Tropfest. It’s not the reason that we make short films but it does get plenty of interest when we put a casting call out on StarNow, so we always enter. Well, we paid our $45.00 (including GST) entry fee for 2015 and submitted a good film, not great, but good. It wasn’t a surprise that our entry was returned with “better luck next year”.
Tropfest Entries
Entries were obviously well down on previous years. Claims of “over 400” are poor when compared to the average of “over 700” and more than 800 last year. Entry fees would only constitute a minor revenue stream for Tropfest, but having only around $20K come in instead of $40K would have to sting. The funniest thing about the whole shebang falling over is that the company charged with running Tropfest waited until a month out before they told anyone that the cupboard was bare.
Funding Sources
Sponsorships, entry fees, supply partners, and the New South Wales government all contributed towards the running of the event. It is the last one that will probably bring the most grief for the organisers; the NSW Department of Fair Trading is now receiving complaints from those who entered.
It looks as though some form of crowdfunding is going to be launched. Unfortunately, the cost blowout also seems to be reaching for the stars at the same unbridled pace.
Elfenshot
Tropfest falling over is actually a bit of a blessing in disguise for us at Elfenshot. For starters, I’ll stop trying to write things that are ‘edgy’ and what the kids are all going for this year.
Seven minutes is crippling. A single premise short film lives in and loves the cramped surrounds that seven minutes entails, but I really struggled to build anything in that short timeframe. Previous Tropfest finalists have all filled the time well; funny, that.
Diffraction lost a few scenes to make the cut, but Narrators really suffered in seven-minute guise. A ten-minute edit is underway and much more enjoyable.
Future Shorts
Filmmaking is fun. We just need an excuse to do it.
Tropfest was a good excuse, but there are plenty more short film festivals around Australia that I want to make specialist films for and get screened. I’m not really in it to have a pitch meeting in LA.
