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Sundance Film Festival Travel Tips

I'll be going to the Sundance Film Festival this year in support of The Only Good Indian. I'm looking forward to the festival, but making travel arrangements this "late" in the game (movie selections were only just announced this week) can be tough.

Cheap places, like the Holiday Inn in Park City, are already booked. I have a friend who already reserved a house two blocks from main street for the whole week for $4,200. (It accommodates six and she's looking to fill it up.) The cheapest I've seen in Park City is the Hampton Inn, which is just under $300 a night.

When I went to Sundance before, I stayed in Salt Lake City and drove to Park City and back every day, which is very doable, so long as the pass isn't snowed in. That's probably what I'll do again.

Getting plane tickets is much easier. While flights from LAX have been booked, the much better airports of Burbank and Long Beach still had cheap seats available a few days ago. I'm flying Jet Blue round trip with no stops for less than $250.

I'll also only be staying a few days. Not enough to take in the whole festival, I know, but I've been told you get burned out if you go whole hog. Those who book the full week are strongly recommended to take a few days off to ski.

So while there won't be reviews of every film at the festival here, there will be as many stories as I can write about this nexus of independent film and Hollywood money.

About J. Ott

John Ott is a writer, filmmaker and futurist. Follow him on Twitter, Facebook and Google+.