Submission fees adding up?
Always check for Film Festival promo codes before you submit. Save 20% with a FilmFreeway waiver code at checkout.
Save 20% now!"After more than 10 years operating the Withoutabox film festival submission service, we have decided to phase out the service over the next year. We are working with current film festival customers to fulfill Withoutabox’s commitments through October 30, 2019 and are working with filmmakers to ensure their submissions are properly processed during this transition. We are grateful to all the filmmakers who have shared their stories through Withoutabox and the film festivals who have discovered talented artists around the world using our service. Additional details can be found on our help pages."
It's hard to believe it, but it's true. We started using Withoutabox back in 2008 for the Houston Comedy Film Festival. I remember back then, that we had to pay a setup fee, a deposit and a higher commission on our submissions and we were forced to buy a mandatory marketing package. It was a significant investment at the time. We held a fun event and received really outstanding submissions through Withoutabox. At the time, they dominated the Film Festival Submission business. Over the years, more competitors popped up and Withoutabox lowered their commission rates, marketing requirements and eliminated the setup fees. I guess it took a toll on their overall profits and they couldn't make the adjustment. It's hard to believe that a company owned by Amazon would be having money problems, but I guess they just couldn't make the adjustments necessary to stay competitive in the market.
In many ways, the competition from FilmFreeway had to be hard for Withoutabox to handle, but we are still getting great submissions every day from both portals. Out of our 12 partner film festival events, Withoutabox made up about 25% of our submissions in 2018. Down from 40% in 2017. The Oregon Short Film Festival actually gets about 60% of it's submissions from Withoutabox for some reason. Especially the drama category. The Portland Comedy Film Festival, Houston Comedy Film Festival and Austin Comedy Film Festival get many more submissions on FilmFreeway by far. Part of this, is because of FilmFreeway's Top 100 rating system, which ranks Film Festivals in a way that Withoutabox never did. New filmmakers and screenwriters are always asking the question, "What are the best film festivals in my area?" Or "What are the best comedy film festivals in the world?" The rating system really helps give film festivals like ours, visibility.
Agility is a key business term, when people talk about a company's ability to adjust to the market. There are 5 key things that FilmFreeway embraced that Withoutabox never offered, and I truly never understood why.
A Withoutabox 20% RetailMeNot Coupon Code for film and screenplay submissions is available using the same codes as listed above. Sometimes when you go to Retailmenot, some of the Withoutabox savings codes and Withoutabox waiver codes are for different events or expired festivals. Not currently using Withoutabox? We have other links for submission portals. Now available, you can get a FilmFreeway waiver codes.
Please join us for our next virtual networking meeting co-hosted by Mikel Fair, author of the Film Festival Submitter’s Handbook. If you are interested in attending the OSFF in the future, or to get updates, please join our emailing list.
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From 1999-2015 I worked on location in the television and film industry as a location sound mixer, production manager and field producer. I have also worked in post production as an editor, post sound mixer and composer. Today, I am the Director of Film Festival Circuit LLC, a US based company that manages international film festival events in Texas and Oregon. Our team is passionate about showcasing new independent films, videos, series episodes, screenplays and teleplays of all genres.
Always check for Film Festival promo codes before you submit. Save 20% with a FilmFreeway waiver code at checkout.
Save 20% now!Film Festival Circuit events have reviewed over 5,000+ submissions since 2008. Our judges see issues repeated daily that weaken the presentation of films, videos and screenplays during the evaluation process. The Film Festival Submitter’s Handbook was written to help filmmakers and screenwriters build a successful strategy and avoid common costly mistakes when submitting to Film Festivals.