What’s The Point Of Web Fests?

While web series are no longer the new kid on the internet block, the idea of celebrating them as a format of their own still confounds people. Tribeca and Cannes are known entities, famous for catapulting films from Steven Soderbergh and Quentin Tarantino into the spotlight and offering the ability to rub shoulders with celebrities at glitzy parties, but digital episodic creators still struggle to answer the question: “What’s the point of a web fest?”

Sure, laurels are exciting and validating, but saying you won ‘Best Web Series’ at Nowheresville Web Fest doesn’t hold the same weight as being selected for Sundance. It just doesn’t.

But writing off the burgeoning ecosystem of web fests as a waste of time is short-sighted, especially because these events are starting to offer real value to indie filmmakers and the filmmaking industry as a whole. And I’m not just saying this as the co-director of Stareable Fest, the premier NYC indie TV and web series festival, which recently wrapped its second annual event in Brooklyn, N.Y. I mean, of course I am, but I’m also saying it as a filmmaker who has attended dozens of events as a member of the web series community.

Here are some of the perks web fests — and, more specifically, Stareable Fest — offer newcomers and industry pros alike…

Access To Top Content Producers

Entities like HBO, Comedy Central, Warner Bros., and PBS Digital have sent representatives to our festival over the past two years, hosting workshops, participating in panels, and networking with our Official Selections. After our fest this year, which took place in late July, PBS walked away with at least one acquisition — a web series we introduced them to via our curated industry marketplace. Meanwhile, conversations are ongoing with a number of other entities, the result of both our preset meetings, and creators who hustled to trade business cards with industry representatives after panels and workshops.

Also this year, 14 filmmaking teams got the opportunity to pitch their concept live to a panel of judges from Comedy Central, Avalon, and VICE, and though there could only be one winning pitch, all attendees were given live feedback from potential buyers, helping them continue to refine their delivery and show concept.

As more and more content goes digital exclusive, the time has never been better to be an expert and creator in the digital narrative landscape. With a new exclusive streaming platform popping up every few hours, Hollywood is clamoring for talent, and web fests are, on an increasing basis, where they’re finding it.

Networking With Minimal Awkwardness

I’m an extremely awkward person. The idea of walking up to a stranger, unsolicited, in a crowded ballroom to “network” seems dangerously narcissistic, and I want no part in it. But networking in the entertainment industry is the non-negotiable way to get ahead, and that means connecting with peers, people one rung above you in their career, and people balancing at the very top.

One of my favorite parts of Stareable Fest is that after our keynote (this year delivered by the incredible Megan Cunningham of Magnet Media), we run a speed networking event. This event is a great equalizer for the awkward creators among us. Participants get five minutes with another festival-goer before the timer rings and they move on to the next person, eliminating the unsolicited walkup and the uncomfortable small talk. After just one hour, you’ve made 12 new connections who have the potential to become future friends or collaborators.

Practical, Topical Advice From Experts

Particularly for an emerging craft like web series and indie TV, I think it’s a missed opportunity if festivals aren’t also offering educational content like workshops and panels alongside screenings. Every filmmaker deserves to walk away from a festival not only with new connections, but the latest advice on topics they may not have realized they needed to hear about. This also ensures that filmmakers without projects in competition still get value from attending.

If I had to pick favorites from Stareable Fest this year, the first I have to mention was our Getting Women Paid panel, featuring senior women executives from Verizon Media, Vox, BuzzFeed, and MTV breaking down how to calculate and advocate for your value as a creative in an industry that thrives on a lack of transparency. Another standout was Adobe’s Complete Your Editing Workflow workshop, where Adobe’s representative took a ballroom of filmmakers with alarmingly rapt attention through Adobe Premiere and how they can make post-production more efficient. As someone who hates the post-production process, I found myself weirdly compelled to go home and finish some long-abandoned works in progress. Could editing be…fun? That doesn’t sound right, and yet…

The Latest And Greatest Content

Ultimately, though, web fests don’t need to reinvent the wheel, and so they don’t. An important portion of any film or TV festival is the screening room, where official selections from creators all over the world are screened in front of potential new fans. Industry partners consistently stick around for screening blocks they’d like to see, and even non-filmmakers make a weekend out of seeing new content from a truly unique, diverse set of filmmakers who didn’t wait around or ask for permission to create.

With more amazing web series content being made each year, we are humbled by the range of topics and talent we got to screen at this year’s festival. Creators, particularly those who have been frequently overlooked by mainstream media, aren’t holding back — they believe their series need to be in the world, and are making it so.

Bri Castellini is the co-director of Stareable Fest, and is Stareable‘s community director. Stareable’s platform helps creators amplify their presence and build an audience online, and is dedicated to reimagining TV as a dynamic, inclusive, representative landscape.