Green Ray Film Agency: Finding audiences for your film
Festival Strategy:
You’ve made your film. What now?
You’ve invested time and money in your film: how do you maximise its potential, reach audiences and establish a reputation for yourself as a filmmaker of promise and achievement?
It’s not enough to make your film. A promotional strategy is vital. Central to this is a festival strategy.
- What festivals are right for your film?
- Which festivals offer the most hope of your film being selected?
- How can you stand out from a very crowded short/feature film field?
- Once selected for a festival, how do you maximise your screening and the profile of your film?
- What about the impact of COVID-19 and cancelled or online versions of those festivals?
- What should you be aware of in participating in online festivals?
- And the fake festivals! How to avoid?
Green Ray Will Help
A considered festival strategy is vital: one that’s right for your film and appropriate for your festival budget.
Green Ray Film Agency has extensive first-hand knowledge of the international festival scene. We’re programmers with decades of festival experience. We know what different festivals are looking for and what‘s a good fit for your film.
We work with filmmakers to maximise their visibility and to present their films effectively.
When entering festivals, you need to represent your film to the best possible effect.
We’ll advise on the text and images to best represent your film, and to be persuasive for programmers.
Festivals are super-competitive, receiving in many cases, thousands of short film submissions every year. How can you make your film stand out?
Some festivals require international premiers. Others have specific criteria. How do you negotiate that complex terrain?
Green Ray will help with all of these questions.
What Green Ray offers
We offer a range of services – depending on what level of help you are seeking.
- Green Ray principals will assess your film and prepare a festival and promotional strategy. We bring an ‘Audience Design’ approach to festival strategising.
- We advise on a promotion strategy, on effective ways of building visibility for your short and for yourself.
- We can enact and manage that strategy – refining your materials and text, submitting to festivals on your behalf and doing the necessary follow-up and liaison with festivals.
- We represent Green Ray shorts at the Torino and Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Markets.
COVID has changed the festival landscape
Some festivals have been cancelled. Others are online only. Hybrid festivals (with both cinema and online elements) are likely to be with us for some time.
These present both opportunities and challenges for filmmakers. What constitutes a premiere? How do you protect your film if screening online? Should you wait ’til things revert to normal practice? New online platforms have emerged. What should short filmmakers be aware of?
We’ve been following these developments closely and can advise.
When should you involve Green Ray?
It’s never too early to plan the promotion and strategy for your film. Ideally we’d like to advise before a film begins its festival life. But even at the script stage we can bring an Audience Design perspective to bear. Audience design is an approach where a film’s themes are foregrounded so that they better resonate with audiences.
While we would like to see your film before its been screened publicly – even in rough-cut, we can do an International Festival Strategy even when your film has had its national premiere.
It’s never too early and it’s never too late.
Costs
We offer an affordable range of services, which allows you to choose the level at which we engage. Contact us at info@greenrayfilmagency.com for further information.
While Green Ray can secure some Entry Fee Waivers, we do advise on a reasonable Submissions Budget.