’26 FILMMAKER BIBLE

In-Person Promotion

Now that you’ve generated your marketing materials and assembled a PR squad (whether it’s yourself or a hired team), it’s time to think about how you can promote your film in-person on the ground at Slamdance. During this festival season, everyone is bombarded with a dizzying array of movies to see and people to meet in a very short amount of time. It’s very important to do some guerilla-style marketing, to generate attention and to get as many people – now worldwide! – to see your film and to attend your Slamdance screening. Our best advice is to get creative and stand out.

In-Person Q&A’s

Every screening at Slamdance is followed by a Q&A if the filmmakers are in attendance. They typically run seven minutes for shorts/episodes, and fifteen minutes for features. They may run shorter or longer depending on venue turnaround and other factors.

Anybody on your team can participate in the Q&A if you want them to. Cast, crew, and special guests are welcome. There’s no restriction as to how many people can be on the stage, though we recommend having one main communicator (usually the director).

Q&A’s are moderated by programmers or Slamdance staff. Usually they will ask you a couple of warm-up questions, and then open it up to the audience. Come to your screening at least fifteen minutes before it finishes to meet your moderator. You can discuss what questions they might want to ask, and questions that should not be asked.

We are unfortunately unable to have filmmakers attend their Q+A’s remotely via Zoom, Skype, etc. We have tried similar things in the past, and the technical limitations of our screening rooms make it difficult for them to run smoothly. We’ve found that it makes for a pretty awkward experience for the audience.

Business Cards, Flyers, Postcards and Posters

Make sure they look creative/attractive/crazy/sparkly so they stand out! Include your contact info, social media info, and screening time and place. Give your flyers to everybody: audiences, people waiting in line to wherever, on the bus, in grocery stores, on the street, etc. Be sure to engage them in conversation first, then give them your flier. Make fast friends, or they won’t come. If you are screening in a block of shorts or short + feature, contact other filmmakers from your block to make joint cards/posters. 

Pro tip: Design your materials with just your basic film and contact info, then print labels with your screening info. You WILL be screening at more festivals in the future, so you can just put new labels on these postcards/posters.

Creative Merch Items

People love free swag! Here are some great examples we’ve seen over the years:

Pins
Chapstick
Beanies
Pens
Handmade anything
Tote bags
Scarves
Candy or anything edible

Find a nice way to display your film title and key art on your merch. Don’t put too much text on it though; go for the best possible look over the most information.

Stunts, Costumes, Props

Be a walking ad for your film! Help yourself and your film stand out with creative marketing. You want to make your presence known and memorable! Instagram and press alike love weird and wacky promotional ideas that catch them by surprise amongst all the noise in Hollywood. Try to think of things that immediately convey the spirit or subject of your film. And bring any fun film props if you have them!

Make Your Screening the Place To Be

Create a vibe at your screening! Make it what everyone is talking about. Invite all the people you know and encounter throughout the fest. Personalize the theater experience by making it unforgettable. One of our film teams last year had swag bags in every seat! If your film is playing with another film (or in a block), team up to bring the party. 

Your Team, Your Family & Friends

It can be intimidating to promote your film on your own, but when you’re with a team you can cover more ground and generate more hype. Ask all your crew and cast members to attend the festival. They’ll have a great time, and may get gigs from other filmmakers!

Examples of in-person promotion at Slamdance 2025:

Stand Out – The Ben Kjaur Story
Deuce Promotional Material
Portal to Hell, Devil Appearance
Alice Heart Gift Bags
2025 promotional materials table
Poster Wall 2025

Virtual Watch Party

Watch parties are another way for filmmakers to take advantage of their Slamdance experience. Not everyone will be able to attend your screening, but in the past filmmakers have had success by scheduling online watch parties to increase their reach during the festival. It’s a great way to activate your social media network and bring in industry members outside of Los Angeles or whose schedules may prohibit them from attending your live screenings.

Everyone’s watch party is unique. This is your chance to find a creative way to present your film on the virtual festival platform. Here’s what we’ve seen work:

Pick a good time.
Choose a popular or easy video conferencing software.
Tell your audience to make sure they’re active on slamdancechannel.com.
Make sure you’re in a well-lit, quiet, location.
Welcome your audience via video chat & have everyone press play on Slamdance Channel at the same time.
Thank your audience and take their questions. Share all of your relevant follow-up information and social handles.
Think outside the box and find what works for your project.
Tag us and we’ll show our support by reposting on our social media channels.

Here’s some tips on holding a Virtual Watch Party from alumni Aaron David Harris: 

Internet Promotion

In 2026, if you don’t have an internet presence, people will wonder if you actually exist! Of course it’s the same for films. Take advantage of the accessibility of the internet to give your film and yourself a consistent and lasting presence. After all, most of it is free! You can host your own Q+As, plan your own watch parties, and organize your own panels. The Slamdance team is small, and we work our asses off, but no one will better represent your film and dedicate more attention to marketing and promoting it than you.
Figure out what makes your film unique. Tap into which audiences and demographics might be obsessed with it. Find content out there that is similar to yours, and find out who loves it. Then think about how best to reach them. There is no one size fits all strategy, but the most successful promotion happens when you know your film, know its audience, and know how to get their attention. Slamdance will spread the word within our community, but you can and should expand that further by developing your own.

Some of you may already have an extensive setup of social media platforms. Before, during, and after the festival, follow us, and tag us! Your good news is our good news, and we love to support our alumni on social media and beyond!

IG: @slamdancegroup
TW: @slamdance
FB: @Slamdance Film Festival
#Slamdance2026

Be sure to include all social media links in your press kits, website, etc.
Enthusiasm is contagious. Don’t be afraid to show your passion for your project whenever you talk about it. Meeting and sharing with other filmmakers and artists online is invaluable, so take advantage of it all.

IMDb

If you haven’t already, we strongly recommend that you add your film to IMDb. It’s THE go-to place to find information on films, and lends legitimacy to your project and to its team.

You can add your acceptance into the 2026 Slamdance Film Festival!

Website

Creating a website (especially for feature films) is important as a home base, and as a connection between all of your different platforms, press, and promotional materials. It’ll be the most concise and convenient place for people to learn about and to connect with your film. Some key things to make sure it includes:

Synopsis
Trailer
Press (our lineup announcement is a great start!)
Upcoming screening dates and info (like your Slamdance screening!)
Contact Info
Newsletter Signup
Links to your social media pages
Photo Gallery
A section profiling the cast and crew
Director’s statement

All I’ve Got & Then Some (Slamdance 2024 Narrative Feature) had a killer website that we still love! 

We also suggest checking out the 2025 alumni and films to see how other folks in your position are using marketing to their advantage.

For short filmmakers: While some shorts have benefited from film-specific websites, it is useful in the long term to have an artist website that consolidates all of your work, with your 2025 Slamdance film being one of the featured sections. Here are some great examples of past Slamdance shorts-makers who have used their websites as a portfolio and reflection of their artistic brand:
https://www.dustiecar.com/
https://www.radhamehta.com/

Social Media

We may all be filmmakers, but only some of us are natural-born Instagram stars. Still, social media is an invaluable career tool for even the most hermetic among us. At the very least, it’s a way to consolidate information and news for the community that’s already invested in your success: your supportive family and friends, your cast and crew and their families and friends, your crowdfunders, and the new friends you will make at festivals and events. It can also vastly increase your audience beyond people you can immediately reach. The general positive vibes emanating off your social media accounts can show a curious visitor that your film is an exciting project to seek out.

To build a large yet engaged audience, post fun related content in addition to news about your film. This keeps followers engaged during slow news periods, while giving them a stronger sense of what you’re all about. While making your film, you probably got attuned to anything related to your subject matter and filmmaking style, so you’ll likely be able to find this content organically. Now just remember to share it!

Some examples from our social media overachievers:
NonFilms, an indie studio run by alum and programmer Brian Ratigan, posts a ton of fun cinephiliac content that keeps their audience growing in between projects.
Daruma (2024) had a fantastic social media presence at last year’s festival sharing news about the film, their experience at the festival, and great engagement with their fellow filmmakers online.
Good Bad Things (2024) This film stood out when it came to promoting their screenings, and engaging with their audience online. They also stayed consistent through the festival and year with constant updates on the film’s journey.
African Giants (2024) These filmmakers did a great job engaging with the festival online, and consistently promoted where and when their film could be watched.

Instagram

Instagram is more visual, mobile, and personable than Facebook or Twitter, which allows you to have fun and get creative with it. Again, think about what works best for you and your film — an artist account, or a film account, or both! Some examples of ways to promote your film on instagram include:
Instagram stories promoting screening times/locations, and a link to tickets.
Wall posts featuring fun photos/videos of your time at the festival.
Instagram reels promoting your screenings or experiences at other festival events/screenings.

Facebook / Meta

Consider creating a Facebook Page for your feature film. Here’s a link with step-by-step instructions. A vital part of this process allows you to target audience demographics. This is one of the most important ways to reach beyond your immediate community on Facebook. Consider spending a little money to boost posts or create ads. Even $15 can go a long way on Facebook if you are very specific and strategic about your target audience. Be creative in reaching people you think would just love your film, but might not hear about it otherwise. An effective way to do this is to target audiences of other more established pages with similarities to your own. You can also track your insights and analytics for free. This will be extremely helpful in figuring out which posts most interest your followers, as well as who you are reaching. It’s even more useful this year, since anyone you reach online can virtually attend the festival and watch your film!

X / Twitter

Create a profile with your film title, so search engines can easily find you and other accounts can easily tag you. Even for filmmakers who don’t thrive off tweeting, the news outlets, bloggers and press that may cover your film and any festivals where you screen will all have Twitter! If you have a film account, other outlets with established Twitter audiences can tag you and lead interested parties directly to info about your film.

Letterboxd

Letterboxd is a social platform where film lovers can track, review, and discuss movies. Users make profiles where they log films they’ve watched, rate them, and write reviews. The platform allows users to curate lists (such as favorite movies or themed collections), follow other members, and share their thoughts within the community. It also features a personalized feed where users can see what others are watching and discussing.
With a mix of social networking and movie database elements, Letterboxd serves as both a tool for organizing personal viewing habits, and as a space for connecting with other cinephiles. To get your film on Letterboxd, you’ll need to enter the information on TMDB. Consider going through this process to give your audience and other film lovers a way to engage with and talk about your film.

Social Media Leading Up To The Festival

Story posts that include posters with ticket links up until the festival begins: We will tag filmmakers in these, so please keep an eye out for them so you can re-post.
The goal of this is to give every film a spotlight on our page before the festival begins.

Category Wall Posts:
We will be doing a program wall post for every category, which includes a still from every film. This is a great way to share info about other films in the same program as you with other people on social media.
We will tag filmmakers in these, but the posts are limited to 20 tags total.

Social Media During the Festival

During the festival, we will focus on capturing the excitement at our venues and events. This is where we want to share our filmmakers’ experiences, so please tag us in anything you want us to see!
Things can get crazy on social media mid-festival, and we may not be able to re-post everything we’re tagged in. But that doesn’t mean it’s not important! This is where collaborating and interacting with your fellow filmmakers can generate  community excitement around these events and screenings.

Social Media Tips for Filmmakers
The Key Big 3: Consistency, collaboration with other filmmakers, and crossing audiences.
Don’t be afraid to get creative in the ways you choose to market your film!
Tag us and your fellow filmmakers in anything you want to share. This is a great way to engage as a community and across audiences.

Mailing List

Whether on Mailchimp or using a spreadsheet, keep a record of contacts who have shown interest in your work. Long after the festival is over you’ll be able to update any person or organization that has supported you on what’s happening with your film or your next projects. Whether you send occasional newsletters, or more personalized emails, it’s a great low-pressure way to stay in touch and keep your work in their minds.

Email Signature

Don’t wait until our festival kicks off on February 19, 2026. Start promoting now, and keep sharing until the end of February! We’ve designed a signature template for your email that provides a thorough amount of information about your film and screening. Social Media promotion can go a long way, so take advantage of that.