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The Turning Point



Last Updated: 4/10/2009

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Status: Married
City: ASHLAND
State: OREGON
Country: US
Signup Date: 7/26/2006
Tuesday, May 22, 2007 

Current mood:  rejected

As I sit here writing this, I keep hoping that the phone will ring with good news; the SilverDocs festival announcements are coming out at the end of the week, but from the experience of our past festival rejections I know I'm only a day or two away from one of the generic "We've received more entries than ever this year, with the quality running extremely high we couldn't find a spot to schedule your film." emails. I know that if we'd gotten in I would have received that phone call by now. But the slimmest glimmer of hope remains until that fateful email arrives.

My first film eRATicate was accepted into the first three festivals I entered and won two awards at the very first festival it played. Since then it's been all downhill. The Turning Point is racking up rejections faster than I can count. It's near a dozen (it'd be too depressing to know the exact number), most of them sending out the stock email, and a few of them not even bothering with that. It's infuriating when you send in a $20-40 entry fee and they can't take a few seconds out of their day to let you know your film won't be playing. But far more hurtful is the mounting feeling of failure.

I believe that The Turning Point is a good film, I've watched enough documentaries and been involved in the making of enough films to know that. It is in no way a perfect film, but it is a strong one. Maybe I'm too close to the film and I'm deluding myself, but the reviews and comments we've received mirror my own thoughts. But even if the film isn't as good as I believe I still don't understand why we're not getting in. It amazes me that we're getting rejected from festivals where I've seen awful films; films that are incompetently made, that barely understand the language of film, ones that I know are currently showing in place of ours.

My first guess is that the film is too personal; added in with the fact that there is not a single recognizable name attached to it. But that doesn't completely explain it, because I know of many films that are in the same position that are playing plenty of festivals. My other guess is that the film doesn't play the way people are expecting. It's not your standard documentary; it's got sort of an experimental feel in places; that it plays with the line between documentary and narrative in some ways. But Tarnation comes to mind in that vein, and it was far more experimental than mine... but then it comes back to Gus Van Sant attaching his name to that one. I've tried unsuccessfully to get a few name filmmakers to even watch it, but most won't accept unsolicited films.

I feel like I'm in a catch-22. I can't get into any festivals because the film is too small. And I can't get anyone to pay any attention to the film because we're not getting into any festivals. I know that film festivals aren't the end-all be-all for indie films these days. With the advent of do-it-yourself DVD distribution labels, it's possible to make your money back through internet sales. And with our extremely small budget it shouldn't take too many DVDs to break even. But it really hurts knowing that I put three years of love and all my talent into this film and nobody wants to show it. I keep thinking that'll change with every entry form I fill out, but being a pessimist, my good faith is quickly running out.

5:59 PM
 
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IMPALER

 
Hi my name is Tray and I directed Impaler. I rarely get on Myspace, I have a friend that is a Myspace junkie that handles everything for me so I think this is my first time actually responding to a blog. It's long so I have to cut it up into a 2 part response.

First of all as a fellow filmmaker STOP BEING SO HARD ON YOURSELF! Sorry to yell through the computer but I have it had to be said.

I obviously have not seen the turning point but it looks like a GREAT film and being a father of 2 wonderful toddlers, something that I would honestly want to see. No low budget documentary is perfect, in fact I have only seen a handful of films in my life that I would call "perfect" and even then I am sure the director saw nothing but mistakes after he/she was finished in post.

I am not an expert in the festival world by a long shot but I do know some things. First of all most of the bigger festivals invite most of the films they screen, in fact they pay many of the films to be there (that's one dirty little secret they don't let you in on) Many of the film makers that get in have "connections" of some kind. I know that seems like the typical cop-out blaming "politics" but it's the truth. Basically we are suckers. We sit on W.A.B. searching for the right festival that fits our film then send them money in hopes of getting accepted. In reality the bigger festivals (Sundance, Slamdance, SXSW, Tribeca, Phoenix, etc...) have unpaid, volunteer, college students watching and judging the average submissions coming in off the street. Those incompetent volunteers then rank the movie. If it has a high enough score it might make it into the hands of someone who actually makes decisions.

Remember people involved in festivals are filmmakers themselves and have filmmaker friends all trying to get the "hook ups"

Most festivals only care about getting stars to show up. They act and write on their sites that they take all movies and treat them equally when in reality they just sucker us out of our submission fee with no intention to judge our film on it's merits.
 
Posted by IMPALER on Friday, May 25, 2007 - 5:28 AM
[Reply to this] 
IMPALER

 
We made many mistakes with our documentary. The main mistake was trying to go after the HUGE festivals and blowing the smaller ones off. We wasted 4 months waiting for our call from Sundance and Slamdance when we should have been trying to get into the smaller festivals.

I have not submitted to a festival in 3 months. Here are the rules for my documentary in terms of submitting:

Always call the festival and try to talk to the director, or at least someone that makes decisions. If they don't have 5 minutes to call you back fuck 'em.(9 out or 10 festivals never call me back) But before you write them off call at least 3 times and send at least 3 E-mails. If by chance you do talk to a decision maker explain your project and that you don't have money to burn. Have them make it clear to you that someone that has power will judge your movie. If they tell you that but you still have a bad feeling then blow them off and save your money.

I understand it is hard to go from being an artist to a salesman but that's what we have to do. Once the movie is finished start bugging people, make it a full time job. Also remember that there are some really good, smaller festivals not on W.A.B.

An amazing festival in Australia called the Byron Bay FF is where we had our world premiere. They were not on W.A.B. last year (I think they are now) and they are everything you could ever ask for in a festival. J'aimee (one of the directors) was in constant contact with me even though I could not make it. She also opened doors to other opportunities. Because of that screening I was invited to the Perth Revelations International FF for 2 showings. I still keep in contact with her and she is doing her best to help me get a list of Aussie distro companies that might be interested in my film.

Point being who cares how big the festival is, those small ones can open doors to the bigger ones and more importantly they REALLY care about the art as opposed to getting stars to show up. Even more important then that, your work gets shown to a bunch of strangers. I have absolutely no doubt that you didn't get chosen for film festivals and other shitty movies got chosen in your place because of politics. Keep in mind that those films had connections. It's not a reflection of your work, just a reflection of poor character on the festival's part.

Start researching festivals that you feel would be a good fit for your documentary. Call those festivals, talk to people, be friendly, "play the game"... If you stick with it GOOD THINGS WILL HAPPEN. Do not give up! Do not get down or be hard on yourself. What good can come from being hard on yourself? It does not help you in any way, in fact it only hurts.

When it is all said and done you have learned invaluable information about all aspects of being an independent filmmaker. Plus from reading over your site and all of your blogs you have done the most important thing, and that is you made an honest documentary giving your heart and soul and turning it into art. That is something no one can ever take away from you. Remember that.

Above all else you have a family that loves you. That is the most important thing in the entire world.
 
Posted by IMPALER on Friday, May 25, 2007 - 5:29 AM
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GOLDEN DAYS

 
My first doc was rejected by nearly every film festival I entered. Two years after I premiered at a small New Jersey Film Festival the film got a 4 star review from FilmThreat and was purchased by IFC. Hang in there.

-Chris
 
Posted by GOLDEN DAYS on Wednesday, June 06, 2007 - 7:10 AM
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