Week 15

With the semester coming to an end, I believe I am close to my goal and about to officially confirm the College Tour dates! Giovanna has been a godsend with her flexibility and generous offers.

I am extremely excited to take part in George Mason University's PA Training Workshop event! Not only is it at a discount price of $75 (originally $150), but will also provide the Visions staff with a license to work as a PA on professional large sets. This is an great opportunity for all of us hoping to achieve a career in film production.

There are only a few minor details to confirm for the College Tour, such as lodging, who is attending, GMU classroom reservations, scheduling a meeting with the DKA film fraternity at GMU, and completing my presentation.

Once I get approval from the other Directors, I believe I will change the tour date to Friday, February 19th, to Monday, February 22nd. This is the time Giovanna believes will be the most beneficial for our trip. She also said this will maximize attendance to our Visions Film Festival & Conference presentations.

Now it is time to think ahead and begin to prepare for the Spring semester :)

Week 14

With the semester coming to an end, I am left with little to do. Although, I am already starting to think ahead for the Spring Semester. Michelle and I have been discussing that we should begin designing the CineMixer flyer over Winter Break. We need to have the design finalized before the first week of the Spring semester in order to get the flyers approved and printed off in time before the event. I believe that the Art department as a whole should also begin basic conceptualization for the other items required for Visions6 such as stickers, t-shirts, the Visions6 poster, etc.

I wish I could have finalized a College Tour date for today's class, but I believe my email to Giovanna has been lost in the shuffle due to Thanksgiving break and it being finals time. I will send her a follow-up email tonight to confirm we will be interested in attending February 18-20th. I will also ask her for a few classes in which we could do our Visions6 presentation during this time. Her generosity towards us as filmmakers is absolutely astounding and I am so thankful she is taking the extra time to make sure we benefit from this partnership as much as George Mason University. I hope I can completely confirm the college tour before I leave for Cabo on the 12th.

Week 13

Again this week has been quiet. At our Art Department meeting we did discuss flyer designs needed for the Film Kid Mixer (now retitled the "Cinemixer") that is taking place 2 weeks after the Spring Semester begins. Since this is too short of a time frame to properly get the posters approved by the University, we have decided to finalize a design over Winter Break. We will further discuss details regarding the flyer with Simone at the next Directors meeting or in class.

I sent Giovanna Kevin's Call For Entries email to forward to her students that also includes the CFE poster image as well as links to our Facebook page, FilmFreeWay, and website.

The Call for Entries poster were officially sent out on Wednesday after I received the addressed envelopes from Kevin in class on Tuesday.

I have yet to receive full confirmation from the rest of the Visions staff as to who is going to the George Mason University Film Festival in December. As of now, the only people who wish to attend are Simone and Rob. I would like for four people to go, but I do understand that the event is right after finals. I also hate that I personally cannot go due to a family vacation to Cabo. After I receive full confirmation and details about who will attend the GMU event, I will then send Giovanna a follow-up email that will include scheduling details for the official GMU college tour in late February. My goal is to confirm a date for the Visions6 college tour by the end of the semester.

Cucalorus Reflection

This year was the first time I have ever gone to the Cucalorus Film Festival. After my experience, I hate myself for not going each year while enrolled at UNCW. I always talked myself out of it because I couldn’t afford this passes. Thank to the amazing Visions team, I got to enjoy a free Pegasorus. Unfortunately I had to work most of the weekend, but I still used the Pegasorus as much as I could. I attended the Devil’s Tongue shorts block, Devil’s Candy, Bedevil, The Anthropologist, PRINCESS, and 10X10 screenings as well as the Opening Night Party, Midnight Brunch, and the late night gatherings at Jengo’s.

The Cucalorus branding is phenomenal because the ‘monster’ characters they designed are easily recognizable and also have a cute element to them. A huge flaw I had noticed on the film blocks scheduling pamphlet was that the color choice for the Narrative and Documentary Feature screenings were impossible to differentiate. The animation displaying the Cucalorus sponsors was absolutely fantastic. It had this fun ‘show-tune’ soundtrack in the back with the different Cucalorus monsters interacting and playing on the screen. I think this would be a nice addition to for Visions6 so Cosmo can play an even larger role in the event.

One of the best moments I experienced during the film festival was meeting and conversing with the director of The Anthropologist, Jeremy Newberger! My dream career is to do exactly what he does and it was inspiring to meet someone who has had a successful career in this field. Jeremy also directed The Linguists, which addresses the death of languages and how the studies of linguists help preserve endangered languages. I even viewed this film for my linguistics course a few semesters ago. At first, I was terrified to start a conversation, but he ended up being very welcoming and offered me terrific advice in pursuing anthropological documentaries, such as how to scout for a topic and how to prepare for travel. We exchanged contact information and I hope I will be able to contact him to kick-start my career!

Week 12

This week, I followed-up with Giovanna of George Mason University after she meet with a few of the Visions6 staff at the Virginia Film Festival. I also answered the questions she had regarding Visions6 and their role as the Partner School. 

She confirmed that they will without a doubt be our Partner School this year. Giovanna said she may not personally be able to attend Visions6, but she will send another faculty member in her place if she cannot. She also offered us a generous opportunity to attend the GMU film festival on December 11-12. Sadly, I will be leaving for Cabo on the 12th and will not be able to attend the GMU film festival, but I will ask if anyone in the class would like to attend in my place. After my presentation on Tuesday, I will finalize and clarify the plans for the Visions6 College Tour. 

Since George Mason University's spring break is at the same time as UNCW's, I think I may try to schedule the college tour near the end of February. I do not think there will be a great outcome to our Visions6 presentation if we travel to GMU the Thursday before spring break.

I also just received the addressed envelopes from Kevin, so I will mail the CFE posters tomorrow. 

Week 11

Now in my newly appointed role as the Art Co-Director, I researched some articles for advice on how to manage a group. I found the article "How to Manage a Group of Professionals" quite helpful. It can be found at http://www.pmpconnect.com/_blog/Company_Blog/post/How_to_Manage_a_Group_of_Professionals/
It's advice included:

• being a source of creative ideas and stimulate creativity in others
• enforce standards
• being a constant source of encouragement
• criticizing and correcting in a productive way
• express your passion and investment for each project, no matter how small

This past week I had a meeting with Tyler and in Google Calendar, we created a schedule for each of the upcoming animations (this includes the Cucalorus, Final Exam Week, Thanksgiving, and Christmas animation shorts). We also created a document in which we brainstormed ideas of the narrative structure for each animation. I am excited to see what Tyler will create with our new alien friend, Cosmo!

I also drafted an email for scheduling the College Tour to George Mason University. It looks like the meet up with GMU faculty and students at the Virginia Film Festival went very well and I am excited to hear how it went in class tomorrow. My goal is to confirm a College Tour date by the end of this semester. 

Week 10

This week, as the Printing Project Manager, I made my first little mistake, but I learned from it. I did not fully think through about protecting the CFE posters in the mailing process. Luckily Shannon saw the envelopes before it was too late and suggested a cardboard insert. I went to Office Max and purchased 8X11 cardboard insert, which only cost $4. However, the insert did affect the postage mailing quote, but it only put us $8.50 over our $75 budget. I will be giving Kevin the envelopes to address in Tuesdays class and mail them out by the end of the week. 

I also confirmed our Partner School this week! I talked to Rebekah a few times this week to coordinate a meeting at the Virginia Film Festival. Kevin, Rob, and Zoe were nice enough to volunteer to network with George Mason University's Giovanna Chesler, the Director and Associate Professor for the Film and Video Studies program. Giovanna has expressed she would love to build a partnership with Visions6. I provided her with Kevin's contact information so they will be able to schedule a meeting to discuss Visions in more detail. I am still disappointed I will not be able to attend myself, but at least this will allow us to network more personally with George Mason University before planning our College Tour. 

Week 9

After receiving the news of being promoted as the Art Department Co-Director, I am so happy and excited to see what opportunities await with this new position! I met with Michelle on Monday so I can get up to date with the current work within the Art Department and we also scheduled a new department meeting time.

For my Printing Project Manager duties, the Call for Entries posters are officially complete and look absolutely stunning! I met with Sam Nevarez to receive a more accurate estimate regarding mailing the CFE posters. With $75 as our budget, it looks like we will be able to mail 50 posters. The cost to mail each poster is $1.45. Since the weight of the printed CFE posters may be a little different than the proof I brought for the estimate, I may return to Sam for another quote.

There is also great news regarding the Partner School! Since I have not heard back from Rebekah Mejorado from George Mason University, I gave her a call today. She seemed extremely excited for the opportunity Visions has offered and we will remain in contact. Rebekah mentioned a faculty member and a few students will also be attending the Virginia Film Festival; I told her a few of our Directors will be attending as well. She suggested we organize a meeting at the festival where some of our staff can briefly discuss Visions with the George Mason University faculty member and students.

Week 8

Since I have not received a response from George Mason University, I sent a follow-up email earlier this week. Hopefully I hear from them soon. If I do not respond by the end of October, I may try to outreach to our second Partner School choice, American University. 

I have become more immersed in helping the Marketing Department this past week. I've grown to really enjoy it, especially with all of the space/sci-fi puns! I have been assigned to do the weekly #MCM post. 

I have also developed a better understanding of my role as the Printing Project Manager. This is a position that is completely foreign to me, but I am working hard to learn terminology. I found this website: http://printindustry.com/Glossary.aspx very helpful. Although there are several terms listed that do not apply to what is needed for Visions6, it has guided me to familiarize myself more with printing 'lingo'. 

Hopefully the CFE posters and the event flyers are approved soon so they will be ready for their schedule printing date. Evonne has been extremely helpful so far. Due to miscommunication regarding the approval of the event flyers, I plan to go to FedEx Kinkos to receive a quote this Wednesday and to have them printed by Thursday once Adrienne has 'okayed' the price. 

Week 7

This week was quite productive for me. I got my first experience as both the Printing Project Manager and working with the Marketing department for 'social media'. I sent Evonne a quote for the Call for Entries posters and she just responded today. I emailed the results to Adrienne and she will tell us which quantity to purchase that will fit our budget. Once we get them approved by UNCW, I will send them in to get printed.

I also met with Zoe and Jack on Sunday and we discussed the 'tone' we will use for posts on Facebook, Instagram, etc. We collaboratively wrote the Facebook post for the Halloween Launch Party and Zoe had us sign up for our own individual posts that will be due on October 18th.

After reviewing the helpful comments/revisions on my Partner School email, I contacted Rebekah Mejorado, the Academic Film Studies Coordinator for George Mason University. She was out of office for their Fall Break so hopefully I will hear from her soon.

Tomorrow, I will print out the Bake Sale and Halloween Launch Party flyers.

Week 6

This week we had a Hospitality Department meeting with Shannon and it was very encouraging to see what tasks and projects we will need to address in the future. I thought it was a smart choice to save the Film Kid Mixer for next semester. I think it would have been too rushed if we tried to squeeze it in between Cucalorus, Halloween, and Thanksgiving. Having the Film Kid Mixer during the second week of the Spring semester should make for a better attendance for the event. 

I also met with Michelle this weekend to discuss my role as the Printing Manager in more detail. I am feeling more comfortable with this role now that I know the specifics. 

I have finally chosen my Top 5 picks for this year's partner school. They are the University of North Carolina Greensboro, George Mason University, American University, University of South Carolina Columbia, and SCAD. I have decided to discard the film schools in the north because the current budget will not allow it and the funds from fundraisers are much more needed elsewhere. The furthest schools (George Mason and American University) are still within a reasonable distance of 5 hours, which will increase our chances to bring students and faculty to Visions6. I will have the class vote on which school they would like me to pursue this week.  

I have also started some preliminary research regarding Marketing Outreach. I found these websites very helpful:

http://theoutreachmarketer.com/outreach-marketing-anyway/

http://www.slideshare.net/GroupHigh/marketingoutreach-2

Week 5 (Research for Outreach and Tour Coordination [Partner Schools])

10 Business Networking Tips: Growing your Professional Network

http://www.lifehack.org/articles/work/10-business-networking-tips-grow-your-professional-network.html

15 Ways to Make your Emails More Professional 

http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/7909-professional-email-tips.html

Tips for Event Outreach

https://movetoamend.org/tips-event-outreach

5 Tips for Planning a VIP Hospitality Event

http://promotion1.com/blog/top-5-tips-for-planning-a-vip-hospitality-event/


This week I met with Kevin on Friday to discuss his experience with coordinating the college tour with the partner school last year. He provided me with very helpful tips regarding email etiquette as well as pushed me to start contacting potential partner schools. I have narrowed down my choice in partner schools to American University, University of North Carolina Greensboro, University of South Carolina Columbia, and George Mason. I will still try to contact University of North Carolina School of Arts, Drexel University, and Champlain College incase they may be interested in networking. I have sent a preliminary email to the film/media program directors of my first choice partner schools. No responses yet.

During my meeting with Kevin, I also gave him the contact information for Dae Jin Hyun, the Film, Television, and Mulitmedia program director, of Sungkyunkwan University in South Korea. My friend, Minji, also offered us the opportunity to contact some of her 'film student' friends via Skype.

Readings:

Since the first reading for this week said the page could not be found, I thought the "Event Budgets" article was extremely helpful (particularly regarding my position with the Film Kid Mixer and Partner Schools). One of the most vital tips offered in this reading was researching past financial reports for these events. I think reviewing this information will allow the Hospitality Department and myself to target unnecessary expenses while allowing us to use those funds towards a more profitable/productive outcome for our events. Since I am potentially only working with a $300 budget for the college tour, I need to utilize any past financial reports in order to organize a more successful tour budget.

Dirty Dozen: Partner Schools

1. What is the project supposed to achieve?
To establish relationships with other regional film schools and to generate an interest in Visions. 

2. Who is the customer?
The heads and students of the film programs within the University of North Carolina Greensboro, Western Carolina University, the University of South Carolina Columbia, George Mason University, Drexel University, and Champlain College. 

3. What are the deliverables of the project?
Our assembled team that will present during the college tour. We will pitch a brief introduction and basic information of Visions, screen a film block of previous Visions contenders, (maybe include) a brief overview of previous critical film studies essays accepted into Visions, and a Q&A with give aways. The give aways can include older Visions t-shirts and film-related goodies. 

4. What is the budget?
About $300 for travel and board, but it will have to sufficiently increase if we tour to a school further away (ex Drexel or Champlain). 

5. How long will it take?
Networking with potential partner schools will take quite sometime. I would like to have a selected film school who is interested in our college tour by early November so there is time permitted to properly coordinate and schedule the tour. The whole partner school college tour needs to be confirmed by late January and the actual tour will take place in the middle of March (Spring Break). 

6. What specific skills are needed?
Organizational skills, networking, timeliness, and being persuasive so I can get the potential partner schools interested and invested in participating with our college tour. Being creative, public speaking, being persuasive, and good presentation skills will also be needed to further convince the partner school to submit to Visions and possibly travel to Wilmington for the festival after our visit during the college tour.

7. What special resources are needed?
A list of schools that frequently submitted to Visions during past festivals, a list of schools that have previously participated as a partner school, and techniques or approaches that worked successfully to recruit previous partner schools. 

8. Who is working the project? What is each person's job?
I am working on this project under the supervision of Shannon Boller. My job is to network with another film school so we can build a relationship with them and promote Visions. I will also organize and coordination the college tour in the spring. 

9. What is the schedule?
Sept 29 - 2nd Partner School pitch and estimated budget
Sept 30-Oct 6 - Contact all Partner School candidates
Oct 12 - select final Partner School after I receive all responses
Oct 19 - contact the Partner School of choice and begin scheduling college tour
Oct 20-26 - Brainstorm college tour presentation and solidify a final budget for the trip

Nov 3 - Confirm the college tour date (sometime around Mar 5-13)

Nov 9 - Assemble a team for the college tour

10. What are the risks? (Small vs. large impact, likely vs. unlikely)

• Large impact, likely: Our partner school will not have any students travel to experience Visions
• Large impact, somewhat likely: There will not be as many submissions as we would hope from our partner school.
• Large impact, unlikely: Terrible weather conditions prevent students from the partner school to travel to Wilmington for Visions or vice-versa for us to travel to them for the college tour. 
• Small impact, likely: Our college tour presentation is cut short due to scheduling difficulties at the partner school. 
• Small impact, unlikely: Giveaways for the college tour presentation are forgotten. We can just buy small gifts or candy at a local shop nearby. 

11. How will you communicate with your team?
It is only me working on this project at the moment, but I've been communicating closely with Shannon B. I also am planning to meet with Kevin to discuss his experience with partner schools from last year. I have briefly spoken to Adrienne as well and she helped me tremendously by letting know what was expected of my first partner school presentation.

12. How will you determine if the project is successful?
I will determine if the project was successful if we manage to network with a respected film school that it further from our small regional circle. Networking and touring at the partner school is not enough to consider it a success. My goal is to have students from our partner school travel all the way to Wilmington to experience Visions personally, not just submitting their films. 

Week 4

After the great suggestions from my presentation last week, I continued my Partner School research and focused on film schools that are closer. From the class's suggestions, I decided to look at the University of North Carolina Greensboro, Western Carolina University, and Coastal Carolina University more in depth.

I believe UNCG will be an excellent candidate because they have an impressive film program (at least what I can tell from their website). Although UNCG's program is a B.A. in Media Studies, they have a very strong emphasis on video productions while offering a specialized minor in Film and Television Studies.

I also think Western Carolina University is a very promising choice. Despite being a smaller program, Western Carolina offers an undergraduate degree in Film and Television Production. They focus in several areas related to film production, such as developing a story, film history and techniques, theatre, and hands-on production experience on a film set.

I do not think I will pursue Coastal Carolina University any further. They only offer a minor and it is of a very broad subject of New Media and Digital Culture, which includes film studies but does not promote intensive film production or critical studies. The program does not seem like it is worth networking with and I do not think they would submit Visions material.


I have emailed Kevin to schedule a meeting to discuss his experience organizing and networking with the partner school from last year. Hopefully we will confirm a date and time soon so I can move further with this project.

Week 3

Interview Reflection

I really enjoyed interviewing the Take21 Student Film Festival’s art director, James Schultz. He provided insightful information about the improvements he wishes to apply to this festival. It is for young filmmakers, ages 12-21, and he hopes the festival will soon be student-run as well. He was very interested with Visions and wants to learn more about how, as a student-run festival, manage and organize it. After our talk, he said he wishes to stay in contact with us at Visions and to perhaps build a partnership.

Progress Update

This week, I researched universities with film programs along the East coast. Since Visions partnered with the University of Florida, I was inspired to partner with another far-distant school. The only issue with the northern university is our limited budget. I am hoping we can raise more funds in order to make visiting Drexel University (PA) or Champlain College (VT) a possibility. However, the more reasonable potential partner schools I found are the University of South Carolina Columbia, University of North Carolina School of Arts, and George Mason University. The Virginia Commonwealth University is another option I would like to consider, but I believe we have partnered with the school before for another Visions. I will continue to build on my research and perhaps find a suitable partner school that is both (somewhat) distant, but within a reasonable budget.

Festival Research Assignment: Part #2

For my interview, I spoke to James Schultz, the Artistic Director for the Take21 Student Film Festival in Toronto, Ontario. This will be his second year in this position and he is very passionate to make Take21 a more unique and inspiring youth film festival.

G= interviewer (Grace)

J= interviewee (James Schultz)

G:        I've read your mission, and researched your website, but how would you personally describe the mission/goals of your festival?

J:         The thing is that it is an international festival so we interact with most of our filmmakers through the Internet. On the local level, we are really trying to encourage and foster film appreciation, understanding, and criticism. So that’s the angle we are trying to come at. Most youth festivals are about grabbing a cell phone and making your own ‘thing’. This [Take21 Film Festival] is more about talking about film and fostering that passion.

            Our jury program, which has been recently introduced, allows the youth to have more participation in the festival that is for young filmmakers. I would want to have more young filmmakers to take a larger role in the programming the festival.

G:        Now, can you describe your jury program more? Why did you introduce it?

J:         We made a major rebrand this year and a soft launching of the actual event. So the website you saw was actually not quite up to date, so we’ve changed the name of the festival and its direction. It was great in terms of the content of the films and its international aspect, but it didn’t really encage with the local community, which is the way a film festival really can be special or get any kind of growth. We also felt that the main audience was private school kids and did not represent the diversity of Toronto. So, we wanted to change that.

            The jury is made up of nine kids, half girls and half boys that are under [the age of] 21, which is also a requirement for our submissions. Some members of the jury are already enrolled at a University for film and some are still at high school, but this doesn’t make a difference in terms of their film studies knowledge. They can be from anywhere in Toronto and they just have fill out an application with general questions (such as what is a film that you love that everyone else hates?) that show an intelligence about film. Then, we have them come in and watch all of our submissions.

G:        Regularly, how many submissions does Take21 receive each year?

J:         We got almost 1,000 submissions. We don’t force the jury to sit through all of them. We try to treat them like V.I.P.s and we do this at the event as well. They are much better faces for the festival than we [adults] are. Our submissions coordinator, Andrea Kay, makes sure the film submissions are all eligible. She will put together a group of eligible films and the jury will decline any they think are not a good fit for the festival.

            Out of those 1,000 films, Andrea will narrow it down to 60 or 70 films for the long list. Then our jury will narrow that down to 21 films. So 21 is sort of the magic number for us, for branding reasons. We call the festival Take21, which is the new branding. The festival screens 21 films by filmmakers under [the age of] 21.

G:        What drew you to want to work at this festival?

J:         I’ve actually been to it a few times just as a viewer and I knew a lot of the people who were involved with it. And this was back when it was still the Toronto Student Film Festival. The film selections were fantastic but the presentation and branding was less than what is to be desired. I work in the film industry as my day job, so this is a passion project since no one gets paid. So, I wanted to see if I could bring something to the festival with my experience in the film industry. One of the first suggestions I offered was changing the name from Toronto Student Film Festival because it was not standing out among of the other film festivals in Toronto.

G:        Do organize your screenings into film blocks?

J:         We encourage the jury to pick their favorite 21 films, but we also have awards to give out, which are not really the purpose of the festival. We have a Best Animation, a Best Canadian, a Best International, a Jury’s Choice, and a Celebrity Filmmaker Choice award. In terms of programming, that is the only programming that we have. We are aware of the awards we have to hand out because sponsors have given us a package here and a package there. However, I would like to cut down on that [the importance of awards]. We only screen those 21 films. The jury also decides on the order in which the films will be screened because that is just an important. They usually screen a group of animations, then documentaries, and then a spectacular piece to conclude the festival.

G:        Does the jury decide on the awards or is there another judge?

J:         The jury decides on all of the awards except the Filmmaker’s Choice award. An invited guest (under the age of 40), who has professional experience in the film industry, decides on this award. This is a decision that is made in the moment after the screenings. There is also an Audience Choice award. It is a nice way to have the audience engage with the festival.

            The awards are quite substantial as well. Some are up to $500. That can make a big difference to somebody who is trying to make more film.

G:        How far in advance do you announce entry calls?

J:         We are registered at a number of websites. One is called Film Freeway and the other is called Withoutabox. By registering with those, you are listed in some categories. So filmmakers just go on there and submit to festivals that they are eligible for. Because we are registered on these websites, we are basically accepting submissions from almost right after the event [film festival] ends. We want to get as many as we can in. The more films we get, the better selection we will have. One reason why we get so many submissions, which is something that we are really proud of and something we cannot do anymore, is that we were not charging for submissions.

It was a great idea, but in the end they [the websites] are $1,500 a year and that’s the discounted price. So now we are going to charge $5 for each submission. This is good because it might make less work for Andrea [the submission coordinator]. It will separate filmmakers that are not as serious and shot a short film over lunch with some friends. For certain regions for where it might be more difficult to pay internationally, we might not make them pay. The fee is more to say, “Hey. Be serious. Don’t waste our time”.

             

G:        What community outreach do you do outside your festival season to keep your event on the public’s radar?

J:         We do a few things. That’s something where I think we could really improve. We do a lot social media, but for a local event I don’t know if that’s the only way to go. There’s so much noise on social media that it’s hard to break through. So I’m really interested in quality over quantity. Next year, I would like to be able to get into a few local arts papers. Toronto has a lot of them. I know it sounds old-fashion, but I want the public to read the traditional media and talk about it on social media.

G:        Do you give out swag bags to visiting filmmakers? Presenters? Guests? If so, what type of items do you include in those bags?

J:         Any filmmaker, celebrity guest, jury members, or sponsor that comes to the event get a swag bag that is filled with whatever award they won, their check, and also lots of little things from sponsors like a gift certificate. The gifts always change because we get new sponsors. And we will have T-shirts and things like that.

G:        Do you have a lot of local sponsors? If you do, how do you get them on board? Any advice for us?

J:         Almost all of our sponsors are local. We have a few national sponsors like the CBC and a documentary channel, but they were pretty distant and hard to get in touch with. But we have a lot of fun with local sponsors. There is this artisanal popcorn company in the city [Toronto] that provided fun popcorns (like jalapeño-flavored) for the event. And then we had the people who owned our location say, “You can’t bring those into the theater”. That was kind of a bummer. But that’s the kind of thing I like to do because it says, “We would like help in any way you can provide”. Eventually what I would like to do is get one of the big banks to sponsor us, which is not quite as hard as you would think. Bank’s get huge tax breaks for sponsoring artistic events. I would also like to get a relationship with a major sponsor that you don’t have to keep going back to them begging for money, but have an agreement to cover our basic costs each year. Whether it is a private or corporate sponsor.

G:        Do filmmakers pay registration to attend?

J:         Filmmakers are comped and all of the VIPS are comped as well. In terms of tickets, we do ‘pay what you can’ with a suggested price of $15 and we often get more than that. Packing the theater is our greatest priority, more than our outreach and sponsors. This year we had it at a university lecture hall. The Toronto Film Festival uses it. Next year, we are going to use a second-run theater from the 40s and 50s to get it that ‘cool’ factor that makes everyone come to us.

G:        What “perks” do your filmmakers enjoy at your festival? What else do you encourage them to do while they’re in town?

J:         We used to have a VIP area at the event that had cake and stuff. This past year, we had a dinner the night before for the filmmakers, the celebrity filmmaker, management, the committee, and some sponsors who could attend. It was great and way to get people back. Once you feel like you’re in a community, the guests feel more connected to others involved with the festival.

G:        Do a lot of people who have worked on the festival before return?

J:         Yes. It is great because they are the people you can trust and know their potential. What we are doing now is reaching out to our jury from the previous year and saying, “How do you want to help this year?” I think one of them is going to be our Student Director. That’s a way we are reaching within a group.

G:        Are there any ideas or advice that we haven’t thought to ask about?

J:         The main thing I learned the hard way is that it is much better to have a small group of people who really care and who are really good at what they do than a large group with people who are not passionate about the festival.