Let’s discuss a misconception about film publicity as it relates to your festival run—you do not need to wait until you’ve heard back from your top festival premiere choice to start conversations with a publicist. Being proactive and taking the time to choose your festival publicist early can be a game-changer for your film's journey through the festival circuit.

Whether you’re crafting a feature film destined for Sundance or a short masterpiece targeting Tribeca, being proactive about your publicity plans can be the difference between a successful festival rollout—or not. Read below to find out how making this move early can help set you up for success.

Be Ready To Go Before the Lineup Announcement

If selected, your film won’t be the only one trying to get the headlines, and it’s no accident that the first films you start to hear as the lineups go live are the same films that have had their publicity plan together well ahead of that moment. To maximize your PR efforts, we recommended having your publicist onboard and your strategy mapped out six to eight weeks before the festival’s lineup is announced. This gives you and your team time to perfect your press materials, work through strategic story pitch ideas, and start putting together a preliminary media list to support the strategy.

That way, your PR team can hit the ground running and work to position your film as a must-see at the festival, which may increase its chances of standing out among the competition.

Proactively Collaborate with the Film Festival’s Publicity Team

The magic of working with a proactive publicity team lies in their ability to shape your film’s narrative and work alongside the film festival’s PR team. This may mean working alongside the festival’s team to coordinate story placements and timing weeks before the lineup announcement and the festival’s event dates. At large festivals, this can help with making sure your team’s efforts don’t preempt the work the festival is doing. It also can help with filling press & industry screenings, coordinating interview site availability at the festival, the timing of arrivals for premieres, and much more.

Meet the Deadlines & Avoid Rushed Project Fees

Commitment to a publicist early will ensure your filmmaking team is ready to meet all the important publicity deadlines before and during the festival. For example, not only will the festival staff have important deadlines your team needs to hit, but working with a publicist who has knowledge of the media’s publishing schedule will also ensure you're meeting the moment.

Some agencies may charge rushed project fees if your timeline window falls outside their typical timeline window for a campaign, and securing their services in advance allows you to lock in favorable pricing agreements. Committing to a festival publicist ahead of time isn’t just a savvy move—it’s a strategic budgeting move that, in the end, can save your team money. By avoiding rushed project fees, you can allocate your budget more effectively, ensuring that every dollar spent contributes to the success of your film during the festival circuit.

At our agency, we try to help filmmakers plan as best we can by publishing our festival client commitment calendar in early summer for the following festival year and keeping it updated as festivals announce their event dates throughout the year.

Utilize Publicity Budgeting that’s Contingent Upon Festival Selection

Contrary to popular belief, engaging with a publicist early on doesn’t always mean immediate campaign expenses. When a client commits to working with our team on their film festival run, we will work through and charge for the preliminary work, such as onboarding—but film festival campaign fees and expenses are invoiced on a contingent basis. At our agency, this means that we only charge clients for a festival campaign if they’ve been officially selected and have accepted the festival’s invitation to premiere. This approach helps you budget for your festival campaign and ensures that you only pay for the services you use. Most seasoned publicity teams specializing in the film festival circuit operate similarly. This approach helps you budget for your festival campaign and gives you a strategic project management advantage by spreading out some of the work. For example, by the time the festival selects your film, you’ll be steps ahead, having already finished your client onboarding process and completed most of your festival deliverables. On top of that, you won’t have to worry as much about the publicity aspects and planning while trying to figure out festival logistics, travel, and other important tasks to get ready for your festival premiere.

And importantly, it lets you and your publicity team prioritize and plan your festival events and party plans during the festival once you know you’ve been selected.

Yes, Short Filmmakers Need Early Publicity Support, too

Short films often face unique challenges in gaining recognition and festival visibility—as it can be hard to make noise amid all the exciting feature films. If you're a short filmmaker, engaging with a festival publicist who understands your unique challenges and deploys creative tactics geared specifically for short films may be especially beneficial. Such publicists can help you navigate the competitive festival landscape, bringing to attention opportunities you otherwise might not know about and help you maximize the overall festival experience. With strategic PR support, short films may also achieve broader exposure and make a lasting impression on festival audiences and industry professionals alike.

Take Charge of Building Lasting Relationships Ahead of Attending

Beyond the obvious benefits of early PR planning, working with a festival publicist early on helps your team establish a foundation for long-term relationships within the industry. Festival Publicists often have extensive networks and insider festival knowledge from years of experience.

Festival publicists can help guide you through important ways to leverage the institutional event knowledge they have and head into the festival experience properly prepared so you have your best chances to make those lifelong creative cohort connections and industry tastemaker introductions that can happen during your festival run experience.

In short, committing to a festival publicist and publicity plan well in advance helps to set the stage for a successful festival journey. Taking a proactive approach not only helps you be fully prepared for the festival, but it also helps maximize your film’s visibility. Whether you’re preparing a feature film for SXSW or a short film for TIFF, early collaboration with a knowledgeable publicist helps to ensure you’re primed to shine on the festival circuit.

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