ASK & DISCUSS INDEX

11 years, 11 months ago - Tim iloobia

ok. well good luck with it all.

11 years, 11 months ago - Hank Starrs

Thanks Tim, very interesting. I will certainly take your comments on board.

11 years, 11 months ago - Hank Starrs

I do hope that you will still be offering the discounted tickets to the offer film makers on the program.

11 years, 11 months ago - Tim iloobia

Oh dear Hank, you really are starting to sound rather embittered and repetitive. There was pure transparency on the call for entries that there were no tickets left (now i'm repeating myself!) and it was purely your choice to enter your film and your mistake not to notice it - how you can start complaining about exploitation is beyond me and probably anyone else patient enough to read this increasingly petty discussion. We are not exploited constantly as film-makers, that is such a ridiculous load of nonsense - we are given opportunities and make our own minds up as to whether to take them or not. And now you say people are desperate who, rightly, believe that there will be exposure when their film is screened to an audience. Because, by default it is exposure, as there is an audience in front of your work and someone is watching it! If you hate it and are so violently opposed to whatever it is that you are venting here, why the hell do you bother to even engage in submitting to festivals at all? you don't seem to even value the audience anyway ( re your point earlier - 'The film doesn't need promoting to a few hundred people') Im angry that the people who have run this screening have offered you tickets at a discount with your ungrateful and pompously arrogant attitude. I'm sure we will now see another long and rambling response about now you are right and we are all missing your point, but sadly, you are just confirming what I felt about you initially - that you are rather unpleasantly directing your vitriol at a group of positive individuals who are simply trying to help spread the reach of short films to interesting audiences.

11 years, 11 months ago - Tim iloobia

thank-you for the reply, but i'm sad to hear that the few hundred people who may unexpectedly discover your film in the woods one magical evening are of no promotional value. we obviously have very different reasons for screening our work. Saying you don't need their patronage sounds a little like things have gone to your head. I hope this was a slip of the tongue...

11 years, 11 months ago - Hank Starrs

Hi Tim, ah I must have missed that or i wouldn't have entered. A screening is certainly not only of value if I can attend, I have completed 14 shorts and a couple of features, all screened in various festivals, big and small I often offer the tickets to the Director, actors, HOD's or crew to attend and often don't go myself. Sometimes my shorts will screen abroad and I too can't attend. I just think the concept of not even being able to buy a ticket is wrong in principal.The film doesn't need promoting to a few hundred people, it's been sold for broadcast in europe and USA and screened at several festivals. I don't need their
patronage. Thanks for your comments!

11 years, 11 months ago - Katie Brandwood

Hi Hank, I have taken onboard everything you said and you'll be happy to hear that I won't be showing your film at the festival anymore. I've decided to give the slot instead to someone who appreciates the opportunity and understands the circumstances. I wish you all the best for the future.

11 years, 11 months ago - Daniel Cormack

No, I read that bit.

The event sold out because tickets went on sale ot the general public. You, like everyone else, had a chance to buy tickets to "support the event", but you didn't.

What you're saying is that you want some sort of preferential access above and beyond the general public.

11 years, 11 months ago - Daniel Cormack

There really is no pleasing some people.

Also, as far as I can tell this is a big festival along the lines of Glastonbury with music, film etc etc, so it's not like they're just scrimping on giving a couple of cinema tickets - the tickets for this festival are more like 100 quid. If you give away a couple of tickets to every short filmmaker on the programme that's several hundred and therefore tens of thousands of pounds in lost revenue.

Let's face it: film screenings at these types of events are pretty much a side show for the main event...

11 years, 11 months ago - Tim iloobia

I too have entered and been accepted into this festival and I remember it being quite clear in the call for entries that there would not be tickets as the event had sold out but you would be entered into a draw with the chance to win a pair of tickets. But your film needs its independence and you have to be prepared to let it go out on its own in the world! Is a screening only of value to you if you can attend? I often screen internationally and often don't go but I am happy to know that my work has gone out there to plant itself momentarily in the minds of an audience. I don't think its poor at all that they can't get you a ticket. There was no submission fee as far as I remember and they are promoting your work to a whole new audience. So think of it as a positive for your film and that they consider it good enough to show.

11 years, 11 months ago - Hank Starrs

Hi Daniel, As i mentioned, I would be happy to buy tickets and support the event as i have done many times in the past when my shorts have screened. Best to read the post properly before you respond.

11 years, 11 months ago - Hank Starrs

No, totally wrong, I didn't have the chance to buy tickets. It was sold out, ALREADY when I entered my film which was the first time that I had heard about the festival. I did not expect preferential treatment, just the opportunity to buy a ticket like everybody else. I didn't have the opportunity to buy a ticket. I was told that I could not but a ticket. But they wanted to screen my film. This is wrong. Filmmakers are being exploited constantly with the feeble assertion that, "your work will receive exposure". Desperate people continue to subscribe to this notion. It is the same principal that drives people to be exploited in unpaid internships. I hate it. I am violently opposed to it. It sucks. I declined to accept the invitation to screen at this festival and have now magically been offered two tickets at a substantial discount. Hooray!

11 years, 11 months ago - Hank Starrs

Hey Tim and I have now just been informed that ALL the filmmakers in this screening strand have now been offered a discounted ticket and one more at full price by the nice organisers. Great news! I hope you're not too angry.