Hi Dominic, Out of curiosity, how much were you paid during your tenure as ED of Canyon Cinema? I’m always interested in comparing wages in the past vs. current wages.
For better or worse, a film festival is not the same as a year-round org. It might theoretically be easier to run a film festival if it is already part of a year-round org that can cover off many of the admin expenses. But the problem is that year-round orgs and festivals function in such fundamentally different ways, that I cannot imagine that a festival run by a year-round org is just a festival in name, and not in functionality. As well, Dominic, the reality is the sector cannot bank on there being a bunch of arts admin starts like you. It can only be sustainable if it structures its systems for average folks. My baseline is: if the context is not feasible for a single mother, then it is being subsidized by some kind of privilege that is not accessible to all. And I guess my question to Paul is: what happens to The Public Cinema when you are not able to take on the bulk of the labour as a volunteer? I imagine it shuts down, no? More generally, a lot of the small to mid-sized festivals are being carried by individuals or very small groups of individuals who have been looking after them for many years. But when these people have to move on or are no longer able to carry the festivals on, I imagine they will shut down. I know several festivals that are, yes, handled by a group of volunteers or paid staffers, but where one or two people are so fundamentally central to their administrative existence, that if those key folks leave, the festivals are certain to shut down - if not immediately, then within 2-3 years. That’s more the true reality of the sector. Cecilia Araneda >> ceciliaaraneda.ca > On Aug 28, 2025, at 1:00 PM, Dominic Angerame <[email protected]> > wrote: > > It is easy to look up tax returns of any non profit Film Festival by just > googling it. I will not name any festivals here for fear of being hanged. I > notice that some have very high wages for the top administrative jobs. When I > ran Canyon Cinema not only was I the Executive Director, but also the grant > writer, the book keeper, advertising, publisher of catalogs and supplements, > dealing with filmmakers and renters and public presentations just to name > some. In many non profits these positions are filled with extra employees, > one for the bookkeeping, one for advertising, one for fundraising. It was a > necessity at Canyon Cinema because we just could not afford to hire extra > staff to do such duties. I doubt many non profits operate this way, and the > staff at Canyon was paid decently with benefits and Canyon almost always made > a profit. Go figure. > > D > > On Thu, Aug 28, 2025 at 10:45 AM Darren Hughes <[email protected] > <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: >> From the perspective of someone who recently co-founded and now art directs >> a relatively small fest (4 days, 2 screens) that has been fairly well >> received ... >> >> Ten years ago, Paul Harrill and I bought a projector, reached out to some >> local event spaces, and launched The Public Cinema. We both considered it >> then, and still do today, a kind of volunteer service to our arts community. >> We'd raise just enough money to cover screening fees and then show two or >> three free movies per month. Our guiding programming principle was "the best >> cinema that wouldn't screen in Knoxville otherwise." >> >> We called it The Public Cinema because we wanted to start a conversation >> here about film exhibition drifting toward a new phase that would require >> public and private support. Our talking point is: "We have a great museum >> with free admission. We have a symphony orchestra and two opera companies >> and public sculptures. We have dance companies and theaters. And none of >> that would exist without philanthropy and budget lines at the local and >> state level. What would it look like if we approached film from the same >> perspective?" >> >> A decade later, our festival is being supported by Visit Knoxville, which, >> among other things, has allowed us to avoid submission fees. Our top >> priority, with both The Public Cinema and Film Fest Knox, has always been >> paying the artists, either directly or via their distributors. Years ago, >> when we came up $100 short for a screening, I wrote a check. We offer good >> prizes in our competitions and a generous travel package. I'm really proud >> of what we're building here, but it took eight years. I sometimes daydream >> about starting a non-profit that would subsidize start-up costs and provide >> guidance to others who want to build something similar in other American >> cities. >> >> If you haven't already guessed, the problematic part of our model is that >> I'm essentially volunteering my expertise and labor, which I'm happy to do >> because it's great fun and an important service to our community and to >> cinema. I'm also able to volunteer because I have a career that is totally >> unrelated to film. (I spend many lunch hours and most evenings working on >> the fest, especially right now, in the final weeks of programming.) >> >> All of which is to say ... I can't imagine a world where ad and ticket >> revenues will ever cover the costs of putting on a festival. I've spent a >> lot of time digging through 990 tax forms of long-standing non-profit film >> organizations in America, and their income generally breaks down evenly into >> three sources: revenue, philanthropy/memberships/endowment earnings, and >> state support/grants. I think every fest should aspire to that model. If >> you're charging filmmakers to not screen their work, and not paying artists >> to screen their work, then maybe you take some time off and rethink your >> approach? >> >> Gotta get back to my day job, >> Darren >> >> On Thu, Aug 28, 2025 at 12:59 PM Fred Camper <[email protected] >> <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: >>> Film festivals often do seem like a scam to me, as they did a long ago too. >>> >>> I was once offered a co-judgeship, with no pay, in something called the >>> Onion City Film Festival, in Chicago. This was in 1987, give or take a year >>> or two. I declined. I stated to them my two objection to film festivals: >>> (1) The entry fees and (2) that the judges had to agree among themselves >>> about prizes, thereby producing all kinds of compromises. In this festival, >>> there was to be one other judge, and they had $2,000 in prize money. I >>> suggested that each judge should be able to allocate $1,000 to entries in >>> whatever manner they saw fit. >>> >>> To my shock, I got called back a week later, agreeing to the plan for >>> prize money and stating that they had reduced the entry fee to return >>> postage. I was charmed, and felt I could not refuse. Even better, my >>> co-judge turned out to be Gunvor Nelson. >>> >>> Weirdly, there were two entries to this festival that should not have >>> happened. One was a film by Sharon Couzin, who actually ran the >>> organization putting on the film festival. Even more weirdly, she was away >>> when I was offered a judgeship, and when she returned she was angry to hear >>> it, saying that I would figure out how to give all the money to one of my >>> own films — yet she herself had entered, and I certainly had not. She >>> apparently didn't realize that we could have created maximum trouble for >>> her by awarding her all the prize money, and jokingly proposed that to >>> Gunvor, but of course we didn't. The other problematic entry was a film by >>> Gunner's daughter Oona. We wrote a letter to the organization suggesting >>> that people who worked on the organization and their close relatives, and >>> also the close relatives of judges, should not be permitted to enter. >>> >>> Since I lately have been making films again myself, I looked into >>> festivals via "Film Freeway." I'm not sure I would recommend this site, but >>> have used it to enter a few. I certainly know all the stories — the judges >>> look at only the first three minutes to see if their attention is caught; >>> there is a pre-selection committee of teenagers. I wonder if some AI engine >>> will be "trained" to judge films? I would feed the engine Brakhage's >>> Arabics , Kenji Mizoguchi's Genroku Chushingura, and Samuel Fuller's Shock >>> Corridor as its training in recognizing advanced cinema art. Anyway, I did >>> enter some, to the tune of a few hundred dollars, but entered expecting >>> nothing. I was surprised to see that hardly any give financial prizes. I >>> guess they think that being shown in their super-fabulous festival is prize >>> enough. >>> >>> Fred Camper >>> Chicago >>> >>> -- >>> Frameworks mailing list >>> [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> >>> https://mail.film-gallery.org/mailman/listinfo/frameworks_film-gallery.org >> -- >> Frameworks mailing list >> [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> >> https://mail.film-gallery.org/mailman/listinfo/frameworks_film-gallery.org > -- > Frameworks mailing list > [email protected] > https://mail.film-gallery.org/mailman/listinfo/frameworks_film-gallery.org
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