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Home My WebLink AboutVFF 2012 CSE Funding Request2012 Vail Film Festival Table of Contents 2011 Festival Overview & Demographics |||||| 2012 Funding Request ||||||||||||||| 2011 Sponsors ||||||||||||||||||| Tribute Award Recipients & Special Events •5SJCVUF"XBSE3FDJQJFOUT||||||||||||| •1BSUJFT&WFOUT|||||||||||||||||| Advertising/PR/Print Design •"EWFSUJTJOH||||||||||||||||||||| Social Media •'BDFCPPL||||||||||||||||||||| Media Highlights||||||||||||||||| Board of Directors, Key Personnel||||||||||| The 8th Annual Vail Film Festival kicked off on Thursday, March 31st with gorgeous blue skies, the perfect weather for skiing and film watching! The Opening Night Film, Falling Overnight, was screened at the Vail Mountain School followed by a fun filled Opening Night Party at the Festival’s host hotel, The Sebastian Vail. The Hotel Café Tour musicians set the tone for the evening and for the entire festival while filmmakers and festival attendees mixed and mingled while sipping Stella Artois, Ketel One Vodka, and Zacapa Rum. The Festival continued for three more action packed days of film screenings, panels, Q & As, screenplay readings, receptions, parties, and of course lots of time spent on Vail Mountain! Highlights of the 2011 Festival included the Cadillac Short Series in Solaris Plaza, the only festival venue where non-pass holders could catch three festival short films, the Olympus PEN Your Short 48Hr Film Contest which took place throughout Vail Village and culminated with a sold out screening at Cinebistro, the $10,000 check presentation to the winning EpicMix Commercial Contest winner during Saturday Night’s Awards Ceremony, and the Q & A with the 2011 Tribute Award Recipients Josh Lucas, Michael Imperioli, and Kate Bosworth. Results of the 2011 Vail Film Festival: • More than 14,000 attendees • Over 250 filmmakers in attendance • Screenings of 67 films from around the world • Celebrity attendees Josh Lucas, Kate Bosworth, Michael Imperioli, Oscar Nunez, Greg Pitts, Cary Brothers, Meiko, Katherine Coiro, Kris Krosskove, and Olympian Lindsay Vonn • 118,000 visitors to Vailfilmfest.com • 58 million media impressions and counting • 162 million plus advertising impressions • 5% of ticket sales donated to relief efforts in Japan • Additional 5% of ticket sales donated to Angelight Films • 156 Festival Volunteers. Over 3,102 hours of volunteered time. 2011 Festival Overview Gender • Male: 48% • Female: 52% Average Age • 42 years Income • Under $50K: 16.0% • $50K- $99K: 22.0% • $100K- $149K: 24.0% • $150K- $199K: 18.0% • $200K- $499K: 15.0% • Over $500K: 5.0% Geography • Local: 17% • In-state (non-local): 21% • Out-of-state: 62% Demographics 2012 Funding Request •VAIL COMMISSION ON SPECIAL EVENTS •2012 EVENT FUNDING APPLICATION •NAME OF EVENT: Vail Film Festival •PROPOSED DATE(S): March 29 - April 1, 2012 •AMOUNT OF CASH FUNDING REQUESTED: $100,000 •PRODUCING ENTITY: Colorado Film Institute •1. President or Executive Director’s Name: Sean Cross •2. Name and Title of Person Completing the Application: Sean Cross, Executive Director •3. Business Address: Please include the physical address as well as the mailing address. •Physical & Mailing Address: 1790 30th Street, Ste. 440 Boulder, CO 80301 •4. Contact Info: Sean Cross •• Telephone: Main/Cell/Fax 970-476-1092/646-236-2155/646- 349-1767 •• E-Mail Address: sean@vailﬁlmfestival.org •5. Event and/or Organization WEBSITE: www.vailﬁlmfestival.com •6. Number of years your organization has been in business: 9 •7. Mission Statement: The Colorado Film Institute’s mission is to foster independent ﬁlm through ﬁlm screenings, panels, workshops, networking events and educational projects. The Colorado Film Institute stages the Vail Film Festival on an annual basis as the primary outlet for the Institute’s initiatives. •8. Organization’s tax status: For Proﬁt or Non-Proﬁt*/Not-for- Proﬁt*. Non-Proﬁt (501C-3), or Not-for-Proﬁt (501C-6) organizations, please attach current: 501(c)3 •State Department of Revenue Certiﬁcate with this application. •• Does the Event beneﬁt a charity? If yes, please name the beneﬁciary. To be determined for 2012. •• Tax Payer ID#: 33-1043430 EVENT DESCRIPTION: •1. The 9th annual Vail Film Festival will take place March 29 - April 1, 2012 in Vail, CO. The festival fosters independent ﬁlm through ﬁlm screenings, panel discussions, workshops and nightly social functions. These various activities beneﬁt established and aspiring ﬁlmmakers, national and international ﬁlm enthusiasts, and local attendees. The festival draws some of the country’s most established ﬁlm industry professionals and ﬁlm critics, along with new ﬁlmmaker talent, to Vail to enjoy a long weekend of ﬁlms, skiing, dining, shopping and relaxation. •2. Where will the event be located within the Town of Vail? The festival will utilize the Sebastian Hotel and other properties for screening venues and function space in Vail. •3. Will any portion of the event take place outside of the Town of Vail? If yes, please explain. No. •4. Will additional in-kind services be required from the Town of Vail? If yes, please explain, including a description of anticipated impacts on Town of Vail services: i.e. bus service, parking, trafﬁc control, street closures, etc. (The event promoter will be charged for all labor, materials and equipment unless such services are speciﬁcally exempted and approved as part of the Special Event Permit.) No. •5. Is this a new or existing event? If existing, please describe the location(s) of the event in previous years and the number of years it has been produced. Last year the festival took place at the Sebastain Hotel, CineBistro, and Vail Mountain School in Vail. The event has taken place annually for the last eight years. •6. People: •• Number of participants (athletes, artists, exhibitors, etc.) anticipated: 300 •• Number of volunteers needed: 200 •• Number of event staff: 30 •• Total Number of spectators/attendees anticipated and estimate: 14,000 •17% Local •21% In-state (non-local) •62% Out of State 7. Brief description of potential beneﬁts to the Town of Vail, including an estimated # of incremental room nights and increased spending generated. Based on 2011 Vail Film Festival attendance numbers and independent survey results, attendees accounted for an estimated 3,600 room nights at an average of $260/night for a lodging impact of $936,000, with spending on shopping and food accounting for an estimated $1,629,500. •8. What mechanism are you using to direct non-local attendees to Vail lodging options? The Vail Film Festival website included a lodging section with details on our lodging packages. Lodging options were also included in our newsletter that goes out to our pass purchaser, ﬁlmmaker, and attendee database. In addition, we utilized Facebook and Google Adwords advertising to promote our lodging packages. •9. What return on investment should the Town of Vail expect? •Due to more targeted marketing and stronger media partnerships, we expect the 2012 Vail Film Festival to exceed the 2011 Vail Film Festival in terms of attendee numbers and economic impact. The following information was derived from a survey of attendees during the 2011 Vail Film Festival. •Lodging impact: $936,000 •Shopping and Food impact: $1,629,500 •Total Revenue: $2,565,500 •Marketing Impact: The Vail Film Festival accounted for signiﬁcant marketing beneﬁts to the Town of Vail. The Vail Film Festival, and therefore the Vail name and brand, received over 200 million media impressions in 2011, an estimated value exceeding $400,000 (The estimated value was calculated based on the paid value of each media placement, including print, radio, television, and internet). BUDGET: •1. Please attach a complete and detailed event budget, including anticipated revenues and expenses. Attached. •2. Describe brieﬂy how you will use the funds that you are requesting from the CSE. The requested funds will be used towards venue rentals, equipment rentals, promotion and marketing expenses, local volunteer expenses and nightly event expenses. •3. Should the CSE decide not to support this event, will it still occur? Yes. •4. What % of the total event budget is the CSE being asked to fund? 14% •5. What is the $ amount of sponsorships from alternative sources reﬂected in the event budget? $334,000 •6. What % of the total event budget do you expect the event itself to generate? (i.e. ticket sales, merchandise, food and alcohol sales, etc.) 21% •7. If possible, would you intend to host the event in Vail beyond 2012? If yes, for how many years beyond 2012? Yes, indeﬁnitely. •8. Do you anticipate requesting funding from the CSE next year? If yes, given that the CSE encourages the development of additional sponsors in order to leverage their own investments, and anticipates that as events become established they will become less reliant on public funds, what %, if any, of the total event budget do you anticipate requesting next year? Yes, 12% STRENGTHS •Operations were managed really well by festival staff and volunteers. Logistics and trafﬁc ﬂow was good. Attendees were treated well and attendee feedback was very positive as was the feedback from festival partner venues. •Filmmakers, studios, and press respect the VFF. The Festival has become a prestigious event for ﬁlmmakers to screen their work and an important part of the festival circuit. •Good volunteer base. The festival has been successful at retaining volunteers and recruiting new volunteers to fulﬁll all volunteer needs. The festival volunteers are also good with people and over the years have become knowledgeable about the event. •The festival screened over 60 ﬁlms in a number of ﬁlm categories. The quality of the submissions was also superior to previous years due to a record number of ﬁlm submissions. •Celebrity attendance was strong, with award recipients Josh Lucas, Kate Bosworth, and Michael Imperioli in attendance, as well as Oscar Nunez from NBC’s hit show The Ofﬁce. •VIP guest travel and coordination was well executed. Filmmakers were able to make their in-person interviews and events, and award recipients each had their own host who took care of their scheduling needs throughout the festival. •Marketing was strong, with numerous marketing partnerships including the Vail Daily, NRC Broadcasting, PlumTV, VailPM, This Week in Denver, 5280 magazine, and Comcast. Marketing partners have returned year after year and continue to support the event. •The festival was successful at securing several major national sponsors, including Cadillac, Olympus, Diageo, and Stella Artois, •Better Signage. We increased our signage at the venues and at will call locations, and felt that attendees were better able to navigate the event. WEAKNESSES •Number of regional and local sponsorships. We have increased these partners since last year, but need to build this further. There is ample opportunity for more partnerships and sponsors. In addition to increasing revenue, this will build more buzz for the festival. •The use of the CineBistro theater presented a logistical hurdle that needs to be overcome for the 2012 Vail Film Festival. Due to the limited seating capacity at the CineBistro theaters, there were problems with pass holders not being able to gain access to screenings. Although the festival pass rules clearly state that many screenings sell out, and pass holders are encouraged to arrive early, the small size of the CineBistro theaters made it very difﬁcult for many people to gain entry to screenings. We are restructuring our passes in order to take into account the small screening venues at CineBistro, and will also add an additional screening venue to provide more alternative screening options when needed. Potential for Sponsorships & Media Exposure •Potential for the development of sponsorships and media exposure. The Vail Film Festival has achieved signiﬁcant growth in media and sponsorships every year since its inception. SPONSORSHIP •The 2011 Vail Film Festival was able to secure sponsorships from internationally recognized brands such as Diageo, Stella Artois, Cadillac, Vail Resorts and Olympus, as well as numerous sponsorships with regional companies. The Vail Film Festival has built strong ﬁlm industry and advertising industry awareness, and is able to draw top level sponsors. The ﬁlm festival will leverage the strong sponsorships of 2011 to build more high level sponsorships for the 2012 ﬁlm festival. We have received extremely positive feedback from our 2011 sponsors and expect them to return for the 2012 event. We have also secured a 4- year partnership with our presenting sponsor, Cadillac. SENSE OF COMMUNITY •The Vail Film Festival has taken place annually for the last eight years, and brings local residents together for a shared cultural experience. People gather together to view ﬁlms, and often spend time discussing the ﬁlms after the screenings, further building a sense of unity and community. The ﬁlm festival also hosts several social functions which serve to bring people together. The Vail Film Festival was voted in the top 3 of all events in the Vail Valley in the Vail Daily reader’s poll. GREEN EFFORTS •1. Staff were encouraged to use their own water bottles. •2. Attendees were encouraged to use Town of Vail shuttles, and the festival provided shuttles when needed. •3. The Vail Film Festival used reusable grocery bags for the Gift Bags. •4. For the fourth year, the festival did a special green ﬁlm showcase, highlighting ﬁlms focused on the environment. •5. The festival recognizes and awards actors and ﬁlmmakers for their environmental work. This year, the directors of the environmental ﬁlm, The Clean Bin Project, were awarded the Vail Film Festival Blue Sky Tribute for Environmental Activism. •6. The Vail Film Festival pays to offset our carbon footprint, and as of 2009, the Vail Film Festival has been certiﬁed Carbon Neutral by Carbonfund.org. Potential For Media Exposure •The 2011 Film Festival received over one hundred million media impressions, including strong ﬁlm industry awareness both domestically and abroad. The VFF acquired a new PR agency that helped bring more awareness both locally and internationally. The Vail Film Festival made signiﬁcant strides in social media and online marketing over the last year, growing our Facebook fan base from 2,000 fans to over 20,000 fans, making the Vail Film Festival the top event in Vail for Facebook fans, and putting the festival within the top ﬁve of all ﬁlm festivals in the United States. We will continue to build media awareness through the major social networks such as Facebook and Twitter, as well as grow our afﬁliations with ﬁlm industry publications and organizations. The Film Festival will also host several events in the key ﬁlm markets of Los Angeles and New York to strengthen relationships with ﬁlmmakers and industry insiders, as well as build greater awareness of the Vail Film Festival to ﬁlm fans. •We will continue to seek out stronger media partnerships to build the Vail Film Festival brand within the ﬁlm industry and among the general public. We will continue our strong partnership with Comcas. We have also secured a new partnership with National CineMedia, the market leading in-cinema advertising network. National CineMedia will facilitate the screening of Vail Film Festival promotional slides and commercials in over 400 theaters within their network, giving the Vail Film Festival a strong targeted campaign on a national scale. •We have invited and have received conﬁrmations from nationally renowned ﬁlm-industry journalists and ﬁlm critics, including journalists from Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, and AOL. 2011 Sponsors 2011 Tribute Recipients Michael Imperioli – 2011 VFF Renegade Award Recipient Josh Lucas – 2011 VFF Vangard Award Recipient “This has been a really special festival. I’m quite impressed by it. It’s got a beautiful energy, and it’s a very beautiful place. It’s a deep honor to be here.” – Josh Lucas “The Vail Film Festival has a special place in my heart. I want to thank them for taking chances on films that are a little bit outside of the box.” – Michael Imperioli 2011 Tribute Recipients Kate Bosworth– 2011 VFF Excellence in Acting Award Recipient Grant Baldwin & Jen Rustemeyer – 2011 VFF Blue Sky Tribute for Environmental Activism Award Recipients “I’m so happy to be here. It’s such a great festival, so intimate, welcoming, and supportive.”-Kate Bosworth Parties & Events Opening Night Party. From Left to Right: Jay Nash (Hotel Café Muscian), Lindsay Vohn , Bill LeVasseur (VFF Host) Friday Night Concert: Featuring Hotel Café Musicians Opening Night Party -Sebastian Hotel Closing Night Award Ceremony – Tribute Award Recipient Q&A. Filmmaker Reception Closing Night Party -Sebastian Hotel Panels, Readings & Q&As Filmmaker Panel: Held on Saturday afternoon, discussing the challenges of Independent Filmmaking. Filmmaker Q&As were held after each screening. Screenplay Reading Advertising Comcast : 200 spots/750,000 impressions per spot = 150,000,000 impressions NRC: 40 spots/120,000 impressions per spot = 4,800,000 impressions TV8: 18 spots/70,000 impressions per spot = 1,260,000 impressions Plum TV: 36 spots/55,000 impressions per spot = 1,980,000 impressions Vail Daily: 30 ads/22,000 impressions per ad = 660,000 impressions Denver Magazine: ¼ page ad – March Issue ½ page ad – April Issue 16,000+ impressions Groupon: Friday, March 11th Groupon distributed to over 300,000 subscribers in the Denver area. Facebook: VFF produced eight individual Facebook ads at varying impressions garnering a total of 3,238,587 impressions Social Media Vail Valley Events - Facebook Vail Film Festival - Facebook (VFF has 4 times as many Facebook fans as any other event in Vail, over 20,000 fans) Media Highlights Media Highlights Board of Directors •Scott Cross (Co-chair) •Sean Cross (Co-chair) •Pamela Friedman •Troy Hollar •Judith Landau Advisory Board •Godfrey Cheshire •Giancarlo Esposito •Kaye Ferry •Darren Foster •Gill Holland •Adam Kassen •Mark Kassen Key Festival Personnel •Festival Directors: Scott Cross & Sean Cross •Marketing: MetaFoundry •Director of Operations: Erin Riley •Directors of Community Relations & Development: Bill LeVasseur, Dirk Simon, Michael Liss •Festival Host: Bill LeVasseur •Volunteer Coordinator: Steven Douglas •VIP Coordinator: Dave Strong •Travel Coordinator: Amanda Durst •Ofﬁce Manager: Jessa Carlstrom •Will Call Manager: Katie Smith •Screenwriting Competition Directors: Darren Foster •Programming Heads: Jordan Hall, Ryan Gallagher, Baron Blakely