Please Do NOT Spam the Tabloid Witch

Please do not SPAM film festivals with fee waiver requests. Apparently, there are companies that do this for a fee. But festivals can always spot the spam and it's a turnoff.

I received the following email this morning:

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Dear Festival Organizers,

Your festival has always inspired us. With limited resources, we humbly ask if a waiver could be granted for one submission. For our other entries, we are glad to support with reduced fees if possible.

Your generosity would mean the world to us, and we will always carry it with gratitude.

Warm regards,
Winnie

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Let's analyze this.

1. There's the effusive praise. Of course, it's also generic. It does not address my festival by name, and does not specify why this person was "always inspired" by it.

2. There's the plea of poverty. Some festivals charge very high submission fees, but the Tabloid Witch's current fee is a token $5. Less than the price of coffee in Los Angeles. Of course, because this is spam, the sender has no idea what the many email recipients' submission fees are.

Adding to the insult, while the filmmaker allegedly can't afford a festival entry fee, he or she can afford to hire a spam email service.

3. There's the poor grammar: "we are glad to support with reduced fees". Support what? It should say "support your festival with reduced fees." I'm not sure if this email was AI generated; AI usually has perfect grammar. 

4. Which brings us to a unique twist: the false possibility (no guarantee) of other entries for a "reduced fee," if only I would grant one free submission. 

5. The sender "Winnie" says nothing about his or her film(s). Nothing about its genre, length, festival history, the people involved. No attempt is made to "sell me" on this film. Why would a festival grant a waiver for an unknown product?

This is not only spam, it's poorly written spam. Apparently, while the spam company knew enough about film festivals to have collected a large mailing list, the company didn't bother to advise "Winnie" on how to write enticing spam.

6. Not just the film, but the sender remains a mystery. The email has one person's name, but the gmail return address has another name. I have no idea if "Winnie" is even a person. It might be a front name for a festival submission service (the same as sent the spam?) that has many filmmaker clients, hence this vague talk of possible other submissions in the future.

I often receive spam requesting fee waivers. Spam is obvious by its generic nature, the sender hoping that it will apply to thousands of festival recipients. Spam is insulting because if you're going to request a favor, you should send a personal email, indicating that you know and care about the specific festival your contacting.

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