In the spring of 2018, Veteran Film Productions uploaded their first micro-short into Film Freeway and submitted to its first festival. The north of a three-minute film failed to get in and we decided to return to the editing room. What emerged was a 49-second film destined and subsequently, accepted into 2018’s London Short Film 90 Second Sci-Fi Challenge! At year’s end, Klept F.O. went “international” and was shown at a Johnnie Walker sponsored festival in Thailand - The 60 Second Film Festival. The next year turned into every filmmaker’s worse nightmare as Klept F.O. did not get selected for the next nine festivals; however, the failure was easy to swallow. This was the first time we ever picked up a camera or edited and it was shown to folks overseas! Having achieved fantastic acceptance of Grease Ghoul, our attention went onto other projects. After deciding to retire Klept F.O., it was fortuitous that it would go out as it entered the world - in a festival! Klept F.O. has been selected for the 2019 Zeal Reel Micro Short Film Competition in Houston, Texas.
I think there are some interesting lessons here:
If something doesn’t work, return to the editing room and make it work.
Don’t get discouraged. Out of 12 submissions, Klept F.O. has a success rate of 25% and that’s above average. You must be resilient. I feel the art of filmmaking is 90% mental and only 10% physical. That 90% of creativity, planning, and problem-solving continues as long as the film is out there. I was naive about the amount of work and marketing required to get our film through the festival circuit. Like parenthood, after giving birth to the project, you need to deal with it for another "18" years. Ok, not that long... But on a serious note, you need to be mentally tough to deal with the amount of rejection. If you let it eat at you, then it will eventually hurt your creativity.
In retrospect, sending our first film to an international festival may have been a bit ambitious not to mention a waste of money. Klept F.O. did shine in the sub-90 second competitions; especially, in the science fiction genre. You will have better success if you choose festivals that have the same genre or niche as your film.
Sub-sixty second films are a fantastic and inexpensive way to get your filmmaking hands dirty!
Four months after chopping Klept F.O. in the editing room, we completed our second micro-short for 2018’s R0de Reel Challenge. Although we didn’t win, a lot of folks saw our art come alive online. During the fall and winter, it was shown at the Upstate New York Horror Film Festival and became a 13HORROR.COM Film & Screenplay Contest finalist. 2019 was even a greater year as Grease Ghoul would be on display in Cleveland, Hoboken and in the outskirts of Chicago. This micro-horror would then get revamped, cut, redubbed and entered in the 15 Second Horror Challenge. See our blog post, “Regurgitating Product for Maximum Profit”, as I discuss why you should revisit your films in the editing room. Out of 17 submissions, Grease Ghoul’s festival success rate grew to 35%!
What did we learn?
1. Even if it works, return to the editing room and make it better. There’s a saying that film’s not finished, it’s abandoned. I believe that has changed in the digital world as there’s nothing stopping you from tweaking a film again and again before submitting to a new festival.
2. Film festivals are expensive. When starting out, stay away from the big international fests and know when to call it quits.
Our third film, which is stop-motion, is now starting it’s run in the festival circuit. It’s first entry was recently selected and we hope it is as successful as our previous two micro-shorts.