July 2, 2007

The Out-of-Town Package (Updated for 2008)

Note: The cost of the Out-of-Town package remains $150 for 2008.

A friend and I always say that the annual ritual of opening the Out-of-Town Package is the closest we'll ever come to recapturing the childhood thrill of Christmas morning. The package allows festival-goers from outside of Toronto to request tickets a week before the festival begins. It comes at a cost ($150), but, in my experience, it's money very well spent. The most significant advantage of the Out-of-Town package is this: In four years, I have received all but three or four of my first film choices. Given the amount of time others spend waiting in ticket and rush lines, I gladly pay the extra money for the convenience of having an envelope full of tickets waiting for me when I arrive in Toronto. The package also includes a copy of the complete, full-color Festival Program Book ($32 last year).

The Out-of-Town Package works something like this: On August 27, you will receive a FedEx shipment that includes the program book, a festival schedule, ticket order forms, and a pre-paid FedEx return envelope. The order forms are fairly straight-forward -- you simply highlight the films you want to see and note the number of tickets requested for each. You will then be expected to FedEx your forms back to TIFF by 5pm on the following day, guaranteeing that they arrive by 1pm on Friday, August 29, which is the deadline for the advanced ticket drawing.

Note: The Out-of-Town Package works in conjunction with the festival passes and coupons (Festival, Daytime, 10-Film, etc.). You can't use it to buy individual tickets. After you arrive in Toronto, you will be able to redeem your coupons for actual tickets at the Festival Ticket Office at College Park.

6 comments:

Unknown said...

I have a couple of questions regarding the $150 Out-of-Town package that I'm unsure of the answer on:

1. Can I purchase this even though I've already purchased my ticket package?

2. Can I request two tickets for each film with one $150 package, or would would I need to buy two separate Out-of-Town packages for my wife and I?


Darren said...

Keep in mind that I'm not a TIFF employee, but it's my understanding that:

1. When you order your Out-of-Town package, you'll need to log on to the TIFF website with the same user id and password you used with your ticket order. Or, if you do it by phone, you'll just need to have your confirmation number from your first order. In either case, the Out-of-Town package will be associated with the same account, so everything should be shipped together. Give them a call if you have questions, though. The people working there have always been really helpful in my experience.

2. There's two answers to your second question. First, according to TIFF description of the Out-of-Town Package, as many as 100 tickets can be processed with one package. However, you'll only be able to buy two tickets to a single screening if you're using 10-Ticket Packages. Every other ticket package limits the user to one ticket per screening.


Darren said...

Also, it seems likely that if you and your wife each bought, say, a Festival Lite Package, you could each get a ticket to the same 30 screenings.


Unknown said...

Yeah, we bought the Festival Lite package, so I'm worried that we'd only be able to use a single Out-of-Town package in association with one of them, and thus only guarantee a single seat to any particular screening. I set an email to customer relations with TIFF for clarification, but they might be too busy to reply.

Thanks for your help.


Unknown said...

Er.. to clarify, we bought TWO Festival Lite packages (just so you don't think I'm trying to use one for both of us).


Unknown said...

TIFF got back to me, and said that we can use two Festival Lite packages with one Out-of-Town, so yay!

Thanks again for you input.