorts in order to grade certain categories. There are 4 full days of watching films. There is no director of programming. Everyone has the same voice.
4. We are always looking for new, directional voices.
8. Most people submit last minute. We don't receive as much early submissions as we do late submissions. We wished we could have a deadline later. We opened our Call for Entries in June, and we close in mid-October. We have received 3,000 films thus far.
9. We have very few paid people (4 employees). During the festival, we have at least 10 paid people and many volunteers. We have internships for students. We have people all the time working for the festival. We have 10-15 people working in the core of the festival. 20-30 people working elsewhere. Programmers will fly to the festival and attend the screenings and Q&A's.
10. We use without-a-box, internal website that we created that programmers use to submit scores.
11. We offer a screenplay competition and on-the-road screenings. We bring Slamdance films to places that would not otherwise see them. We send newsletters every 2 months. It has a distribution platform. We have a deal with Vimeo-on-Demand. We do not have that many press releases. We used Mixstab (a new app) to create a trailer competition. We try to get involved in mutual-beneficial partnerships.
12. Screenplay competition winners receive a Slamdance DVD, T-shirt, and hat. All winners get a badge to attend the festival.
13. Filmmakers pay their way to get to Park City, Utah.
14. Park City is very small. Filmmakers have to be out there to talk about their films.
16. Our big sponsor will receive placement of their name attached to the biggest party held by Slamdance. We have a sponsorship page. We also have an events page for happy hour. We use the website and newsletters to promote the sponsors.
I found it interesting that they didn't have a programming department and no promotion of the event's location. We consider a good portion of the work and promotion of a festival coming from the programming department.
ReplyDeleteI think it's really cool that their programmers are previously selected filmmakers. It's more on the lines of community building; keeping the same themes.
ReplyDeleteI'm interested in their process of on-the-roads screen. I like how they take films to places, I think this is something we can try to do around town first and get more local aware Visions
ReplyDeleteI think it is so interesting that even a relatively major festival like Slamdance only has a small handful of paid employees and the rest are volunteers. I would like to know how major the festival has to be to have a sizable amount of employees.
ReplyDelete3000 films submitted is crazy! They mentioned Slamdance hats....I want a Visions hat! Swag, swag, swag!
ReplyDeletewow that is mind blowing that they have so many submissions and no programming director. I think it is cool though that they bring in people who have submitted before because it makes those individuals stay connected to the festival and creates this community of past and present film makers.
ReplyDeleteMy heart seriously dropped to my feet on this one. Over 7500 total submissions between screenplays and films is absolutely insane. Yet they only have a few permanent staff. I know they said 4 days of watching films with over 100 volunteers, but WOW, I would love to know how much time total is spent in the jurying process to narrow down all those submissions. I really still can't believe this. Also, I agree with May; we should get Visions Hats!
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