• Making the film/video is only half the work, as much planning and work needs to go into getting it out into the world, there are endless possibilities but success is often measured by the amount of self-promotion you do.

• When the work is finished if you don’t have an exhibition opportunity lined up then always set up a preview screening at a convenient place and time and invite all the programmers, curators and distributors that you want to interest in your work.

• Make more than one exhibition copy of your work, as exhibitors will always take longer to return them than you imagine, and its cheaper to make a number of copies at once. If you are working on tape, as far as possible try and avoid using miniDV as an exhibition format, it is notoriously unstable and will not guarantee the best exhibition of your work.

• If you are sending preview tapes, check that they play properly and are recorded correctly and include any special viewing instructions (play loud!, watch in a dark room) on the tape.

• For installation proposals be realistic and include detailed technical and budget information.

• The quality of your promotional material is very important, this is most curators first impression of your work. You don’t need a flashy press pack, interesting stills, a clear biography/filmography and synopsis really counts towards presenting your work in the best possible light.

• Set up a website to promote you work. This is a useful resource to make sure that all of your promotion materials are always available worldwide and circulate the URL as much as possible. However remember that this should be a functional site, there is no point making a complicated site that few people will be able to access.

• A well-written work description is very important, this will be many programmers guide to your work, when deciding to show it and when writing about it, and as far as possible avoid being too oblique, people look to a description to help them interpret the work, not to confuse them more!

• Keep it brief. When you are sending tapes and supporting materials remember that the person you are sending them to probably receives many similar applications. It is important to make a quick impression, do not overwhelm them with a two hour showreel and a big press-pack, focus the application on one or two works with strong supporting material.

• Label everything you send, make sure that everything has your contact details on, including the tape as materials can offer get separated.

• If you get a distributor for your work, be clear about what they will and wont do, think of it as a partnership and work out how you can best work together to promote your work.

• If you have a distributor always acknowledge them alongside your contact details this will mean if people can’t get in touch with you they can always reach you through the distributor.

• Do your research before sending work to potential exhibitors, this will save you (and them) time and money. Have they shown the kind of work you have made before and does it fit with their general curatorial direction? If in doubt, get in touch first and ask them. Never send blind, unsolicited submissions as these will probably never reach the right person and will waste your time.

• Try not to be pushy with programmers and curators, they are probably busy and receive approaches all the time from artists and an overly forceful approach may count against you. Also do not ever turn up at a venue without making an appointment and expect someone to look at your work, once again this could seriously count against you. Instead contact them in advance and find out what procedures they have for dealing with submissions.

• Be strategic about which festivals you enter, think about the benefit to you and your work. What are they offering you? How will your work be presented? Is it a prestigious event that will look good on your CV? Often smaller specialist events may not have the prestige of the larger ones but they are much better places to make connections and meet people.

• Try to be at as many showings of your work as possible, as well as invaluable audience feedback, this will allow you to present your work yourself and make personal connections with other programmers/curators/artists which may lead to further opportunities.