In the spirit of SXSW starting this weekend, I’ve put together a list of things you can expect when taking your short film out into the world.

But let’s start with … Making movies is hard. And you’re gonna get rejected. A lot. And getting rejected repeatedly can kill your soul. I remember a student getting rejected by her second festival. She threw up her arms and said, “I quit!” I looked at her and said, “You gotta be kidding me. Really? Cause if you can’t take this … I don’t know, dude.” You have to have solid-steel thick skin. Or at least be able to fake it.

Still from Candler’s HELLION

So let’s turn the table and start with the idea that you’ve made a really great short. It’s awesome and it’s getting into some festivals. What could happen to my little film? What should I expect from my film festival adventure?

The holy grail would be that someone sees your short, falls in love with it, falls in love with you and wants to turn it into a feature film with (of course) a million dollar budget. Holy shit, that’d be rad. It happens. But it’s rare. Very, very rare.

Here are some things that are more likely to happen …

1) New Friends! You’ll make new friends with some amazing filmmakers. Those friendships will last a lifetime. You’ll call on each other over the years to swap scripts, help each other out on set or call up for advice. These relationships are just as valuable as getting that million dollar film deal. No lie.

2) New Collaborators! You’ll find new collaborators. You’ll see other people’s work that excites you and people will see your work and want to work with you. Finding new people to work with as DPs, Editors, Production Designers, actors … is such a reward. With that said, go watch a ton of films at the festival.

3) Exposure! People will see your film. You’ll have an audience, in a theater, seeing something you and a team of bad asses made. And you never know who’s in that audience. It could be an agent, a manager, a financier, a new fan … But I think something that’s pretty important when you’re on the circuit with a short film is to have a feature script ready to go. If someone does come to you with that golden ticket, you better be ready.

4) Awards and Reviews You could win an award. And that award could get you the attention from other festivals or industry folks. And then you can put that festival laurel and that award on your postcards, posters, website. Same with reviews. You can rack up some great press and reviews and use that in your publicity materials. Building a name for yourself through press, reviews and awards, will legitimize you in people’s eyes.

5) Meeting the Programmers It’s great to meet and befriend the programmers. Establishing those relationships can last a lifetime. And when you come back with that feature film, those programmers will be super excited to see your new work. The door opened with that short film.

6) Distribution Distributors will probably contact you. That’s awesome. Do your research into the company. Talk to other filmmakers that are housed at that company and what their experiences have been like. It’s exciting, yes, but do your homework.

Still from BLACK METAL

I’m going to reiterate number one, one last time. Make new film friends. I swear to god, this is the best part of the community we work in.