The Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF) has sold more than $1 million worth of tickets so far this year – about $40,000 ahead of where it was last year.
“Last year we sold $1,074,025 in ticket sales,” festival director Alan Franey told Business in Vancouver October 11.
“We’re not at that mark yet, but we’ve still got a few days to go.”
The 30th annual VIFF runs on a budget of about $3.5 million plus $1 million in contracts for beer, wine and hotel discounts. That budget includes operating the VanCity Theatre year-round.
“One trend is that people are buying more tickets in advance than at the door,” Franey said. “That makes it hard for us to predict exactly how we’ll compare one year to the last. The numbers could look good at the beginning and then you realize after the show that you’ve sold the same number of seats.”
Total attendance last year was 147,956, which was down a bit from the 149,135 that the festival attracted in 2009. Franey believes the festival will come close to the 150,000 mark in overall attendance this year.
Sometimes attendance, revenue and profit can diverge, however. The festival endured some extra costs to upgrade the Vogue Theatre for screening films.
The other variable is the “thousands” of free passes that the festival gives out.
“Between staff and volunteers, you’re almost at 1,000,” Franey said. “Then, there’s sponsors, media and filmmakers. There’s a lot of people walking around with passes who didn’t pay for them.”
Glen Korstrom
@GlenKorstrom