Inshort Film Festival: from 60 to 12,000 film submissions
In 2017, the Inshort International Short Film Festival received about 30 to 60 films a year, handed over on a CD or a flash drive. We moved submission, judging and invitations online. By 2021 the festival received more than 12,000 submissions.
This case study sets out where the festival started, what we changed and the numbers that followed.
At a glance
| Client | Inshort International Short Film Festival, an annual event for independent filmmakers |
|---|---|
| Sector | Events and film |
| Reach | Entries from more than 120 countries |
| When | 2017 to 2021 |
| Our part | Official marketing agency: marketing, publicity and communications, the digital submission and judging process, and event operations |
| Who did the work | Socianet’s agency team, which worked as Socialight in Nigeria, before we built the Socianet CRM |
The starting point
Inshort was a small festival. Filmmakers submitted their work physically, so entering meant getting a disc or a drive to the organisers.
The festival wanted more visibility, and through that, more submissions each year.
What we did
- Moved the festival’s processes from manual to digital, inside the team and for filmmakers.
- Raised awareness and called for entries, so filmmakers knew the festival was open and how to submit.
- Put submission, judging and invitations in one digital process. A film could be entered, judged and its maker invited without anything being posted or carried.
- Opened the event up online. We posted live updates and streamed the festival, which widened its reach.
- Ran event operations. We covered volunteers, logistics, venue management, shipping awards and arrangements for international representatives.
The results
| Year | Film submissions |
|---|---|
| 2017, before the change | About 30 to 60, on CD or flash drive |
| First year online | More than 600 |
| 2019 | 6,000 |
| 2021 | More than 12,000 |
Entries came from more than 120 countries. These figures come from our project records.
What a sales team can take from it
- Remove the step that needs effort from the other person. A filmmaker abroad could not hand over a flash drive. A buyer who has to phone during office hours, or fill in a long form, is in the same position.
- One process from start to finish. Submission, judging and invitation were stages of the same record. A sales pipeline works the same way: enquiry, quote and order should not live in three places. Our guide to the signs you have outgrown Excel lists what goes wrong when they do.
- Growth changes the job. Sixty entries fit in a notebook. Six thousand need owners, stages and a way to see what is waiting, which is what a weekly pipeline review is for.
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