distribution I just finished my big passion project, now what??

It's rendering as I type this. What should I do? I have a YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and my own personal website. Should I just post it online and get my friends to share it around? Should I wait for a film fest? Should I pay money to get it circulated?

Any tips would help! I wanna do this right.
 
Didn't you ask this already? Haha. I could have sworn you decided to go with filshortage?

I could be mistaking for another individual who asked a similar thing.

I'll give you the low down the way I've experienced though, and maybe you can make a better decision?

Festivals cost money. You can find cheap ones, especially ones dealing with this virus, you just have to look them up. I searched COVID on filmfreeway.com to find some. But all in all, they still cost money.

Read the rules of the fest, make sure they say NO PREMIERE REQUIREMENT or something like that. That means you can both post it online AND submit to that festival. Note: some festivals will take preference to films that haven't premiered online.

If you want online distro, there are sites like Filmshortage, Short of the Week, Directors Notes. etc. My short scifi got denied by Short of the Week and Directors Notes. It sucks, really bad for me because how much work we put in, but I understand. They don't want an experimental SciFi, they want emotional, dramatic, political/climate films. Its a certain type of film they are looking for. (Or maybe my film just isn't as good as I thought).

Either way, that is a risk you take when submitting to fests and distributors.

Hope that helps?
 
Didn't you ask this already? Haha. I could have sworn you decided to go with filshortage?

I could be mistaking for another individual who asked a similar thing.

I'll give you the low down the way I've experienced though, and maybe you can make a better decision?

Festivals cost money. You can find cheap ones, especially ones dealing with this virus, you just have to look them up. I searched COVID on filmfreeway.com to find some. But all in all, they still cost money.

Read the rules of the fest, make sure they say NO PREMIERE REQUIREMENT or something like that. That means you can both post it online AND submit to that festival. Note: some festivals will take preference to films that haven't premiered online.

If you want online distro, there are sites like Filmshortage, Short of the Week, Directors Notes. etc. My short scifi got denied by Short of the Week and Directors Notes. It sucks, really bad for me because how much work we put in, but I understand. They don't want an experimental SciFi, they want emotional, dramatic, political/climate films. Its a certain type of film they are looking for. (Or maybe my film just isn't as good as I thought).

Either way, that is a risk you take when submitting to fests and distributors.

Hope that helps?

Sorry, I had asked something similar about my trailer lol But for this I wanted to know everything I could about actually getting the film out there.

My best bet is to wait until COVID is over, huh?
 
If you want an in-person film festival, yes. They have definite advantages, especially networking.

But if you're looking at getting it seen on-line, you may never have a better time than now, with everyone stuck at home.

Lemme explain a bit lol So this is a documentary project involving interviews with many people I know about mental health, depression, abuse, anxiety, etc.

My initial plan before all this was to have a screening for everyone involved and make it a charity event for mental health research.

Now I suppose I could still do that and give it to a fest but I still have to wait until COVID is over. Ugh, the anticipation is killing me.
 
Now I suppose I could still do that and give it to a fest but I still have to wait until COVID is over. Ugh, the anticipation is killing me.

Hmmmm, yeah. If you dont have an online presence already like youtube or twitch, I would think in person is best for charity. Especially if you can do like a food kinda thing.

I doubt a charity thing would work for a festival, unless maybe that was its focus already. Maybe there is something already out there?
 
I suggest that you spend some time researching festivals to get a sense of which might be a good fit for your movie. Check out the shorts that they've accepted in past years to see where the fit might be, and make a list so you're ready to submit when it looks like things will actually take place.

You CAN submit to many of them now, but there's obviously a risk of cancellation/postponement/moving from in person to on line.
 
gotta read the rules for each fest. Most are gonna be online or delayed until near the end of summer, so keep that in mind. Now might not be the time to do a charity? Unless its specifically for COVID.

Depression would probably be focused on after we handle the virus though.
 
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Congratulations, my friend.

Don't forget to get a lawyer and an accountant to deal with those humdrum issues that you have to deal with. And ask around about any insurance policies that you should be getting.

Good luck!
 
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