How to get Short Film Distribution
I get A LOT of questions about how best to make money with short films. It’s something that I think is inherently appealing to most filmmakers, to start making a little bit of passive income from every project they make. Unfortunately, while possible, it’s not that easy, and the reasons why are relatively simple.
The root issue of why it’s hard to make money with shorts lies in basic economics. There are far more shorts created o an annual basis than there is demand from those who are willing to pay for them. Think about it, when’s the last time YOU paid to watch a short? When was the last time you WATCHED a short on its own outside of a film festival or before a Pixar movie? I might be wrong for you individually, but I’d bet that for most of you, there are crickets in the background while you try to remember when it happened.
If you’re reading this, you’re probably more likely to consume shorts so than a member of the general public. According to the best available estimates I’ve been able to find, there are around 131,000 shorts produced every year in the US alone. (The source for that is in a whitepaper in my resources section.) There just aren't enough people willing to spend money on these sorts of shorts. That said, shorts have their purposes. They can help you network, build your skills, or build your brand. So with that in mind, here are the 7 ways to.
Also, yes. I'm aware that there are a few sales agents who license shorts. However, they're few and far between, and I don't see many people. flocking to them.
1. Use it to build your brand and your skills.
First off, almost none of these ways to make money with your shorts are exclusive. You can likely use more than one of them at the same time. In fact, in many ways the more of these tactics you use the better it’s likely to be in terms of building your brand, as in order to have a meaningful brand, you must first have awareness of yourself and your work.
Part of using your shorts to expand your brand is submitting it to festivals to see if you get in, and attending those festivals to get the most out of it.
Skill building is slightly outside the purview of how to make money with your shorts, but since you won't make money from a poorly executed feature, it's worth mentioning. Shorts are great practice for you to grow your skills in whatever position you want to grow into.
2. Use as a proof of concept for a feature.
One example of this working is the film Slingblade, which started with Billy Bob Thornton giving a riveting performance as the title character in a single location and largely a single shot. That short then got into some major festivals, and was picked up and turned into a feature film.
That said, this is much more the exception than the rule. Most of the time people try to expand their short into a feature by approaching sales agents or studios, it doesn’t work. The reason it’s as high as it is on this list is purely that when it does work, the value of it is huge.
What would mean a lot more is if you can prove that there’s an audience for your work, which really ties back into #1.
3. Sell it to a shorts program
PBS and a few others have short programs that will actually pay to license your short. There are also several channels on youtube offering you “Exposure” for posting your video. They keep the ad revenue of course. There are brand-building advantages to doing this, as it can expose you and your work to an audience it would otherwise be difficult to reach, however, there’s not as many brand advantages as you might hope there are. Additionally, you should not give these people the exclusive right to your short under any circumstances.
4. Put it on Amazon Prime and put considerable effort into promoting it.
As we mentioned earlier, it’s unlikely people are going to pay for your short. #SorryNotSorry. That said, if you can give them a way to watch it for free, then you might get something. So you might want to try Amazon Prime. Sure you only get paid 6 cents per hour viewed, but if you happen to strike a chord and get caught up in their algorithm, it can lead to more money than you may be expecting.
Edit from the future: this sadly isn’t possible anymore.
5. Use it as an email capture giveaway.
If you’re starting to get a brand behind you, then you might want to keep some of your early shorts behind an email capture on your website. This might also be a good place to keep some special features from your feature-length DVDs as few people tend to actually buy physical media anymore. Using this as an incentive to join your email list can be a good way to grow your email list and expand engagement with your burgeoning community. That being said, this is generally only advisable if you’ve already got some work and a brand under your belt.
6. Put it on Youtube and put considerable effort into promoting it.
Starting a youtube channel is quite a lot of work. (I have no reason to know that mind, you) So doing it for a single short film isn’t going to give you a lot of traffic other than the traffic you specifically drive to it. However, while you’re building a brand, it’s an absolute must to have it easy to find. Vimeo has a much higher quality player, but the social features on YouTube are better. That said, there’s not a lot of reason not to do both of them, as well as putting the film on Amazon Prime. You probably won’t make much, but having it available in multiple places can help you build your brand more than you may think it would.
7. Get your friends together, license their shorts, and sell your shorts as a package.
A huge drawback to marketing a single shot is the low return for the amount of effort it takes to capture the attention of people considering watching your project. So, it might make more sense to try to package your shorts with others to make the effort more worth your time. That being said, buyers at film markets have less than no interest in anthologies. As a result, neither do Sales agents. So if you do this, you’re likely in it on your own.
Thanks so much for reading! If you enjoyed this blog, you should consider joining my email list for lots of free goodies including templates, an ebook, a whitepaper, and more. If you’re looking for direct guidance to take your project to the next level, Check out the Guerrilla Rep Media Services page. Links for both of those in the buttons below.
