Come see Rona and Monika! They will be speaking in Minneapolis this July 31st at The Future of Story conference!
You can order Rona and Monika's book The Complete Filmmaker's Guide to Film Festivals from Michael Wiese Productions here. Order the third edition of their latest book I Liked it, Didn't Love it book here.
Dave Watson: Your book, The Complete Filmmaker's Guide to Film Festivals, appears to be one of a kind. How did it come about?
Rona Edwards: There are others out there but at the time they hadn’t been updated. Our book is a bit different in that we handhold filmmakers and prepare them for the actual festivals. We help them target the right film festivals for their films and show them how to create their press kits, etc. With this book we really prepare filmmakers for festivals.
Monika Skerbelis: I was a programming director for two film festivals and I saw a lot of mistakes made by filmmakers. For instance, one of the mistakes filmmakers make as Rona stated is not targeting specific festivals. Filmmakers need to know what their film has to offer and also target the many niche festivals that might be right for their films. Another mistake is that during the submission process, filmmakers send screener DVDs that aren’t labeled correctly, with no ID, and I’ve had some DVDs come in a plastic baggy with no protection. Weird mistakes. If a festival requires hard copies of the films for screeners, then filmmakers need to send their DVDs in a sleeve so they don’t get scratched. And the title of the film and contact information needs to be clearly marked. We teach a four-week online class via our ESE Film Workshops Online called Maneuvering Film Festivals that also addresses these issues and helps filmmakers prepare for the festival circuit.
RE: These things are common sense but it’s easy for filmmakers to just forget about them. For example, when you submit a film, make sure you have your contact info on everything and have business cards with your contact info. Even if you are streaming your film via a private vimeo link, send a link and send the right link with your contact info and have the title of your film in the link! Filmmakers need to be reminded of what to do sometimes and follow instructions.
DW: What led you two to co-write and collaborate?
RE: We met when I was working at Michael Phillips Productions, the producer of Close Encounters of the Third Kind, The Sting and Taxi Driver to name a few. At the time, he had a publicist named Carolyn Broner. We became friends and she said she wanted to introduce me to a friend of hers who worked at Universal Pictures. Someone she thought I would get along with. And when Monika and I met, we hit it off and I started pitching to her at Universal and then we started doing other things together.
MS: I taught a class at UCLA Extension on feature film development, and asked Rona to be a guest speaker in the class. It went so well I asked her to come teach the class with me. From there we developed the class and syllabus together and made it what it is today. We also were guest speakers at a conference in Colorado called Writers in the Rockies. We realized how well we work together and that while there’s 3,000 books on screenwriting out there, there weren’t any about the Hollywood development process. This book complements those books on screenwriting because it discusses what happens to their scripts after they’re written and then are submitted to studios and production companies.
RE: Our first book, I Liked It, Didn’t Love it became the quintessential book on the development process in Hollywood. And it just came out in its third edition this year. It’s twice the size of its predecessors that were published in 2005 and in 2009 due to television and streaming. We talk a lot more about series TV, Showrunners and the new pioneers of television such as Netflix, Amazon, Hulu and YouTube. The ultimate compliment came when David Madden, President at Fox Entertainment, who wrote a nice recommendation and blurb for us, said, he’d wished he had this book when he was starting out, it would have saved him years. We felt the same way. We didn’t have anything like this when we were starting out and wished we did.
DW: Speaking of starting out, you talk about creating your own film festivals in your film festival book. Are many being created now?
RE: Many new ones crop up and fall by the wayside. There will always be the big ones like Toronto, Sundance, Cannes, Berlin and Venice but there are also so many other ones which are important including: Tokyo Shorts, Rotterdam, Tribeca, Sheffield for documentaries, Busan Film Festival, we could go on.
MS: In just about every city, there is a film festival. Many film schools also have film festivals these days, too, so they can showcase their student talent. Some festivals have Q&As and panels. New festivals may last only a few years - mostly due to cost. The lack of funds is usually what kills a film festival. We have a list in the back of our book of film festivals divided by regions and countries, which we’re always updating. We see how tough it is to keep festivals afloat when we have to delete festivals from that list – but we also add some new ones. This list by the way is available on our website, ESEntertainment.net – you just ask us for it and we’ll send it to you for free. We try to keep it updated as often as possible.
RE: Festivals come and go - They fall away mostly due to lack of sponsorships and endorsements. It takes a lot to keep a festival going. Money, volunteers, etc.
DW: You have a section on budgeting and marketing. Does this take some filmmakers by surprise?
RE: Yes, because many don’t think of it until it’s too late. Once the film is in the can, then the real work begins. But when you prepare your budget for the production, you have to include money for film festivals. They’re expensive. When you think of what 3 or 4 days at Sundance will cost, it can be an eye-opener. Most filmmakers don’t do this. So they’re left with a film and no money to showcase it.
MS: You might want to submit your film to twenty-five festivals. IF $40 is the entry fee, that’s $1,000 so those film festival entry fees can add up. Then there is the cost of attending the festival and having to pay for gas, air, taxi/uber, accommodations, food/drink extra tickets for cast members… it all adds up. Having a social media presence is also important. Having postcards, posters is important so festival attendees can get a quick snapshot of what the film is about.
RE: And you have to understand that each social media platform has a different purpose. They should not all be used for the same purpose. Facebook can be a place for announcements. Instagram for behind-the-scenes pictures on the set and later a bird’s eye view of the festival experience. With Snapchat, you can go live – you can do this with Facebook as well – so taking your audience with you on the set or to film festivals is giving them something and including them in your success and process – but don’t have each platform do the same thing. Each one should be used differently and that’s how you create circuitry and connect all the dots. If you want people to follow you on the various social media platforms then you have to give them something different on each of them otherwise why would I follow you on everyone when one will do. There are still traditional places to promote your film, like leaving your postcards at bookstores or local coffee bars in the festival’s town. But understanding what each social media platform can give you is an important aspect of marketing your film.
DW: At festivals, why is knowing different reps, for producers, for distributors, essential?
RE: Knowledge is king. Some people think I need to know only what I need to know. You have to understand what each person does and how they fit together in relation to your project. You have sales reps, producers’ reps, and distributors. And they each do different things. You need to educate yourself as to the kind of deals that are made and understand how to read contracts so you can ask the right questions. Everyone is always looking for new talent or the next great film they can sell. And now streaming platforms such as Netflix and Amazon go to the festivals to find movies for their platforms and discover new talent as well. When I was at the Palm Springs ShortFest, a Spanish director contacted me because a lot of these festivals give the filmmakers a list of industry pros who will be attending the festival – he wanted to meet up and I was so impressed he was bold enough to contact me and introduce himself. Of course, it helped that I was intrigued that he came from Barcelona and I watched his film, which was good. So I said yes and we met several times while he was in Los Angeles. And now we’re great friends and talking about doing projects together.
MS: Some acquisition reps are already tracking films on the festival circuit, too. At the Palm Springs Shortfest, they treat filmmakers well with filmmaker lounges, panels, and after-parties. Industry professionals go to these events, giving filmmakers a chance to network with them.
RE: You want to look at who’s behind the festivals, who attends them and how that fits in with your goals. Most filmmakers don’t set goals. Yes, you want to have your film accepted into a festival and win awards but you also want to meet industry people that might hire you in the future as well as like-minded filmmakers who you may collaborate with on other films. You want to take advantage of the educational panels and seminars that a lot of festivals offer. It’s a great chance to meet people and create strong relationships that will last a lifetime.
DW: About the third edition of your book, I Liked It, Didn’t Love It, a prevalent phrase on our cinema landscape, what’s the crucial aspect that separates a good from a great screenplay or story?
RE: The characters. It always stems from the characters – you still need a good premise but it’s the characters that make the story accessible to an audience. They can’t be perfect, they have flaws, ghosts or skeletons in the closet – however you want to put it. And it’s those flaws we want to see them overcome as they journey through the arc of the story.
MS: Having a protagonist that is clearly defined with actions and obstacles to overcome. I recently saw Florence Foster Jenkins and loved Meryl Streep’s performance and all the characters. I was surprised how they were able to sustain the story for almost two hours, but I was engaged by each of the characters and the fun unfolding in the story.
DW: One movie I saw recently, Hell or High Water, was good but was short of greatness. It had a good premise and characters but didn’t explore its issues to the full extent. I remember the messages of the movie, though. Sometimes with only good movies, we remember only the message. Would you agree?
MS: Yes I agree, or we remember the story and how we were able to identify with it.
RE: For me, it’s always about the characters and what they do to each other, how they affect each other and how they change because of the story. Character drives the story, not the other way around. They are thrown into the circumstances and we are intrigued to find out how they will solve or get out of a situation. The message is important but identifying with something in the story or the journey of the character is what’s memorable to me.
DW: What’s next for you both?
RE: I’m currently teaching at Chapman University’s Dodge College of Film & Media Arts this fall and then I’ll teach at the University of Miami in the spring. I’m also producing a number of films and TV projects and we also have ESE Film Workshops Online where we teach classes that are not usually taught in film schools. Classes like Creating a Production Company or Maneuvering Film Festivals or Screenplay Development from the Inside Out fill in the gaps of knowledge you might not have learned in regular film school.
MS: I just started watching shorts in prepping for the American Pavilion Emerging Filmmakers showcase at the Cannes Film Festival. I’m also teaching Introduction to Feature Film Development at UCLA Extension and Rona and I are teaching our ESE Film Workshops Online class Creating A Production Company which starts September 28th. More information can be found for our ESE classes via our website ESEFilmWorkshopsOnline.com.
DW: What are your favorite cinematic moments?
MS: There are too many! For me it’s Citizen Kane, “Rosebud” and the snow globe always stuck with me…the eeriness of the music and Xanadu.
DW: Why that moment?
MS: It’s the mystery of it. The way that movie starts and unfolds, the way they go back and tell the story.
RE: There are so many moments for me. I would choose at least four or five films just to start. This will sound corny but I love the opening scene of The Sound of Music. When she runs up the hill and turns around, we know right away who she is. You know the director Robert Wise told his A.D. or second unit director to go out and get some footage in a helicopter in case they needed shots of the countryside, etc. and that became the beginning of the film. You hear this build up with flute music and birds chirping and gorgeous cinematic scenery until it crescendos to the mountaintop and this lone figure. The camera catches her and zooms in from the sky as she twirls, her arms outstretched and sings, “The hills are alive with The Sound of Music.” That made its mark on me at a very young age.
I also love the scene in Gone with the Wind where the camera pulls back on Scarlet O’Hara as she’s stepping over the dead bodies, and as it pulls back, and there’s more and more bodies upon bodies, so much so, it’s wall to wall, and Scarlet becomes this spec – she’s an ant amongst all the bodies. The horrors of war. An amazing cinematic moment.
There’s also the “Stella!” scene – Stanley Kowalksi, one of the first raw, sexual personas on the screen in A Streetcar Named Desire, the raw emotion and primal desire. I also love everything about The Last Emperor. Bertolucci! Epic, gorgeous, took me to a place which at that time I’d never been and certainly to a time period as well. It was very emotional, too.
DW: That’s a great film. Remember seeing it in high school and then visiting The Forbidden City in college. That film took us to a far away, never-before seen place.
RE: I’ve been there too! And it is overwhelming but Bertolucci is just a master. He made it come alive.
Clip: Gone With the Wind
Clip: Citizen Kane
Clip: The Last Emperor
Founder and editor of Movies Matter, Dave Watson is a writer and educator in Madison, WI.
You can order Rona and Monika's book The Complete Filmmaker's Guide to Film Festivals from Michael Wiese Productions here. Order the third edition of their latest book I Liked it, Didn't Love it book here.
Dave Watson: Your book, The Complete Filmmaker's Guide to Film Festivals, appears to be one of a kind. How did it come about?
Rona Edwards: There are others out there but at the time they hadn’t been updated. Our book is a bit different in that we handhold filmmakers and prepare them for the actual festivals. We help them target the right film festivals for their films and show them how to create their press kits, etc. With this book we really prepare filmmakers for festivals.
Monika Skerbelis: I was a programming director for two film festivals and I saw a lot of mistakes made by filmmakers. For instance, one of the mistakes filmmakers make as Rona stated is not targeting specific festivals. Filmmakers need to know what their film has to offer and also target the many niche festivals that might be right for their films. Another mistake is that during the submission process, filmmakers send screener DVDs that aren’t labeled correctly, with no ID, and I’ve had some DVDs come in a plastic baggy with no protection. Weird mistakes. If a festival requires hard copies of the films for screeners, then filmmakers need to send their DVDs in a sleeve so they don’t get scratched. And the title of the film and contact information needs to be clearly marked. We teach a four-week online class via our ESE Film Workshops Online called Maneuvering Film Festivals that also addresses these issues and helps filmmakers prepare for the festival circuit.
RE: These things are common sense but it’s easy for filmmakers to just forget about them. For example, when you submit a film, make sure you have your contact info on everything and have business cards with your contact info. Even if you are streaming your film via a private vimeo link, send a link and send the right link with your contact info and have the title of your film in the link! Filmmakers need to be reminded of what to do sometimes and follow instructions.
DW: What led you two to co-write and collaborate?
RE: We met when I was working at Michael Phillips Productions, the producer of Close Encounters of the Third Kind, The Sting and Taxi Driver to name a few. At the time, he had a publicist named Carolyn Broner. We became friends and she said she wanted to introduce me to a friend of hers who worked at Universal Pictures. Someone she thought I would get along with. And when Monika and I met, we hit it off and I started pitching to her at Universal and then we started doing other things together.
MS: I taught a class at UCLA Extension on feature film development, and asked Rona to be a guest speaker in the class. It went so well I asked her to come teach the class with me. From there we developed the class and syllabus together and made it what it is today. We also were guest speakers at a conference in Colorado called Writers in the Rockies. We realized how well we work together and that while there’s 3,000 books on screenwriting out there, there weren’t any about the Hollywood development process. This book complements those books on screenwriting because it discusses what happens to their scripts after they’re written and then are submitted to studios and production companies.
RE: Our first book, I Liked It, Didn’t Love it became the quintessential book on the development process in Hollywood. And it just came out in its third edition this year. It’s twice the size of its predecessors that were published in 2005 and in 2009 due to television and streaming. We talk a lot more about series TV, Showrunners and the new pioneers of television such as Netflix, Amazon, Hulu and YouTube. The ultimate compliment came when David Madden, President at Fox Entertainment, who wrote a nice recommendation and blurb for us, said, he’d wished he had this book when he was starting out, it would have saved him years. We felt the same way. We didn’t have anything like this when we were starting out and wished we did.
DW: Speaking of starting out, you talk about creating your own film festivals in your film festival book. Are many being created now?
RE: Many new ones crop up and fall by the wayside. There will always be the big ones like Toronto, Sundance, Cannes, Berlin and Venice but there are also so many other ones which are important including: Tokyo Shorts, Rotterdam, Tribeca, Sheffield for documentaries, Busan Film Festival, we could go on.
MS: In just about every city, there is a film festival. Many film schools also have film festivals these days, too, so they can showcase their student talent. Some festivals have Q&As and panels. New festivals may last only a few years - mostly due to cost. The lack of funds is usually what kills a film festival. We have a list in the back of our book of film festivals divided by regions and countries, which we’re always updating. We see how tough it is to keep festivals afloat when we have to delete festivals from that list – but we also add some new ones. This list by the way is available on our website, ESEntertainment.net – you just ask us for it and we’ll send it to you for free. We try to keep it updated as often as possible.
RE: Festivals come and go - They fall away mostly due to lack of sponsorships and endorsements. It takes a lot to keep a festival going. Money, volunteers, etc.
DW: You have a section on budgeting and marketing. Does this take some filmmakers by surprise?
RE: Yes, because many don’t think of it until it’s too late. Once the film is in the can, then the real work begins. But when you prepare your budget for the production, you have to include money for film festivals. They’re expensive. When you think of what 3 or 4 days at Sundance will cost, it can be an eye-opener. Most filmmakers don’t do this. So they’re left with a film and no money to showcase it.
MS: You might want to submit your film to twenty-five festivals. IF $40 is the entry fee, that’s $1,000 so those film festival entry fees can add up. Then there is the cost of attending the festival and having to pay for gas, air, taxi/uber, accommodations, food/drink extra tickets for cast members… it all adds up. Having a social media presence is also important. Having postcards, posters is important so festival attendees can get a quick snapshot of what the film is about.
RE: And you have to understand that each social media platform has a different purpose. They should not all be used for the same purpose. Facebook can be a place for announcements. Instagram for behind-the-scenes pictures on the set and later a bird’s eye view of the festival experience. With Snapchat, you can go live – you can do this with Facebook as well – so taking your audience with you on the set or to film festivals is giving them something and including them in your success and process – but don’t have each platform do the same thing. Each one should be used differently and that’s how you create circuitry and connect all the dots. If you want people to follow you on the various social media platforms then you have to give them something different on each of them otherwise why would I follow you on everyone when one will do. There are still traditional places to promote your film, like leaving your postcards at bookstores or local coffee bars in the festival’s town. But understanding what each social media platform can give you is an important aspect of marketing your film.
DW: At festivals, why is knowing different reps, for producers, for distributors, essential?
RE: Knowledge is king. Some people think I need to know only what I need to know. You have to understand what each person does and how they fit together in relation to your project. You have sales reps, producers’ reps, and distributors. And they each do different things. You need to educate yourself as to the kind of deals that are made and understand how to read contracts so you can ask the right questions. Everyone is always looking for new talent or the next great film they can sell. And now streaming platforms such as Netflix and Amazon go to the festivals to find movies for their platforms and discover new talent as well. When I was at the Palm Springs ShortFest, a Spanish director contacted me because a lot of these festivals give the filmmakers a list of industry pros who will be attending the festival – he wanted to meet up and I was so impressed he was bold enough to contact me and introduce himself. Of course, it helped that I was intrigued that he came from Barcelona and I watched his film, which was good. So I said yes and we met several times while he was in Los Angeles. And now we’re great friends and talking about doing projects together.
MS: Some acquisition reps are already tracking films on the festival circuit, too. At the Palm Springs Shortfest, they treat filmmakers well with filmmaker lounges, panels, and after-parties. Industry professionals go to these events, giving filmmakers a chance to network with them.
RE: You want to look at who’s behind the festivals, who attends them and how that fits in with your goals. Most filmmakers don’t set goals. Yes, you want to have your film accepted into a festival and win awards but you also want to meet industry people that might hire you in the future as well as like-minded filmmakers who you may collaborate with on other films. You want to take advantage of the educational panels and seminars that a lot of festivals offer. It’s a great chance to meet people and create strong relationships that will last a lifetime.
DW: About the third edition of your book, I Liked It, Didn’t Love It, a prevalent phrase on our cinema landscape, what’s the crucial aspect that separates a good from a great screenplay or story?
RE: The characters. It always stems from the characters – you still need a good premise but it’s the characters that make the story accessible to an audience. They can’t be perfect, they have flaws, ghosts or skeletons in the closet – however you want to put it. And it’s those flaws we want to see them overcome as they journey through the arc of the story.
MS: Having a protagonist that is clearly defined with actions and obstacles to overcome. I recently saw Florence Foster Jenkins and loved Meryl Streep’s performance and all the characters. I was surprised how they were able to sustain the story for almost two hours, but I was engaged by each of the characters and the fun unfolding in the story.
DW: One movie I saw recently, Hell or High Water, was good but was short of greatness. It had a good premise and characters but didn’t explore its issues to the full extent. I remember the messages of the movie, though. Sometimes with only good movies, we remember only the message. Would you agree?
MS: Yes I agree, or we remember the story and how we were able to identify with it.
RE: For me, it’s always about the characters and what they do to each other, how they affect each other and how they change because of the story. Character drives the story, not the other way around. They are thrown into the circumstances and we are intrigued to find out how they will solve or get out of a situation. The message is important but identifying with something in the story or the journey of the character is what’s memorable to me.
DW: What’s next for you both?
RE: I’m currently teaching at Chapman University’s Dodge College of Film & Media Arts this fall and then I’ll teach at the University of Miami in the spring. I’m also producing a number of films and TV projects and we also have ESE Film Workshops Online where we teach classes that are not usually taught in film schools. Classes like Creating a Production Company or Maneuvering Film Festivals or Screenplay Development from the Inside Out fill in the gaps of knowledge you might not have learned in regular film school.
MS: I just started watching shorts in prepping for the American Pavilion Emerging Filmmakers showcase at the Cannes Film Festival. I’m also teaching Introduction to Feature Film Development at UCLA Extension and Rona and I are teaching our ESE Film Workshops Online class Creating A Production Company which starts September 28th. More information can be found for our ESE classes via our website ESEFilmWorkshopsOnline.com.
DW: What are your favorite cinematic moments?
MS: There are too many! For me it’s Citizen Kane, “Rosebud” and the snow globe always stuck with me…the eeriness of the music and Xanadu.
DW: Why that moment?
MS: It’s the mystery of it. The way that movie starts and unfolds, the way they go back and tell the story.
RE: There are so many moments for me. I would choose at least four or five films just to start. This will sound corny but I love the opening scene of The Sound of Music. When she runs up the hill and turns around, we know right away who she is. You know the director Robert Wise told his A.D. or second unit director to go out and get some footage in a helicopter in case they needed shots of the countryside, etc. and that became the beginning of the film. You hear this build up with flute music and birds chirping and gorgeous cinematic scenery until it crescendos to the mountaintop and this lone figure. The camera catches her and zooms in from the sky as she twirls, her arms outstretched and sings, “The hills are alive with The Sound of Music.” That made its mark on me at a very young age.
I also love the scene in Gone with the Wind where the camera pulls back on Scarlet O’Hara as she’s stepping over the dead bodies, and as it pulls back, and there’s more and more bodies upon bodies, so much so, it’s wall to wall, and Scarlet becomes this spec – she’s an ant amongst all the bodies. The horrors of war. An amazing cinematic moment.
There’s also the “Stella!” scene – Stanley Kowalksi, one of the first raw, sexual personas on the screen in A Streetcar Named Desire, the raw emotion and primal desire. I also love everything about The Last Emperor. Bertolucci! Epic, gorgeous, took me to a place which at that time I’d never been and certainly to a time period as well. It was very emotional, too.
DW: That’s a great film. Remember seeing it in high school and then visiting The Forbidden City in college. That film took us to a far away, never-before seen place.
RE: I’ve been there too! And it is overwhelming but Bertolucci is just a master. He made it come alive.
Clip: Gone With the Wind
Clip: Citizen Kane
Clip: The Last Emperor
Founder and editor of Movies Matter, Dave Watson is a writer and educator in Madison, WI.
