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January 17, 2013 10:00 AM
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An IW Investigation: The Dark Underbelly of the Festival Circuit, Part 2
In Part One of its investigation into the underbelly of the film festival scene, Indiewire went down the rabbit hole of confusion and obfuscation attached to a number of questionable film festivals and awards events around the country. In Part Two, we discover who’s behind them, how they operate and the effect they have on the indie-film industry.
They all have similarly designed web pages, and most have mailing addresses that ultimately go to P.O. boxes despite being made out to read as suite addresses on their contact pages. If they have phone numbers listed on their sites or Withoutabox pages, most of them have area codes outside of where the competitions are held, are no longer in service or, in some cases, go to people who have never heard of the events. The various festivals’ e-mails to filmmakers are worded almost exactly the same.
READ MORE: An IW Investigation: The Dark Underbelly of the Film Festival Circuit, Part 1
"For the people who bought in, the thrill of running a film festival quickly faded to horror when they realized how hard it was."
According to sources close to these competitions, a group of entrepreneurs in Nevada owns, or at one time owned, these properties. In 2008, one of the members of the group, Las Vegas businessman Rick Weisner, began posting an offer for people to own their own film festival on the Withoutabox message boards. For a price in the thousands, Weisner and his associates would hand over the intellectual property, name, website and all publicity materials needed to run one, including templates for press releases and e-mails to filmmakers, the different award categories and a listing on Withoutabox.
For the people who bought in, the thrill of running a film festival quickly faded to horror when they realized how hard it was, which led some to change their properties to mere online competitions and others to rename them “film awards” with a dinner/networking event for the winners.
That’s what James Nicholas, a Los Angeles fire fighter and self-described movie fanatic, did after seeing the Withoutabox post and buying the La Jolla Film Festival: He renamed it the California Film Awards. (A spokesperson for Withoutabox would not comment on “details of our associations with current and former customers.”)
The juries for these competitions hardly seem high-end or legitimate. Indiewire has obtained the text of a Craigslist ad used to seek out jury members for one of the competitions. It states that they are volunteer positions and that each juror will receive several films and a form to fill out to rate each film and provide detailed assessments of its strengths and weaknesses. Though the ad asks for industry professionals, a source close to the competition says that mostly mere film enthusiasts answer the ads, though some script readers do, too.
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7 Comments
Shawn W | February 18, 2013 3:00 PM
Yawn.... Who cares?
Jonas Walker | January 25, 2013 1:26 PM
Personally I don't see why this bothers anyone. What's the big deal? They're offering filmmakers a chance to get their films out there, meet some other filmmakers, and have fun. Not everybody is going to get accepted to Sundance, after all. If people don't like the festivals nobody is pointing a gun to their heads to participate. And the article evens says that the festivals do everything they advertise they do. I don't see how this is news. The film snobs need to lighten up some. If you're too good for small festivals like this then I guess we'll see you at the Oscars.
Michael g. | January 22, 2013 12:37 PM
Excellent article that only brushes the surface of the scams out there. It's misrepresentation that is at the heart of this. Organizations which call themselves film festivals and don't show films to the public, simply exist to take money from credulous filmmakers. Sure filmmakers might enjoy the dinner and hanging out with other filmmakers - that's mostly a circle jerk (join a local legit film society and network that way instead). Since these awards are frequently not based on merit, but primarily on the fact that you pony up the fee, it gives the filmmaker a false sense of their own abilities. There are plenty of other second and third tier film fests which are legit, so if the only way you can get into a festival or to earn an award is to purchase access, you might think about a different career.
Jazzy J. | January 22, 2013 12:10 PM
Too many movies anyways. Making a good film includes accounting formally and aesthetically for your socio-historical time...you can't rely on past patterns to work for you. That's exactly what these scam artists are take advantage of: belief in awards, clout, right to celebrate your creative accomplishment (this is not a right), bad movies. Dan Nuxoll is absolutely correct about reputation construction. And blind submissions through Withoutabox is lazy. Withoutabox is lazy. It only exists because filmmakers are so abundant, they have become a reliable consumer base. Withoutabox does nothing to help filmmaking as an art.
Jerzy J: Why do you want a statue? Make your own.
Justin T: Are you kidding me? Go to Red Lobster and save the plane fare.
Jerzy J. | January 17, 2013 11:36 PM
I guess the writer thinks we should only submit our films to the biggest festivals like Sundance and Cannes. Only problem is that no one gets in to those. At least no one I know. I kinda like having smaller fests like these to submit to. Gives me a better chance of bringing home a statue. 4 awards and counting....
Justin Tabuenke | January 17, 2013 11:10 PM
So let me get this straight. These festivals charged filmmakers if they wanted to buy an extra trophy and/or attend a fancy dinner? Um, yeah, so does just about every festival I've ever attended with "Young Lacy". I guess these guys that are complaining would rather everything be free? Maybe Obama can nationalize all film festivals and then there will be no more entry fees and we can all win the Best Picture Award. LOL.