By Jim Stevens (BFF 2019, Bates Class of 2020)
I am extremely thankful that I decided to sign up for the class that allowed us to participate in, and plan all aspects of the Bates Film Festival. Through my four years here at Bates, I have never done this sort of meaningful, real-world work that we were able to do through this semester. Every week, there was always plenty to do in order to make the film festival come to fruition. Though the work was sometimes difficult and at times uncomfortable, the results were always rewarding, as you could see the effects of all your hard work. It felt good incorporating real life experiences with course work, and I was able to learn so much about film festivals themselves, as well as the logistics that go into programming them.
As a first-time film festival programmer, I came into the semester not knowing exactly what to expect. From the very first class meeting, the expectations of each programmer were made very clear and we quickly got underway. As this was a new experience for most of us, we began with some background knowledge of the previous Bates Film Festival, as well as some readings and research of more prominent festivals. Once we developed a strong base understanding of our duties, we then worked on editing and finalizing our mission statement. This was a crucial piece of the programming as it finally allowed each programmer to fully grasp the ideals we wanted to represent through the festival, which would then guide every single decision beyond that point. More specifically, each programmer was then assigned three main tasks that they were either independently responsible for, or worked in smaller groups in order to complete. For me, these tasks were some of the most stimulating things that we did throughout the semester, even though not all of them were a complete success.
My three tasks were designing for the design team, negotiating local business discounts, and to reach out to agents and distributors. Our tasks for the film festival were different for each person, and depending on the task, required different levels of involvement. The involvement level depended on each individual programmer’s expertise and interest in the work that needed to be done. For example, one of my tasks was to participate in the design process for all merchandise. My expertise certainly does not involve graphic design, fashion, or anything along those lines. There were others in the same situation that I was in, so in order to succeed we had to work together as a team, finding the strengths we had within our group and utilizing them. Fortunately, a member of the team had worked with design agents before and offered a connection to a prominent design firm, which specialized in the entertainment and media industry. This connection proved to be a highlight for the film festival as we were given many design samples to choose from, all high quality and exactly what we were looking for. I was then able to be more involved in expressing my opinion and thoughts on what the public would be more attracted to and how I thought we could get our message to them most effectively. Therefore, I learned firsthand about how important teamwork is during the programming process and how we needed to work based on our strengths and interests while adapting throughout.
“My expertise certainly does not involve graphic design, fashion, or anything along those lines. There were others in the same situation that I was in, so in order to succeed we had to work together as a team, finding the strengths we had within our group and utilizing them.”
I was able to help most with the tasks of negotiating discounts with local businesses and reaching out to agents and distributors. As I have previously mentioned, I was really excited about the opportunity of working with people outside of Bates in order to present more opportunities to the BFF. Between these two tasks, reaching out to agents and distributors was of primary importance due to necessity and time constraints. I was able to quickly select a few films, gather their representative’s contact information, and reach out to them within the first day or two of having all the necessary information. This was the point where I first felt myself stepping out of my comfort zone, though gladly doing so. It has always felt weird for me to reach out to people I am not familiar with, asking them for something. However, it was a terrific experience as I know it is similar to many things I will have to do later on in my professional career, wherever that may be. This experience turned out to be simple, easy, and very rewarding. Within hours, agents and distributors had gotten back to me granting permission and providing all the critical information for obtaining access to each of my respective films.
“I was able to quickly select a few films, gather their representative’s contact information, and reach out to them within the first day or two of having all the necessary information. This was the point where I first felt myself stepping out of my comfort zone, though gladly doing so.”
Reaching out to local businesses was an even more stimulating task, though more difficult. Again, this task required me to further step out of my comfort zone as I went to speak with store managers in person, since I found contacting them through email and their websites less effective. I learned that speaking to the people responsible for discounts and partnerships at restaurants, was best done in person. Many times, even in person, the managers prompted me to go online and fill out a form requesting a partnership. Though at first this seemed frustrating and that my physical presence was unnecessary, I quickly found that my presence put me on their immediate radar, while the online form created a direct line of communication. Although I was not successful in obtaining any discounts for our festival participants, I was able to learn from my experience and create a mutual acknowledgement and relationship with a few restaurants for future Bates Film Festivals.
Other extremely stimulating and real-world work included raising funds for the festival, reaching out to professional and faculty board members, picking films and writing their copy for the program. In order to obtain rights for most of the films, provide accommodations for special guests, and all together create a memorable experience for our attendees, the BFF needed to gather funds from donors, sponsors, and anyone else who wanted to support the festival. It was the programmers’ responsibilities to reach out to other departments at Bates and anyone else who could possibly be interested, in order to provide them an opportunity to financially support the event. Again, reaching out to people within your community, asking for donations, was not familiar to me and felt a bit uncomfortable. But through this experience, I found most people to be excited to help the cause. I was able to comfort myself by keeping in mind that the only bad thing that could happen, was someone saying no, and even that was never the case for me. Lastly, speaking to professional board members was another highlight of my experience. I was able to reach out to Steven Brookman, who is the Co-Head of Motion Picture Business Affairs at leading entertainment agency Creative Artists Agency (CAA). Steven was a terrific resource to the festival and it was exciting learning from such a prominent figure with abundant experience in the entertainment industry. It was great learning from someone’s professional career outside of Bates, and bringing some of that information back to the community in the form of a more tuned Bates Film Festival.
“It was great learning from someone’s professional career outside of Bates, and bringing some of that information back to the community in the form of a more tuned Bates Film Festival.”
If you are like me, and are ready to plan a film festival, I strongly recommend volunteering for many, if not all of the tasks that I have mentioned in this post. You will gain many real-life skills and find that your work is rewarding not only for yourself, but also plays a significant role in making the film festival come together. I enjoyed the entirety of the Bates Film Festival, and all that went into it. I am happy to say that this has been some of the most stimulating work that I have done throughout my Bates College career.
