Calls for work: Beware!
An empty screening is a nightmare – Covid closures, bad or no publicity, or just no one want to come and watch … all are awful scenarios. But before this point – stay alert for the increasing number of scam festivals that promote themselves on platforms such as FilmFreeway. There may be total scams that are completely fake and will just collect the entry fees and do nothing, but there are also a growing number of events that are dubious at best – perhaps multifarious categories to elicit many more hopefuls but little else going on beyond a few ‘prizes’, or perhaps an online-only screening that no one will pay any attention to because it doesn’t have an established audience. Poetry film is growing as a genre in the film world which is, of course, fantastic, but this means it becomes more vulnerable too as it is less of place where everyone knows everyone.
All festivals, events and calls for work are mentioned by Moving Poems with our best efforts and in good faith. However, do check all details yourself as we cannot guarantee accuracy, and make your own judgements because we cannot verify the things that we share.
We found several articles which describe this problem in more detail, and which contain helpful advice on how to steer clear:
- “People Can Be Exploited”: How Below-the-Radar Film Festivals Prey on Struggling Moviemakers (The Hollywood Reporter)
- Call for film festival regulator following spate of scam events (Screen Daily)
- Indie Filmmakers Beware of Scam Film Festivals: An entire industry has been built around making money off filmmakers (Claire J. Harris on Medium)
- About the Author
- Latest Posts
Jane Glennie’s award-winning poetry films have screened at festivals across the world. She works with still photographs to create films with a layered visual aesthetic that is abstract, painterly and floods the imagination. She is also a typographer and book designer, founder of Peculiarity Press publishing artists’ books.
