How We Make It Happen
We craft and execute personalized festival strategies to get your film in front of the right festivals, programmers, audiences, and industry decision-makers.
The Festival Route
At The Festival Route, we know that getting your film into the right festivals takes more than luck; it takes strategy, execution, and persistence. Below, we break down our proven process for building successful festival campaigns, so you can see exactly how we work to maximize your film’s exposure and impact.
Our Winning Formula
Festival Readiness Audit
We review your film’s marketing assets and deliverables to make sure you’re fully prepared before submissions start.
Film Positioning & Analysis
Evaluating your film’s strengths, themes, and unique selling points to position it for maximum impact with festival programmers and audiences.
Budgeting
Assessing your film’s budget, festival goals, and travel considerations to strategically position it for both high-prestige opportunities and broader-volume submissions, guranteeing the best possible impact.
Festival Research & Tiered Target List
We create a strategic, customized list of national and global festivals, while finalizing your top Premiere, Major, Mid-Tier, and Regional festivals based off your goals, visions, and awards-qualifying aspirations.
Press & Publicity Coordination
We manage and streamline your promotional efforts by collaborating with your PR and marketing teams, finalizing key assets, and shaping strategies to maximize your film’s reach.
Festival Strategy Blueprint
Crafting a personalized festival strategy blueprint, collaborate with you and your team to align goals and prioritize target festivals, then finalize the plan and prepare for submissions.
Festival Strategy Calendar
Creating a detailed, easy-to-follow timeline outlining key festival deadlines, submission dates, and promotional milestones to keep your strategy organized and on track.
Awards Campaign Strategy
Developing a comprehensive plan to target the right awards, maximize the impact of festival laurels in your marketing, and identify non-festival award opportunities to elevate your film’s profile and visibility.
Festival Marketing Materials Creation
Producing & finalizing essential marketing assets (stills, trailers, clips, and electronic press kits) while auditing all festival deliverables to ensure your film is presentation-ready.
Submission Management
Handling the full festival submission process, from creating accounts and submitting your film to programmer communication & coordinating requests for effective outreach.
Submission / Acceptance Report
We provide a detailed, ongoing overview of your festival submissions and acceptances, highlighting trends, strengths, and areas for improvement to guide our strategy.
Festival Networking Guidance
Providing tailored advice on how to navigate festivals effectively, including best practices for networking, panel etiquette, collaborating with staff, and prioritizing meetings with industry-leaders.
Pre-Festival Briefing
We provide a comprehensive overview before each festival, covering your goals, other films in the lineup, key industry players, and important events to help you navigate & maximize your experience.
Post-Festival Debrief
Analyzing each festival experience, highlighting successes and areas for improvement, extracting key lessons, and outline actionable steps for industry outreach
Sales Agent / Distribution Outreach
We guide strategic outreach to sales agents and distributors, identifying the best partners for your film, preparing pitch materials, and timing communications for maximum impact.
Hope Is Not a Festival Strategy
Having a great film and wanting it badly isn’t enough. Festivals are competitive, political, and fast-moving — and without a clear plan, even the best projects get lost in the noise.
We build aggressive, data-driven strategies that put your film in front of the right programmers, at the right festivals, at the right time.