FAQ Part 1
Q: What is Slamdance? I think I stumbled onto this website by mistake.
A: Slamdance is a film festival that was started in 1995 by a group of filmmakers. We've since expanded into other support mechanisms for screenwriters , but the following pages will mainly talk about the Festival itself - which takes place every January in Park City, Utah, simultaneous with the Sundance Film Festival. For more information on how Slamdance got started, check out our Official (Revisionist) History.
Q: What are my chances of getting into the festival?
A: Last year, Slamdance received over 3000 total submissions; more than 1200 features and just under 2000 shorts. We program about 100 films total, with under 30 features and 73 shorts screening in the main competition. Competition is incredibly fierce given our limited space. However our programmers are on the hunt for the films with the most original vision.
Q: What are your film programs?
A: The 2009 Slamdance Film Festival will include, but will not be limited to the following programmes: I. Feature Competition II. Documentary Competition III. Special Screenings IV. Animated Shorts V. Gallery Shorts VI. Anarchy Shorts VII. $99 Special Shorts
Q: What formats do you accept?
A: It doesn't matter what the film was shot on. At the festival, we always have facilities to screen at least Digi Beta, Beta SP, and Dv-Cam. All submissions, however, need to be on DVD (with the submission criteria met) (see FAQ 2).
Q: Well, what are the selection criteria for Slamdance?
A: Our main feature competition is strictly devoted to films without domestic theatrical distribution, with first-time feature directors, and budgets under one million dollars. We also have a Special Screening program for features that fall outside of those criteria, but still somehow have the Slamdance spirit. In addition to narrative features, Slamdance also shows shorts, documentaries, and experimental films.
Q: Yeah, but what are you REALLY looking for in a film?
A: Every one of our programmers approaches the process differently, but generally speaking, the number one thing we look for is originality. We see an awful lot of films that have the twentysomethings - driving - around - with guns- taking - drugs - talking - about - how - they're - going - to - film - themselves - robbing - a - bank sort of feel to them. Does that mean that if you have some of those elements in your film you shouldn't bother applying? Not at all. It had just better be done really well in order for it to stand out in a crowd.
Q: Do "production values" matter and are there completion date restrictions?
A: Not in and of themselves. A bad script, bad acting, bad editing and bad music are much more likely to sink a submission than bad cinematography. Furthermore, as long as the film doesn't have distribution in place, you can submit a project made anytime. A few years ago we screened an anarchy film shot in 1969.
Q: Are you just looking for disturbing, artsy, gritty films?
A: Not at all. As for genre, we really have no preferences at all. Drama, comedy, docs, whatever. It doesn't really matter. We're looking for films with an original vision.
Q: What about shorts? Are they ignored?
A: Hell No. As a matter of fact, we show more shorts than features. Some of our shorts programs are recognized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Our 2006 Grand Jury Narrative Short winner, THE SAVIOUR, was nominated for Best Live Action Short at the 2007 Oscars; his Slamdance win gave him eligibility. We screen a short before each competition feature, and always have separate introductions and Q-and-A's for the short filmmakers. We also show short film programs known collectively as, THE GALLERY, also with full intros and Q-and-A's. Some of our biggest success stories in past years have come from the ranks of short-film directors: Jared Hess's short PELUCA screened at Slamdance 2003, getting him investors for the feature based on the same character NAPOLEON DYNAMITE.
At Slamdance 2001 Ray Mckinnon's film THE ACCOUNTANT screened, going on to win the 2002 Academy Award for Best Live Action Short. Gregg Bishop's short VOODOO played at Slamdance that same year, and in 2006 he came back with the feature THE OTHER SIDE. After Slamdance '99 Mike Mitchell won the Spirit of Slamdance award for his short "Herd," he got hired to direct the feature DEUCE BIGELOW, MALE GIGOLO - which turned out to be a big hit for Disney. Thus, many short filmmakers have frequently gotten agents, feature development deals, TV sales, invites to other festivals, reviews and other good stuff after screening at Slamdance. It's really important, though, that the filmmakers come to the festival prepared to promote their films, with all their rights lined up and ready to make a deal, and preferably with their next project (especially if it's a feature) literally in hand (script, treatment, footage) to give to people.
Q: So, tell me more about "THE GALLERY"?
A: THE GALLERY evolved from The Lounge. It started in Slamdance '98, when we premiered Marina Zenovich's hour-long documentary INDEPENDENCE DAY along with several shorts, we've utilized the Filmmakers Lounge, which has now been transformed as THE GALLERY, which now represents the 6 one-hour Slamdance short film blocks. GALLERY blocks are an eclectic collection of films and include animation, narrative, and experimental picks.
Q: That sounds just peachy, but what's it really all about?
A: Wherever your film plays at the festival, it is still eligible for awards. All short films are in competition. The Gallery shorts are simply shown with other shorts instead of in front of features. We have complete intros and Q-and-A's with the directors , and we always have packed houses in the Gallery for almost every block.
Q: So you're accepting pilots now?
A: Yes, we are! After a few years of a successful teleplay competition, Slamdance is now accepting pilots. Pilots must be under 30 minutes. They don't need to feature anything special, other than a subject the director sees building into a series. Slamdance pilot submissions can be from 1 minute to 30 minutes. So if you have you a short film that would work as a series, go ahead and submit it.
Q: Hey, don't you have some deal where you show shorts over the internet?
A: Yes, we do! It's called our Anarchy online shorts competition, and we launched it in January 2000. If your short film is under 10 minutes, then you should definitely consider submitting your film to Anarchy. You can submit your film to both the regular festival and the anarchy competition at the same time. Check out the Anarchy FAQ for more information.
Q: How do documentaries do?
A: For the last several years, Slamdance has received an increase in the number of documentary submissions and has had to make room at the festival to accommodate the boom in documentary filmmaking. Slamdance 2007 was the first time we showed an equal number of docs and narratives in our feature competitions. Those docs that are selected in the competition section compete for the Grand Jury Award for Best Documentary Feature and Short, as well as the Audience Award for Best Documentary. The 2005 Slamdance opening night film MAD HOT BALLROOM, directed by Marilyn Agrelo, was acquired by Paramount Classics after it's world premiere at the Slamdance Festival. Other success stories are numerous. Award winning Slamdance world premiere docs include THE KING OF KONG, which was picked up by Picture House, with the narrative rights going to New Line. Also, ABDUCTION: The Megumi Yokota Story, FORGIVING DR. MENGELE, LA SIERRA, and THE REAL DIRT ON FARMER JOHN to name just a few.
END OF THE CENTURY, a documentary about the Ramones, directed by Michael Gramaglia and Jim Fields, premiered at Slamdance 2003, breaking festival Slamdance box office records. Also at Slamdance 2003, was MISSING PEACE directed by Karin Hayes and Victoria Bruce, who walked away with the AUDIENCE AWARD and since then have signed with HBO films for the release of their film. The award winning film STONE READER directed by Mark Moskowitz, not only had its world premiere at Slamdance 2002, it went on to win the AUDIENCE AWARD-BEST FEATURE and BEST DOCUMENTARY, getting distribution through New York Films. After its success in Park City and with a motivated director behind it, STONE READER went on to travel the festival circuit, hailed as 2003's best non-fiction film by Andrew Sarris of The New York Observer. These are just a few examples of the success of Slamdance documentaries.
Q: Do you just show American films?
A: No. We have no American financing or content requirements. Slamdance aims to help filmmakers no matter what country they're from. Since our inception, we've always had a few international selections at the festival. At Slamdance 2005, international films made up one third of Slamdance competition films. We had features from Canada, Germany, Belguim, Spain and Bulgaria to name just a few countries represented. England native Juliet McKoen, picked up the 2005 BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY award for her film FROZEN. The one thing we have found, especially for international films, is that it makes a BIG difference if the filmmakers or some sort of representatives are physically in Park City (the earlier, the better) to promote and attend their screenings. (Keep reading for more information on submitting international entries...)
Q: If I entered last year, can I enter again this year?
A: Yes.
Q: Yeah, right, but should I bother?
A: It's really up to you. Frankly if you submitted as a work-in-progress last year, but your film is more complete this year, then it might be worth it. If a film is a resubmit, we try to make sure that the first few programmers who see it did not see it the year before. Besides our programmers change from year to year. Back in the 90's we passed on FOLLOWING (that was Chris Nolan's film - the guy who went on to direct MEMENTO and BATMAN BEGINS). Fortunately for us (and him, I guess) Chris resubmitted FOLLOWING the next year and we got a chance to redeem ourselves - at least on that one.
Q: Should I be concerned about premiering my film at another festival and blowing my chances at getting into Slamdance?
A: Slamdance does not have any formal "premiere" policies. However, it is important to have a festival strategy. It's better to premiere your film at a more high profile festival, and then play the smaller fests later in the year. However, we do often accept films without premieres. Slamdance 2007 showed 3 narrative features in competition without premieres. Slamdance 2008 screened PARANORMAL ACTIVITY, a film that had already premired at another festival two months before. However, it took playing at Slamdance for the industry to step it up. The film was offered a major remake deal through Dreamworks. In 2002 we screened HOLY LAND directed by Eitan Gorlin, a film that had already screened at several festivals over the prior year, including major ones like L.A Independent Film Festival. The film didn't get much attention until it was screened in Park City at Slamdance and then won the Grand Jury Prize in 2002. Since then the film has been highly acclaimed by the New York Times and Eitan Gorlin was nominated for an IFP Someone To Watch award.
The premiere status is not always significant, this is particularly true with some of our international films - some of which have shown at some pretty big fests around the world, but were still largely unknown to US audiences and industry. Having said that, it would be a lie to say that we don't take this sort of thing into consideration - all festivals do. Our feeling is that Slamdance is a place to give new filmmakers a leg up when they need it most. For the same reasons that we don't show films in our competition that already have distribution, we're also disinclined to show films that have already won major awards at other festivals, or gotten other such acclaim. It's not that we don't like them, it's just that with such limited space, we'd rather give someone else a shot who hasn't already had one. Frankly, with so many films out there now, don't hold back applying to other festivals on our account. If you can get into other festivals, go and make the most of it!
Q: Hey, if I'm a New York woman who makes angry art films for angry art's sake, should I not bother submitting my film to you white, male-dominated, sell-out, desperate-for-studio-deal L.A. patriarchal losers?
A: Not at all! This year Slamdance had a record number of female filmmakers and our programming committee was about 50% women. That said, once a film gets to the programming stage, they're all in the mix together irrespective of the director's chromosomes or mating habits. Ideally, though, we'd still like to see more women (as well as minorities and New Yorkers) submit their films to Slamdance, so if you're a woman (or thinking of becoming one) we urge you to submit your film. As for art, Slamdance always shows art videos every year!
Q: If I live in rural North Dakota and don't know anyone in Hollywood, should I bother submitting to you tan, cosmo-swilling, indier-than-thou, hip LA insiders?
A: Yes! Slamdance has always made a point of showcasing films with a broad geographic diversity made in obscure rural areas shot on cameras pieced together with bailing wire and a couple of two-by-fours. Cindy Stillwell of Montana, has had three films in Slamdance. We always have films from all other the country, and the world!
Q: Do I need to have all my music rights cleared to show a film at Slamdance?
A: Technically speaking, all we're interested in is if you TELL us you have all the rights to show the film. Whether you actually do is somewhat more complicated. In practice, a lot of filmmakers - particularly for shorts - have not had all their music rights cleared by the time they play at the festival. What many filmmakers do is try to get "festival rights" for music, which are often free and easier to get. The reasoning is that if and when a film gets distribution, the distributor will either pay for the full music rights, or pay to remix the film with cheaper music. The downside of this strategy as we've seen with countless filmmakers, is that many distributors (especially the smaller ones and web-based ones) can't afford those extra music or remixing costs. So what happens is that those music issues will often single-handedly preclude a film from getting distribution. As more distribution outlets start to arrive for short films (whether they be web, cable, video, or foreign), we've seen a number of short filmmakers get caught in this trap in an even worse way (the rights to a single song could far outweigh any upside for a distributor). So please, for your own sake, if you're still working on your film, try to get your music rights squared away as early as you can - using original music from your uncle's Bar Mitzvah band is usually the best bet. (For that matter, try to sort out any other rights issues that could haunt you later - from SAG to script rights.)
Q: So if I've just directed my third film, should I not bother to submit to Slamdance?
A: If it's your third full-length feature, then we can tell you that the film won't be considered for the main competition. However, your film would be eligible for our Special Screening Section. So for example, we've shown such Special Screening films in past years from well known indie directors like Allan Moyle, Larry Clark, Stephen Soderbergh, Bill Plympton to other less-well-known, second-time directors like Gary Burns and Bob Byington. Often, we'll make these films screen as our opening and closing night films.