Q: Talk a little about
the year-round activities that FirstGlance has going
on.
and we’ll show it to an audience.
A: FirstGlance has
monthly “Show us
Your Shorts” screenings in Los Angeles in Studio City
and in Philadelphia
suburbs near Media, that are sort
of open mic nights
for indie filmmakers. Bring your short
films or webseries
Q: What would you say has helped FirstGlance grow it’s audience from 150
people in 1996 to the current 100,000?
A: Our reputation for being one of the best film festivals in the country for
truly indie film has grown both our audiences and our filmmaker base, with
many coming back over and over again. Having produced 30 festivals in
the past 17 years, makes us sort of experts in the indie film community and
due to that we get quality films that most other festivals don’t We’ve been
named 5 times by Moviemaker Magazine as one of the best film festival investments for both filmmakers and festival attendees.
We also have the longest running online short contest that brings in thousands of viewers each festival, which leads to brand awareness when our
festivals come back around.
Q: Having expanded to Los Angeles, how would you say the film industry is
different in LA than it is in Philly?
A: The industry is different in Los Angeles as it’s the hub of most production
in the United States, even though a lot of physical production has left Los
Angeles, it’s still the place where all the production companies call home,
therefore most of the big premieres, events and Hollywood hoopla still hap48 pens in Los Angeles, as well as casting and post production. (Cont’d)