"DO YOU OFFER SUBMISSION FEE WAIVERS?"
No, we do not offer nor will we acknowledge requests for submission fee waivers as this is a competition about form, function and craft. Promotions is part of the job as a filmmaker and must be carefully accounted for as a professional.
We also feel the considerable amount of time taken to thoroughly review the unique merits of each submission, and with respect to all of your fellow movie makers whose financial contributions help underwrite this lengthy process and infrastructure costs, it's not appropriate to waive customary promotional expenses for those who have not planned accordingly for this phase of their movie's journey.
We thank you in advance for understanding our position in this matter.
We also feel the considerable amount of time taken to thoroughly review the unique merits of each submission, and with respect to all of your fellow movie makers whose financial contributions help underwrite this lengthy process and infrastructure costs, it's not appropriate to waive customary promotional expenses for those who have not planned accordingly for this phase of their movie's journey.
We thank you in advance for understanding our position in this matter.
“The MMA truly celebrates what usually lacks in many big name festivals: the very spirit of indie filmmaking. ‘Indie’ has become an overused word these last years. It slowly lost value, becoming more of a fashion thing than anything else. MMA brings ‘Indie’ back to where it belongs!"
Olivier Boonjing, Writer/Producer/Director of “Somewhere Between Here and Now”
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
THE SHORT ANSWER:
QUESTION: What do you accept?
ANSWER: Except for advertising and industrial work, everything from anywhere by anyone made in the last three years.
QUESTION: My movie has known stars, big-time production value, has screened at one of the major film festivals, and/or has recently gone into distribution. Can I still submit?
ANSWER: Yes.
QUESTION: How do you judge submissions?
ANSWER: The right, just, and fair way.
QUESTION: How come you're an awards cooperative and not a film festival?
ANSWER: Our long standing integrity and tradition of recognizing high quality movies helps moviemakers with their industry credibility and distribution opportunities.
QUESTION: And why no screening events?
ANSWER: So we won’t blow your premiere status for festivals that officially or unofficially require the distinction of unveiling your movie to the world. Also venues make the money while festivals do all the work. Love and support your local film festivals, folks!
QUESTION: Are you going to screen my movie online?
ANSWER: No, we're not a festival or screening event of any kind on any platform.
QUESTION: Are you a written screenplay or short film script competition?
ANSWER: No.
QUESTION: Do you have a documentary category?
ANSWER: Yes, we do and they're also eligible for nearly every other awards category including Best Picture.
QUESTION: Do you have a Student Category?
ANSWER: No, not anymore.
QUESTION: What do you accept?
ANSWER: Except for advertising and industrial work, everything from anywhere by anyone made in the last three years.
QUESTION: My movie has known stars, big-time production value, has screened at one of the major film festivals, and/or has recently gone into distribution. Can I still submit?
ANSWER: Yes.
QUESTION: How do you judge submissions?
ANSWER: The right, just, and fair way.
QUESTION: How come you're an awards cooperative and not a film festival?
ANSWER: Our long standing integrity and tradition of recognizing high quality movies helps moviemakers with their industry credibility and distribution opportunities.
QUESTION: And why no screening events?
ANSWER: So we won’t blow your premiere status for festivals that officially or unofficially require the distinction of unveiling your movie to the world. Also venues make the money while festivals do all the work. Love and support your local film festivals, folks!
QUESTION: Are you going to screen my movie online?
ANSWER: No, we're not a festival or screening event of any kind on any platform.
QUESTION: Are you a written screenplay or short film script competition?
ANSWER: No.
QUESTION: Do you have a documentary category?
ANSWER: Yes, we do and they're also eligible for nearly every other awards category including Best Picture.
QUESTION: Do you have a Student Category?
ANSWER: No, not anymore.
THE LONG ANSWER:
Q: What do you accept?
A: Everything submitted is given a fair shake because a good movie is a good movie is a good movie regardless of how much a movie costs to make, how long it took to make, or how passionate its makers were in making it. Any genre, style, or intent – from anyone, anywhere – that's what we accept. Documentary or narrative, experimental or main stream, music video or video art, live action or animated, underground or independent, "True Indie" or foreign, Bollywood or Hollywood: we've seen it all and have awarded it all.
Q: My movie has known stars, big-time production value, has screened at one of the major film festivals, and/or has recently gone into distribution. Can I still submit?
A: Yes! The MMA accepts studio films and/or movies by major filmmakers. We only care if your movie is a maverick movie; we don't care where it came from, who financed it, how much it cost, or if it has screened elsewhere. Being a large, successful movie isn't a "maverick" characteristic for far too many movies so if your big budget movie has the chops, we'll consider you as maverick as any of our true independent and underground moviemakers.
Q: How do you judge submissions?
A: Unlike any other competition or film festival, which is to say, the right, just, and fair way. Our credentials? The Maverick Movie Awards are supported by entertainment industry professionals, critics and academics with backgrounds as varied as our work. In fact, everyone involved in the judging process has been a collaborator on a theatrically released movie, a television or video release, or a top ten film fest official selection. The process: A multi-viewer system kicks qualifying submissions up to the final selections process where these pictures are rated from 1-to-10 in every applicable awards category. From there it’s mostly arithmetic and arguments until decisions are made on nominations, and eventually, awards. Dare we suggest that it's as fair and impartial as anything like this ever can be? Yup, we dare.
Q: How come you're an awards cooperative and not a film festival?
A: The proto-version of MMA was a thriving film festival until we realized that we were not serving the needs of moviemakers. After five years of holding successful screening events, we had built a loyal following; however, after seeing mostly the same faces every year, we concluded that we were preaching to the choir. Getting caught up in the warm fuzzies we helped to create by coordinating an event for so many talented auteurs to interface directly with receptive audiences, it was easy to miss that we weren't really helping moviemakers gain better traction for their marketing or commercial distribution opportunities. By axing the festival, we were no longer constrained by the time limitations imposed by venues and screening schedules which forced us to choose one deserving movie to screen over another. By reinventing ourselves as the Maverick Movie Awards we significantly increased the number of movies and moviemakers to honor with an award or nomination; hence, finally achieving our primary objective: to help moviemakers garner accolades, increase awareness, and better market their hard work to the world stage. Whether it is for artistic validation, market recognition, or even sweeten a distribution deal, the value of a Maverick Movie Award can be measured by the collective and individual achievements of our winners and nominees as the years roll by us all.
Q: And why no screening events?
A: Since we no longer host movie screenings, we cannot and will not blow your premier status for the festivals that either officially or unofficially require the distinction of "breaking your movie." The fact is many festivals will not select your movie if they cannot be the first to screen it. And yes, we know festivals also pay lip service to note they don't have an "official rule that mandates a worldwide, national, or even regional premiere requirement" but many actually do. The truth is festivals who claim they don't factor premier status into their decision to select someone else's movie over yours is because they have to pander to their audience first instead of the filmmaker. Also, sadly, many high profile film festivals will demand your premiere simply for bragging rights and lock you out of other festival screening possibilities. We don't put up with any of that. it doesn't make any sense to MMA to limit your opportunities in today's market place so we're here to help where we can!
Q: Are you an online festival?
A: No, we're not a festival of any kind. Repeat: we are NOT a film festival or screening event of any kind.
Q: Are you a written screenplay or short film script competition?
A: No, but we do give awards for screenwriting in both the Features and Shorts categories to screenwriters.
Q: Do you have a documentary category?
A: Yes, although in the past we categorized them as our "Best Chronicle" and "Best Performance" awards which were generally exclusive to documentaries. In fact, documentaries have won Best Picture, Best Cinematography and, well, most of the other more coveted award categories too.
Q: Do you have a Student Category?
A: No. The industry no longer grades on a curve and neither do we. MMA is all about recognizing work on a level field and the segregation of the "Student" category from everyone else no longer made any
sense to us. Besides it seems wholly unfair that "student" filmmakers have the tools and the training to take their veteran counterparts to task and NOT recognize them for it as such.
In case we haven't belabored the point enough, we leveled the entire playing field here with our continuing efforts. The Maverick Movie Awards vow to continue to rise above unfair genre segregations in order to advocate unnecessary and unrealistic differentiations. Let the work speak for itself - if you dare!
Q: What do you accept?
A: Everything submitted is given a fair shake because a good movie is a good movie is a good movie regardless of how much a movie costs to make, how long it took to make, or how passionate its makers were in making it. Any genre, style, or intent – from anyone, anywhere – that's what we accept. Documentary or narrative, experimental or main stream, music video or video art, live action or animated, underground or independent, "True Indie" or foreign, Bollywood or Hollywood: we've seen it all and have awarded it all.
Q: My movie has known stars, big-time production value, has screened at one of the major film festivals, and/or has recently gone into distribution. Can I still submit?
A: Yes! The MMA accepts studio films and/or movies by major filmmakers. We only care if your movie is a maverick movie; we don't care where it came from, who financed it, how much it cost, or if it has screened elsewhere. Being a large, successful movie isn't a "maverick" characteristic for far too many movies so if your big budget movie has the chops, we'll consider you as maverick as any of our true independent and underground moviemakers.
Q: How do you judge submissions?
A: Unlike any other competition or film festival, which is to say, the right, just, and fair way. Our credentials? The Maverick Movie Awards are supported by entertainment industry professionals, critics and academics with backgrounds as varied as our work. In fact, everyone involved in the judging process has been a collaborator on a theatrically released movie, a television or video release, or a top ten film fest official selection. The process: A multi-viewer system kicks qualifying submissions up to the final selections process where these pictures are rated from 1-to-10 in every applicable awards category. From there it’s mostly arithmetic and arguments until decisions are made on nominations, and eventually, awards. Dare we suggest that it's as fair and impartial as anything like this ever can be? Yup, we dare.
Q: How come you're an awards cooperative and not a film festival?
A: The proto-version of MMA was a thriving film festival until we realized that we were not serving the needs of moviemakers. After five years of holding successful screening events, we had built a loyal following; however, after seeing mostly the same faces every year, we concluded that we were preaching to the choir. Getting caught up in the warm fuzzies we helped to create by coordinating an event for so many talented auteurs to interface directly with receptive audiences, it was easy to miss that we weren't really helping moviemakers gain better traction for their marketing or commercial distribution opportunities. By axing the festival, we were no longer constrained by the time limitations imposed by venues and screening schedules which forced us to choose one deserving movie to screen over another. By reinventing ourselves as the Maverick Movie Awards we significantly increased the number of movies and moviemakers to honor with an award or nomination; hence, finally achieving our primary objective: to help moviemakers garner accolades, increase awareness, and better market their hard work to the world stage. Whether it is for artistic validation, market recognition, or even sweeten a distribution deal, the value of a Maverick Movie Award can be measured by the collective and individual achievements of our winners and nominees as the years roll by us all.
Q: And why no screening events?
A: Since we no longer host movie screenings, we cannot and will not blow your premier status for the festivals that either officially or unofficially require the distinction of "breaking your movie." The fact is many festivals will not select your movie if they cannot be the first to screen it. And yes, we know festivals also pay lip service to note they don't have an "official rule that mandates a worldwide, national, or even regional premiere requirement" but many actually do. The truth is festivals who claim they don't factor premier status into their decision to select someone else's movie over yours is because they have to pander to their audience first instead of the filmmaker. Also, sadly, many high profile film festivals will demand your premiere simply for bragging rights and lock you out of other festival screening possibilities. We don't put up with any of that. it doesn't make any sense to MMA to limit your opportunities in today's market place so we're here to help where we can!
Q: Are you an online festival?
A: No, we're not a festival of any kind. Repeat: we are NOT a film festival or screening event of any kind.
Q: Are you a written screenplay or short film script competition?
A: No, but we do give awards for screenwriting in both the Features and Shorts categories to screenwriters.
Q: Do you have a documentary category?
A: Yes, although in the past we categorized them as our "Best Chronicle" and "Best Performance" awards which were generally exclusive to documentaries. In fact, documentaries have won Best Picture, Best Cinematography and, well, most of the other more coveted award categories too.
Q: Do you have a Student Category?
A: No. The industry no longer grades on a curve and neither do we. MMA is all about recognizing work on a level field and the segregation of the "Student" category from everyone else no longer made any
sense to us. Besides it seems wholly unfair that "student" filmmakers have the tools and the training to take their veteran counterparts to task and NOT recognize them for it as such.
In case we haven't belabored the point enough, we leveled the entire playing field here with our continuing efforts. The Maverick Movie Awards vow to continue to rise above unfair genre segregations in order to advocate unnecessary and unrealistic differentiations. Let the work speak for itself - if you dare!