Making short films isn’t a smart business move and I’d say that if you do make a short with your own money in order to gain experience, skills and showcase your talents…I’d say limit the budget to $1,000 or less.
This article is mainly for anyone who is in the process or as already produced their short and was looking for a way to recoup their money and make a profit.
There are several buyers of short films in the marketplace today:
Canadian Reflections buys shorts made by Canadian filmmakers.
Movieola also purchases films less than 40 minutes
However, from my experience Ouat Media is a great place to start. Ouat Media is a film distributor that acquires short films and sells them around the world to various TV broadcasters, Internet, mobile devices, and all other newly-developed media. If they like your film, they’ll offer you a four year distribution deal and you’ll receive 50% net profit of all the worldwide sales.
As your film is sold around the world, you’ll receive your royalty cheques in the mail from Ouat.I’d like to end with a quote from film director Robert Rodriguez as he was addressing filmmakers on how to be successful in the film industry.
“There is no one right way to do anything” - Robert Rodriguez
So…there’s no one right way to sell your short film…I’m just sharing with you how I sold my film and hopefully this information can be of use to you.
