How Filmmakers Make Money
The short answer to the question of how filmmakers make money from film festivals is that they often don’t. In fact, in some cases they lose money because they have to pay to submit their films. Not every filmmaker receives a screening fee if his or her film is selected.
Instead, the value of participating in a film festival lies in the opportunity to get distribution deals. Distributors and studio executives attend festivals looking for talent. They’re either looking for films to pick up and distribute or for directors to hire for future projects. Because film festivals provide both networking opportunities and publicity, they don’t always have to pay filmmakers for the right to screen films.
At festivals, directors pitch producers on their films, producers sell those films to distributors and distributors sell the lucky films to cinema chains. In addition to getting a distribution deal on their festival film or a deal on a new film, filmmakers stand to make money from a festival if they win a prize.
If your film is accepted to a festival, you have a chance of winning prize money. For example, the Cannes Prize Un Certain Regard is designed for young filmmakers and comes with a 30,000-euro award. The winner in the Un Certain Regard category also gets a grant to assist with film distribution.
How Filmmakers Make Money
Still, film festivals represent a lot of money invested into the films that are submitted and screened. Investing in films isn’t the same as investing in an index fund. There’s a lot more risk involved and a lot more expertise needed.
Certain festivals have better distribution stats than others. If your film is selected to screen at Sundance you can feel pretty good about your chances of getting a distribution deal. The same doesn’t hold for smaller, more under-the-radar festivals.
Showing a film at a festival is essentially a “loss leader,” a sale for less than something (in this case a film) is worth, designed to drum up interest and stimulate future sales. Needless to say, this strategy doesn’t always pay off.
And even if your film gets a distribution deal it may never be released. Sometimes studios will buy films at festivals and then sit on them, keeping them in the vault for release at a later date – or never.
If you don’t get a distribution deal from one festival you can always take your film to more festivals and try your luck with a new crowd. The screening fee you get from a regional festival will be greater if your film premiered at Sundance or SXSW.
How Film Festivals Make Money
Festivals have several ways of making money. For one thing, they sell tickets. For another, they solicit corporate sponsorship. Sponsoring a film festival provides major brand enhancement. The bigger the festival, the more competition there is for sponsorship rights.
Cannes festival partners have been Chopard, Nestle and HP. On its sponsorship page, the festival touts its social media presence and attendees. That’s a lot of brand visibility.
At Cannes, brands can also sponsor gifts given to celebrities in gifting suites. A company can have its name on the wall of the gifting suite and have celebrities pose with branded gifts. Also, festivals tend to generate plenty of buzz in the traditional media and on social media.
