This guide has been created in collaboration with Headfirst, to provide information to help Film Hub South Members to create an event on Headfirst to promote cinema to new audiences. At present, Headfirst is open to exhibitors based in Bristol, Bath, Stroud, Gloucestershire – though open to festivals and large events across the South West.

What is Headfirst?

Headfirst is a not-for-profit organisation set up with a goal to preserve and proliferate diverse independent arts in Bristol. They believe that the events that deserve the spotlight are those that are breathtaking, boundary-pushing, honest or humble – not those with the biggest budgets or teams of expert social marketers.  

Who runs Headfirst? 

“Founded by a former promoter and events producer, Headfirst has been supporting Bristol’s underground, experimental and independent arts since 2009 – we have no sponsors, no advertising and we do not sell our homepage spots or conduct any paid content”. 

Headfirst is run by a team of two music lovers, who are happy to help and respond to emails (support@headfirstbristol.co.uk). As it is a small team, support isn’t 24/7 but they’ll get back to you within 24 hours during the week (normally quicker).

How to use Headfirst

How do I make an account?  

Adding events to Headfirst is free. You’ll need to  set up a Headfirst promoter account, which takes around 2 minutes.

You’ll also need to set up an account with their payment provider, Stripe, which you’ll be prompted to do as part of your Headfirst promoter registration.

How do I add my event? 

Once you have created an account, you can add your events with a booking system. This is a step-by-step process that then generates a formatted booking page that then fits within the Headfirst site.

You’ll be able to add trailers and list detail about the event.

How do I make changes to my event? 

Events on Headfirst are self-managed. You can edit every aspect of your event yourself, just  login  and click on the event you want to edit. 

Pricing

How much does it cost? 

It is free to list your event on Headfirst, and you’ll keep 100% of the face value of your ticket revenue. Customers are charged a small booking fee (around 5%) which is collected automatically by Headfirst during checkout – you won’t need to make any extra payment to them.

Can I add a sliding scale, e.g. Pay What You Feel or donations to the cost? 

Yes, this can be done at the point of event creation. Events can be free and pay-what-you-like (with or without a set minimum cost).

You can also add an optional donation – to yourself, the venue or a charitable organisation.

Headfirst allows donations to select charities, they have begun exploring other positive impacts Headfirst can have on the city outside of the arts and are extremely proud to have supported local organisations including Caring in Bristol, One25, Bristol Drugs Project, St Paul’s Adventure Playground, Acorn, Shelter, Babbasa and Bridging Communities. Headfirsts’ aim is to raise £20,000 per year for local causes by 2023.

If your event is raising money for a registered charity, Headfirst will also donate their booking fee proceeds (just email them after your event has happened). 

Everything else

How far in advance should I upload an event? 

Once you and any partners, guests, and/or speakers have confirmed event all the details and signed off on copy and images – add the event to Headfirst! 

There is a handy option to schedule events in advance of sales, good to use if you wish to make tickets available at a certain date and time. 

We advise to upload no later than 3 weeks ahead of the event date, to generate some interest and allow audiences time to plan their attendance!  

Headfirst will need to approve your account to sell tickets if it’s your first event (this shouldn’t take more than 24 hours but it’s worth factoring into ticket release schedules).

How will it benefit me? 

You can reach an audience who may not check individual venues listings and events, but who like to browse ‘What’s on’. 

Headfirst has a huge audience in the independent arts scene; who regularly check the site, newsletter and app for upcoming events. Many of these customers no longer use or rely on social media for event listings.

Without a committed cinema listing in newspapers or on their websites (at time of writing), Headfirst is a fantastic platform to profile your work.