Rona Edwards and Monika Skerbelis have written a fairly comprehensive guide to taking your film to festivals. "Complete Guide" is a fairly accurate description. They cover everything from choosing which festivals to target, to producer's reps and sales agents, to following up post-festival.
I think I would have appreciated the book more if they'd been a little more judgmental. For example, they have a whole chapter on producer's reps and sales agents. What I felt was missing is, "If you have this kind of film, don't bother with a sales agent, you need a producer's rep." Or vice versa. Is it worth making schwag? Is it a good idea to distribute your film on iTunes? They say how, but they don't say whether. Not all methods of marketing a book are equally useful. Which are best?
Still, if you've got a film you want to hawk around festivals, the book is probably worth its price. If it gives you some ideas, or clarifies something, it's worth the price of admission.
Labels: books, learnings