If you have not yet registered, you will first need to register before purchasing a ticket. In fact, if you go to the “Tickets” page, it will immediately prompt you to login/register before viewing the tickets.
The “Tickets” Page
Regardless of how you access the “Tickets” page, it lists all tickets being sold by the festival.
You may purchase any quantity of any number of different tickets from this page. If you have already purchased a given ticket, it will note that purchase.
Donations
Some festival may accept donations to help offset their costs. If your festival is accepting donations and you would like to supplement your purchase with a donation, click the “Add a Donation” button.
You may specify any amount for your donation. To add it to the purchase, click “Apply”. You will then see the donation show up in your shopping cart.
Discounts
If you have a discount code to apply to your purchase, click on the “Enter Discount” button to open the discount enter field.
Enter your discount code and click “Apply”. The system will verify your discount code and apply it to whatever is currently in your shopping cart. As you make changes to your shopping cart, the discount is automatically re-applied.
Tickets
The main function of this page, of course, is to select which tickets you want and how many of them you want. For each ticket, you will see how much the ticket costs along with a high-level description of what the ticket does. On the right hand side is a quantity field where you can enter the quantity of that ticket you wish to purchase.
The purchase price listed on the page reflects any preferential pricing you might have as a VIP member of the festival. You may actually see one price while the page is loading (the general public price) and see the price switch to your preferential pricing once the page load has completed.
To understand the details behind the ticket, click on the “Details” button.
What the details section is showing you is what we call “entitlements” and “restrictions”. The entitlements define what you can access and what restrictions exist on those entitlements. The sample ticket above grants access to everything with some weak restrictions on screening blocks. When comparing tickets, it is important to review any restrictions.
Entitlements
Entitlements are the things you can access. We break entitlements down into three categories: “screening blocks” (aka virtual/online screenings), “live streams”, and “live events” (any in-person event, including in-person screenings).
Your ticket may grant you access to a category in one of three ways:
- It can grant you access to ANY event of that category
- It can grant you access to a specific event (or specific events) in that category
- It can not grant you any access to that category (meaning you need a separate ticket)
Just because you have access to ANY event in a category does not mean you have access to ALL events in that category. That's where restrictions come in.
Restrictions
Just below each category is the list of restrictions. The first restriction is the number of items in that category you may access. In the sample ticket above, you can access “only” 1,090 screening blocks, but all live streams and live events.
A more common restriction is to limit you to a single screening block rather than 1,090. In that scenario, an entitlement of “Screening Blocks: Any” plus a restriction of “Screening Blocks: 1” means that you can apply your ticket to any one screening block in the festival, but only that one screening block. If you wish to watch a second block, you will need to buy two instances of this ticket. The system automatically assigns the block to your ticket when you start watching it.
The next set of restrictions describe how many times you can re-watch a screening block or live stream (no such restriction is present for in-person events). You should be very careful with tickets that have replays limited to 0. That restriction means you must watch the entire screening in one session just as if you were attending a screening in-person. If you close your browser in the middle of the screening or re-load the page, that's the same as walking out of the theater. You won't be able to access it again. Typically, this draconian restriction is present only in festivals who are contractually required by a distributor to limit the number of viewings of a selection. Most festivals allow unlimited replays or a reasonable number of replays.
The final set of restrictions govern on-demand access to selections in the screening block.
On-demand access is where you visit a selection page and watch only that selection “Netflix-style”. Some festivals wish to preserve the in-person festival feel and do not allow on-demand access. Others provide higher price tickets for viewing on-demand. If a ticket supports on-demand viewing, it will specify how many different titles (a fixed amount or unlimited) you can watch with this ticket and how many times you can re-watch a selection on-demand. If a ticket allows on-demand viewing, it allows it only for selections in an online screening block supported by this ticket.
Making a Purchase
Making a purchase is as simply as specifying the quantity of each ticket you wish to buy and clicking the “Checkout” button. As you change the quantity on any ticket, you will see a running tally of your prospective purchase in the shopping cart on the right hand side (bottom on mobile devices) of the page. This tally shows you what tickets are in your cart, what price is being applied to them, any discounts that are relevant, as well as any donation you are making.
When you click the “Checkout” button, you are presented with a typical e-commerce checkout window. This window summaries what you saw in the shopping cart and allows you to enter your credit card information.
You will see this dialog only if there is a balance due for your purchase. If you are “buying” free tickets or if you have a 100% discount, you will simple see a “Thank You” window that thanks you for your “purchase”.
Enter your credit card number. If you wish to save this credit card for future purchases, indicate that before submitting the payment. When ready, click “Submit Payment”.
The Security of Your Credit Card Information
Neither SparqFest nor the festival ever sees your full credit card number or verification (CVV) code. Instead, that information goes straight from your browser to a well-respected credit card processor called Stripe. You have almost certainly interacted with Stripe countless times online and at cash registers when making purchases. If you opt to store your credit card information, that information stays securely on Stripe's servers and is never shared with us or the festival. We only ever see the last 4-digits and your expiration date for display purposes as is shown in the sample checkout window above.
Once the transaction is complete, you will be presented with a “Thank You” dialog and have the option of going back to where you were or reviewing your purchases on your profile page.