From: jtem01@gmail.com   
      
   On 1/17/26 4:21 PM, Mike wrote:   
      
   > It might be cool if could feed the whole submission to   
   > an AI and see what it can turn it into. You could do this   
   > for any your weaker submissions, to notch it up a level.   
      
   Sometimes I wish we could have a real conversation on A.I.   
   but then I think, "Why? If wishing is an option then I'm   
   going to cure cancer and get laid, but not in that order."   
      
   We can't do anything with the works submitted.   
      
   We won't even share contact information!  The best we'll   
   do, if someone asks, is pass along THEIR contact info to   
   the filmmaker, with an explanation.   
      
   As for weaker submissions, think on this:   
      
   I attended the Boston International film festival last   
   year, the festival I served on for years. The owner said   
   he had 6,000 entries!   
      
   I keep asking you to manifest 600 for us! He claims 6000!   
      
   Anyway, let's assume that only half of those are films and   
   the other half are screenplays...   
      
   3000 films.   
      
   Get it?   
      
   He screened, he "Selected" less than 100. The rest were   
   all rejected.   
      
   So if only half of his 6000 claimed submissions were films,   
   he had a selection rate of around 3%. Or, if you prefer, he   
   rejected roughly 97%.   
      
   Rejected = "Cashed the check then told them NO THANKS but   
   kept the money"   
      
   We have a VERY high selection rate. The only way to have   
   any higher would be to either charge an obscene submission   
   fee or hold an "Online Festival," which just means streaming   
   some shit.   
      
   Percentage wise, I'm talking.   
      
   What I'm saying is that if a film really sucks we reject it.   
      
   We don't "Improve" it.   
      
   All our films that we "Select" have a lot going for them.   
      
   If you're not a narcissist.   
      
   They all have something about them that makes them worth   
   watching.   
      
   We had one, for example, "Hunter Nickless." He was 12 when he   
   made the film, 13 when we saw it. It was a bit rough but it   
   was a cell phone video so what do you expect?  His acting was   
   noteworthy. The kid was a ball of energy, really popped on   
   stage. And the more energy, the more convincing an actor comes   
   across.   
      
   Yes "Low key" can also work -- acting so subtle that you don't   
   even realize they're acting! Could be a person just being   
   themselves, it seems, not playing a character, they're so good.   
   But Hunter went the other way:  Energy! But...   
      
   But, what really stood out for me was not his acting (which I   
   did notice) as his filmmaking. He easily used twice as many   
   shots as most shorts, and this was a short. So we gave him "Up   
   & Coming Filmmaker."   
      
      
   It's an award, recognition specifically for a young person.   
   This is because we've gotten student films from people up into   
   their 70s, and of course college students are common enough.   
   So we didn't want kids competing with people who had potentially   
   a great deal of resources nor life experience.   
      
   We're looking for innate qualities. Instinct. Talent. Not skills.   
      
   But it was a "Rough" film. Still. That kid made a few more films   
   and one of them literally took him around the world!  He got into   
   festivals all over the planet, won a bunch of them, got to meet   
   some really cool (and important) people in the industry and we,   
   the oh so humble Screaming Ostrich, were literally the first   
   people EVER to see that potential.   
      
   So we stand by every movie we select. Sorry. What we often find   
   ourselves apologizing for are the films we reject. Because there   
   isn't a festival in existence that doesn't have to reject some   
   mighty good films, for one reason or another.   
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
   --   
   https://jtem.tumblr.com/   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)