How to Make the Leap from Short Films to Features

How-To-Make-The-Leap-From-Short-Films-To-Features_medThe other day, we received a question from Sean Duran (on Twitter as @esotericsean.) Make movies? Dreaming about it? Well, 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.

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How We Launched Our Production Company

Got a question from a friend on Twitter, Sean Duran (on Twitter as @esotericsean.) He and a small team of filmmakers run Take Zer0, Take Zero Productions, and We Heart Short Films.

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How did you get started in building up your own production company? We’ve been at this for about 5 years now and it just seems like we’re headed nowhere. Is it easier to just go out and work for other studios and work your way up? Is it worth it starting your own company? 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, these are questions all aspiring producers and filmmakers ask. Let’s take your question a part at a time. In this post, we’ll cover how we started our production company.

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Twitter Time Take 3 – Must-Read Trade Publications for Producers and Filmmakers

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Today’s Twitter Time question comes to us from @gabrielnovo.

Gabriel Novo calls himself a “Globe Trotting Cuban” and says he’s trying to “balance his ultra nerdy technology side with his super artsy creative side.”

Good luck with that, Gabe. I seem to lose out to my nerdy side more times than not!

@gabrielnovo: What trade publications would you recommend?

We subscribe to a lot of publications. Rarely do we get to read everything. Many times the magazines end up in the waiting room at our offices for people to read. For that reason, we’re going to start with some FREE resources anyone who wants to be in the business should get. They are free, after all!

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Twitter Time Take 2

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Today’s Twitter Time question comes to us from @cassandrahollis.

@cassandrahollis: What is the best software for developing your package for feature film…also budgeting software?

Great question Cassandra. I’m sure a lot of other aspiring producers and filmmakers are wondering the same thing.

When you’re on your own, putting together any kind of presentation, whether for feature film, reality TV, a potential web series…you name it…the best software to use is what you are already comfortable with.

Here at Joke Productions, we use the following:

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