The other day, we received a question from Sean Duran (on Twitter as @esotericsean.) In part one of this two part series, we broke down how we launched our production company.
Today, we look at the second part of Sean’s question:
Our passion is short films and we hope to eventually evolve into doing features. We quit our day jobs and are now attempting to shoot actor demo reels and music videos, but it’s tough.
Sean, like many filmmakers, needs a plan to break into feature filmmaking. We’re going to share super-cool, high-powered, proven methods to give anyone–including you–the best odds of using a short film to launch big screen success.
A Place for Short Films
Short films are wonderful. They are:
- A valid art form
- Great training for indie filmmakers and producers
- Terrific showcases for aspiring directors
- The backbone of many film festivals
Listing the virtues of short films could go on for pages. So don’t get mad when we tell you about…
The Short Film Rat Race
Making short film after short film, when you really want to make feature films, is a never-ending time suck.
It’s very hard to monetize or have success with a short film on it’s own. Aside from the web and festivals, there’s not a huge market for shorts in and of themselves. To make matters worse, if all you have is your completed short film, the chances someone will anoint you the next Tarantino are next to none.
If what you really want is to make features, hone your filmmaking skills. Once your short films look as polished as solid indie releases, you’re ready to take your career to the next level.
How to Use Short Films to Launch Your Feature Career
As we touched on in this post, to increase your odds of breaking into features, consider these approaches:
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Make a Short-Film Based on a Feature-Length Script.
This is a script you’ve written or have the rights to produce. Your short then becomes a “sales tape” used to convince a studio or production company to make the feature.
Taking this approach is infinitely more useful than just “shooting a short.” You prove you have the moxie to produce and direct a great story (because your short film is fantastic) but, most importantly the feature version is ready to go.
THAT is something people might invest in. As a matter of fact, that’s how the movie Saw
was sold. The original short film was about 6 pages of the feature script. -
Use a Visionary Short Film to Sell Another Script
Shoot a short film that has a very unique look, style, or filmmaking technology at its core. Make that a “proof on concept” tape to sell yourself as the person to make the feature-length version of another script you’ve written or have the rights to that would use similar technology.
This is how Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
came to fruition. In the original short film, which you can see here, the unique look and feel that would drive the feature is front and center. In fact, Gwyneth Paltrow was so enchanted with the look of the short, she immediately signed on to do the feature.More recently, Alive in Joburg, a short film by Neill Blomkamp, became this year’s hugely popular District 9. Watch the original short here, and notice how it’s a mini blue-print for the feature itself.
Yes, Neill was already pretty successful. But before you decide this level of production value is impossible to achieve for an unknown filmmaker, look at the trailer for Dan Gaud’s Leap, a project put together entirely by Dan and a few friends for $900.
Of course, you can always…
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Skip the Short. Make the Feature.
Gear is cheap and plentiful these days. There’s no reason you can’t take your time (even a year or two if you need it) to call in favors, find free locations, and make an entire feature film for little or no hard-cash.
The experience will be invaluable, and you’ll have a feature film to prove you’re serious. You might not get distribution. So what? Distribute it yourself! What better way to get out the word that you are “for real.” That’s a great path to break into producing or directing feature films.
NOTE: DO NOT GO BROKE MAKING A MOVIE. Many of the rules we lay out in these tips for making a TV pilot on your own apply to making your own feature film as well. Don’t forget, Robert Rodriguez made the version of El Mariachi that became a blockbuster for $7000, and that was on film!
You Need A Script
You’ll notice, key to all of these approaches is the feature script.
Remember, people need a reason to invest in you. Shorts don’t make money. Features do. If you’re hoping to launch your career using short films, think of them as the “commercial” for a feature you are passionate about. That will serve you far better than simply pumping out one short film after another.
Sean, Take the Next Step…
Sean, we think your next step is to write or find a feature script you really want to make, and then use one of the above methods to bust in to the feature game. Use that short to help promote the script, and your odds of success will increase greatly.
I think here is a potencial to make money using short films.
What do you think and what would you recommend?
Like we mentioned above, there are many places for short films, and you are correct…internet marketing is one of them. While I’m not an expert in the subject, there’s no doubt that videos on the web have the ability to make money. However, using shorts for internet marketing is very different than using them to break into feature films. It’s an interesting topic, and maybe one we’ll explore in a future post!
1. It helps to be the Coen brothers.
2. An unknown director may have better luck with a short film. Studios and producers want to know a director can make a movie and not just a trailer. A lot of great trailer/music video directors lack the skills to direct narrative.
As producers, we are actually more focused on making trailers than shorts. Trailers pack a lot of punch, and probably keep the short attention spans of busy execs and successful directors better than a six minute short.
Thank you for your kind words and the opportunity to answer your question. We’ve been in your shoes: just starting out, with a lot of questions, and no one to turn to. That’s why we started this blog. Hopefully, this was helpful to a lot of folks, and people will share it with their filmmaker friends.
Neill Blomkamp made a short that turned into “District 9″, so its doable. I shot a 5 minute promo trailer in the states to show the premise for my first feature film. Having this with a biz plan, poster, storyboards etc, definately got me the deal for the film. They could already see the feature because of the promo.
I also recommend making no budget features to attract money for bigger features. Thats what I have just done wth my latest film. I think its all about showing you have passion, commitment, bit of talent, vision. We have no excuse today, so I really beleive more filmmakers should be making features. Not with the premise they are going to be massive hits, but just to show your potential, and in the worst case scenerio, you can sell it to keep you running in development cash.
If I was a financer today, I would not really care if you made a feature, short, I want to see someone with a strong vision, drive, passion, whatever it is. Good filmmakers should be entreprenuerial today. Why? If you don’t get noticed with your first few shorts or features, at least you can possibly earn from them until you can get to the bigger league.
Since a movie is mostly just a series of short films stitched together with a unifying theme a filmmaker could just make a series of shorts (the scenes in a feature script) and get a movie out of it in the end. I guess it could be seen as extending your shooting schedule to like… forever. Or indefinite.
1. Do something absolutely unique to you. Don’t rip off Tarantino, Fincher, Kevin Smith, etc…who are YOU as a filmmaker.
2. Work on that first piece as long as you have to in order for it to look like something that could play in a theater…even if that means reshooting most or all of it. Only one chance at a first impression. If you’re not bursting with pride about the finished piece, either do it over or put it on the shelf and move on to the next one.
3. Have a feature-length script (or at LEAST a pitch) for a feature version of your amazing short, or a feature-length script that would make sense for you to direct given the look and style of your unique short.
Best,
Biagio