Hey, Stage 32!
My name is Daniel Sol and I'm the Co-Director and Co-Founder of HollyShorts Film Festival! In celebration of Stage 32's July Filmmakers Club, I'll be LIVE on Instagram TODAY, July 2nd talking about my career, the advice I have for new filmmakers, and the history behind HollyShorts and our wonderful partnership with Stage 32. You should tune in to @Stage32 at 12:00 PM PT to join in!
THEN, if you have any questions for me about the things that I discuss LIVE or you have any questions about short films, festivals, networking, etc. you can drop those in the comments below. I'll be here all day on Wednesday, July 3rd answering your questions for a 24-Hour Ask Me Anything. So please comment with any and all of your questions on this post!
A bit more about me-
With a passion for film and filmmaking since childhood, Daniel decided to move to California in 2000 with an interest in the film business. After working on commercial productions as an understanding of the filmmaking process.
After graduating from Cal State Northridge in 2006, he realized that young filmmakers had very little access to industry professionals and few options for screening their films. Thus, the categories, HollyShorts has quickly become the most influential short film festival in the World, with Daniel guiding it as Festival Director and lead programmer and the HollyShorts Monthly Screening Series, which takes place each month at the TCL Chinese 6 Theatres.
Aside from HollyShorts, Sol also battled daily with domestic exhibitors as a theatrical sales executive at Lionsgate from 2008-2014. Mr. Sol is also the co-founder of the premium Roku, Amazon Fire TV, and Apple TV content channel BITPIX along with co-founder of the production company 88th Street.
He proudly serves on the Film Augusta Advisory Board. Sol is also an Executive Producer of the short films THIRST and DESMONDS NOT HERE ANYMORE, currently airing on Hulu, and is the Festival Co-Founder of the 9th annual Hollywood Comedy Shorts Film Festival.
2 people like this
Hey, Daniel Sol. Thanks for having the Q&A and AMA. Does HollyShorts have a length limit for short films?
2 people like this
Hi Daniel Sol - thanks so much for spending your day with us for this AMA. Question: What genre of shorts do best at festivals in your experience? Thanks in advance!
4 people like this
Hey, Daniel Sol! Thank you so much for Joining our AMA this week!!! I was wondering what were some big challenges you weren’t expecting when creating HollyShorts? How did you over come them?
4 people like this
Thank you for doing this AMA, Daniel Sol. When taking a short film to a festival what are the best things for a filmmaker to have with them? A feature script? Another short idea? How can filmmakers best leverage the festivals they screen their shorts at? Thanks, again!
2 people like this
I miss this please how can I get access to the video?
3 people like this
Thank you for sharing your knowledge and insights with the community Daniel Sol
3 people like this
Appreciate your time, Daniel Sol ! A festival as large and well known as yours must receive thousands of entries each season - besides a quality project, what are some best practices for standing out in a crowd and having your piece screened by a programmer?
2 people like this
Nelson Ikeh, you haven't missed anything at all! The Ask Me Anything is happening right now in this thread. You can comment any questions that you have for Daniel right here and he will be answering them throughout the day today in comment responses.
2 people like this
Nelson Ikeh Don't worry if you miss the live we always post it onto our Instagram afterwards! Follow our Instagram @stage32 :))
3 people like this
Rachel Troche I would say to make sure your film has an element of surprise or elements of the story or production (ie VFX, big moment, so on so forth) that stand out. Also with any submission we encourage emailing our team about your submission any tidbits of info and or just a simple intro email about your submission. It never hurts.
1 person likes this
@sam Yes, when attending any festival, best to be prepared as much as possible with materials (biz cards, flyers, info on your screening etc) also have a follow up project ready to at least discuss ie pitch deck, treatment, feature script, so on so forth. Be ready to discuss these things at the least.
2 people like this
@maurice 40 mins or less for shorts
3 people like this
@ayah yes we had and continue to have many challenges :))
To start the fest the very first day we almost had no projection!! So we almost never even started this thing! haha
The night before our first day the projector bulb was not working at my house while testing it so we were scrambling to find a rental house to book a projector but everything was closed as it was a Saturday...It was hectic to start safe to say but we figured it out and got it to work at the venue in the morning!
2 people like this
@leonardo Genre shorts wise I believe Horror is a great genre for shorts and a strong horror short can do very well on the circuit.
1 person likes this
Ok, thanks for the answer, Daniel Sol.
1 person likes this
Thanks Daniel Sol - Glad you're with us!
1 person likes this
Daniel Sol thank you for sharing! That seems so stressful!!! It’s nice to hear that it didn't stop you from turning your dream into a reality. Love the positivity, keep it up! :)
2 people like this
Daniel Sol, thank you for sharing your time with us today! What material do you suggest attendees have prepared before attending festivals and festival events?
3 people like this
Hi Daniel Sol, thank you for your time. When picking films that screen at the festival, what are the 5 most defining factors that you focus on for a movie to place, and what are the 3 factors that make you award it anything (what makes a short oscar worthy, if you will)?
3 people like this
Mark Deuce yes you can depending on the festival format ie screenplay panels or pitch fest sessions or industry speed dating sessions etc. Some fests will have pitch sessions designed for the attendees to do short pitches for a panel. We have done some pitch contest sessions in the past.
3 people like this
@rodney some strong deciding factors. production value ie lighting set design wardrobe locations etc. Editing. Editing and pacing are crucial. Acting. Story. visual style/visual storytelling. I bring this up often because many films are too heavily dialogue driven with little camera movement or thought given to lens use/shot framing etc etc. Show us don’t tell us.
Award worthy. All the previously mentioned facets must be strong. originality of story or style of short that make it stand out and thus impresses a jury to award it. Social impact. Does the film hold any weight or share an important theme or story relevant to the times or offer a unique perspective.