Insider View - Why Make A Short?

You've got to start somewhere. The best script in the world is only a template for a movie. No one will let you spend their shareholder's pension fund until you know how to move a camera and direct actors. (This is done by shouting loudly - but you need to prove it).

Even Spielberg has the time to watch a short and will overlook its weaknesses if your ideas are good. Ask him to sit through 90 minutes of dodgy handheld film-making and you you'll be hearing dial tone before you can say 'deeply personal story'.

Film Festivals. Some fests actually pay you to get on a plane, stay in a hotel, stage free drinking sessions (sorry "receptions") and then publicise your film, for free. All in the name of culture. We know, it's insane.

They can get you into commercials. Instead of living on income support waiting for some 21 year old script editor to decimate your career before it's even started, why not learn to shoot on some proper film kit and get paid handsomely for it?

Even if the result is as entertaining as a day at the dentists, making any film should be enormous fun. People in the industry only use words like 'work', 'stressful' and 'demanding' because they went to Oxford and have never worked in a factory/hospital/coal mine.

Guaranteed distribution. Thanks to MySpace you don't need to sign your film away to a sales agent who promises the world and delivers a dusty stock cupboard in Soho. Get on line, and meet your audience!

AND WHY NOT...

No one will see it. The general public do not watch shorts unless they are forced/tricked into doing so: i.e when some arty cinema puts them up in front of a proper movie they or they appear in a ten minute slot the TV scheduler could not fill with adverts.

You will lose all your money. Seriously though, you will. And that of your parents/charitable trust/local businessman who were gullible enough to believe in you. Good practise for your rest of your career, though.

Your critically acclaimed short can win all the festivals in the world but the money people will still question your ability to handle the 'long form'. Although not to your face, obviously.

Economics. BBC and Channel 4 sponsored shorts have cost up to £60,000 and the crew got paid industry minimums. The Blair Witch Project cost £30,000 and the directors became millionaires...

Comments like, "Is that what you gave up the last two years/your partner/loft conversion for?" will haunt you to the grave. So of course you must prove them all wrong by... making another short film. And repeat.

Quentin Tarantino, Guy Ritchie, Edgar Wright didn't bother making shorts. Do you really think they lie awake at night saying, "If only I could turn the clock back..?"