Writing a short to produce for a film fest

[DoubleIT]

My buddy and I are in the middle of writing a short that we will be producing and then sending off to the major festivals. The question is - how long should it be? We are thinking 30-45 minutes but is there a certain length of time we need to hit in order to sumbit as a short to the major film fests ? It would suck if we were a ilttle bit too long or too short, you know? Any tips on this would be great. We are 20 pages down, 20(ish) to go and will be done by the end of the weekend.

[Vigorish9]

a thirty to forty minute short isnt really a short i'd be willing to guess?

vig

[DoubleIT]

Because its too long?

[William Haskins]

most good short films come in at under 20 minutes, in my opinion. my preference is even shorter.

30-40 minutes is to short film what a novella is to a short story, and the dynamics and scope change accordingly.

go to ifilms, atomfilms, etc. and watch some shorts. you can pack a hell of a punch in 5-12 minutes.

[randesq]

Good friend of mine did 'brief encounter' in comedy section. It's 8 minutes and he's won a few great contests. He said 'the people interested are looking for talent. Can you tell a tight story in 7-10 minutes, involve and invest the audience in your characters and deliver in the end?'. He shoots for 9-10 minutes tops, because of cost and attention span of people watching shorts (keep in mind that most shorts can be seen in contests when the audience is watching 10, 15, 20 in a row.).

Go for a tight story, trim the fat and deliver. No time for meandering. gl

[DoubleIT]

So does this mean there is nothing one can do with a 30 minute short? There is more story to tell than 10 minutes will allow. All the fat will be trimmed (It was orignally going to be a feature) I saw on sundace they say a short is anything under 70 minutes, but does making it this long put the film at a disadvantage?

[DJpilsner]

get distribution? It can get picked up by a IFC, sundance channel, etc. But isn't it more like a portfolio, a hey 'this is what I can do'. Now, if you're burning dough in the pile of leaves out back then by all means make it 65 minutes.