OK, so we talked in Tip # 10 about not submitting at the final deadline.  Part of not waiting to submit late is about planning. Filmmakers are expected to spend a lot of time in planning their documentaries - from researching and planning what you want to film to how you are going to raise funds for it to your shooting schedule and shot list to logs and transcripts to your editing script or EDL to your added materials like music and archival. Often less time is planned for how the film is actually going to get out there. The plan often consists of "Get into Sundance. Get it into theaters. Sell it to a broadcaster. Move on to Next Film."  But even the minority of filmmakers who are lucky, talented, and savvy enough to actually follow through on this plan don't do so without a lot of research and planning.

Docs In Progress Executive Director Erica Ginsberg here.    In the coming weeks, I'll countdown from 10 to 1 of what I consider the most important tips on film festivals.   I will preface my tips by saying that, as an organization focused on documentaries, I am writing with documentary films in mind...and specifically knowing that many of our readers are emerging documentary filmmakers who may be working on their first films and are not necessarily coming out of film school.  That said, I think there are some things which may be relevant to fiction filmmakers and hopefully even more seasoned documentary filmmakers might find a tidbit here and there.  You may or may not agree with all I have to say but that's why I decided to share these on our blog.  Your comments are welcome.  So, without futher ado, let's get started:

Erica here.  Sorry I have not posted much to the blog lately.  I have been traveling for the past few weeks with an amazing group of filmmakers from around the world and time has been limited.  We are headed to Sundance tomorrow and I look forward to posting something about my impressions of the festival.  If you can believe it, it's my first time going.