Hollyweb Festival does social media right!

Every year, a number of Hollywood entrepreneurs turn to festival submission fees as a means to make their careers sustainable. Advertisements pop up on the IMDb and other forums promoting the attention of industry executives nobody actually knows, and hungry filmmakers take out their credit cards.

Most of these festivals never get past their first year. Those that do tend to thrive on the exclusivity promised by their initial marketing blitz, and lend themselves more to cinema than web content as a result.

In Los Angeles, the only web festivals that HAVE lasted beyond year-one are those with branded backing - namely the Webbys, the Streamys, and the Accolades. Big name support drives the submission process to these particular competitions.

Finally, there's a web festival that's taking time to build a bona-fide community. If there will ever be a web series festival to inherit the creative standards of organizations like SXSW or Sundance, it will be the Hollyweb Festival. By embracing the strengths of social media and web communication, they're quickly making themselves the first festival truly dedicated to online content.

I'm saying this not because of the impressive resumes involved, or because the companies behind the festival are major online players. I'm saying this because every time Hollyweb pops up on my twitter, they start a conversation with me.

Take a page, guys. This is how you build a community.

http://www.hollywebfestival.com/