Your Film Festival Premiere Can Make or Break Your Film

Your film’s premiere can make or break your entire film festival run—but premiere requirements are one of the most misunderstood parts of the festival circuit. In this video, I break down film festival premieres, including world, national, regional, state, and city premieres, why film festivals care about premiere status, and the biggest premiere mistakes filmmakers make. I’ll show you why submitting without researching premiere requirements, screening your film online, holding private friends-and-family screenings, or submitting to competing festivals in the same city can seriously hurt your festival strategy. I’ll also tackle the controversy around premiere requirements and explain why they can sometimes work against filmmakers and even a festival’s own mission. Finally, I dive into data from more than 10,000 film festivals to reveal just how common premiere requirements actually are—and why the situation may be far less restrictive than you think. If you’re submitting a film to festivals, this is everything you need to know to protect your premiere status and build a smarter film festival strategy. Stephen Follows data on festival premieres: https://stephenfollows.com/p/do-most-... #independentfilm #filmmaking #indiefilm #filmfestival #filmmakerlife #filmfestivals