Making a short always seems like a great idea — and it is! It can get traction for a larger idea. It can help you meet other people in the industry. It’s a fabulous way to test-drive something out of your comfort zone. It’s also a hell of a lot of fun. Nonetheless, it’s still an undertaking.
My latest short film Bits and Pieces taught me so many lessons, including what it's like to submit to festivals during a global pandemic (that’s not over yet). The submission process in less-than-normal times taught me a lot. Thus I want to share with you my five filmmaking takeaways from making Bits and Pieces that's playing Dances with Films festival on August 30.
1. A hook of a concept, risk can equal reward. With a short, you're dealing with limited time. So trying to condense a feature concept into a short is usually not a good idea. You only get a sliver of an A story, and often just a single conflict. Additionally, short film festivals are often inundated with submissions, particularly if they are a popular one. It may serve you well to have a very hook-y concept and if an idea scares you, it might be even more worth pursuing. Bits and Pieces is about two women picking up the wrong cooler at a barbecue, only to discover it contains a dismembered penis inside. The idea occurred after I devoured a Vanity Fair article in honor of the anniversary of the Lorena Bobbitt incident. I learned two cops discovered the member in a field and put it in a cooler to help save it. I couldn’t get the idea of a rogue member in a cooler out of my head. Admittedly, I also thought this idea for a short film was a little nuts. Thankfully, I found incredible collaborators with my actresses Ashely Rae Spillers and Steph Barkley who supported the insanity. The true meat of the story (pun intended) is the friendship between their two characters and the notion that even in the 2020s, it’s not easy to be a woman in America.
2. Expect the unexpected. Things will always go wrong with a shoot. I set out to shoot magic hour on top of a hill with constantly changing light on virtually no budget. Am I a little bit crazy? Thankfully, yes. Sometimes naïveté is actually what gets things done. If you’re taking on a ridiculous challenge in your short film, first of all, I commend you. Second, just like one would with a feature, consider giving yourself a re-shoot day. Your future self will thank you when you need to go back and get more shots because of your heart insisting that shooting magic hour with limited resources can still be possible.
3. Don’t forget about post. You've got a killer short idea, hell yeah! You think you've figured out how to shoot it! You must do so as soon as possible. But hang on just one second... Don't forget you must also plan for: color correction, sound mixing, music, making a DCP for a big screen screening, you name it. Bottom line, if you have ambitions beyond just premiering your short online (albeit there are many ways to do this effectively), there often are still costly aspects of distribution even beyond post that a filmmaker might not initially consider. In addition to post costs, consider distro costs as well. You might also need to print posters or souvenirs of some kind to hand out to potential audiences to attract attention at a big festival. Asking yourself what is the end goal of your project before you begin is always a good idea. Realistically, to be in an ideal space for post and PR having a minimum of $1,000 set aside for all of this will put a filmmaker in a great position.
4. The festival journey. Festivals are evolving and experiencing adaptation pains as Covid still plagues us. Many pivoted to online gatherings and some of the larger festivals are still playing catch-up to screen a lot of their entries from 2020 this year, in addition to new shorts. It’s absolutely fair for a filmmaker to reach out to programmers in advance of submissions and ask how the festival is handling Covid, and if any in-person screenings will occur. Additionally, a filmmaker should consider a festival plan. How many top-tier festivals do you plan to apply to? Also consider what type of programming does the festival like to embrace? If you've made an extremely experimental movie, it might not fit at a fest that feels more commercial. The beautiful thing about film festivals, and shorts in general, is there are audiences for such an extremely wide variety of content. It just takes a bit of Googling to find out what a fest has most recently programmed, then watch a few of last year’s shorts and decide if the fest is a good fit for your own film. Then, make a budget for yourself with how much you can realistically spend on submissions. Festivals are SO MUCH FUN, but one can easily go broke submitting to them. Ask yourself if it’s a festival you can and want to go to in person. Ask how the festival supports its alumni. Filmmakers love to talk to each other, so don’t hesitate to reach out to festival alumni. Finally, there are so many outlets for online distribution: Watch Argo and the recently expanded No Budge just scratch the surface.
5. Shock and awe. Perhaps the most fun thing about shorts is they are not features. There’s less time and money at stake. It’s fun to make more shocking choices that wouldn’t fly when you are down the line in your studio career, or even simply have more producers to answer to. I've said it before but it's so important: Do the things that scare you! I am often known as working in the romantic comedy genre (it’s very close to my heart and I love it) but it was refreshing (and challenging for me) to make a very dark comedy without a romantic love story. It’s even more fun to have made a piece that's a bit divisive. People really love Bits and Pieces, or not so much. That is the beauty of filmmaking in general. What speaks to one person may not speak to the next. When in doubt, go all out!
Final Takeaway: If you are thinking about making a short film, do it. Where there is a will, there is always a way. Consider your ultimate expectations for distribution (don’t forget about post-production) and always give yourself some wiggle room for shooting. With no risk, there is no reward. Godspeed venturing into the wonderful world of shorts.