By Susie Tullett (Head of DDA’s PR Unit at Cannes for over 10 years)

Film making is nothing without having your film seen, and particularly the prestige of a film festival – the ultimate film marketing event and place to get your film noticed (and in some cases, distributed!).

There is a Film Festival going on somewhere in the world every day of the year it seems to me. They all have websites, so the first thing to do is see which one is best for your film.  There are many specialist festivals: animation, horror, sci-fi etc., so choose carefully, look them up online and find out how to submit your film.  There will be submission guidelines, and you will need to follow them to the letter.

While researching this section, I came across a brilliant online piece about submitting your film to a festival. This is not a cop-out but I can’t possibly improve on it, so I encourage you to read it.  It is written by an American, but from my experience he has it absolutely spot on.  So do have a read, and I will be happy to answer any questions you might have.

http://thefix-online.com/features/getting-your-film-into-a-festival-2/

HOW TO PR YOUR FILM  AT A FILM FESTIVAL

I have attended many film festivals, but the one I know the best is Cannes, having run a busy press office there for over 20 years!  It is the one festival where pretty much anything goes as far as PR stunts are concerned and providing you don’t incur the wrath of over zealous police officers by defacing buildings or carrying offensive-looking weapons, or upset the Mayor by making the town look stupid, you should let your imagination soar.

For those who are not familiar with Cannes (and I will deal with other festivals later), out of festival time it is a sleepy seaside town. It has lovely beaches, a gorgeous promenade (La Croisette, affectionately known as the Croissant), ladies with poodles and blue rinses, fabulous restaurants, a stunning ‘old’ town, a breathtaking harbour, and elderly folk strolling along without a care in the world .  Once the Festival comes to town, all hell breaks loose and the town is taken over by film makers, producers, directors, major stars, unknown actors trying to get a break, distributors, buyers, sellers, PR outfits, inflated restaurant prices, and the beautiful hotel facades become Hollywood poster sites.  Even the air is strewn with planes flying over with streaming banners following in their wake (at a huge cost!).

Some PR Stunt Examples:

La Merditude des Choses

Stunts in Cannes range from the conventional glamorous red carpet premieres to the whacky and outrageous. It is actually possible to hype your film for the price of an EasyJet ticket to Nice and a bed for a couple of nights, and a lot of imagination.  You might also need a bit of manpower and a lot of courage!  Last year a hitherto unknown film made global headlines because of a stunt in Cannes, when director Felix van Groeningen and 35 mates cycled up and down the Croisette absolutely stark bollock naked!.  The film was called La Merditude des Choses – look it up online if you are curious!

The Bee Movie

This one probably cost a few quid in 2007 – to promote The Bee Movie, Jerry Seinfeld climbed to the top of the iconic eight-storey Carlton Hotel, dressed in a giant bee costume. Thirty minutes later, arms and legs flailing, he zoomed down a 126 meter wire which took him across the Croisette, to the beach pier below where the press pack of international media were assembled.

My PR Stunts…

I have been involved in organizing a few stunts, and some have been hugely successful and easy to organize, and some have been unmitigated disasters and have cost fortunes.  Allow me to tell you about some of them.

Case Study: Escape from El Diablo

My most spectacular disaster was when I was handling a film called ‘Escape from El Diablo’.  It’s a few years ago now, but it starred John Wayne’s youngest son Ethan, and Timothy Van Patten.  It told the story of a young man’s attempt to escape from a Mexican prison.  We knew that Ethan Wayne and Tim VP were coming to Cannes, and happily these were the days before personal publicists vetoed everything!  I decided that it would be spectacular if we could have the two boys fly over the Med in a helicopter, and then lower themselves down a dangling rope into a speedboat which would bring them to a drinks reception on the beach in front of the Carlton.  There would be hundreds of photographers of course, and it would be front page news.  The boys were up for it, the distributors agreed to pay for the chopper, and we hired a boat and a driver.  We set up the bar, loaded with Margaritas of course, and posted huge alerts in the press room. We were all set.

The day finally arrived; the boys were met at the local airport and taken on board the chopper with my enthusiastic assistant.  I was really excited, and raced down the Croisette to the waiting horde of photographers to find – no one!  Not one damn photographer other than my own ‘house’ photographer who we had paid to be there!  Panic…..more panic.  I was getting messages saying the chopper was ready to fly, but I had to stall them.  What on earth could have happened?  It turned out that a press conference for David Bowie had overrun and all the press and photographers were locked in to the Palais (the Cannes conference centre).  In the end, we could hold the helicopter no more, and I had about 5 minutes to find as many photographers as I could.  Please remember dear reader, there were NO mobile phones at this stage of the game, so I had to literally run up to everyone who had a camera, and yes, most of them were tourists, and drag them to my temporary Mexican bar!  Nightmare.  Suddenly, a colleague from the office came dashing down to me saying the driver of the boat refused to go out to pick them up since the weather had changed and the sea was too choppy…..Oh My God!  Now what?  I just wanted to drink the bar dry and run away…..I had no press, no photographers, and now it was looking like no stunt.  I still go cold when I think of this moment, and its more than 20 years ago……

In the end, my two adventurous actors came down the rope as close to the Carlton as they could, and actually jumped in to the water, and swam in!  Bless them….it did make the papers the next day but literally by the skin of our teeth.  I never, ever used a helicopter again.  The whole drama was made worse when someone nicked my idea and pulled off the perfect helicopter stunt two days later…..aaaaaargh!

A Stunt that costs nothing: Use Photocalls

Photocalls in Cannes, are a great way to attract press attention.  Think back to the early days of the festival when Brigitte Bardot first appeared on a beach in a bikini (or ask your parents!).  Since then every wannabe starlet has stripped off on the beach for a photographer.  You only need one (starlet and one photographer!), and within minutes there are hundreds of paparazzi flocking round your willing semi-naked victim.  A photocall costs nothing to stage, you just need to make sure the photographers know where, when and that it sounds exciting and unmissable.  Mind you, vying for press attention time in Cannes is not easy.  Everyone is trying to promote something, from morning, noon to night.

Case Study: Frauds

I did a photocall once for a film called FRAUDS, where I found a lovely Victorian merry-go-round just across from the Majestic Hotel, by the beach.  The film starred Phil Collins and Hugo Weaving, and at 8.30am one morning I got the owner to open up early and did a really fun photocall.  We made all the papers the next day.  The power of the photo! Mind you, I had to line the owner’s palm!! Nothing for nothing in Cannes…..or very little anyway!

Case Study: Deflating Arnie!

But I am not the only one to suffer defeat at the hands of a stunt.  One year, one of the biggest distribs on earth put up a giant blow-up figure of Arnie Schwarzenegger on a pontoon on the sea.  It was huge, and Arnie was packing a gun.  It looked so impressive and could be seen for miles and miles…but it soon turned into a bit of a disaster when Arnie started to deflate overnight.  By the next morning the blow-up was virtually half its size and the gun was wavering rather dangerously around the model’s crotch.  It looked like a mini Arnie, with a huge erection! ‘Nuff said.

If you are lucky enough to get your film to Cannes, have a good long think about a stunt.  If it works it can be brilliant, and if not you could end up with egg on your face.  I’ve seen a few, but I think my favourite has to be 35 naked men cycling up the Croisette!  Classic. And it was the one year I was NOT in Cannes!!!

Some very basic rules on how to stage a PR stunt:

• Make sure the stunt has impact – do something big, dramatic, outrageous and relevant to your film
• Use your imagination – clever  ideas nearly always beat expense for coverage
• Find some of the photographers before hand and issue flyers etc so that they know its happening – you’ll see them at any of the main events happening so go round and hand them out afterwards – otherwise engage a PR specialist who knows everyone – see tips below!
• It won’t always work – circumstances and other events need to be taken into consideration when planning a stunt

How to do a photocall in Cannes and alert photographers

This follows for every major festival, but my experience is of Cannes so I will use that to explain the process.

The best way to alert the photographers of an upcoming photocall is to create a poster – large sheet of paper, coloured marker, a photograph of the subject if you have one, and away you go – then take it to the main festival building (Palais des Festivals in Cannes) armed with your Blue-tac, display it for all to see in the Press office, and in the photographers room.  Security at the Palais (and at other festivals) these days is a bit of a problem, so if you don’t have your official ‘pass’ – which also gets you in to all the hotels, unless you are Arnie or Sly, or roll up to the front of the Carlton in a limo – you are likely to hit problems.  However, so long as you don’t deface anything, or destroy any trees, be resourceful, and as suggested earlier, hand out flyers at someone else’s photocall, or get there early enough for when the photographers are walking in.

Timing for the Stunt…

Choose a time of day when the light is good, and there isn’t much happening – so avoid lunchtime, which despite it being the busiest time of day, is rubbish light and there is too much going on, and the French are eating!  Around 5pm is ideal, just as the sun is beginning to weaken and the light is ‘soft’.  There are very few ‘public’, therefore FREE places left during Festival time, and greedy entrepreneurs will wring the last Euro wherever possible, but two of the beaches are free, and always full – we did a fabulous Kung Fu demonstration one early evening on the beach, with a lovely man called Chuck Norris.  The kids were out of school, catching the last rays of the day, and we were mobbed by families and snappers alike.  There is the Croisette itself, where you will often see mime artists, buskers, jugglers, and a rather dubious bloke who has a cat and a mouse doing tricks together (they have to be drugged right?). Everyone is plying their trade in Cannes, and with a little imagination, you can ply yours too.

There is a press screening every morning at 8.30am – this is the official press screening of the ‘official’ competition red carpet screening of the same night.  There are other press screenings of course, but only one official ‘main’ competition film per day.  This culminates in the prize giving at the end of the Festival.  Generally speaking therefore, between 8.30am and 11am, Cannes is pretty quiet as all the journalists are watching movies and then attending press conferences.  The photographers are generally twiddling their thumbs, nursing their hangovers and looking for a killer picture.  This is another time of day that can work for a photocall.  But do give the snappers a couple of days’ notice, and check out the competition.  No point in you driving your army tank down the main street with a couple of naked ladies sitting atop, if Penelope Cruz and Meryl Streep are announcing their first film together!

Good luck when you enter!

Next Time: The EPK – what to include, what not to!

What to do now:

To get more news from me – sign up to onefatcigar’s mailing list: http://www.onefatcigar.com
Follow on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/onefatcigar
Follow on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/onefatcigar