A Programmer’s Introduction
by hollyherrick on September 16, 2011 in Festival Strategy
The wearing of multiple hats in the little world of independent film is so common that it is hardly worth mentioning. I know critics who are programmers, distributors who are critics, and filmmakers who run distribution labels. Mostly, I’m a festival programmer who programs film festivals, but I feel like I have ten jobs instead of two, and I don’t think that’s only because I work for non-profits. As Toronto is ending, the IFP about to begin, and the Sundance submission deadline right around the corner, I’ve been thinking a lot about the role of the programmer across the industry and wishing we could all come together to make a little PSA about what it is we are all so busy doing.
I won’t get through a first blog post on this space without an introduction: Since 2004, I’ve worked with a wonderful festival in Florida—The Sarasota Film Festival, where I now serve as Director of Programming, (under the Festival Directorship of Thomas Wilson Hall). For the past four years, beginning in 2008, I have programmed at another gem of a festival, The Hamptons International Film Festival, where I am a Senior Programmer working alongside a terrific team of collaborators. The festivals are six months apart– Sarasota is in April, Hamptons in October—keeping me busy with a full calendar of non-stop programming work. My years go by with the rhythm of festival seasons, Cannes and Sundance signal the kick-off of each busiest time; submissions turn into selections, and selections turn into a festival.
There is no doubt that understanding how to run any festival requires a very specific set of knowledge: It is a job that demands immeasurable professionalism, and yet is often perceived as an amateur ambition, a source of much frustration to those of us who pour our energy into it. (i.e—“you get paid to watch movies?”) Most commonly overlooked is that being a programmer for a regional film festival is our industry’s answer to the general practitioner.
Programming a festival calls for careful curation, insight into audiences and how to reach them, and to a certain extent, understanding the business of exhibition. It is also about single films and filmmakers and their careers. Festival programmers need a bag of tricks; we have to produce and organize, negotiate, problem-solve, publicize. In addition to being able to spot a rising star, we should know how to throw a good party. As non-profit workers, we are generally our own assistants. We don’t always answer our email… (we try). I am speaking mostly for what I know–regional festivals, which tend to have a very small staff and a majority non-industry audience. However, seeing festivals like Toronto and Sundance in the works, I have reason to believe that some of this extends to even the largest and better-funded festivals.
The point is that within every good festival programmer lies a producer. Selecting films is not only spotting rising stars and slotting them into your program, or courting distributors to have the most popular new titles at your festival. If you can’t deliver a successful event–one that tells a story to the press, communicates a mission to the public, offers a respectful, proper environment for exhibition, holds the promise of identifying new talent to the industry—then your best intentions as a curator are lost.
This is the most active time of the year for submitting to festivals, and as filmmakers, sales agents & distributors vie for those very few select spots at Sundance, and begin to build their back-up plans, it’s a good time to consider the professional motives of the people who are watching your films. Even though programming is largely about being passionate about the films, and while there is certainly no accounting for personal taste (and it’d be grossly naïve to say it doesn’t play an enormous role), I’d also maintain that festival selection doesn’t depend entirely on whether a programmer unconditionally loved the movie. We also don’t have a wall made of flypaper in our programming office against which we hurl submissions to see what sticks. We like to ask these questions: What can this festival do for your film (Are we a good platform for your voice?) What could your film do for our festival (in other words, for our audiences or our community, how could it add the diversity and reach of our line up, do we feel it is vital that your voice is heard at our festival, for whatever reason?) As producers, exhibitors, and people in the (non)business of supporting films and filmmakers, these are the questions on our mind.
While I intended for this post to be an introduction and not an advice column, in this season of submitting, it could only be helpful for filmmakers to try to answer these questions–Where will my film have the biggest impact? Which festivals will best understand my mission as a filmmaker?