A foreword for this write up - these are some raw notes and observations from my own experience when promoting 3 short animated films during my time at Nimble Collective. I’m calling these film 1, 2 and 3, for the sake of the article. There are many articles on how to take your film into festivals. I am sharing this as another reference point for independent artists and creators to think about your game plan and provide insight. This article was written in January 2018.

In 2017 I worked with 3 directors on the promotion and festival strategy of three animated short films, which were accepted and screened at around sixty film festivals worldwide. These films included Nick Arioli’s Coin Operated, and Dacosta Bayley’s Sunny and Gerd. The steps below are combined “leanings” and were not explicitly used for every film. There are many creative and traditional ways to gain traction, so my suggestion is to think long and hard about your release. This is my insight and some of the results achieved.

1. Open for business
 Even before production is finished you can set up a simple homepage and contact email for the film. However simple or complex you make this site, make sure you have an easy way for people to contact you. You may be surprised by the number of emails your receive after festival screenings. Think about a social media channel for updates where people can keep up to date, my opinion is just do one, and do it well.

2. Tell the media what you’re doing

Industry news sites want new and untold stories, so don’t be intimidated to research editors/writers and pitch your project. Securing an “in production” or “nearly finished” style article can be an incredibly effective catalyst for the buzz around your film. Introduce the film along with its hook, the team, the goals and any other unique selling points you can think of. Stories that sell are often a first or only focus, so if you’ve got the first film to be made on the moon using only a smartphone and clay figures, you might get some attention.

Offer some exclusive first release of artwork as an incentive for the publication you’re targeting. This first article can be used to jump-start your social media presence and help create that buzz factor. It will also help your early audience and direct network to validate the project as a “real thing”.

3. Strategize your festival choices and timeline.

Research, plan and set goals.  Shorts are often made as calling cards for directors and other artists onboard, in general, they are less likely to have a monetary goal. With this in mind, fulfill a twelve-month festival circuit - this will give the film time to breathe, find its audience and reach as many people as possible. Do not rush to release the film online as this could jeopardize options later on and possibly shorten the buzz building phase. If you don’t have plans for the film’s final resting place, these twelve months could help determine where it ends up.

The main goal for anyone taking the festival route is to create a splash in the industry and pick up media coverage in the process, maybe even a deal. This approach gives you a top-down route where large or small media outlets share your film with their audience, purely because of your involvement in the festival. The festival will also publish your film’s details and images (great for SEO). No pitch, no interview, just a free plug because you’ve been selected. One of the films i worked with now has around two whole Google results pages for its title purely from these passive festival listing posts.

So, let’s look at things to consider when deciding on your festivals.

Be clear about your goals so you can measure success. Know premiere or release requirements that may affect you achieving these goals.
Know your budget.
If you’re gunning for it, submit to as many Academy qualifying festivals with animation categories as you can afford. Preferably ones that are local to you, that resonate with your work, or that you can attend easily. Check the Academy's annual list for applicable festivals.
Research as much as you can on “paid for” submissions using articles like “50 Film Festivals Worth The Entry Fee” for some insider knowledge. 
Submit to all free animation festivals that fit your style of work. Do your research and make sure what you submit can actually move the needle and help with traction. Tracking, managing submissions and delivering material is time-consuming and there are roughly 3000 active festivals out there.
Make as many early deadlines as possible. It’s cost efficient and puts you at the front of the queue.
Programmers like the filmmakers to attend - think about if you could attend the festival when submitting.
If you have any festival programmer connections, use them (so we’ve heard). Programmers do share films and take suggestions from their trusted network. If you’re aware of an “in” then try and use it.

Choosing festivals should be strategic and carefully considered, especially if you’re paying - Ideally, you have a wish list in mind during production. Do not disregard small or lesser known festivals, just make sure the juice is worth the squeeze. Assume your work is selected from a submission, consider how the association with that festival may reflect on the overall brand and values of your film. Try and make sure your submissions are somehow contributing to your goals.

One more time, in order to measure your film’s success, you need to know your goals.

Below is an example of a festival timeline and overall strategy we planned for one of our short films (Film 1).

Goal: Academy Qualifying Festival Circuit - 2017

With this goal in mind, we began work on noting all the Academy's 2017 qualifying short film festivals. We then drilled further into that list so we were left with just the festivals that had animation specific categories. One more step, we prioritized local festivals which the director could attend - programmers like to include local talent, it helps keep relevant to the audience and means you will probably attend the screening along with your friends - if you have any.

With this hyper-focused, goal driven, Academy qualifying festival list, we were able to plot the festivals onto a timeline. In the below image, submission opening dates are pink, and for the event date we used green. As a side note, we had no idea if any of these submissions would be successful to such high caliber festivals. We made a second list of our favorite non-Academy qualifying and smaller festivals. For namesake, these are called tier 1 (round) and tier 2 (square).

Disregarding whether we were accepted or not, this gave us a hypothetical visualization of how busy the calendar could be. We knew we wanted buzz and announcements every month to drive momentum, so ensured we were packing each month with valuable potential.

All this made the submission process simple; check through the timeline weekly, submit to the pinks, hope for the greens, plot dates of significance in between (premiere, articles, wrap party, etc). We also kept a spreadsheet.

Below see zoomed portion and full-size festival timeline

Channel efforts and focus

Once this ball starts rolling, we found it’s very much out of our hands in regards to the yes or no decision. No matter how many emails you want to send to the programmers and coordinators “checking” they got your submission, it boils down to the film impressing and them having enough space left in their program (submit early).

What you can do during this period is network, cultivate new relationships, nurture any inbound conversations and be an ambassador for your own work. Be proactive, pressing the “go” button and waiting in suspense does not drive results. You need to spread the word about your film, take rejection on the chin and keep plugging it until you find your champions.

Press during the festival circuit

Film 1 got into a majority of its festivals with no media coverage whatsoever, it remained under the radar and gobbled up awards before it was finally announced in Cartoon Brew’s shortlisting, “Unofficial 2018 Oscars: 63 Animated Shorts Are Competing for This Year (EXCLUSIVE)”. This was a result of winning the Jury Award at Rhode Island (Academy Qualifying) It was also the first official selection the film received in our submission strategy. Once this news was released, there were already a string of planned articles/interviews with the director across a few industry media outlets to complement the announcement and to add clout to the project.

On the flipside, Film 3 had an incredible establishing article in Variety before starting its circuit, but to date, it has achieved the fewest official selections. The proof is in the pudding, the quality of the work, the festival fit and the judges' taste.

Time for a trailer?

At this point for film 1, there was a need for the trailer, especially with featured articles on many online news sites. Releasing the trailer with the inclusions of festival success (sixteen laurels) added some hefty industry validation for anyone seeing the project for the first time.

Choose wisely when to release the trailer. Ideally, this would be accompanied by an article/interview in a preferred media outlet and including some recent festival success. Providing you are receiving official selections and have a few in the calendar for the coming future, use your original timeline and choose an effective time to announce between a couple of festivals, the bigger the better.

One topic I know to cause debates is whether to host videos on one platform or multiple. Personally, I like to make a master version and use that for all promo and posting. This means all traffic can be monitored and accumulated easily in one place. It might also help when pitching your next project allowing you to send one link with all the views and comments and letting the work speak for itself. Thinking long term, legacy and control is my preferred outlook, but by all means, plant it wherever you so wish.

I will mention that I’ve read in a few places that releasing your full short during the peak of your festivals is a nice way to go. If this does not affect any of your goals then I would consider doing it.

This write up is focused on festivals and the promotion surrounding them. What happens after the festivals? We’ll save that for another time...