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Submitting shorts to film fests this year? Really give a good think about what value you want for your (mostly absurd) submission costs. Need LITERALLY ANY laurels? You could fake them and no one would notice as no one cares about laurels from no-name fests anyway (don't do that)
Unless you're screening at a MEGA fest or Short of the Week, the biggest value tends to be the connections you make at the fests themselves. Travel is hard anyways, but right now in plague-era? Maybe that Oklahoma bar film fest isn't worth your $30 submission fee...
Before submitting for 2021, see what fests did for 2020. Are you happy with their covid pivots? Did they just continually delay and end up doing nothing? Are multiple online screenings something you want to participate in and if so, do they bring in the audience?
From my experiences this year, some smaller fests KILLED some bigger fests when it came to the events they threw. Reach out to friends about their experiences (you do have filmmaker friends, because you've used past film fests to nurture community connections, right?)
I've been whittling down my submissions with every film I finish, and can say with confidence that submitting your short to 300 fests isn't going to help anyone but the bankers. Pick a few *nice* ones that fit, then your good local/niche ones, and then move on to your next film.
