Filmmaking / Directing : I won an award at a small festival. What is it worth? by Harley McKabe

Right, but will that get me anything? Better crew? More free stuff? Dare I say, funding?

Zero.

Sure, zero dollars but it's a nice stroke to your ego. Now you're an award winning filmmaker but it ain't gonna get you more free stuff. (maybe you can use it to hustle chicks in bars)

I agree with some others here - being able to put "award winning" in your self-promotional efforts, and having a festival laurel on your poster/website etc., does have some value. By itself it's not a lot, but if you can accumulate more, with that project or others, it will add to your cred. Congrats and good luck.

It's a start! A step toward the next one!

All wins count.

Thanks for the advice, y'all!

Filmmaking is difficult because, unlike popular songwriting, for example, it takes significantly longer for us to have a tangible product we can display as our achievement. If you make 3 short films in a year, you are relatively prolific. So how do you keep your audience engaged in the vast majority of time that you don’t have a tangible product? This is where film festivals and awards come in, as they are great markers of quality. This is a great little credibility marker not for anyone that will hire you but for your “audience” - friends, family, acquaintances. If you can get a stream of these coming in between projects, your brand will steadily rise. Just my two cents!

@Harley. There is no bad in winning an award. It will lead to other possibilities. Congratulations!

everything if you tell people

I've been wondering about that too. A pilot script won two awards so I just mention that in the sales pitches.

Be careful with overusing the term "Award Winning". It's a hackneyed phrase and unless the award was from a Tier-1, Tier-2 festival or a festival with a very impactful/recognizable name, it may lump you in with the bazillion other 'award winning' creatives out there. Apply it discreetly and only when you think it will truly make an impact (usually with non-industry people) on the recipient. Industry people see and hear the phrase so often they might ask you, " ...and what awards were those?" Make sure your answer impresses the hell out of them.

I don’t understand why there is such snobbery attached to which particular festival this award is from. Some festivals are rife with closed shop cronyism irrespective of their size or institutionalised Global recognition. The festival who gave this particular award must have credence within the Arts and because “Their” eyes judged the film instead of some well known commercial brand name....does not make this film in any way inferior. The only good.... is a good film. The only inferiority .....is a shit film.

Debbie, I know it's difficult for you to understand but we think differently over here in the colonies.

@Doug I admit I am a USA virgin...Never been, but nevertheless have been involved in boardroom tables of where their the money goes. The guy won an award for a film. Talent is talent. RB recently added to a thread about "ISMS" ……..there seems to be a lot of isms about this film award. Small town ism.....First timer ism...... Some of the bigger film festivals choose films right for THEM, and earn a WAGE from people who send the films in. Analysing the whole situation..... a smaller film festival who has nothing to gain from which film choseN , may well pick the winning film.

Debbie I agree with you 100%. Talent is talent and is certainly worthy of respect - no question. Unfortunately here in the colonies, there is a snobbery element at play that seems that an award from anything less than the top half dozen festivals is of no/little value. Sad!

Last Sunday, for the first time ever I added that the pilot script had won two awards in festivals to the sales pitch. One was the Los Angeles Screenplay contest and the other was the California Film Festival. Yesterday they asked for the pilot script and all other items I'd written on the series. It certainly can't hurt.

Thanks y'all for the support. I do agree that smaller film festivals have limited networking opportunities and don't have the same draw or quality as major fests.

Thanks, Pamela