Getting SXSW Coverage

Though it may seem presumptuous of me (and it is!), I’m going to borrow a page from Michael Tully‘s book (and Karina Longworth‘s and Jette Kernion‘s) and write an entry to any filmmakers and publicists out there who might be reading this and who have a film screening at South by Southwest this year. It’s just a month away, but that’s a pretty good stretch of time to start promoting your film. And believe me, that week in Austin flies by before you know it. Even though I’ve already started receiving a number of emails from publicists pitching their wares, these are generic pitches to the entire press crowd attending the festival. If you want some individual and special coverage from me, send me an individual and special email. You can reach me at “james” at this domain. I can’t make any promises (I’ve got a pretty demanding day job) but giving me five weeks to cover your film is better than just hoping I turn up at the screening in Austin. Screeners are always appreciated, though you’ll have to pay extra to ship them all the way up here to Canada. But once I’ve written about your film, the border magically disappears! Don’t bother sending me links to trailers, though I’m a huge fan of film one-sheets and will almost certainly post those.

To be honest, I’m a little freaked out by the prospect of trying to do a good job of covering both the interactive conference (for the day job) and the film festival (for this here site) as well as enjoy a few days of free music afterwards. Any jump I can get on the media maelstrom I’m about to head into would make me happy, or at least slightly less stressed out.