Short films are the laboratory of cinema where the filmmakers experiment and learn, it is the platform where a newbie can test its film making skills; dexterity and work over the same for the betterment. This requires no training no investment and no experience and if you have an idea and luck, it can make a good amount of money. Ways for the latter can be:-
Though it is very hard to make money from feature film but it’s a separate issue .if you upload your short film or feature film on youtube or vimeo then it is possible to monetize it through ads but in spite of considering money at a primary stage you should a have a bohemian idea and concept through which it can get million hits and create some revenue.
Making your feature film popular through the content and idea is itself own reward and through this the maker can expect that producers ,agents ,studio exes etc will see the videos online and then offer them to meet them for future projects this will give them a huge exposure in bollywood/Hollywood.
Nowadays there are countless blogs which will teach you and make you familiar with the ideas of making money through youtube/vimeo. Videos on the same gets popularity on the basis of its subscriber count ,at the initial stage it wouldn’t be much beneficial to you to directly upload your first film on the channel because subscribers will be less and revenue will not generate, So you should first make a collaboration with a well running youtube/vimeo channel having high volume of subscribers and start a partnership with them.
Third possible way is through film festivals. There are gazillion of film festivals all over the world. if you think that your film contains unconventional ,rich and award winning content then these film festivals are the real time sources to earn money, screening the film in number of film festivals increases the popularity of the film and it can earn through the cash prizes. Paid screening in theatre can also help in generating revenue; television screening is also a good option because nowadays local cable operator networks are offering good money for the telecast rights of the short film.
Corporate sponsors:- if your audio-visual supports a particular cause or comes in the category social benefit or awareness then you may be lucky to have support from them.
You can make money by partnering with MCN(multi channel network) you can partner with any MCN available in the country.MCN will help gain audience and share revenue based on the agreement.
Selling legal rights of your feature or short film for making it as a feature film, if luck favors the financer allows you to direct the film or else you will get patent rights for using the theme of short film subject to a feature film.
Dramatically, place an advertisement of a product or local business in your short film which will help you to generate some revenue or you can reach short film distributors who can distribute your film through their channels.
These are some measures through which you can generate revenue from you short featured film, but keeping this on the secondary stage your first intention and focus should be on to create some unusual and rich idea which can automatically give the exposure and monetize your content.
