We’re looking forward to introducing you to Rebekah Smith. Check out our conversation below.
Hi Rebekah, thank you for taking the time to reflect back on your journey with us. I think our readers are in for a real treat. There is so much we can all learn from each other and so thank you again for opening up with us. Let’s get into it: What do you think is misunderstood about your business?
Just how nuanced it is – creating a Festival Strategy is very complex, subtle, and has multiple layers of meaning, requiring careful consideration for full understanding, rather than being simple or black-and-white and definately not a one size fits all.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
Yes I am a Film Festival Strategist and my brand is called The Film Festival Doctor. I am a change agent. My focus on film festivals and mental health is the first of its kind within the film industry. I create new ways to approach festival strategies and redefine how to look after one’s mental health within the intense & rewarding world of film festivals.
After choosing not to pursue a career in Academia teaching film studies, I began her film industry career in 2009, working as one of the producers of Wales’ most successful national horror film festival; the Abertoir Horror Festival, and during that time began to develop a great knowledge of the film festival business. Which led me to become inspired to start my own innovative company in an industry that I love.
Myself and my the hard-working team are committed to nurturing filmmakers in order to help them secure film festival screenings, win awards, and cultivate a positive recognition within the film industry. Currently, my company has won more than 2,500 awards for my clients and three Oscar success stories so far. My team has supported over 850 creatives across the world, enlightening and inspiring their journey towards achieving their goals and following their filmmaking dreams.
One of the factors which has led to my success is the blending of both practical business skills and spiritual techniques that infused new life into her company’s growth. I decided to record my own hard-won knowledge in her book Born to Do It: Becoming the Leader of a Business Niche Using Powerful Spiritual Techniques to help others who are pondering the leap into entrepreneurship or are already on the journey, but yearning for more success and profitability.
Amazing, so let’s take a moment to go back in time. Who taught you the most about work?
My late Father Tony Smith who passed away on October 7th. He always told me to put the customer first and attend to their needs. When I was growing up he showed me what hard grafting was and how to build a business. He showed me how to be disciplined and to finish working for the day when you had finished what you had started.
This showed me how to build my own business and to give 5 star customer care
Was there ever a time you almost gave up?
Yes – I decided to add another service to my business which was becoming a film sales agent. Almost all of my clients who had independent feature films that my company was representing always told me that they were anxious to find the right sales agent for their film as they wanted to sell it and get the film seen on other platforms besides film festivals and make some kind of profit on the film (no matter how big or small).
I had developed relationships with distribution companies during the times that I attended the Berlinale and Cannes Film Festivals. There are a handful of film festivals which also have a film market. These festivals tend to be Berlinale, Cannes, Sundance, Toronto International Film Festival, Filmmart and the American Film Market (AFM). A film market is where buyers and sellers meet to close deals to buy films. Sales companies attend the film market & hire a sales booth to sell the films which they are currently representing to distribution companies. Sales agents have endless and tiring meetings, lunches and dinners with distributors in order to close as many lucrative deals as possible.
Film markets are all about the business of film and are the places where potentially a lot of money can be made for the sales agent depending upon how much money they sell the films for. The film market has changed dramatically for sales agents selling independent films as the prices have become smaller, however, there is money to be made selling 1 film all around the world for a smaller price.
Film markets are different to film festivals as they are literally a market where business deals are being made and signed, there’s no dress code, no red carpet upon your arrival, no champagne, or canapes and getting all glammed up to watch a film premiere- all of this takes place at a film festival. All film markets (besides Film Mart and AFM) take place within a film festival so it was, therefore, a great place for me to connect with other types of connections, specifically distribution companies.
I got to know quite well a few distributors as they were looking for films to buy that were screening in competition at these type of bigger film festivals which had film markets adjacent to them. It suddenly occurred to me that I could offer my clients an additional service which was selling their film to distributors and helping them get a return on investment for their financiers. I created a separate company which I named ‘The Film Sales Doctor’ which operated exactly like a sales agency.
The moment when I realized that I was in too deep and completely out of my depth was when I had a meeting with 2 prospective filmmakers at a cafe in Soho London. When we were discussing the sales strategy and how I would sell it I realized that I didn’t know what I was doing as I did not know which distribution companies I was going to approach or how I would pitch it to them. What I proposed to do did not meet their expectations and they had already spoken to many more experienced agents who had thought about many more things (such as marketing ideas, pitching it to buyers, how to position it within the market etc.).
However, when they asked me ‘which distributors do you have solid connections with?’ that made me realize that I did not have the key ingredient which is also the backbone to every sales company – a plethora of strong connections and solid relationships with film distribution companies and their buyers.
In all honesty when they asked me that I realized that I had about 15 contacts and I had many, many more film festival programmer contacts just not enough contacts to run The Film Sales Doctor business. Most importantly, although I had closed a sales deal it wasn’t enough to fully resolve the client’s pain or make a sufficient profit for them and their investors. John always said that I would be a good sales agent as I knew how to look after the filmmakers and was committed to the job and had the best intention and energy behind me, and he was happy to provide support and advice behind the scenes. As much as that sounded like a winning combination it wasn’t able to work without the key contacts.
I left that meeting feeling like a fraud, it was also the first time in my life where I cried myself to sleep through sheer embarrassment and that I had failed. The following morning, I decided to not pursue The Film Sales Doctor venture any further and instead went straight back to focusing upon nurturing my Film Festival Doctor business and doing what I was much better at doing.
Sure, so let’s go deeper into your values and how you think. What would your closest friends say really matters to you?
Kindness – I love being generous and kind – giving back is such an amazing feeling. The secret is not to expect anything back in return and then before you know tons of abundance in all shapes and forms comes your way.
Okay, we’ve made it essentially to the end. One last question before you go. What is the story you hope people tell about you when you’re gone?
That I shower people – both haters and those in my inner circle – with kindness. And that this technique inspires (millions) others to do the same.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.thefilmfestivaldoctor.com/
- Instagram: @rebekahfilmdr
- Linkedin: Rebekah Film Dr
- Youtube: Rebekah Film Dr
