When we face the distribution of a film, whether for festivals or any other exploitation window, it is surprising to see how few tools we have at our disposal.
In other phases of filmmaking and production there are several options, such as script editors, programs for storyboards like storyboarder and storyboard quick, for scene planning like Shot Designer, and for pre-production and filming like MovieMagic or Celtx.
Due to this lack of specific software in distribution, I have had to try many project management tools since good organization is fundamental to control so many festivals and workflows: registrations, festival data updates, sending copies, payment of registration fees, etc.
One of the programs I use the most and which has replaced many others in my daily work is Trello. It has many possibilities, it is free (there is a paid option, but you really won’t need it), very visual, and with a short learning curve. You can create an account and start using it in less than 5 minutes, I’m not exaggerating.
One of Trello’s greatest qualities is its flexibility; it is possible to adapt it to any project, both for teams and for personal use.
How does Trello work?
Trello is based on the Kanban method, a system that was born in Toyota factories to control production quality within its famous continuous improvement strategy. This system works based on a series of “visual cards” that move through different lists, equivalent to processes or phases.
These lists allow for the organization of the different phases a task goes through until completion. These tasks only move from one phase to another when they have been completed and verified, based on parameters previously defined and known by the entire team. Trello is one of the best tools for working with the Kanban method, but there are others like Kanbanflow.
The three fundamental parts for working with Trello are Boards, Lists, and Cards.
Each Board is equivalent to a project made up of different Lists, and each of them is in turn made up of several tasks in the form of Cards.
When you create a board for the first time, a basic structure is created by default: pending tasks, in progress, and completed.
In this way, you can keep track of the tasks you have pending and those you are doing at the same time to avoid bottlenecks in the processes.
Using Trello to work with festivals
Thanks to the flexibility in creating Boards, Lists, and Cards, we can design a structure that adapts to our workflow with festivals.
For me, it has become a fundamental tool in my daily life; I use it a lot to manage festival registrations, the preparation of materials, and to share it with the different members of our team.
You can use Trello in many different ways: you can create boards for each type of festival. For example, one for festivals with fees and another for free ones, or organize them by geographical areas: one for national festivals and another for international ones.
We can also do everything on the same board and organize the cards with labels.
Here is an example of a festival workflow on a single Trello board:
In this example I have created several lists, equivalent to each of the work phases:
- Pending festivals: I have created a card for each festival, which would be independent tasks. Each card can be labeled and a due date added, in addition to being shared with different team members. In this example, the registration for the Astorga Festival is pending. I have used the dates to note the deadline and a label to identify it as a festival without a fee.
- Send Email for fee discount: in this list we move the cards of festivals that have registration fees, to write to them and try to negotiate a discount. This would be our task list of emails pending to be sent. Here the labels allow us to know the status of each deadline, whether it is early, regular, or late. If they reply and we can register, we move it to the Register list.
- Register: in this phase we move the festivals we are working on. Based on the Kanban method mentioned at the beginning, here will be the tasks we are performing at the same time; we will not move them until they are done and completed. This way we can keep track of the workload we have at any given time. Once done, we move them to Registered festivals.
- Registered festivals: in this List will be all the festivals where we have already registered; at a single glance, we know the rate of registrations we have made in a specific week or month.
- Selected: if we have been selected, we can move the card to this list and also manage the documents that festivals usually request in this phase.
- Not selected: finally, we move the cards of registered festivals that did not select us here.
Keep in mind that over time cards and lists can be archived so as not to overload the board too much. They are kept in an unlimited archive, so we can access old tasks at any time.
Cards have many options. You can attach documents, so we can save the registration forms for each festival, confirmations from platforms, or even receipts for fee payments. You can also create task lists or subtasks within the cards.
Trello’s possibilities for organization are enormous; you can move the lists as you wish and change and modify the system as you work, adjusting it to your way of working and your own processes.
Furthermore, you can easily share it with your team to be perfectly synchronized, and even with other people involved in the distribution of your film.
It has many options, but I will mention one in particular that saves us a lot of time: creating cards via email.
For example, if you receive an email with a call for entries or a requirement from a festival, you can forward it directly to your Trello board, and a card will be created automatically. In this way, you can easily convert emails into tasks. You have this option in Menu>Email-to-board Settings, where you will see the board’s email address:
You can use it for any project
You can use Trello to organize anything, for example, to produce and shoot your film, as you can design the different phases: pre-production, filming, and post-production, with their own tasks and share it with your entire team.
If you are organizing a festival, you could also use it for the entire organization. For example, you can organize screenings among the members of the selection committee. Each committee member could comment on the film and vote for it (in Trello there are also improvement options, Power Ups, one of which is adding a voting field to the cards). Each film would be on a card, which would move through the different phases of the festival’s selection process.
In short, I hope this post helps you organize yourself a little better, whether you are in the middle of distributing your film or carrying out any other type of project.