Every year, after the Tabloid Witch Awards announces its winning filmmakers, one or two filmmakers fail to respond to my emails informing them of their wins. Thus I can't verify the spelling of their names for award plaques. Nor do I know where to send the plaques.
And so I send second emails. Sometimes a third. Most filmmakers respond by the third.
But this year we have a record number of missing filmmakers.
Fifteen films won an award. Eight responded right away. One responded several weeks later, saying she only now found my email in her spam folder. That happens. But that still leaves six missing filmmakers.
Fifteen films won an award. Six filmmakers failed to respond. That's a record 40% missing filmmakers.
Now begins the hunt for these filmmakers. I search the internet for additional contact information. I might find them on Linked In, but people often abandon their social media accounts and thus ignore notifications. Some filmmakers have provided snail mail addresses on Film Freeway and so I write letters. Several years ago I finally contacted a filmmaker that way.
Why do filmmakers enter a film festival, pay an entry fee, then fail to follow up as to whether they've won or not? I suppose they enter so many film festivals, they forget which ones they've entered. And they assume that emails from the festival won't end up in their spam folders, which they ignore.
Never fear. I hunt till I track them down. Some I finally contact years after their win. They're invariably surprised and grateful that I made the effort, and usually a bit apologetic.
One or two remain missing even a decade later, their plaques packaged and gathering dust in my closet.
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