The development of submission platforms has continued over the last two years, with changes in design and pricing, making this a good time to analyse the different pricing models that have gradually become established—”pricing”—from the filmmaker’s point of view (director or producer).
The first thing we find is a clear difference between the American or Anglo-Saxon model and the European one. The most striking thing is that in the American case the costs are free, whereas in Europe the platforms are paid.
The two Anglo-Saxon platforms, Withoutabox (US) and Filmfreeway (Canada), base their business model on charging a percentage of festivals’ submission fees; therefore, submitting to a festival with no fee is usually free. On Withoutabox there are not usually many free festivals, whereas on Filmfreeway we do find many festivals that do not charge a fee and this platform does not charge them for using it, which does happen in the case of Withoutabox.
Well then, where these two platforms do not charge, the European ones do; in this way the “Reelport model” has become established, as this platform was the first to put a price on submissions, even when the festival did not charge a fee.
Within the paid model in Europe, we find several nuances, resulting in up to three different options:
- The pure Reelport model, created by Reelport, which, in addition to other costs, charges €2 per submission. This model is followed by platforms such as Shortfilmddepot, at €3; FilmFestivalLife at €2.99; Uptofest at €2.5; Clickforfestivals, at €3; and Festhome at €2. These platforms usually offer bundles that allow the price per submission to be reduced considerably.
- The festival sign-up model, launched by the Spanish platform Movibeta, involves a small change compared to the previous model: in this case, payment is made the first time you submit to a festival, and subsequent submissions to the same festival are free of charge. The price per festival sign-up is €4.84 and it also offers bundles. This model benefits not only distributors, but also any director with two short films, who can submit both for the same price. This model has been followed by the French platform Filmfestplatform, with a price per submission of €2.50 (also with bundles); in this case, the sign-up is limited to 9 additional submissions, whereas Movibeta has no such limit.
- The flat-rate model: this option was launched by Festhome. It consists of making a single payment of €40 per year, which includes all submissions to festivals that use the Vimeo link. With this model you no longer pay per submission and there are no bundles; with a single annual payment you can submit to as many festivals as you like. Followed by the German platform FilmFestivalLife, which in turn has created new payment options based on the flat rate, but with a time limit. It offers packages for 1 month, 3 months and 1 year, with the annual flat rate being €48 (for shorts, as it differentiates between short, medium-length and feature films).
This payment model, which has been successful in Europe, is being questioned by small platforms such as Flock, which for the moment only manages two festivals with fees, but does not add an extra charge for its use, and more recently the Spanish platform Film-Salad, which has more than 30 festivals and does not charge for submissions.