Guess what?! Since more and more people can make a film these days there are more films to complete against. In 2009 Sundance had over 9000 film submitted, and they took less than 100 short films. With rejection comes the opportunity to prevail and accomplish that much more! Strap up your boots and move forward!
Here are some of my rejection letters. Call this therapy. :)
--------
(This was my number one hope where I wanted to premiere)
Dear Filmmaker,
We are so sorry to tell you we were unable to include your film in the 2008
Slamdance program. We know it's a leap of faith on your side to send your
film in at all, and we do thank you so much for submitting. Slamdance is
limited by space constraints in Park City to program only 29 feature films,
5 blocks of short films, and a single block for both Animation and Music
Videos. Every year, the quality of submissions would allow us to program
many more, but this year seemed the hardest yet. Slamdance received more
outstanding film projects on diverse issues and themes than ever before.
There were so many amazing films that deserved an opportunity to screen at
Slamdance this year, and it broke our hearts to turn any of you down.
Please keep in mind that Slamdance is just one festival out of hundreds of
others. Our film program is based on the subjective decisions of our
programming committees, and we make all of our decisions democratically
which means between films of equal quality, it really can come down to
taste. This rejection is no indication of the quality of your film, or its
potential for a successful, well-regarded future. We wish the best for you
and your film.
Warm regards,
Slamdance Programming Department
--------
(I didn’t think I had a chance in hell, but I was going to try!)
Dear Adam,
As the Director of the Sundance Film Festival, I would like to thank you for submitting your work to us, and I truly appreciate your hard work and dedication as an independent filmmaker. Unfortunately, we are not able to include your film in SundanceFilm Festival 2009.
For the first time in our Festival's history, we received over 9,000 submissions. While this gives us the unique opportunity to consider work that spans a wide spectrum from around the globe, it certainly doesn't make it any easier to narrow those entries down to an entire program of just over 200 films. I'm sure it is no consolation to you that we are forced to make these difficult decisions, but I do believe that there certainly is an audience for your film and I anticipate that you will find the appropriate platform for presenting it. I regret not being able to include all of the films that we appreciate, but we simply don't have the room. We look forward to having the opportunity to view your work in the future
Sincerely,
Geoffrey Gilmore
Director, Sundance Film Festival
--------
(This was my second top pick of where I wanted to premiere)
Dear Adam,
Thank you so much for submitting your film to SXSW Film Conference and Festival 2009. We greatly appreciate your high regard for SXSW.
We're sorry to let you know that while 'Panzer Corps' was given every consideration, it did not make the final cut. We received over 3,500 submissions for a final program of @ 110 features and less than 100 shorts. It's highly competitive, not unlike applying to college. There are way more qualified candidates than we can possibly accept.
We hope you'll continue to submit your work to SXSW, and we strongly encourage you join us this March to experience the festival and conference. Filmmakers need to support the filmmaking community, as audience as well as creators. And there's so much to see and learn, besides the great networking opportunities. To help make it more affordable, we're happy to extend our most discounted 2009 badge rate. Please contact us at film@sxsw.com for details and a discount coupon.
Again, we thank you for your support, and apologize for this disappointing news.
All our best,
SXSW Programming Staff
--------
(Another big one)
Dear Filmmaker: I'm very sorry to inform you that we did not select your film for inclusion into the Boulder International Film Festival 2009. We know this is disappointing news, we were forced to turn away a lot of great films that are worthy of screening at the Festival. Please keep BIFF in mind for your next project and best of luck on your film. Sincerely, BIFF Programming Committee Boulder International Film Festival 1906 13th Street, Suite 301 Boulder, CO 80302 303 449-2283 staff@biff1.com www.biff1.com
--------
Dear Adam,
We are very sorry for our delay in making final decisions. Our programming took much longer than anticipated and we really tried our best to place all of our choices in the festival. We feel honored to have had the chance to see Panzer Corps and that we had the chance to consider it for the 2009 Cinequest Film Festival. It was a long struggle with over 1200 short films submitted, and although we are thrilled with the films we have selected, we cannot select every film.
--------
There are more but that is a bitter taste of what can happen. In the forums at WithOutABox under “the waiting game” you find other filmmakers going through the process. Some make it in, but most don’t. Persistence wins!