This is my third year working with True/False, a documentary film fest in Columbia, Missouri. It is the reason why I’ve been a little MIA in my own store lately.
I had no festival experience before I started helping out, but had a good five years of retail experience. The first year was extremely stressful. If you think that buying merchandise for your own store and with your own money is stressful, try being responsible for someone else’s merch (and money), a non-profit to boot. I often get asked what I do exactly for the fest. I basically do everything that involves selling fest merchandise. So, that obviously means finding shirts and other merchandise to sell, but there is so much more to it. A lot of my part of the fest involves guessing…mostly on quantities of sizes. How many large volunteer shirts? How many small True Life Run shirts? How many medium director’s hoodies? Because life doesn’t always fit into a spreadsheet (as much as I’d like it to), these guessing games can weigh quite heavily on me. I’m constantly worried about having enough or ordering too much. Someone saying something as simple as “I need ten shirts for so and so” can really stress me out when it’s unanticipated. I’m not sure how other fests account for this, but I’m assuming that bigger ones can absorb a lot of the cost of always having extras.
All that being said, my main job is pretty darn easy…selling merch. What I’ve found so intriguing about the True/False customer is the unique relationship that exists between the fest and it’s patrons. It goes without saying that as far as merch sales goes, this is very beneficial. To True/False fest go-ers, merch is a tangible extension of the fest and a way to let others know that they are in on one of the coolest events in the country. Pretty much everyone buys something whether it’s a $4 key chain or a $45 hoody..at least that’s my goal. I don’t think that’s the case for other fests. I’d love to know more about how other fests around the country do their merch and how well they do selling their merch. Until then, I think that I’ll keep assuming that my way is working just as well, if not better.
HAPPY FEST!
