An international film festival: early beginnings
“I was living in New York in the 1950s where there was this guy named Amos Vogel. He showed independent films in downtown New York in alternative spaces to various audiences,” Eugene Hernandez recounts. “Later Richard Roud, a Londoner, came to New York and to the Lincoln Center, where the New York Film Festival (NYFF) is now held.
The Lincoln Center for Performing Arts was founded in the late ’50s, early ’60s as this kind of arts campus for different art forms: ballet, opera, the philharmonic, and various other art forms.
“This is what started the connection between Amos Vogel, a guy presenting films in downtown New York, and Richard Roud, who showed films at London film festivals before moving to New York,” explains Hernandez. (Vogel and Roud co-founded the New York Film Festival.)
The NY film fest-where being different is the norm
The New York Film Festival has shown diverse cinema styles over the years. And it continues its tradition toward distinct filmmaking—high-profile films with well-known actors and directors.
Celebrated films from all parts of the world. Films that haven’t yet played to an audience in New York.
“This is the big thing about the New York Film Festival—each fall it introduces new films to new audiences, particularly to New York audiences,” Hernandez continues.
“Hundreds and hundreds of films are submitted for consideration each year, but few are selected,” Hernandez points out. “It takes place over a few weeks at Lincoln Center, at other parts of the city, and online.”
Short films, experimental films, movies from all over the world come here to New York to be discovered by audiences.
New York Film Festival is for film lovers
There’s a lot more festivals now, but NYFF has become an annual fall gathering place. Audiences get an overview, a cross-section of which films and filmmakers stand out for the fall season.
NYFF is highly regarded because it has a relatively small program, with only 25 to 30 films.
“It’s a place where we get a measure of what’s new, what’s celebrated, and what’s so special about the art form of filmmaking,” ends Hernadez.

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Part of an editor’s responsibility is to take the material and understand what the editor’s vision is, but also, bring to the table their own particular perspective.

“A really good editor understands that, what he or she feels about the material, how they respond to the material, is just as important as trying to do what the director wants,” says Sam Pollard.

Sometimes, it’s about re-editing somebody’s interview or taking an actor’s line and finding a different note, a different word, or something that they might have said in a different way, in a different take, and using that instead.

“Some people call it sleight of hand. To me, it’s part of the practice, it’s a part of what I call the nuts and bolts of editing,” says Pollard.

“I see myself in a very funny way. I see myself as not so much as a magician, but as a professional craftsperson, like a master carpenter where my job is to take all these pieces of wood, or sculptors, they have all these pieces of clay, and give it shape and form and art.”

Sometimes, editors have to try something different: that tool or that piece of clay may not work.

“I see myself as a craftsperson. I always have. And to me, that craftsperson, if he or she does their job properly, they make it rise to the level of art,” adds Pollard.

One thing that everyone needs to understand about filmmaking and film editing is that so many components are necessary to make a good film.

It’s not just shaping performance in a fiction film. In a dcoumetnary, it’s also understanding how to figure out the best pieces of an interview and make different segments come together.

It’s also understanding how to create the soundscape of the film and how to create the titles.

What’s the opening Title Sequence and what should look like? Or should there be no titles at the beginning?

How should it unfold?

Should it be at the beginning?

Should it be at the end?

“There’s some films I’ve worked on, like the title sequence in Mo’ Better Blues, a wonderful company, Balsmeyer & Everett, they created this wonderful title sequence that they gave me all these beautiful elements of Denzel and Joie and Cynda Williams, that I was able to shape to make it
work.”

“They did, also, a wonderful sequence for Jungle Fever that’s really very nice, using the landscape of Brooklyn to create the titles,” notes Pollard.

Titling is a very important part of this shaping of the filmmaking process and telling the story.

Pollard mentions a film about Martin Luther King and the FBI that he recently finished. When working on it, a company in California created a raw-ish title sequence with Martin Luther King using both imagery that we shot on a soundstage, imagery of archival footage of Dr. King with stills and other elements to create a very textured opening.

If you’ve got the budget and the money, you can do extraordinary title sequences. Sometimes, if you don’t have the budget and money, you can still do extraordinary title sequences.

Everything about filmmaking is going the extra mile, using your imagination and your sense of technique, and finding good collaborators to make the story come alive.

So you’ve made your film. Now, what do you do? Do you have this burning fire to share it with others and an audience? Then your first step is to start thinking about which film festivals you want to send it to.

Hopefully, your film isn’t too long. That’s the first piece of advice Caran Hartsfield would give: “I think there is this misconception that I am more of a filmmaker, the longer my film is. From what I’ve seen, that is the wrong way to think about it. A film festival and being a filmmaker is quite the opposite.” The tighter your film is and the more in control your story, scenes, and directing are, the better it is. If you can do a tight 10 (minutes) as opposed to an okay 20, it’s better to have the tight 10. And depending on your skill level, the shorter, the better. Just show you’re a promising filmmaker, and that’s all you have to do. Caran adds, “I’ve seen careers launched off of five-minute films, so don’t think, the longer, the better.”

It can’t be stressed enough that a lot of film festivals also cut off minimums and maximums. Often, the maximum for many festivals is 20 minutes. It’s really hard to program longer films because then they have fewer films to put in the festival. So even if you’ve made a film under 20 minutes and you think it could be longer — know that you already have your film to share with the festival.

Also keep in mind that film festivals usually have an entrance fee. Be strategic about how and where you spend your money. However, some festivals do waive fees. Send an email, explain your situation, and see if it is possible to waive the fee. If you already have a track record and you’ve established some sort of momentum with your film, this can especially be a door opener for you.

Film festivals are really great practice for you as a filmmaker to talk about your work too. Usually, there’s a Q&A after screenings for filmmakers to talk about what inspired them or their filmmaking process. This is helpful in getting you comfortable to have a dialogue with your audience and thinking about your work. And as you move forward to your next project, you will be much more aware of what you’re interested in thematically and why you’re telling this story. Because you already know that Q&A is coming. You definitely want to be clear on how your story is connected to what you’re thematically interested in.

Caran highly recommends submitting your work to film festivals. She explains, “It’s a great opportunity for an audience to see your work and share in the thing that you were most interested in and passionate about for so long.” So send out those films. Have a strategy. And put on your calendar when the film festival deadline is, and submit on time because those deadlines can come and go quickly.

“Filmmakers can benefit from the experience of submitting a film to a festival, even if they don’t make the cut. I’m talking specifically now about the New York Film Festival. There’s only so many slots. Only 25 to 30 films are chosen for the main section of NYFF,” explains Eugene Hernandez.
“Imagine watching hundreds of films and having to choose only 25 or 30. Well, I can guarantee you, as someone who watches a lot of movies, there’s another 10, 20, 30 films that you really like, but there just isn’t room for them in that festival that year.”
So, you may get a note from a film fest programmer saying, ‘We liked your movie a lot. Unfortunately, there isn’t room for it in our limited program this year. We really hope you’ll stay in touch with us. Maybe there’s room for it in another festival we organize or another way we can show it.’
Feel free to stay in touch with these people, these fests.
Festival programmers and organizers talk to each other, share information. Maybe someone will have three or four film entries, all on the same subject matter. They’ll say, ‘It’s a documentary about a topic we have another film on already, but I’m going to recommend it to my friend at a different festival. I think they might like it.’
Film fest organizers are people, too
People are busy.
A curator won’t give extensive notes to every single filmmaker -for every film they view. But if they care deeply about a film, if they feel a connection to a specific film or subject, they might. It doesn’t hurt to ask, to say, ‘Hey, can you share with me any feedback? What did you like? What didn’t you like? Your notes would be really important to me to help me understand how people are responding to my film.’
“Then as an artist, as a filmmaker, be open to what they have to say. Be open to the fact that just as we individually have our own tastes, what we like, what we don’t like, the programmer you’re sending it to may also.”
“It’s not personal if they don’t like your movie, but their response can be informative. It can help you think about how you can adjust a film or just how you talk about it. Maybe your film is being read differently by audiences than how you intended. You can go back and kind of tweak some of your messaging to account for that response,” ends Hernandez.
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Telling stories of identity with film
“Representation is huge for Outshine, as an LGBTQ festival,” remarks Ebony Rhodes. There is this other element in the festival world, beyond cinema as entertainment.
Our mission is film as education, inspiration, and entertainment.
“We’re talking about communities, especially communities where representation is so key to our identity,” Rhodes explains. “I mean that’s why I’m a part of the festival. I believe in supporting film-because of the power of it, and what I’ve seen and value in being able to see yourself represented on screen.”
Seeing your unique story, told in a way that resonates with you as an audience, is powerful. It’s necessary that filmmakers speak with narrative authenticity to tell their story, to tell stories that need to be seen.
“There’s documentary, narrative film—so many ways to approach it. It’s important to the identity of a community,” Rhodes continues.
Building a film festival that resonates with a community
There’s a lot of elements when you’re talking about putting together a film festival, that’s our strength. It includes our local community support, with partnering with social justice organizations.
We also partner with other nonprofits that have a mission they’re trying to articulate, groups where the film industry is essential to spreading their own message.
Film education leads to hearing more authentic voices
An example of an issue we may partner with another group on would be a film about the bullying of LGBTQ youth in schools.
To have a great film that tells a story using personal perspective and really gets to the heart of the humanity and identity of LGBTQ students can speak volumes to a huge audience in a way that a nonprofit doing this work couldn’t do.”
“That’s where you have your audience, where you have your buy-in, your support,” says Rhodes. “Pairing those missions together and finding a way to build that sense of meaning is really the heart of the festival world, versus other theater experiences,” Rhodes finishes.
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The world of independent filmmaking primarily has to do with figuring out how to raise money to make your films.

“That’s certainly something I spend a lot of my time doing,” says Ekwa Msangi. “You know, after the housing crash, we started in earnest the introduction of crowdfunding. Which used to happen in a less official way before, in terms of aunties, uncles, friends, you know?”

Ekwa goes on to say: “It’s actually important to be able to pay something to people.”

At the very least, you need to pay for equipment and some insurance. Actually, it’s quite important to have insurance. You don’t want anything happening to people who are working for you and giving you their time. You also need to feed people and give them a copy of your project.

That is the bare minimum of what you have to give people if they are helping you on your project.

Crowdfunding is not only about raising cash money that you need to rent your van and the like, but it’s also about raising friends, like supporters, audience, people who are invested in your work.

People who are then going to be looking to watch your film when you’re done. “What you’re trying to relay is the excitement, is the reason why it’s good for them to invest in you and in your work and in this story and having people rally around,” says Ekwa.

When making a film, you are creating something out of nothing. You were sitting around in the shower and you came up with this idea for creating a world that did not exist. Creating a character, a person, or whatever out of nowhere.

You are literally talking about making magic! Who gets to do that? Most people in their day-to-day job don’t get to create magic.

Filmmakers do.

Artists do.

That is valuable.

Ekwa goes on to explain: “And if it’s not that, it’s, what are you going to talk about this summer at your next barbecue? You’re just going to talk about all the stocks and shares that you sold? Or are you going to talk about, like, I made a movie.”

“How many people get to say that? So I’m offering you, crowdfunding person, person who I’m inviting: I’m inviting you to come on this journey, to come on this adventure with me of creating this world and building this opportunity that we’re able to say these things that you care about.”

Ekwa acknowledges that it’s hard to raise money. If it’s your first time, “I wouldn’t start by raising $30,000. That is a lot!”

Unless you’re a professional, that’s a lot of work. If it’s your first time and this is your first film, do something small. Do something small and figure out where it is that you can cut corners.

Or if you know there’s an apartment or a house that you can use to shoot your thing, then you need to write a script for that.

There’s a lot of actors in New York and probably in LA as well who want to act and who would love to come on as an actor-producer or a DP-producer or whatever to help you get this film done.

Finally, Ekwa affirms that crowdfunding is not just about the money. It’s also about the people who are involved in helping you do this.

The friend who’s going to make a whole bunch of peanut butter sandwiches or the pot of pasta to give to your crew for lunch breaks and things like that.

All of that is really important stuff and is part of the crowdfunding process of getting your work done.

“And maybe you start with a small film and that’s the first stepping stone to the bigger project that you want to make.”

We sat with an industry expert in film to take a closer look at how the above the line and below the line budget works in the film industry and tv industry.

“When the film is getting made, the producer will work with and help to assemble a team that will help to execute it,” explains Janet Grillo. “So, when we look at a budget, there’s a top sheet budget, which is a thick document, 26-30 pages of real detailed, thoughtful estimation of the costs, from development all the way through to distribution.”

There’s a top sheet, which is usually one or two pages, that’s summarizing what those costs are. On the top sheet, imagine a sheet and imagine a line. There’s an above the line, and then there’s below the line.

The costs above the line on the top sheet of the budget, are everything to do with the ideation, creation, and envisionment of the project before cameras roll. Think of above the line as before cameras roll, explains Janet.

“Below the line is when you’re ready to make the damn thing,” says Janet. “It’s getting the cameras rolling. So what’s going to be above the line? Your writer, your director, the cost of the intellectual property, meaning the screenplays, is it based on a book, a magazine, a comic strip, is it a remake, that’s the intellectual property and all the costs of developing that into a screenplay.”

The people involved with doing that are the director, the writer, yourself, the producer, and some other producing partners that you might have, they are above the line.

And sometimes stars. If to get the film funded, you’ve got some big market value actors, they’re going to be above the line as well, says Janet.

Below the line is going to be everybody else. That includes the cinematographer, camera crew, and everybody involved with handling the equipment to the lighting, the gaffers, all the teams that put the equipment in place, the production design. All the people who work on building the sets, costumes, the people involved with wardrobe, creating the look and making the costumes and dressing the actors, all of the people involved with hair and makeup. All of the people who work on the making of the film.

[Please embed: https://pixabay.com/photos/screenplay-film-maker-filmmaking-2651055/]

For a capstone film project, the right scriptwriting software makes a big difference. For example, you might use Scripto, which was created by screenwriter Rob Dubbin.

Rob designed the software to keep things simple. “When I was at the Colbert Report, we were working our tails off trying to collaborate with each other,” Rob explains. “You would write scripts in the morning, and you’d expect to be done by the time Stephen rehearsed the show in the early afternoon. That’s a really tight schedule, and it’s a challenge to keep information in sync between departments.”

Rob created Scripto “to be like Google Docs for TV shows.” Writers can work together on scripts, store them on a shared folder system, and plan a show. Plus, producers can know right away if a prop has been added or cut. They can learn about major changes immediately.

With large organizations like the Colbert Report, this kind of communication helps. “It takes up to 200 people to make a show,” Rob points out. “The tighter the communication, the better the show is. More people like working there because you don’t have to sit over someone’s shoulder to type.”

So, why didn’t Rob and his team just use Google Docs? “In television, the format of the scripts is so important,” he explains. “Being able to collaborate on this very specialized form of document is essential. It creates one shared nervous system for the entire television show to work with.”

Scripto doesn’t just work for television writers. In fact, it uses two script formats. One, of course, is the studio format. This format works best for news reports and late night shows.

The other, however, is the screenplay format. “You would use this format if you were writing a short film, long film, comedy, or drama,” explains Rob. Film students could use this format to simplify their capstone projects.

When anyone makes a film, it’s because they have something that they want to say. But as a writer, as a director in the film industry, you have to make sure that you’re not spoon-feeding that message to the audience. If you do, it won’t land in the same way,” explains Kimberly Aleah.
Digging deep-building realistic characters for authentic storytelling
“So, for me, the thing that I do to make sure I’m not doing that—I start with real characters. I know everything about them. “
“I know where they grew up. I know if they were bad at math in elementary school, how that affects them in their modern life when they’re calculating tips at restaurants.”
“I know where and what day of the week they get their hair done. I know if they quit their first job. I know what their grandmother got them for the last holiday,” says Aleah.
You have to know so much, so many specifics about your characters. Because if you start with real characters, and you put them in real places and let them interact organically, you’ll always end up seeing some of those truths you originally wanted to convey.
“You have to really know them intimately—that makes them real people. Once you have real people, you can put them in real environments. The conversations and events that happen between your characters in these environments are the conflict that drives your story.”
Naturally, if there are things that you wanted to say, you’ve already embedded those different elements in the characters. They’ll naturally present those truths.
Using research to make your characters’ world more believable
“Another technique I use to ensure I’m keeping these characters grounded, and that the story sounds authentic is to do my research. For example, I have this film that is set at a university, it’s about hazing.”
“What other films exist out there like this? What TV shows exist in that ecosystem? What’s been done? Which elements of these characters could be contributed to stereotype? How do I avoid that?
“I think about this especially because when you’re presenting diverse narratives, and characters that historically in the American media landscape have been presented so two-dimensionally—I consider ways I can avoid stereotypes, or tropes. How can my script still present some of the conflicts that those characters are facing—problems, unfortunately, that a lot of people still can relate.
I think about that push and pull. How to universally represent this experience, but also how to let a character exist as an individual.
“A living, breathing person really comes from, you know, writing multiple versions of the script. I really find dialogue is an immensely powerful tool because when you’re writing multiple versions of the script, you begin to hear a character’s unique voice,” Aleah ends.
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During the early stages of a project, actors can improvise. If anything good comes out of the improvisation, that work may be put into the script, or simply kept in the notes for later. So when I’m doing a movie like The King of Staten Island, the writers– Dave Sirus, Pete Davidson, and I— work on the script.

On that project, we spent a couple of years writing the script together. Then we had auditions. Pete read with an enormous number of the people. That was a way for him to play and improvise and figure out who his character was, and to hear a lot of interpretations of the other characters.

We tried to cast the movie as early as possible, so that we could bring all the actors and actresses into our collaboration. We did early table reads and rehearsals. In the rehearsals, first, we would do the scene as written, then we would play and improvise. Based on that, we wrote our revisions. Then, we would do another rehearsal.

So we kept feathering in stuff from these creative sessions into the script. When we get to the shoot, we have all of these ideas. We’ve rewritten the scene as best as we can, but we also have six or seven versions of it from improvisations. We’ve circled all the lines of dialogue we wanted to remember. Maybe there are several completely different versions of the scene we might want to play with.

So, for me, when I get to the set to do a scene, I’m not just shooting the script, I’m also trying to create a loose situation where I can reintroduce some other ideas that we like. And then, at the very end, say to the actors, let’s just play.

We just have to get from this idea to that idea. Let’s just feel it out and see if we can come up with something on the spot. Some days we don’t. Some days we like the script and believe what we have works. Other days, we realize that what we have doesn’t work at all. We go back to the notes to see what else did we did in rehearsal. What are the fresh ideas. And sometimes we get a computer out and we rewrite the scene on the spot.