Shorts - good idea or not?

[Midia]

Hope you might be able to help me here. I've written a feature film with the intention of submitting it to agents and producers in the hope that it will become a Hollywood blockbuster (I wish!), however, a producer has shown interest in making it into short film. As I am new to scriptwriting, would it be better to have it produced as a short, so that I will have some credits in the film industry?

[dpaterso]

I have no answers, only questions. How short is short? Does he have a specific market or niche in mind, e.g. Company A wants a 50-minute film to fill a slot? Will the reduced length affect how much he's willing to pay you for your script, and for doing the rewrite? Will you still own the rights, or will his suggested changes give him creative control? Will the short be so radically different from your full-length spec that you could continue to try to sell the spec by changing character names, setting, plotlines?

If you think the writing credit will benefit your career, great. Me, I'd also be thinking about what I got out of this from a paid assignment viewpoint. I'd also make sure I copyrighted and registered the crap out of both the long and the short, but that's just me, suspicious to the point of paranoia.

-Derek
Derek's Web Page - stories, screenplays, novels, insanity. (http://hometown.aol.co.uk/DPaterson57/scripts.htm)
Warning, the above message may contain my personal opinions, which are not necessarily balanced, never mind correct.

[Midia]

Good questions Derek, many of which I hadn't thought of - told you I was new to this! I will compile a list of questions and present these to the producer. It is also out with the BCC, so you never know!