Ways to Make Money via Short Films

A short film is any film not long enough to be considered a feature film .the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as “an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes or less, including all credits.”

Short films are like the laboratory of film making. It’s the area where filmmakers learn and experiment. The demand for short films has reached an all time high today.

Calling card : aspiring filmmakers  make short films which are used as a “calling card” to get exposure in Bollywood/Hollywood, so that producers, agents, studio executives, etc. will see them and then offer larger projects. is filmmakers can get offers for decently paid work in advertisements, web series and/or music videos.

Film festivals : The film can be screened at various reputed film festivals across the globe and cash money can be earned as prize. Also, when a filmmaker is accepted into a major film festival , lot of of offers from new websites. Some of such film festivals are mentioned below in the list:

Top 5 Film Festivals

• Sundance Film Festival(USA)
• Cannes Film Festival(France)
• Palm Springs International Festival of Short Films (USA)
• Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival (France)
• Aspen Shortsfest (USA)

Other Film festivals held in various countries across the world are mentioned in alphabetical order:

Social Networking revenues : New Video on Demand (VOD) platforms are being launched almost every single day where the films can be launched. Vimeo, is perhaps in  the best known in the film distribution game.  Their recent introduction of the “tip jar” was a step in the right direction,.For example, a filmmaker on  Vimeo could charge 5 cents per film view. As a viewer, one has to  purchase a $5  credit from Vimeo, and then everytime the viewer watches a film that requires  payment, the site would automatically deduct a nickel from his/her account.  Vimeo could charge 10% for the service (that’s half a penny on a  five-cent film). A film with 500,000 views at a nickel apiece would earn  $22,500 for the filmmaker and $2,500 for Vimeo. Add in downloads for 25  cents, and you’ve instantly created a more effective model for short  filmmakers.

Youtube Adsense is another way of displaying the short films to the public, increase the online traffic and earning revenues.

The film maker can make money by partnering with any MCN available the country , which  will help gain audience and share revenue based on the agreement.

Grants: they are a pretty good way of funding your doc project. There could be several private, and state grants. PSBT in India is one.  Like this one – Call for Documentary Proposals. There are also theme specific grants like Climate Change etc, by international agencies.

Merchandise: Tee-shirts, wristbands or anything that you can buy cheap. You are not going to make a ton of money through this unless you have a huge fanbase. Film Riot has got it right.

Local Screenings : Through paid screenings in preview theatres. Through television screenings . A number of local cable operators networks are offering good money for the telecast rights of short films.

Legal tool : Selling rights of the short film to be made as a feature film is another way of earning.

Corporate sponsors/product placement : If the short film supports a particular cause or comes in the social benefit vision of any of the corporates, they may sponsor it. Also, placing an advertisement of a product or a local business in the short film, some sponsor money can be collected through this mode.

VFX breakdowns, detailed behind the scenes videos, production scripts, storyboards, lighting plots are  some more ways to add to the film content  and make it more interesting to the public which will in turn draw more revenues.

At the end, having discussed all the ways of earning through a short film, “The real profit is when you get to make another film,” says Kimberley Browning, director of Hollywood Shorts. The likes of Christopher Nolan and Wes Anderson made short films before their respective big breaks.