Interview with Director of FilmShift: Part I

"After seeing an entertaining film, I feel motivated, fired up, open to new ideas and new possibilities."- Jeremy Jed Hammel, Director of FilmShift

While doing research for the Glovebox Short Film and Animation Festival, we started emailing and talking to other film festival directors to see what works for them. As we introduced ourselves and met people from the community, we were pleasantly surprised to be welcomed with open arms. We connected with Jeremy Jed Hammel, the Director of FilmShift and the FilmShift Festival in Boston, Massachusetts. 

The FilmShift Festival is a grassroots organization that supports and promotes independent films, filmmakers and small businesses. Their mission is to find shifts, both big and small, in the art world and the local community and to highlight the success of these independent artists and entrepreneurs. The FilmShift Festival champions films from across the nation, films that are produced independently and on the local level by professionals and students using predominantly small or “green” businesses. Hammel, always the philanthropist, donates 20% of the festival’s gross ticket sales to non-profit groups. We applaud his effort and look to this veteran festival for mentorship as they lead by wonderful example. Hammel was kind enough to speak with us on the phone, answering questions and doing an interview for our blog readers. He gave us so much great information that we can't wait to share with you. We are sharing the interview in 2 parts because there is so much good stuff we want to highlight each issue separately. His message? We are all here to support each other.

"It's important to me that I make a positive and lasting change within my community...I want to make the world a better place, and Filmshift is my way of doing that."  - Jeremy Jed Hammel, Director of FilmShift
Jeremy Jed Hammel is a multiple award-winning filmmaker and has produced projects for The American Film Institute and NBC’s national network show, and his work has won prestigious such as Best Feature winner. (Read more about Hammel's accomplishments here.) Hammel’s latest producing project, “The Legacy,” Directed by Mike Doto, won Best Comic Related Film at the 2010 Comic Con International Independent Film Festival in San Diego.  

GLVBX: What do you do as a festival director? 
JJH: I book the venue, design (along with our web designer) and update our website, write press releases, update our social media, correspond with filmmakers, procure and coordinate our sponsors, coordinate with our judges, work with our graphic designer, web designer, and festival program designer...Organize volunteers, update each entrant with the status of their work, post our "Call For Entries" with every film office in the country as well as with colleges and industry message boards worldwide, watch every film that is submitted, set up our online ticketing interface, post our flier in businesses around the Boston area, pitch story ideas to the media and do interviews with them, do Q and A's with filmmakers at their screenings, and make sure everything runs smoothly on the days of the festival...there's some more to do in there, but that's the bulk of my work.

Wow! Do you have any spare time after that? What other projects are you currently working on?
JJH: My current producing project, “The Legacy,” Directed by Mike Doto, won Best Comic Related Film at the 2010 Comic Con International Independent Film Festival in San Diego. Doto’s previous film, the award-winning, “Peace,” is available on iTunes and stars Kurtwood Smith from “Worst Week,” and “That 70’s Show."

We know Hammel is a busy guy, proven by the number of projects and accolades in his repertoire. A number of Hammel’s screenplays have won awards in screenplay competitions across the country, including one of his screenplays that made to the Top 15% (out of 5500) screenplays for The Academy’s 2008 Nicholl Fellowship! Hammel has worked in every area of film/TV production, in nearly every capacity.  His crew credits, among other things, include the critically acclaimed hit series, “ER”. Hammel tells Glovebox, 

 "Filmshift has given me the opportunity to bring together my love of film with my desire to make the world a better place."  

Why did you start FilmShift/FilmShift Festival?

JJH: It's important to me that I make a positive and lasting change within my community...I want to make the world a better place, and Filmshift is my way of doing that.  Filmshift combines a few things that I am passionate about with what I am most qualified to do: I feel that it is vitally important that we all donate a portion of our time and/or money to charity, so 20% of our gross ticket sales will go to a local charity called Christopher's Haven.

I am convinced that locally-based, small businesses will save our country both from this current economic downturn and from losing our diverse national identity.  So, I feel that sparking a dialogue with members of the community about how local and green business can help is imperative. Organizations like one of our media sponsors, Somerville Local First, and our Presenting Sponsor, The Longfellow Clubs, as well as our audience raffle sponsor, Cambridge Naturals, have been doing great work within the communities around the Boston area. Their hard work, passion, and leadership inspired me to frame my film festival around local and "green" issues.
Lastly, I believe that entertaining and thought-provoking films can inspire change not just on a grand scale, but within ourselves individually.  For me personally, after seeing an entertaining film, I feel motivated, fired up, open to new ideas and new possibilities...and if I didn't enjoy the film, then I want to find a way to try to do it better...but either way, I feel inspired after I see a good film.  My goal is to have Filmshift audiences feel that same way.

It's in my nature to bring people together, it's in my blood to be an entrepreneur, and I've spent over a decade working in both the studio and independent film/TV industry, so it just made sense to me that I create Filmshift.
What parting advice can you give us about Boston Film Festivals?
JJH: Boston and New England has so many diverse film festivals and so many passionate and talented filmmakers here in the area, I'm hopeful that collectively we can start seeing a consistent stream of high-level independent films, produced on the local level.

The one lesson that I've learned from my time in both Boston and LA is one that I cannot stress enough:  No one is going to Make It Happen except you.  So go do it.  Now.  Make your film  Just don't bet the house on it and don't expect you'll be rich and famous once you do.

Thank you Jed for taking the time to impart these words of advice that will help filmmakers and people who want to embark on putting together a local film festival. Join Glovebox at our first film festival on June 11th. More info here.