ASK & DISCUSS INDEX

11 years, 9 months ago - Pierre Stefanos

I can't speak to Littlecast, never heard of it and I would be wary of paying to use a distribution service - it should be the other way around - however, I disagree with the idea that no one pays to watch short films. Shorts Int'l and Ouat Media regularly put short films which have been very successful on the fest circuit on iTunes. My last short BEDFELLOWS has almost 10,000 views on YouTube whilst being part of their Screening Room as part of The Film Collaborative's Fest Selects shorts collection, which also includes the short film version of the hit feature GAYBY. It's 1.99, and while I'm hardly rich from it, I did get money from those rentals.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxYTiOk3Yjs

I myself bought and rented other shorts from iTunes and Amazon. That said, the shorts I paid for were either very good and I had seen them prior, or the filmmaker was someone whose work intrigued me, or the trailer quality was so excellent, I decided to pony up. Few shorts are worthy of a rental or purchase, so your film better be amazing if you expect to see any money at all, in which case, if you have many awards and top festival selections for your project, then by all means explore your options. Vimeo Pro is another way to go as well.

And to those who would "never" pay to see a short, read Movie City News' Kim Voynar's take on BEDFELLOWS and supporting short films here:

http://moviecitynews.com/2011/08/check-this-out-bedfellows/

If you're making short films and you don't watch or support your fellow filmmakers, well then why should anyone support your project when it's your turn?

Best of luck, Simon.

11 years, 9 months ago - Dan Selakovich

Never heard of this, so I checked it out. According to their calculator, a 99 minute film sells, at it's cheapest price, for 4.99. You get $1.26.

Now let's say you used SAG actors. You've got to pay residuals. SAG residuals are incredibly complex, especially when figuring out "new media". Theatrical releases are pretty straight forward: no residuals. So does this count as a theatrical? I'm not sure. Is it a video sale? I don't know. To be safe, consider 5.4 percent going to SAG for each sale.

So consider this: will people pay 5 bucks to see your movie? And, at a 1.26, how many people would have to buy it for you to break even? This doesn't look good to me. You take all the risk, and they keep 75 percent.

11 years, 9 months ago - Simon Pitts

Thanks Pierre. I think part of our jobs as film-makers of shorts is to create audiences for our work: to try to find them and persuade them it's worth paying for. After all that is what we'll aim for as makers of commercial features or TV. I find anyone's experiences of successful distribution/viral marketing to be encouraging.

11 years, 9 months ago - Dan Selakovich

Thanks Pierre! That's heartening to know.

11 years, 9 months ago - Dan Selakovich

Oh, shit, just saw the title of your post. Who's going to buy a short? Nobody.

11 years, 9 months ago - Bill Hartin

I'm working on the premise that given the ever-shortening attention spans of younger generations of viewers, I suspect short films might some day become a source of revenue for us makers of short films, but highly unlikely in my lifetime. So for the time being our short films remain hopeful calling cards of our filmmaking abilities and exposure the path to others discovering how brilliant we are.
And that is why having tens of thousands of normal, film-going viewers (with the hope of the rare chance that one of them is an influential producer, director, talent, etc.) seeing my work is my goal and why I'm developing events to accomplish that.
I'll take exposure over a buck a view any chance I get.

11 years, 9 months ago - Paddy Robinson-Griffin

Who pays to watch shorts? Even if you have 100 people paying $1 each then the fees are $30 + 2 x bandwidth, so maybe you'll see $60-ish? But they don't pay out until you his $100, so you need at least 150+ paid views to receive a penny.

I can't see it being a big moneyspinner on the average short. Youtube gets higher views because it's free. Would I punt $1 on a short from someone I don't know when I can see hundreds of similar ones for free legally on youtube? Actually, probably not.

My 2p