Get Your Short Film Distributed

Because it's the only way you'll get anywhere. No one is poised around the corner with a magic wand. DIY is so 2001. And without a showreel, you are just Billy Liar and Walter Mitty's bastard offspring. Many a career in adverts, TV, pop promos and, for a few, development finance towards a feature film, has been gained on the back of a good short, ample payback for the initial pain and investment. But getting to an audience that consists of more than close friends and relatives is easier said than done.

The Short Film Bureau, a non profit organisation set up in 1998 by Kim Leggatt and Doug Miller is already making life easier for short film makers by offering advice and support on funding, production, marketing and distribution. Last year they negotiated a ground-breaking agreement with every major UK distributor, resulting in a set of guidelines under which the distributors will accept shorts in front of a feature. Armed with this agreement they approached exhibitors Odeon and Columbia Tristar who also came on board.

The result is the Bureau's Cinema Programme. The Bureau selected 20 short films sent to them, then a panel of film-makers, actors and executives including Stewart Till, Minnie Driver, Jonathan Ross and Nick Powell shortlisted 10. These 10 will go head to head in a nation wide competition that offers audiences the opportunity to vote on their favourite film when they see either Hollow Man or Me, Myself & Irene this autumn.