1 THE SHORTER THE BETTER
2 KEEP THE PRACTICALITIES OF WRITING IN MIND
Seven Rules for Writing Short Films by STÉPHANIE JOALLAND
A
short film script can be a great calling card for a writer. Short films aren’ t a lesser form of cinematic storytelling. In fact writing them requires the exact same skills as writing a feature length script – though on a smaller scale. Although TV broadcast opportunities may be limited, there are more and more outlets for these opportunities. I recently read on IndieWire:“ Shorts used to be this artsy thing. But now there really is this explosion in filmmaking. With all this new technology, shorts films have a lot more interest among regular people, because so many people are making them and putting them on the web. Suddenly, we’ re not explaining short films to people. Everybody’ s seen one.”
Many of the best writers and directors started out with shorts. Do you know that Sacha Gervasi, the writer of“ The Terminal”, found his U. S agent, and then a lucrative writing gig with Dreamworks based on the strength of an extraordinary short film he wrote? It’ s a rarity but it happens. In any case, it’ s an excellent way to develop your craft and flex your writing muscles and it is much less daunting than penning a first feature if you haven’ t much writing experience.
There are 7 rules you should remember when writing a short film:
1 THE SHORTER THE BETTER
A short film can be anything from fifteen seconds to forty five minutes in length. Make your short film script as short as possible because the shorter the short, the less costly it will be to produce. Of course, digital technology frees up filmmakers, yet time still costs money, so does feeding a hungry crew, and if you shoot too fast your short film might end up looking amateurish. It has to be cheap but shouldn’ t LOOK cheap! Plus, if you want to get your short into a festival, then keep it to no more than ten minutes, which is usually 7-8 pages maximum. Why? Because if your short film is longer, it will eat up a longer slot and festivals love to play as many shorts as possible! You can also create real emotion in just a few minutes.
Look at Sebastian’ s Voodoo. It’ s a 4 minute animated short about a Voodoo doll who must pierce his own heart to save his friend from being impaled and it is absolutely heartbreaking.
2 KEEP THE PRACTICALITIES OF WRITING IN MIND
The great thing about shorts is that they can be anything since you don!’ have studio execs on your tail. However, don’ t discard the practicalities of writing your script. I have read scripts with pages of chaseaction scenes and car crashes, and many writers seem not to realize how time consuming it would be to actually shoot. In fact, see the writing of a short as an opportunity to become more aware of what each line you put down on paper implies and costs. Visions of white horses galloping in the moonlight certainly look amazing in your mind but are you sure you’ re good friends with a wrangler and / or a CGI specialist? If you only have access to modest resources, think small.
Apricot is a good example of short film that could have been done on a low budget( it shows such impeccable production value I doubt it was actually done on the cheap) because it deals with two people sitting at a table at a cafe yet manages to show a wide range of emotion. Along the same lines, the
92 | WGSA MAG June 2013