Brendan: Hello, my name's Brendan Cleves.
Johnny: and I'm Johnny Vyvash.
Brendan: and this is the Festival Podcast. We just want to do a quick intro as a kind of explanation to why we're a podcast and hopefully what's going to come up in the podcast over the next few months and hopefully years. So I'm a writer, director, Johnny's an actor and producer as well. And we've been traveling around the world, me for almost 10 years now, going to film festivals, getting my short films into festivals. And there isn't just a lot of stuff out there regarding the actual feet on the ground. experience of festivals and we just thought it'd be cool to do something as we go around to the festivals and talk to people and just to give knowledge because I know a lot of people don't really know the ins and outs of what actually happens at festivals there's so many different festivals around the world I think last time I checked on Film Freeway there was something like 14,000 which is just incredible so we just wanted to sort of do the podcast of just to give more information to people and just I mean the first thing is encouraging people to submit and go to I think that's the biggest thing. But also to kind of highlight some of the kind of quirks of festivals where you kind of are inside a knowledge I guess I'd say.
Johnny: As Ben was saying, we've extensive festival knowledge over quite a number of years, both screening, attending, thankfully picking up some awards, both of us.
Brendan: I think I'm heading towards probably 250 festivals that I've screened at all the way around the world from LA, New Zealand, Australia, all over Europe. I a lot of Europe just because I do like going to festivals and it's a lot easier to go to European festivals than is to go to the festivals in United States obviously just for financial reasons. So I've of screened everywhere and been to a lot of variety and also like the size of the festival as well. I've screened some of the bigger festivals and then I've screened up some of the smaller ones and there is you know, it's good to know that you don't always have to be going to the mega ones. You know, there are a lot of smaller festivals that really can give you a lot of, I guess, kudos and experience as well. going to festivals like Vienna filmmaker, you spend a lot of time behind the camera and there is a confidence thing. I think especially to go to places and meet people, you go to festivals, you're going to meet filmmakers.
Johnny: So what we're really interested in doing is sitting down with programmers, artistic directors, filmmakers, and chatting through their journeys, how they got their film made, what their journey has been like in terms of their strategy to get them to various different film festivals, and their bigger and greater plans for other projects as well. but quintessentially we're very interested in what it's like being at a festival and sharing that information and being boots on the ground so people have a reference point to look at because increasingly, and we've had this discussion, when you apply to different film submission platforms like Film Freeway, festival can seem very homogenized. They all possibly feel like they're the same thing when they're very, very different and they're very, very unique and there's a... There's a different identity with a lot of film festivals, so it's good to know and understand that. And that, you need to do a bit of background work before submitting your film so you know where your film might be best placed. So we're very interested in and keen to share that information.
Brendan: I mean, I think going to festivals is a journey as well. Every film has a life from the second you come up with the idea till the second you stop screening at festivals. That's kind of like, and then it will potentially for a feature film, maybe get distribution. that, the festival circuit is part of essentially the filmmaking process really. And that's the kind of way I look at it. And it's a long journey. It's not a thing like, you know, when you make a film, generally you don't really release it for, it could be even a short film for years after it actually is even finished. You kind of have to, if you don't embrace that journey, then you're not really completing, you're not really getting the most out of your film. And I think that's the festival circuit is something that it's adding so much value to you as a creator is going on that journey and learning. And also like just the people you meet, I said meeting directors, producers, you know, I mean, we met at a festival. you meet actors, know, all sorts of people. So I think it's just an important part of like just the life of a filmmaker really.
Johnny: and expanding and embracing the community and the industry that you're part of.
Brendan: Yeah, also off the back of... FestForge is also a platform that we've built which helps filmmakers get strategies for their films. We put the link in the description of FestForge, it's a way filmmakers actually get, they create the most effective and efficient strategy for their film. And obviously if you're a indie filmmaker, you're probably limited by budget, especially if you're a short filmmaker as well. So we're hoping the platform we built kind of helped guide filmmakers a little bit, save them a bit of money, trying to make it like a really efficient and sort of advise them and them and also they can sort of map their festival run on the platform as well which will hopefully allow them to kind of take a broader view of their festival strategy in the life of their film and hopefully help them kind of like plan it out a bit better.
Johnny: the knowledge.
Brendan: Yeah, and it is pretty overwhelming when you like said you go to film freeway. There's thousands of film festivals, you know There's there's even more pretty you never heard of which are worth submitting to so So yeah, there's a lot off the back of the the podcast is there is a platform that we're going to try and promote and help filmmakers yeah devise better festival strategies with so That's our goal There is also another thing we want to do is we I have a film that just had its we're actually at Grossman right now and It's called crack hack and we're hoping we're going to follow the journey of the film as well again to give filmmakers a little bird's-eye view of what a film festival journey looks like so hopefully the film gets into festivals I mean it's got into a couple we can't say right now that haven't been announced which are quite good and big for us so I'm pretty pretty happy about that so we're hoping, we can follow that journey of my film as well and sort of have an insider look at what it's like to be a filmmaker and also a guest, like, at one of these film festivals, because a lot of them you do get treated really well and you go, like Grossman, for example, where in a vineyard, in a wine tasting, which is amazing. You get that in many other places.
Johnny: get many of those opportunities at a film festival. Well, Groatsman is undoubtedly a very, very unique experience and a fantastic film festival to be at.
Brendan: yeah, we'll put it out on YouTube and all the normal podcast outlets. So thanks a lot. Thank you.
Johnny: and I'm Johnny Vyvash.
Brendan: and this is the Festival Podcast. We just want to do a quick intro as a kind of explanation to why we're a podcast and hopefully what's going to come up in the podcast over the next few months and hopefully years. So I'm a writer, director, Johnny's an actor and producer as well. And we've been traveling around the world, me for almost 10 years now, going to film festivals, getting my short films into festivals. And there isn't just a lot of stuff out there regarding the actual feet on the ground. experience of festivals and we just thought it'd be cool to do something as we go around to the festivals and talk to people and just to give knowledge because I know a lot of people don't really know the ins and outs of what actually happens at festivals there's so many different festivals around the world I think last time I checked on Film Freeway there was something like 14,000 which is just incredible so we just wanted to sort of do the podcast of just to give more information to people and just I mean the first thing is encouraging people to submit and go to I think that's the biggest thing. But also to kind of highlight some of the kind of quirks of festivals where you kind of are inside a knowledge I guess I'd say.
Johnny: As Ben was saying, we've extensive festival knowledge over quite a number of years, both screening, attending, thankfully picking up some awards, both of us.
Brendan: I think I'm heading towards probably 250 festivals that I've screened at all the way around the world from LA, New Zealand, Australia, all over Europe. I a lot of Europe just because I do like going to festivals and it's a lot easier to go to European festivals than is to go to the festivals in United States obviously just for financial reasons. So I've of screened everywhere and been to a lot of variety and also like the size of the festival as well. I've screened some of the bigger festivals and then I've screened up some of the smaller ones and there is you know, it's good to know that you don't always have to be going to the mega ones. You know, there are a lot of smaller festivals that really can give you a lot of, I guess, kudos and experience as well. going to festivals like Vienna filmmaker, you spend a lot of time behind the camera and there is a confidence thing. I think especially to go to places and meet people, you go to festivals, you're going to meet filmmakers.
Johnny: So what we're really interested in doing is sitting down with programmers, artistic directors, filmmakers, and chatting through their journeys, how they got their film made, what their journey has been like in terms of their strategy to get them to various different film festivals, and their bigger and greater plans for other projects as well. but quintessentially we're very interested in what it's like being at a festival and sharing that information and being boots on the ground so people have a reference point to look at because increasingly, and we've had this discussion, when you apply to different film submission platforms like Film Freeway, festival can seem very homogenized. They all possibly feel like they're the same thing when they're very, very different and they're very, very unique and there's a... There's a different identity with a lot of film festivals, so it's good to know and understand that. And that, you need to do a bit of background work before submitting your film so you know where your film might be best placed. So we're very interested in and keen to share that information.
Brendan: I mean, I think going to festivals is a journey as well. Every film has a life from the second you come up with the idea till the second you stop screening at festivals. That's kind of like, and then it will potentially for a feature film, maybe get distribution. that, the festival circuit is part of essentially the filmmaking process really. And that's the kind of way I look at it. And it's a long journey. It's not a thing like, you know, when you make a film, generally you don't really release it for, it could be even a short film for years after it actually is even finished. You kind of have to, if you don't embrace that journey, then you're not really completing, you're not really getting the most out of your film. And I think that's the festival circuit is something that it's adding so much value to you as a creator is going on that journey and learning. And also like just the people you meet, I said meeting directors, producers, you know, I mean, we met at a festival. you meet actors, know, all sorts of people. So I think it's just an important part of like just the life of a filmmaker really.
Johnny: and expanding and embracing the community and the industry that you're part of.
Brendan: Yeah, also off the back of... FestForge is also a platform that we've built which helps filmmakers get strategies for their films. We put the link in the description of FestForge, it's a way filmmakers actually get, they create the most effective and efficient strategy for their film. And obviously if you're a indie filmmaker, you're probably limited by budget, especially if you're a short filmmaker as well. So we're hoping the platform we built kind of helped guide filmmakers a little bit, save them a bit of money, trying to make it like a really efficient and sort of advise them and them and also they can sort of map their festival run on the platform as well which will hopefully allow them to kind of take a broader view of their festival strategy in the life of their film and hopefully help them kind of like plan it out a bit better.
Johnny: the knowledge.
Brendan: Yeah, and it is pretty overwhelming when you like said you go to film freeway. There's thousands of film festivals, you know There's there's even more pretty you never heard of which are worth submitting to so So yeah, there's a lot off the back of the the podcast is there is a platform that we're going to try and promote and help filmmakers yeah devise better festival strategies with so That's our goal There is also another thing we want to do is we I have a film that just had its we're actually at Grossman right now and It's called crack hack and we're hoping we're going to follow the journey of the film as well again to give filmmakers a little bird's-eye view of what a film festival journey looks like so hopefully the film gets into festivals I mean it's got into a couple we can't say right now that haven't been announced which are quite good and big for us so I'm pretty pretty happy about that so we're hoping, we can follow that journey of my film as well and sort of have an insider look at what it's like to be a filmmaker and also a guest, like, at one of these film festivals, because a lot of them you do get treated really well and you go, like Grossman, for example, where in a vineyard, in a wine tasting, which is amazing. You get that in many other places.
Johnny: get many of those opportunities at a film festival. Well, Groatsman is undoubtedly a very, very unique experience and a fantastic film festival to be at.
Brendan: yeah, we'll put it out on YouTube and all the normal podcast outlets. So thanks a lot. Thank you.
