Make the most out of your shorts
Short films can be the beginning of a successful career for those who can identify how to make the most out of them. That’s why Linda Micsko, producer of the Crystal Bear-winning short Franswa Sharl, shared her secrets with Encore.
There are plenty of rewarding moments in short filmmaking, from casting the perfect lead to watching your first day of rushes. The most satisfying period for me is having it all come to realisation, watching the finished film in the final mix session – where we drink peppermint tea and sing along with our sound designer and composer to our freshly composed songs. Many would think this concludes the process, but the road ahead is long and can prove to be a hard slog if your marketing and festival strategy isn’t planned and considered from early on.
Upon completion and once the film’s audience is determined, a concise marketing plan must be devised to lead a well-placed plan of attack.
Timing is relevant. When you plan to shoot, post and complete the film dictates what festival to target for your premiere. For my most recent short film Franswa Sharl, the director Hannah Hilliard and I believed that the Berlin International Film Festival would be the ideal festival to launch the film internationally. Berlin has a submission deadline of November.
While some A-list festivals require the world premiere of your film, many have an international premiere policy, meaning you’re able to screen within your own country prior to their festival. With this in mind, we agreed that to have our world premiere at Flickerfest in Sydney would be advantageous. It is a highly regarded Academy-accredited festival and Hannah and I had both screened our previous short films there, so it made perfect sense to premiere there. The submission deadline was September so that became the completion goal we decided to work towards.
In the two-month period between each submission, some great smaller international festival deadlines were approaching. Had we screened at any of these festivals, we would not have been accepted into Berlin, having given our international premiere away. We decided to devise a two-tiered festival strategy – highly regarded festivals in the first year of completion, and smaller niche festivals in the second year.
WHICH FESTIVAL ARE YOU?
Understanding which festival suits your film is imperative. We believe Franswa Sharl is a film with broad appeal and would interest a mainstream audience. Berlin has a section called ‘Generation’, which focuses on a young audience. As our film centres on a 12-year-old boy, Berlin felt like it was the right festival to premiere in, and we were thrilled to be selected.
Locally, we were also accepted into Flickerfest. We had an offer from another highly esteemed festival, which required a Sydney premiere, however waiting till mid year to expose the film to an audience seemed like too long a wait. It was a difficult decision, however in the end, it was the right one. Flickerfest chose to highlight Franswa Sharl at their media launch, which generated press for the film.
It was accepted into their international competition and toured in the ‘Best of Australian Shorts’ program, which saw Franswa Sharl screen in almost 20 cities and regional towns across Australia. The film also won the IF Media Award for Most Popular Film and was beginning to build momentum, all prior to our Berlin international premiere.
Berlin International Film Festival requested a 35mm print. While we received a grant for marketing materials from Screen Australia, Hannah and I raised the extra funds required to afford the print. With Efilm’s financial assistance, we struck our print and as any filmmaker would appreciate, this is like striking gold. It was vital that our film was presented at the highest possible standard, to compete with other films from Europe, UK, USA and NZ – the majority of which all presented on 35mm.
Having a print also ensured that we were placed in the best cinema possible. We were able to screen at four different cinemas, in five separate screenings. We were programmed in the ‘Best of the Fest’ along with nine other films, all of which had 35mm prints available.
We have screened at many festivals that only accept 35mm prints, so while other formats are evolving and most festivals these days accept tape formats, there are still many high profile festivals that require a 35mm print.
Franswa Sharl won the Crystal Bear for Best Short Film in the ‘Generation’ section. Franswa Sharl was also nominated for a Teddy Award, the official LGBT award at the festival. From gaining both of these accolades, we have received many invitations to not only regular film festivals, but also children’s festivals and gay and lesbian film festivals.
REACHING A WIDER AUDIENCE
Knowing which niche festival you can tap into is vital and while we explored these festivals in the second stage of Franswa’s festival life, it is important to get your film to the widest audience possible. These festivals can be very lucrative, as many will offer a screening fee, all of which enables us to continue couriering our film around the world. Compiling a festival calendar is how Hannah and I best manage festival deadlines and submissions. Included on the calendar are entry specifics, premiere requirements, screening format, etc. From here we work out which festivals are best suited.
Key art, great stills and an informative press kit are a crucial area that must be carefully considered. The DVD slick is the first thing a festival selection committee member will view, so capturing the tone of the film in the key art is essential. We were fortunate to have a great designer for our key art, which assists the film’s publicity at festivals. With Screen Australia’s festival material grant, we were able to print posters and flyers which have been distributed at many of the key festivals such as Berlin, Aspen, Edinburgh and most recently Melbourne, where we won the Best Australian Short Film.
Bronwyn Kidd from Flickerfest is distributing Franswa Sharl worldwide. It’s beneficial to get a distributor on board as they best know the international marketplace and can determine which networks to sell to, which broadcasters program short films and gauge when there is interest in the film.
But it’s not over yet. We are now approaching the second year of Franswa’s festival life where we will continue to submit it to the next tier of festivals and also be able to start capitalising on distribution
opportunities once we’ve given away the premiere status in each territory. Most successful shorts have an average life of around three years on the festival circuit and approximately five years with distribution.
We have our fingers crossed that Franswa Sharl keeps pleasing audiences around the globe for another couple of years at least!
