I Knew it! I knew IT! I KNEW IT!!!

For the past two years, trying to get my film festival friendly feature film (more on that later) into the festival circuit and getting rejected. I've been, telling others my "conspiracy theories", that you had to know somebody these days in order to get in. And people continually keep saying
"Well what festivals are you submitting to"? "You're not going to get in
if you only going for the "bigger" ones. So with repeatedly hearing that, I then submitted to the smaller fest only to STILL come up short. Below is part of a Film Specifc daily newsletter (Film Specific) that I get from Stacey Parks, a former sales agent with William Morris who has started this organization to assist indie filmmakers to find distribution... I KNEW IT!!!!!

Hi everyone,

"This is going to be a short one since I'm about to get on a
plane to visit my Mom for the weekend in FL. It'll be nice
to get away for a few days, while also having the chance to
take her out for a belated birthday dinner".

"On Tuesday night this week I spoke on a panel at the Alliance
for Women Directors event on Film Festivals + Distribution.
It was a wonderful event and a very lively panel discussion.
I learned quite a few things myself from the other members
of the panel, including some insight into how Festival Programmers
choose the films they want to accept.
For example,the director of the Los Angeles Film Festival said that it DOES help to have an agent or rep calling on your 
behalf, insofar as the squeeky wheel gets the oil. 
He made it very clear though that he can only make gentle 
suggestions to the festival programmer, so 
ultimately the film still has to stand on it's own two feet
to get accepted. But great to hear someone finally tell the
TRUTH about that topic, especially since it's one of the most
common questions I get asked".

So basically not only must a filmmaker worry if their film is good enough for a fest. Then worry about why you were rejected (because you're never told why). But now you're telling us you have to be connected?
"Fuhgetaboutit".
Now that explains why I've seen quite a few lame films with the festival labels attached. Damn. it's not bad enough that many of today's respected film critics are losing their jobs. Now we may be losing more and more legitimacy on the festival circuit....
WOWO!!!!

Alright... I'm going to bed.