TOP TEN THINGS I'VE LEARNED PRODUCING FAST FILM EVENTS 
by Kryshan Randel

Hot Spots, The Great Canadian Commercial Contest screening, was a great success.  Make that a dynamite success.  The event was packed to capacity, mostly by the over 400 participants in the event.  Sponsors I've talked to are eager to raise their level of sponsorship for the next event, every day brings new media coverage (Global TV, MTV, CityTV, WestEnder, Vancouver Courier, Urban Rush, etc.), the filmmakers are inspired, and the charities are happy to have so many Hot Spots to choose from.  My favorite was reading the hundreds of feedback forms from the event; nice to see Vancouver once again inspired by how brilliantly talented our local filmmakers are when given a mission and a deadline.

Time for a very short (and long overdue) break…

I'm currently in hibernation for a couple of days, doing what I love to do most when I'm not working: having a viewing marathon session of brilliantly visceral foreign flicks that hit me with the impact of a sledgehammer, and get me out of work-brain mode for a bit (Come And See, Oldboy, City Of God, Trainspotting, etc.).

In between movies, I've had some time to reflect on what worked and what didn't during my 8-week producing marathon to make the event happen.  But these are things I've been in the process of learning for years now, producing eleven 24 Hour Film Contests, this new Great Canadian Commercial Contest, and 15 screenings in 4 years.  Some of these things I should know by now, but they're not habits yet – I still disobey my own rules sometimes.

Here are the top ten lessons of event producing, in my humble opinion:

10) BOOK YOUR SCREENING VENUE FIRST, AND WORK BACKWARDS FROM THERE.  The first 24 Hour Film Contest began the day I booked the screening venue.  Confirming a place to screen the films meant that I had a deadline I could work towards – the rest was comparatively easier.  The hardest thing about booking a venue is making sure you have the right date – the less events you conflict with, the better off you are.  I check with the Women In Film office and the ZineCAT magazine and calendar - the best sources for film-related date checking that I'm aware of.  (When I make my first feature, I've often thought about booking the theatre a year in advance.  Then I remember that's what a distributor is for.)

9) SPONSORS: KEEP IT SIMPLE, BE PERSISTENT.  The single biggest thing I've learned about acquiring any sponsor is that unless they say "no" right away, it means "yes".  Maybe? = yes.  Not sure? = yes.  Probably not? = yes.  And so forth. The other thing I've learned is to Keep It Simple.  Proposals, emails, phone calls, etc. should be as short as possible – these people are really busy; their time has to be respected as much as possible.  And the third thing is to research the sponsor before you talk to them – don't just look at their website, look them up on Google and see what they're all about. That makes it easier to tailor a proposal to suit their needs, and to know what to ask for.

8) DELEGATE…BUT ALWAYS HAVE A BACKUP PLAN.  The fast film contests I've produced have always been volunteer-run, and I have a tendency to micro-manage people when they're working for free.  The best example has to be the winner's behavior during his final task on the last episode of the first season of The Apprentice – I've been there a few times.  Many times, some volunteers are understandably more focused on their dayjob or their schoolwork, or they are unfamiliar with the event, so they need some help and guidance finishing tasks off.  So I double-check everything, and have more help on standby, and this ensures that everything is on track.  I'm still trying to figure out the absolute best way to run a team until the contest becomes a profitable business, and they are paid the salaries they deserve.  Backup plans, and margins for error (e.g. if a deadline is 4 p.m., I usually tell people 2 p.m.) help a lot.

7) THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS TOO MUCH PUBLICITY…AND NO SUCH THING AS STARTING TOO EARLY.  My favorite thing about producing contests is marketing, and creative publicity.  And the number one thing I do to raise awareness about an event is to cross-promote – I'll promote another film-related event at our screening or on our website (link trading), or give away screening tickets or even a free team admission at their event, in exchange for them doing the same.  Gets the buzz going like nothing else.  All promotions (esp. press releases) start 6-7 weeks in advance, and I'm sure if I started 6 to 7 months in advance the numbers would double.  And remember, if sales seem slow, remember that Vancouver is a last-minute city. With every contest, 50% of the groups sign up in the last 2 weeks (even when there's an early bird discount), and 75% of the groups drop off their finished film project in the last 15 minutes before the deadline.  That's why filmmakers need deadlines!

6) SURROUND YOURSELF WITH POSITIVE PEOPLE.  This one's taken me years to learn, but what a difference now that I'm making more of a conscious effort not to work with negative thinkers!  One of the best strengths of my fellow Executive Producers of The Great Canadian Commercial Contest, Martin Prihoda and Ian Imrie, is that nothing gets them down for long – they vent, sure, but then they get over it and move on right away.  It's inspiring, and contagious, and it's why they are so successful.  I've also had many very positive volunteers help run this event, makes a huge difference.

5) NEVER ASSUME ANYTHING...OR SUFFER THE CONSEQUENCES.  It usually only takes a moment to check or double-check something, and a minute of that might save a day of fixing a mistake.  ‘Nuff said…

4) YOU GET WHAT YOU SETTLE FOR…SO WHY SETTLE FOR LESS?  High standards and attention to detail are important.  It's what separates the best from the rest.

3) PRIORITIZE…DON'T CONFUSE YOUR "NICE TO HAVES" WITH YOUR "HAVE TO HAVES".  What do you "have to have", as the bare minimum, to make the event happen?  That's always more important than the icing on the cake, the "nice to haves".  I forget this one a lot, and my days would be shorter if I didn't.

2) PACE YOURSELF (SLEEP OCCASIONALLY).  Two 36-hour days, and one 40-hour day, cost me way more time than if I had just slept in between work shifts.  I may be 25, but youthful energy still only lasts for so long.

1) THE MORE YOU LEARN, THE MORE YOU REALIZE YOU DON'T KNOW.  I keep this statement in mind all the time to help me stay humble, curious, asking the right questions to my mentors, always attempting to learn more, never assuming I know it all.  I still have a lot to learn, and whenever I've thought that I knew everything there is to know about a given subject…well that's when the ego gets too big and the learning stops.

I'll end with a quote from Gandhi that is the single biggest reason I do anything outside of my comfort zone:

"Be the change you want to see in the world."

Kryshan Randel