You skipped a week of sleep to fine-tune your film to submit by the deadline. After you've slept, eaten something other than take-out, and rejoined the waking world,  you may be wondering what's happened to  your film. It's peak time in the film selection process for the 2010 Sundance Film Festival, so The Insider lurked into the cave of the Programming office to check the status of your submission.

Insider: What happens when a film is submitted?

Programming: Assuming that the film was registered online and the tracking number is written clearly on both the face of the DVD and on the envelope it was sent in, we sort all films by category (U.S. Narrative Feature, U.S. Documentary Feature, International Narrative Feature, International Documentary Feature, U.S. Short, and International Short), place each disc in our own proprietary sleeve and process them as soon as possible. 

Due to the sheer volume of submissions we receive, it can sometimes take more than a week to process all films received on any given deadline, and we ask that all applicants monitor the film's status on Withoutabox to ensure that the DVD was received by us. The only difference between our various deadline dates are the fees-- the review process is the same, but we definitely encourage people to submit as soon as possible and save on application fees in the process.

Insider: What's the craziest excuse you've received for why a submission arrived after the final deadline?

Programming: This year a filmmaker contacted us because they had been editing for five days straight with no sleep in order to get their film in on time, but they tripped and fell in front of the mailbox, smashing the DVD in the process, and then had to go to the hospital.  I don't think we really believed the whole story, but the effort warranted us giving them a short extension to get the film to us after the deadline. Hopefully they have made a full recovery!

Insider: What happens if a film doesn't arrive in one piece?

Programming: If a DVD is broken or doesn't play properly,  we will contact the applicant to request another copy.  Because this process is so time sensitive, we ask that all filmmakers ensure that their DVDs play BEFORE they send them to us, but obviously it's not uncommon for them to get cracked in transit. 

Actually, a couple years ago there was a filmmaker who needed some extra time to finish his short so he intentionally sent us a broken disc, but it was so obvious that his DVD had been purposefully stomped on, and it didn't help that he wrote a blog entry about this scheme. We still let him send us a new disc because we're nice people, but please don't try this method to get a few extra days!

Insider: You don't actually watch all of those films, do you?

Programming: Every single film is viewed in its entirety at least once.  We take this process very seriously, and although it seems like watching 9,500 films might be an impossibility, we have a very large and dedicated Programming staff who makes it happen. As long as you have paid the submission fees and your disc was received by us in time and in working order, your film will be given the same level of consideration as every other film that was submitted to us.

Insider: Do bribes help? What sort of goodies have you received this year?

Programming: With the economy in the state that its in, starving filmmakers seem a little less inclined to include bribes and other goodies along with their submissions, which is mostly a good thing.  The best item we've received this year was a bag of candy corn, which is kind of sad considering that in the past we've received such zany items as a unicycle, a fondue machine, a giant boot that was spray painted gold, and some amazing sneakers that had the word "Hustler" bedazzled all over them.  We ask that applicants not send anything other than their DVD, but we do miss the copious amounts of candy we used to get every week (hint, hint). 

Insider: When will we know what films are selected?

Programming: All applicants will receive an official notification no later than December 2, 2009.

Insider: Any "trends" in films you're seeing this year?

Programming:  There are always recurring, unexpected themes that pop up each year.  Last year it was boxing.  We had so many documentaries submitted about boxing that it was hard to remember which was which.  This year there seems to be an unusually high number of films about the equine species.  Although the Chinese Calendar  has attributed 2010 as the year of the tiger, we think it's the year of the horse. 

Insider: Anything good to know for future applicants?

Programming: Register online before you submit your film, and please remember to write your tracking number on your DVD!  Also, we do accept works-in-progress, as long as the film is complete enough for our Programming staff to make an informed decision.

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