This is a guest blog post from Capilano 4th year film student, Nigel Edwards, whose short film screened at the Toronto International Film Festival this year.
The TIFF Guide for First Time Festival Goer’s
This year I had the amazing privilege to attend the 2013 Toronto International Film
Festival with a short film I produced early last year. Foreclosure is a comedy about a guy who
was haunted by naked people in the office. The protagonist is promised a hefty promotion by the
end of the day if he can complete a dossier by 5:00pm, but is thwarted by his colleagues when
they all become naked. The film initially began as a Crazy8‘s project here in Vancouver and after
almost making it to the final stage before being green lit, Wayne Robinson (writer/director) and I
decided to make the film anyways. After workshopping the script with a CBC story editor,
Dennis Heaton, Wayne was eager to get rolling on the project. After many debates we decided to
take our time with the project and get the right people on board. I enlisted the help of another
Capilano film student, Tom Hackett, to help co-produce the film as well a large plethora of other
Capilano students and alumni to crew the film.
To try and explain the festival in a few words simply wouldn’t do it justice. Asides from
having a film there, which proved to be very beneficial when meeting with people, the
conferences, connections, and films were amazing. Leading up the festival, you receive
numerous emails from TIFF about RSVP’s, meetings, etc, and you become so familiar with
names that when you finally meet them in person, they actually remember you. It was
completely worth it to be there in person for our film. A typical conversation, usually taking
place at one of the many ‘happy hours’, went something like this:
“So what are you doing here at the festival?”
“I produced a short film in the Short Cuts Canada program...”
There were many great moments at the festival, but for the sake of this piece, I will try
and contain them to producing type stuff all under a PG rating. One of the best takeaways
stemmed from an email intro that one of my professors initiated with the people from the
National Screen Institute. After a couple quick emails, we set a time to meet up later in the week.
I was surprised they had time at all as people’s schedules fill up quick during the festival. We
ended up meeting at the Fairmont Hotel just before lunch. After doing a quick Google search to
figure out what they looked like (always know what they look like them before hand), we ended
up talking with them for over an hour and a half. We talked about all kinds of different stuff, but
the secret was that we didn’t ask them redundant questions about the program that we could have
learned from their website. After a few coffees, we picked up the bill (if you can afford it, always
be proactive and pick up the bill) and were on our way out, when the two lovely ladies openly
admitted how refreshing it was to meet with people that were interested in talking to them,
asking questions about what NSI wanted, etc. We were the only people that got in contact with
them. Another trick that stemmed from this meeting was to play off our strengths: one director,
and two producers. We were constantly spinning off each other’s questions leaving no room for
awkward silence.
Looking back there are many things that I would do differently but overall everything
happened the way it should for first time festival goers. Ever since I started in film I’ve had
business cards. I was always told to have a slick card that ‘felt’ a little different. Unfortunately
my card was so slick that you couldn’t write on it with anything except a sharpie, which no one
carries. Clean and simple business cards are essential because besides the face to face interaction,
your card is how they remember you.
Luckily Tom and I were told this way before leaving Vancouver but the festival is not
about the films. Unfortunately for our director, who is a massive cinephile, didn’t realize till later
on that TIFF is a hub for amazing conferences that you’d never see if you were stargazing on the
red carpet, or attending your fourth or fifth film of the day. For first time “festies” it is crucial
that you attend all the conferences you can and squeeze in a film here and there. By the end of
the fourth or fifth day of conferences we had TIFF Industry Programmers commend us on our
commitment to attending almost everything. You don’t get that respect by sleeping in or catching
the latest Denis Villeneuve flick (which I heard was great).
In trying to summarize all the amazing lessons I’ve learnt over the past two weeks, I’ve
come up with three main recommendations for other filmmakers:
1. Be respectful of people’s time.
The festival goes so quick that everyone is usually booked solid. Be courteous of people’s time
and if doesn’t work out, don’t worry about it. Don’t force yourself on people. Set up a meeting
with them well in advance. If you happen to run into them, approaching groups of three is way
easier than groups of two. That way there is always someone who isn’t talking and can be your in
to a conversation.
2. Have something that sets you apart from everyone else.
Fortunately for us we had a great calling card before coming to the festival. In a movie where
there is only male nudity, we could easily be remembered as “the naked guys”. Before leaving
we managed to print 100 postcards with a provocative screenshot from the film that really caught
the eye, as well as the screening information on the back. We handed them out to everyone and
not surprisingly it proved to be a nice lead into some interesting conversations. We also did a
photo series leading up to the world premiere of our film. I would Instagram a semi-nude photo
of one of the cast or the director, doing common things around the house: drinking coffee,
reading a book, playing Dance Dance Revolution, etc. The director would then Tweet the photo
with a caption like “7 DAYS TILL FORECLOSURE”, and the appropriate hashtag that we made
for ourselves. The staple hashtags were #foreclosure, #nakedorbreakit, and #justtheTIFF. From
here we would invite our friends on FB and Twitter to follow our photo series and in turn
generate hype for the film. We ended up having some TIFF programmers retweet most of the
photos expanding our social network ever farther.
3. Do your homework.
Know who you want to talk to before you show up, and be realistic about it. You can’t assume
that you’ll meet George Clooney and have him cast in your next film. It doesn’t work that way.
For me one of the goals I set was to befriend like-minded filmmakers who were at the same level
or just above me. I made several friends like that of whom I will keep it contact with over the
years, even if it’s just to keep updated on projects. With regards to the conferences, some of the
material will seem way beyond your years as a professional filmmaker, however it’s beneficial to
sit there and listen. You’re going to have to deal with these people eventually, so it’s good to
know what they do. Failing all that, having an idea of where you want to go next is important.
“What’s next for you?” people will say and you should know. For me, I’m very passionate about
attending the Canadian Film Centre after I graduate, so building those relationships was crucial
in my festival experience.
I’m very happy and grateful that I had to opportunity to attend TIFF this year. It has been
both a rewarding and inspiring experience for me. As I finish my undergrad this year, I’m hoping
to bring that same enthusiasm as I push the development of my first feature. As for missing the
first two weeks of school, TIFF is one of the largest film festivals in the world, you’d be foolish
not to attend.
//NE
