Frankly Festivals

Mar 07 2025 5 ep. 71 mins 3
Frankly Festivals Podcast artwork

Peek behind the screens and explore how film festivals and events really operate. Every episode, we discuss a critical topic and answer questions submitted by filmmakers around the globe.

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How Film Festivals (Don't) Make Money

Mar 07 2025 67 mins  
We have all heard from filmmakers that festivals make a mint from submission fees, and that festival staff are wildly overpaid and wasting the millions of dollars they get from such fees. But the reality is very different — that most festivals barely net $10K from submission fees, and that ticket sales also cover only a fraction of theater rent, event expenses, and staff pay –

You Asked Us... We Answered!

Dec 03 2024 71 mins  
In this episode, hosts Jon Gann and Bart Weiss discuss the intricacies of film festivals, offering valuable advice for filmmakers. They explore the history and purpose of festivals, the challenges of organizing them, the importance of doing research before submitting films, and the necessity of building community and networking within the film festival circuit. Both hosts bring the

Best Practices, Transparency, and Ethics for Film Festivals

Oct 31 2024 62 mins  
It's finally here -- the long-awaited release of a new program from the Film Festival Alliance to create a set of best practices for festivals, including a searchable database for filmmakers to compare and contrast events, allowing them to create better festival strategies. Jon and Bart are joined by Bears Rebecca Fonte, the Artistic Director of aGLIFF/PRISM, and Gray Rodriguez, th

How did we get here? A history of Film Festivals

Sep 30 2024 74 mins  
This month, Jon & Bart discuss the history of film festivals, and where the industry is today, with Sky Sitney, the co-founder and festival director of DC/DOX, and the former festival director of AFI Docs (originally known as Silverdocs), and a professor at Georgetown University, and Mark Rabinowitz, co-founder of indieWIRE, producer, acquisitions executive, programmer, and a membe

The inherent divide between the interests of festivals and filmmakers

Aug 20 2024 78 mins  
Welcome to Frankly Festivals, a new podcast that explores the ecosystem of film events and filmmakers, in an attempt to demystify each others’ pressures and interests, in order to foster greater cooperation, understanding, and a stronger industry.This month, Jon & Bart speak with Lela Meadow-Conner, creative producer of “Chasing Chasing Amy”, former Executive Director of Film