A primer on the business of film festivals and developing your own festival strategy

Overview

Join The Gotham and Film Festival Alliance for a two-part Festival Strategy class. By the end, you'll have a firm understanding of the business of film festivals, a draft festival strategy, and a plan for making the most of your festival run.

Every film requires a distinct distribution strategy; it's critical that you identify your goals at the start of your film's journey, instead of waiting to see where it lands. And with every film brings fresh opportunities for you as a filmmaker; knowing your own career goals is just as critical to developing your distribution strategy.

During the first session, Barbara Twist, a filmmaker and consultant who has worked in the indie exhibition sector for more than a decade, will give an overview of the business of film festivals, budgeting for your festival run, and research strategies & tips. You'll work on drafting your budget, identifying your audience, and building your support team, either for a project currently in production or an upcoming project.

In the second session, we'll discuss how to make your film stand out in the submission process, standard deliverables for your festival screenings, and how to make the most of your festival experience, from packing the house to the data you need to collect.

Participants will have many opportunities for feedback on their draft festival strategies, budgets, and audience matrix across the two sessions.

Whether you've played dozens of film festivals, or are just starting out, this class will teach you how to build a festival strategy that balances your needs as a filmmaker and your goals for your film's journey.

Both sessions will be recorded and shared with participants following the class, however, because of the hands-on, workshop model, you'll get the most out of this if you're able to attend both sessions live.

Panelists

Lela Meadow-Conner

mamafilm - Founder

Lela Meadow-Conner is the founder of mamafilm, an organization at the crossroads of arts and advocacy, and co-Founder of the rePROFilm series. Lela has held leadership roles at many film festivals, and served as the Executive Director of Film Festival Alliance. She’s participated in The Industry Academy, a program of Film at Lincoln Center and the Locarno Film Festival and has served on film juries including AFI and the NAACP Image Award. She’s a frequent panelist for organizations including The Gotham, SXSW and Ghetto Film School. Current producing projects include Sav Rodgers’ feature documentary CHASING CHASING AMY (Tribeca 2023); Nitzan Mager’s short and feature versions of RUN AMOK, skewering American gun culture; and THE SPICE POET, in development with Priyanka Chopra’s Purple Pebble Pictures. Lela serves on the board of Los Angeles’ iconic Vidiots Foundation, on the inaugural board for the Art House Convergence, and is a member of the Brown Girls Doc Mafia. Most importantly, she is a mom to two daughters.

Annalisa Shoemaker

Annalisa Shoemaker is an independent producer with a passion for stories that spark a cultural conversation. A native Floridian, Annalisa graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of Miami with a double major in Motion Pictures and Political Science and a minor in Art. She cut her teeth in the film industry working in physical production in New York. Now in Los Angeles, she has spent over a decade working on theatrical campaigns for films such as Dallas Buyers Club and Moonrise Kingdom at Focus Features to The Big Sick and Manchester by the Sea at Amazon Studios. Independently, Annalisa was an associate producer on the feature documentary The Last Animals, which chronicles the global effect of the ivory and rhino horn trade. The Last Animals premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival, winning the Disruptive Innovation Award. In 2023, Annalisa launched her own company, Suncatcher Productions, to offer audiences intentional, representative stories that awaken.

Instructors

Barbara Twist

Barbara Twist is the Executive Director of Film Festival Alliance, a non-profit organization for film festivals and the people who run them. She has spent the last decade steeped in the indie exhibition sector. Her background includes producing, writing, post-production supervision, distribution, & exhibition strategies. She has programmed for festivals and film series; served on multiple festival juries; and screened her own work at multiple film festivals. She is a member of the Producers Guild of America.