Friday, August 23, 2013

My Choice Package Selection Starts August 24, 2013

Selection of My Choice Regular Flex and Premium Flex packages begins tomorrow, Saturday, August 24, 2013. From August 24 to August 27, TIFF members will select their packages. From August 27 to August 30, the general public will select their packages.

You should have received your start time from TIFF by e-mail by now; if not, contact the festival for help. Note that TIFF members generally select first in descending order of their level, followed by everyone else, who are each given a randomized start time.

If you purchased a My Choice Back-Half or Daytime package, your selection window will be on September 2.

If you purchased a TIFF Choice package, you will be e-mailed the movies selected by TIFF for you on August 31.

For My Choice Regular Flex and Premium Flex package holders, you have from your assigned start time until August 30 at 7:00 PM Eastern to sign in and complete your selections. If you fail to log in during this period, you will have to wait until September 2 at 9:00 AM Eastern before you will be allowed to log in again. Note that the website will be down for maintenance between 1:00 AM and 4:00 AM every day. If you don't have internet access, you can also make your selections at the Festival Box Office or by phone, but only after your start time.

Note that once you log in, you have a maximum of 1 hour after your first selection to make the remainder of your selections and check out. If you exit without checking out, your choices will not be saved and you will receive vouchers instead that can be redeemed for films later. If you don't use up your allotment of tickets, you will receive vouchers for the unused portion. Once you have logged in, you cannot log out and re-log in again at a later date; all your choices must be made during the same session.

If you bought multiple packages, you will receive a separate login for each package. You will need to login separately for each package and make the selections independently. Your start times may or may not be different for each package, depending on when you bought them. I would recommend completing and Premium packages before Regular packages, as Premium tickets have a smaller inventory and sell out quicker.

Some tips:

  • Before starting, make sure you have your username and password that you used when you signed in to the TIFF site to originally buy your packages, along with any package codes.
  • If a screening is marked off-sale, it is sold out. But before you check out, go back and check the film again, as inventory may have be released by other people who changed their minds. 
  • If you encounter any error messages when filling out your order online, try clicking the By Schedule or By Title buttons; do not try to logout.
  • When you check out, note any reservation number displayed to you. You should be e-mailed this number, but it's good to note it just in case.
For more information on the online selection process, consult my Advance Ordering page:
http://tifftalk.blogspot.ca/p/advance-ordering.html




8 comments:

I heard the August Premium was already sold out.

The package itself is sold out, but if you previously bought one, then from the 24th on is when you start selecting the actual films you want to see within that package. None of the films are sold out yet as no one, not even the top-level TIFF members, have had the chance to select anything yet.

The Patron's started selecting on 22 and 23rd. Someone I know said that their friend couldn't get August OC because it was off sale. The news is on twitter as well.

Or maybe they sell a few to the Patrons and they'll be on sale again for the window selections?
I hope so because my window is on the 27th and at this rate it would've been a waste of money buying the Premium packs.

Ah, got you. Those are individual tickets though, so I wonder if there will be additional tickets released once packages start selecting. Although Patrons Circle pick their packages first, so maybe it's a moot point.

The TIFF trailer playlist is good, but I wonder if anyone has created a playlist of trailers in the same order as the TIFF Catalogue Book. I am choosing my movies by reading the book, and it would be so much more convenient to have the trailers available in that order.

Has TIFF ever explained, officially, the reason they make you pick your entire package at once? What I mean is, suppose I have an 80-flex pack with a start time of Aug 27 at 4:30pm. I'm not allowed to log in on the 27th and pick 65 films, then come back on the 29th and pick the remaining 15. But why not? Did the software designers just think that would be too complicated to implement? Or did they have a policy reason for not permitting that?

I'm a little confused.... I have a My Choice package and am over 25 but I want to buy a few tickets for friends who are under 25. On the TIFF site it says valid ID is required for under 25... Can I order these under 25 tickets online... or do they have to order them themselves?

My experiences at the Toronto International Film Festival. Note this blog is not affiliated with the Toronto International Film Festival Group or the festival itself.
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