question about shorts films?

Shorts don't make money, they are showcase pieces for mostly up and comers, shorts that do make money are usually attached with a film, see any pixar film, they always have a short that accompanies them. I have never heard of anyone making a living off shorts. No one (consumers) wants to buy shorts. Sometimes you can get a tolken 500 dollars or so as well as writing credit, but those are from put together teams. It's more a showcase of talent for everyone involved without spending the big bucks.

There are festivals. You could maybe make money there. And they Academy Award nominated shorts are for sale on iTunes. But other than that, no.

People make shorts as the film version of a business card. It's 'this is what I can do' and they get sent around the industry and people get jobs that way. That's why in most major film schools, they try to have you leave with a short that you can market. The few who get directing gigs shortly out of college get them because of their shorts (see: George Lucas, Spike Lee).

Shorts are also used now to get investors for a feature. People make either the first act of their feature, or some part of it, then show that as a short to get people interested in making the feature (see: Donnie Darko).

There may be more money in it in the future, on the internet in particular. People who direct webisodes and stuff. The lonleygirl15 dudes support themselves doing that. But it's still a very new thing.

The only market that I'm aware of for short films (apart from short films with product placement .. ie: TV commercials) is as filler for airlines.

For example, Qantas bought a few short films to pad out the inflight entertainment. (I'm not aware of any other airlines that have done it, but I'm not exactly exposed to the market, so I wouldn't know)

The ones they bought were all very light and mildly humourous ... no dark themes or anything that wouldn't be rated G.

They also had fairly professional looking production values.

It looked like they were 3-7 minutes long.

I think they paid only a few hundred for the rights ... certainly not enough to make it profitable, especially considering the producers still had to guarantee the music was 100% cleared, etc.

I think now they've rebadged the 'paying for short films' as 'We'll call it a film festival' to avoid paying even the little they did pay.

Mac