When Indiewire went to its film festival programmers to ask what they wanted filmmakers to know about how programmers use crowdfunding sites, they all wanted to make one thing clear: programmers make sure that every film that passes over their desks gets seen by someone, and they program films based on quality.
Still, sometimes film festival programmers don’t know about films. Other times, the programming team must decide between two or more equally good films. Can crowdfunding sites be used by filmmakers to up their chances in these hairy situations? We talked to four festival programmers about how they use crowdfunding sites and what they think filmmakers should know about crafting a campaign.