FAQ Part 5
Q: When and where is Slamdance held?
A: The 15th Annual Slamdance Film Festival will be held January 15-23, 2009, concurrent with the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. Slamdance screenings and events will be held at the Treasure Mountain Inn at the top of Main Street in Park City. We're literally a snowball's throw from Sundance.
Q: If I get into the festival, does Slamdance fly me first-class to Utah, put me up in a fancy hotel suite and buy me expensive meals?
A: No. We'd love to, and hopefully one day we'll get enough sponsor support (or frequent flier miles) to do that. But in this world, we currently can not provide travel, room or board. However, once we make our program selections, we do make every effort to hook filmmakers up with each other so you can share condos or couches or floorspace or tents. Check out our rather lengthy Filmmaker Packet to get an idea of how it all works. It's tough getting to and staying in Park City with so little notice, but part of the fun of Slamdance is meeting your fellow filmmakers prior to the fest, and then sleeping with them once you get there.
Q: How else do you prepare people for the festival?
A: We send out a thick Filmmaker Welcome Packet when you are accepted. This covers everything from press in Park City to how to promote on Main Street without getting arrested to when your requested materials are due. We also have at least one formal get together prior to the festival. Every year, the DGA hosts a very fancy reception for all the Slamdance filmmakers, both in New York and Los Angeles. The biggest point of all this is for the filmmakers to get to know each other as much as possible before the festival, and try to work out as much cooperative housing, transportation and publicity as they can.
Q: But what if I'm that poor sap in South Dakota, who was falsely led to believe I'd be welcomed with open arms into the Slamdance family, and there's no way I can get to your fab pre-festival parties in fancy cities like L.A. and New York. Won't I feel out of place when I show up in Park City and don't know the secret Slamdance handshake?
A: Have no fear! In addition to the Filmmaker Packet that's available to every Slamdance Filmmaker, we also send all filmmakers extensive emails during the month leading up to the fest, that will explain things like the handshake. We'll also make sure everyone has everyone else's emails, and we'll especially try to hook up people who live in the same city. As long as you read everything we send you, you won't miss out on much.
Q: What if my print isn't going to be ready in time for the festival?
A: First of all, Slamdance does not show films on film. Slamdance will screen works-in-progress on video through our digital projectors. However, if you've got the money to finish the film, but just don't have the time, you may decide you're better off waiting until you're really ready to show it. That's your call. Sometimes you won't know this until the last minute, and that's understandable. Keep in mind that the big labs get swamped with Sundance and Slamdance films needing their exhibition copies at the last minute, so it can take longer than at other times of the year. Many years ago, Slamdance had scheduled the premiere of a little film called SWINGERS. They didn't have the answer print ready in time so we didn't show it. Once they finished the print (a few weeks after the festival), they set up a screening in LA and sold it to Miramax for five million dollars. Would that have happened if they had rushed the print and we'd screened it in Park City? No one will ever know.
Q: Who's on the jury?
A: We invite a mix of filmmakers, film critics, film industry and of course the Slamdance tradition of having one of our projectionists on the jury. (That way, you'll be nice to the projectionists.)
Q: Can the jury be "influenced?"
A: Our juries always take their jobs pretty seriously, but that doesn't mean you can't try. (At the very least, you should try to get to know the jurors - many of them can help you in your career even if they don't give your film an award at the festival.) Please keep in mind, though, that if you're planning on seducing one of the jurors, make sure that your film is actually IN the juried competition section of the festival.
Q: How can films in THE GALLERY win anything?
A: All the short film blocks which comprise THE GALLERY will be competing for the various juried awards, specifically the Grand Jury Award for Best Narrative Short or Best Experimental Short. "Past recipients have included THE ACCOUNTANT, directed by Ray Mckinnon, which went on to win the 2002 Academy Award for Best Short Live Action.
Q: Who's in the audience at Slamdance?
A: Our audiences are a real mixed bag, ranging from acquisitions execs, development execs, agents, other Slamdance filmmakers, press, actors, international festival directors, Sundance filmmakers, local film fans, skiers, and volunteers from the various festivals. Slamdance concentrates its ticket sales more on per-screening, individual tickets rather than full-festival passes. The majority of screenings in our main 140-seat screening room sell out, and we often bring in cushions for people to sit on the floor. We've had everyone from Roger Ebert to Randy Quaid, from Scott Speedman to Penelope Spheeris, from Reese Witherspoon to Patti Hearst.
Q: Do acquisitions execs really go to Slamdance?
A: A definite Yes! Acquisitions execs from Paramount Vantage, Picture House, MTV Films, Magnolia, New Line, Warner Bros., Fox Searchlight, USA Films, Lakeshore, Seventh Arts, Palm Pictures and many others regularly attend screenings. Slamdance staff generally know who these acquisitions folks are, and actively introduce them to the filmmakers. Not only acquisitions execs, but also the heads of distribution companies have shown up for screenings in past years.
Q: Yes, but do Slamdance films really get distribution deals?
A: Absolutely. Every year several Slamdance films are picked up for distribution. Slamdance 2008 announced the sale of a multiple features including JACK BROOKS, PORTAGE, and PARANORMAL ACTIVITY. Slamdance 2007 had the most sales of any previous Slamdance festival. THE KING OF KONG was acquired by Picturehouse, with New Line picking up the narrative rights. Magnolia Films bought the US rights to our opening night film, WEIRDSVILLE, while YOU ARE HERE was sold to THINKfilm. 7th Art Releasing also picked up OVER THE GW and ROCK THE BELLS. At Slamdance 2006 FIND LOVE was picked up at the festival, and THE SASQUATCH DUMPLING GANG was acquired by Sony BMG two months later. WE GO WAY BACK meant their domestic distributor at Slamdance. The Slamdance 2005 opening night film, MAD HOT BALLROOM, sold to Paramount Classics for $2 million after its Slamdance screening. As seemingly more films each year show up at Sundance that already have distribution in place, the distributors are realizing that the real finds are at Slamdance. In terms of percentages, Slamdance films probably do about as well as Sundance in getting distribution deals - though not always right away. In '98, our Audience Award winning feature 20 DATES was picked up by Fox Searchlight, and our cinematography and editing award winner SIX-STRING SAMURAI was picked up for reportedly a million dollars by Chris Blackwell's new Palm Pictures. In '99, Zeitgeist announced they were picking up Chris Nolan's FOLLOWING - winner of the Ilford Black-and-White Award. And a few months after the '99 festival, Fine Line Features picked up Adam Abraham''s Audience Award Winner MAN OF THE CENTURY. The two Slamdance winners from 2002; Eitan Goyan's grand jury prize winner THE HOLYLAND and Mark Moskowitz's documentary winner, STONE READER also got distribution.
Q: What's all this about not getting a deal "right away?"
A: That's right, and even then, you may still not get any big deals. For example, the Grand Jury winner for Slamdance 2000, Frank Novak's GOOD HOUSEKEEPING hardly got looked at in Park City, even once it had won. But when we played it in LA as part of our On the Road series, a nice man from Critics Week in Cannes (one of the prestigious sections there) saw the film, and the next thing you know, Frank was cruising down the Croisette. A similar thing happened in '96 with Greg Mottola's THE DAYTRIPPERS - which had also won our Grand Jury Prize. It also didn't get a distribution deal until it had gotten accepted into Cannes, and got picked up by Lions Gate/CFP.
Q: Do just award winners get distribution deals?
A: No, not at all. More likely than not, it's not the award winners who are picked up for distribution.
Q: Yeah, but what about all the other films that didn't get a big deal? It must suck for them.
A: Nope. Aside from just the fun time, Slamdance filmmakers all get something out of the festival. Whether it be a review in Variety, an invitation to another festival, an investor you meet for the next project, or just the satisfaction in seeing a packed house applaud your film, almost every filmmaker that's ever come to Slamdance has been glad they did. (Slamdance '99's DILL SCALLION didn't win any prizes, and didn't get a big distribution deal. Nevertheless, director Jordan Brady went on to direct TWO features within a year ...for Miramax. Not too shabby!)
Q: And I suppose these stupid "On The Road" events that I read about are just for the lucky bastard winners, too!
A: There again, not necessarily just for the winners! For the last couple of years, Slamdance has been doing "On-The-Road" screenings of Slamdance films to places such as Los Angeles, New York, Park City Film Series, Cologne (Germany), Park City (summer), Baltimore, Stockholm (Sweden), Santiago (Chile), Amsterdam (Holland), Kracow (Poland), Beijing (China), and more. Check out the On the Road Spykam pics and vids to see what kind of screenings, parties, tear gassings and other mayhem we've gotten ourselves into around the globe. Of course, we're not sure what exactly we'll do in the coming year, but you just never know. "The thing with Slamdance is that you have to pay your own way to Park City, but later that year, you get cool trips to places like Sweden!" quipped Jonathan Berman, director of two Slamdance films, MY FRIEND PAUL and COMMUNE.
Q: Does it help or hurt your chances of getting into other festivals if you screen at Slamdance?
A: It definitely helps. Slamdance always makes a point of having other festival programmers come to our screenings. Last year, two of our four projectionists were programmers for other festivals, and a couple of our jurors were, too. Slamdance films have gone on to screen at virtually every major US and international festival after screening at Slamdance, including Cannes, Berlin, Rotterdam, South-by-Southwest, Atlanta, Seattle, LA Independent, Tribeca, NY Underground, Brooklyn Underground, Chicago Underground, New Directors/New Films, Avignon, Oldenburg, Locarno, Edinburgh, Deauville, Stockholm, Love&Anarchy (Finland), Karlovy Vary (Czech), Zanzibar, Santiago Shorts Fest, etc. Even when festival programmers aren't at the screenings, we often hear from them throughout the year to find out what we programmed. The 2005 Grand Jury Award, ON THE OUTS, and the 2006 short The Day I Died screened at Berlin. Slamdance '99's shorts Grand Jury winner Don Hertzfeldt's BILLY'S BALLOON got selected into the main competition at Cannes - it isn't going to get much better than that for a short!
Q: Will I get reviews if I screen at Slamdance?
A: Variety and Indiewire review most of the features that premiere at the festival, and we're very happy to say that they're usually good reviews! Filmmakers have always gotten blurbable quotes (if not full reviews) from such sources as Hollywood Reporter, Indiewire, NPR, the LA Times, the New York Times, Filmmaker, MovieMaker Magazine, Animation World Network, IndieSlate, Film Arts, as well as regional papers ranging from the Cleveland Plain-Dealer, Park City Record, Austin Chronicle, to name just a few. For a full discussion on how to maximize press at the festival, take a look at the press section of the Filmmaker Packet.
Q: OK, I've heard everything you Slamdance guys have to say, and I think you're full of crap. Or maybe I just have some unanswered questions still. How can I tell you what I think?
A: Feel free to send us e-mail with your comments to programming@slamdance.com, or call us at 323-466-1786, or fax us at 323-466-1784 or mail us at 5634 Melrose avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90038.