What I Saw at HollyShorts — and What It Proves About Festival Strategy

I've spent the last week at HollyShorts Film Festival in Hollywood — one of the most respected Oscar-qualifying short film festivals in the world — and I was there supporting two of my clients.

Lisa Steadman won the Stage 32 Grand Prize on Opening Night. Her short film Tainted Love kicked off the festival in front of a packed room.

Adam Byrnes had his world premiere at HollyShorts as a Made in LA finalist. His film Viewfinder was nominated for the Made in LA Award.

Neither of those outcomes happened by accident.

These filmmakers didn't throw their films at every festival on FilmFreeway and wait. They made deliberate decisions about where to submit, why those festivals made sense for their specific films, and how to position their work to land in the right rooms. That's what festival strategy actually looks like in practice.

I also had the chance to attend Beyond the Pages, a panel hosted by Jean Vallesteros that explored the relationship between novels and screenplays. The idea that's stayed with me: for many filmmakers, writing a novel isn't a detour from getting the film made. It's another path toward it. The story tells you what medium it wants to live in first.

This landed differently for me because I'm living it right now. This week, Variety covered the film adaptation of Haunting Skies — an aliens-vs-devil horror story written and directed by Christian Kang Bachini. He was originally working with literary agents on rewrites that kept diluting his original vision. So he said no, published the book independently, and it's already charting among Amazon's top occult and supernatural horror bestsellers. The film's now moving forward with a strong cast — and I'm on board as producer.

Bachini's quote from the Variety piece is worth sitting with: "The novel is not merchandise for a movie that doesn't exist yet. It is the first complete version of the universe."

He didn't wait for permission. He used the book as proof of concept — and as the first complete version of his story. That's what strategic thinking looks like when it's applied to a career, not just a submission cycle.

If you want to support the film, you can grab the book on Amazon right now. Readers entering the universe now are part of how this film gets made on his terms.

The filmmakers who build real traction are the ones who stay open to how the path unfolds, while staying deliberate about every move they make.

This landed differently for me because I'm living it right now. This week, Variety covered the film adaptation of Haunting Skies — an aliens-vs-devil horror story written and directed by Christian Kang Bachini. He was originally working with literary agents on rewrites that kept diluting his original vision. So he said no, published the book independently, and it's already charting among Amazon's top occult and supernatural horror bestsellers. The film's now moving forward with a strong cast — and I'm on board as producer.
Bachini's quote from the Variety piece is worth sitting with: "The novel is not merchandise for a movie that doesn't exist yet. It is the first complete version of the universe." 
He didn't wait for permission. He used the book as proof of concept — and as the first complete version of his story. That's what strategic thinking looks like when it's applied to a career, not just a submission cycle.
If you want to support the film, you can grab the book on Amazon right now. Readers entering the universe now are part of how this film gets made on his terms.
The filmmakers who build real traction are the ones who stay open to how the path unfolds, while staying deliberate about every move they make.

This landed differently for me because I'm living it right now. This week, Variety covered the film adaptation of Haunting Skies —

an aliens-vs-devil horror story written and directed by Christian Kang Bachini. He was originally working with literary agents on rewrites that kept diluting his original vision. So he said no, published the book independently, and it's already charting among Amazon's top occult and supernatural horror bestsellers. The film's now moving forward with a strong cast — and I'm on board as producer.

Bachini's quote from the Variety piece is worth sitting with: "The novel is not merchandise for a movie that doesn't exist yet. It is the first complete version of the universe."

He didn't wait for permission. He used the book as proof of concept — and as the first complete version of his story. That's what strategic thinking looks like when it's applied to a career, not just a submission cycle.

If you want to support the film, you can grab the book on Amazon right now.

Readers entering the universe now are part of how this film gets made on his terms.

The filmmakers who build real traction are the ones who stay open to how the path unfolds, while staying deliberate about every move they make.

If you've got a finished film and you're not sure where to submit, how to position your work, or how to turn a festival run into actual career momentum — that's exactly what I do.

Here's what's available depending on where you are in your process:

• Festival Fixr™ — my AI strategist built specifically for filmmakers. On-demand strategy, positioning support, and submission guidance trained on my real-world frameworks.
• Freeway Fixr™ — a targeted fix for one of the most expensive problems filmmakers face: a FilmFreeway page that's not doing enough work.
• Insider Track™ — the full strategic roadmap for filmmakers who want to stop guessing and build a festival run that actually moves their career forward.
• 1:1 Strategy Sessions — personalized guidance on festival fit, positioning, submission strategy, and next moves. Single sessions and a 3-pack available.
• Free resources — if you're not ready to invest yet, there's still somewhere to start.

Figure out which one is right for you →