Fillmakers are delusional, when it comes to their own projects.
To an extent, I agree with this. Perhaps I'm just projecting here, but I feel like it's kinda normal for artists to swing back and forth between having complete confidence in their work, and having absolutely none. Maybe one day I feel like a total genius, and the next day I'm a fraud. I try to spend most of my time in the middle, but the swings of artistic self-confidence do happen. That's not just me is it?
Anyway, on the subject of Sundance, I feel the same way now as I did when I first wrote a response in this thread, a couple years ago. Screw them bastards! Don't send them your money, they're not for us!
Take a look at
last year's Sundance premiere's, vs.
last year's Slamdance premieres. C'mon, gimme a break! If Sundance is Indie, then my ass smells of lavender and thyme, when I shit solid blocks of puppy-dog-flavored ice cream.
Besides the fact that most people on this forum simply cannot compete with the likes of Joseph Gordon Levitt, Amanda Seyfreid and Paul Rudd (among
many other major Hollywood stars featured in Sundance), it's also true that Sundance gets so many submissions that they
literally can't watch them all (too many films, not enough people/time to watch them, basic math). With a lawsuit pending against them, they admitted that they can't watch everything, and don't make any guarantee of how much of your film they'll actually watch (it's even stated in their submission policy). In other words, you may very well pay for them to NOT watch your film.
They also don't treat all submissions equally. They are open to submissions given to them by agents and major Hollywood producers. Slamdance, on the other hand, only accepts blind submissions. Everyone has to submit their film in the exact same way. Slamdance won't allow a well-known talent agency or Hollywood producer to bypass the regular submission process (as Sundance is known to do).
I can't fault anyone if they really just want to gamble on Sundance. Every now and then, I play the lottery, even though I know that the odds of me winning are basically non-existent. So, yeah, go ahead and basically waste your money on Sundance. Hey,
somebody has got to win the lottery!