Underground Exposure

Recently I was looking through the benefits that some of the big name festivals were touting. One of the things that kept coming up was big name judges, like say the president of distribution for the Weinstein Company. With a festival that size, that gets thousands and thousands of submissions, how many films do you think he really screens? Probably, not many. But, who wants someone like that judging your film anyway? I guess if your sole purpose in making Films is to make money and gain fame, that just may be exactly what you’re looking for. For the rest of us, who’s films are an expression of our creativity, of our angst, our beliefs and of our passions, they probably aren’t “Marketable” in the eyes of a judge like that.

That got me thinking about a Screenplay Competition I entered a while back. They promoted the fact that they used producers from the big Studios as their judges. That sounded great. After making the first round of cuts I started reading the list of studios that the judges were from and thinking “I hope I don’t get that one, that one might be O.K, oh they’d like my script, please don’t send mine to the Disney reader”. Now, I was not only unsure if my work was good enough or not, but worried that it may come down to getting the right reader. I don’t know who it ended up with, and maybe it was too over the top for any of them, nonetheless it did not make the Finals.

So, do the research and pick the festival that is right for you.

Having been on the submitter side of Film Festivals, one of the most irritating facets for me was not knowing if anyone actually viewed my Film or read my Script. With no communication after the payment confirmation I often wondered if my submission had simply been tossed aside due to some minor mistake I made in the submission process. That is why Underground Exposure guarantees every submission will be screened/read. Plus, we will notify you once your project has been screened/read along with a short review.

Anyone who has had their own Festival Irritations in the past please feel free to air them here. Our goal is to make our entry process as easy as it can possibly be.