Remove your film from the festival, contact the other filmmakers that were accepted.
They can try to to be weird once. But there is no shame in standing up for yourself.
They can make money without being weird. They’re choosing not to.
It's scammy at worst, and ill-planned by people without an interest in nurturing films and filmmakers at best.
Former fest producer/co-founder here (very very verryyy small fest). We were small, our budgets were really tight, but, we operated on the ethos that money flows *to* the artist. We didn't have the cash to fly people out, (though, we were young, and we could offer to house them with friends of the festival as needed in certain specific cases).
We certainly couldn't afford to host whole film teams - but we would *never* charge a director to attend. 2-4 people per, with all the perks that come with it - a fancy hosted dinner where our judges/panelists are also there and mingling, (it is surprisingly not too too challenging to get producers with credits youve heard of and execs to participate in panels and events), closing party, swag, and of course the screening itself and then prizes (our prizes were modest, too, but better that than building a cash pool from the attending filmmakers).
People not in those core film team roles (director/writer/exec producer/lead actor) may have had to buy tickets, but again we were very small so we also didnt do price gouging passes, (because that doesn't encourage the development of an audience/filmgoing culture. The saddest fests are the ones where it's literally only filmmakers and their friends/fam that came to see them. what an insular wracket !)
Anyway, i wouldn't pay it, and I would give the same feedback to a friend!
Trust your gut.
Im not sure why they would charge people who already paid a submission fee, that's bogus
Remove your film from the festival, contact the other filmmakers that were accepted. They can try to to be weird once. But there is no shame in standing up for yourself. They can make money without being weird. They’re choosing not to.
Was your film accepted and they’re trying to charge?
Yes
Judging by their film freeway, looks like a lot of good info happening there. But to charge accepted filmmakers is shit.
Huh? It looks like Stage32 incarnate. > Judges from Simon & Schuster, ABC, HBO, MARVEL, EMMYS, PBS, BBC, Rolling Stone, Grammys, BMI & more. $45,000.00 In Awards Sure. > Festival Awards. All Nominees are in competition for $45,000.00 in Awards. > Meeting with HBO (priceless) > Meetings with Marvel (priceless) Sure. > The Grand Prize Award Package and category winner awards are valued at over $45,000.00 and are non transferable. These are in kind services only and cannot be redeemed for cash. Good for one year from date of festival won at. All scheduling subject to availability. This festival is a scam. Do not give them any more money. EDIT: A very good identifier for a scam festival is that they harp on their “IMDb Official” status. This just means they registered their festival on IMDb, which is easy and free. Requires absolutely nothing other then some time and “proof” via an “official website.” It’s like saying my short film is “IMDb official” because I added it to IMDb. They also, separately, tend to vastly overuse the little “©️” and/or “®” marks.
You don’t even need to register on IMDB, if I recall. That’s how easy it is.
It's scammy at worst, and ill-planned by people without an interest in nurturing films and filmmakers at best. Former fest producer/co-founder here (very very verryyy small fest). We were small, our budgets were really tight, but, we operated on the ethos that money flows *to* the artist. We didn't have the cash to fly people out, (though, we were young, and we could offer to house them with friends of the festival as needed in certain specific cases). We certainly couldn't afford to host whole film teams - but we would *never* charge a director to attend. 2-4 people per, with all the perks that come with it - a fancy hosted dinner where our judges/panelists are also there and mingling, (it is surprisingly not too too challenging to get producers with credits youve heard of and execs to participate in panels and events), closing party, swag, and of course the screening itself and then prizes (our prizes were modest, too, but better that than building a cash pool from the attending filmmakers). People not in those core film team roles (director/writer/exec producer/lead actor) may have had to buy tickets, but again we were very small so we also didnt do price gouging passes, (because that doesn't encourage the development of an audience/filmgoing culture. The saddest fests are the ones where it's literally only filmmakers and their friends/fam that came to see them. what an insular wracket !) Anyway, i wouldn't pay it, and I would give the same feedback to a friend!
nothing!