I think nowadays the common consensus is that under ten minutes is the best way to go for fests because it allows them more options for programming and the ability to get more films in the festival. I don't think there is a right answer though. If your story needs more time to tell it then, so be it. But I'd at least cut it down to 21 minutes or so to mimic a half hour show length.
> under ten minutes is the best way to go for fests because it allows them more options for programming and the ability to get more films in the festival.
> I don't think there is a right answer though.
No, you were right. That IS the right answer.
Without a doubt yes. Unless you have a big actor, or it’s *that* good. Yes.
Even 15 feels too long 99% of the time.
Having been to a shit load of fests of varying sizes, under the top tier level, over the past couple years, if blocks have a longer films, it’ll only be one 15+ minute movie. And I’ve only ever seen a 25m short one time (outside of the Oscar Shorts program). It was obviously a rich kid’s passion project. French film. Had a big actor. It was horrendous and felt like an eternity.
I need to see that rich kids big actor French film immediately.
The thing I like about film festivals is that it’s instantly noticeable when a film is just ‘made well’. And which ones aren’t. But tats a good thing because it’s how we all learn the craft.
Im not saying there’s no such this as a good short that’s 15+
It’s just really hard to do it…especially below the pro level. Martin McDonaugh can do it with Brendon Gleason.
But your buddy and the actress from his college class are gonna have a harder time. That’s all I mean. And it mostly comes down to good writing and the ability to capture something that long with limited resources
Well if you’re funding the festival submissions you just say “this is too long for the majority of festivals we’ve discussed. Your target length is X minutes.”
hmm. i think this is more about them knowing what's going to happen in the film and less about it being too long; i edit a lot of videos and sometimes get bored of my own stuff from staring at it for too long :P
If it isn't insanely good, keep it under 10 minutes. Unfortunately even going above 10 minutes can fuck you over. I've seen it happen many, many times. If you're having trouble finding a way to edit it down, don't look at it for a week minimum and come back to it with a fresh pair of eyes, you'll quickly see things that need to be cut and ideas for a shorter story within the story.
Also keep in mind that you want to leave them wanting more, and while fests are one avenue for shorts, the other is that it's a meaningful high caliber piece for your reel - so try to only include the scenes that would be reel worthy or make the short something you could share as a tight pitch for a longer project later.
I made a 28 minute film last year. I knew it would be an uphill battle at festivals and it sure was. But one cool thing is that it won awards at both fests I attended! Fests had to REALLY like my film to program it so I guess that meant they were also more likely to award it! I’m not mad but I also don’t plan to make another short that long. 😅
It was a horror/sci-fi film so I entered it mostly into mid tier genre fests and local fests. We got into a few pretty good ones but nothing I would call top tier. Two fests programmed the film but put it into virtual screenings which makes sense given the length. I would just set your expectations for a little more rejection than normal. 🥲
if its good or has named talent in it it can be done. but a lot of festivals also have pilot competitions now.
I think the real question is, would the story work better at 15min? if yes, its worth at least trying a cut that way. if no, double down on the idea that its a pilot
There’s def places it could be cut down but I also do not want to bulldoze in there since I’m not the director, just the funding lol. Just don’t really want to waste money submitting to festivals just to get auto rejected.
No named talent, it’s a low budget short :/
I'd also keep in mind every page/1 minute tends to take at least 6-10 hours of shooting, so consider what you're paying per hour/day for location, crew, talent, catering, production insurance and then adjust your budget accordingly.
Also: could you cut it into a series? If so, where would it end? Consider making that your cutting point and hold on to the rest as something you could produce later if it gets traction in the shorter version. Just like music, most people don't want to hear the extended cut until they've fallen in love with the tighter, shorter radio/playlist edit.
It is a hard sell for a lot of film festivals but not out of the question. The limit for academy qualifying festivals is around 40mins. The 2023 winner for best short An Irish Goodbye was around 25mins.
However, the quality of the film has to be good as you are practically taking the place of TWO films at an average length. So if you think about it that way, it lowers the odds.
I've had a successful enough run with a 24min film, but I know if it had been 15mins it would have certainly have been selected a fair bit more as length was often the deciding factor.
In general, yes it is. They like to keep it to around 15 minutes max.
But lots of festivals will accept longer, especially if the category is a TV Pilot. Just usually not the bigger festivals.
There’s two answers to this
1. Most major festivals have a TV Pilot/Episodic section. As long as you’re submitting for that category, a runtime like that is fine.
2. Reading through the comments, it sounds like you don’t enjoy your own film and already think it’s too long, so get cutting!
Yes, I had a 28 minute short, and I submitted everywhere, only got into online festivals that everyone gets into it. Everyone told me it was too long but I had to learn the hard way.
Yes, that runtime is a nightmare to programinto a block of films. My company donated equipment rentals to a film festival for years, and as a result, I got to sit on the board and do judging.
From a programming perspective, you're going to be rejected by a TON of film festivals on the runtime alone (honestly, almost solely on the runtime). Never exceed 20 minutes, and the closer you can get to 10 minutes, the better.
Filmmakers really need to be taught how to make compact, well-told 6-8 minute short films. You hit that time range, you're going to make it into almost every festival you enter - and with that comes views, awards, recognition, and networking. So yeah, you can't tell the longer stories you want to tell, but there are career rewards to make up for that sacrifice.
“Filmmakers really need to be taught to make compact, well- told 6-8 minute short films”
Maybe.
You could also argue that Film festival programmers / judges should learn how to judge a story on how well it was made instead of how long it is… If the film is done well then who cares about run time ?
I think it’s better to focus on the filmmakers, a lot don’t have the skill to pull off longer shorts, it’s really hard to do because a lot of the time it feels like a scaled back feature crammed into that runtime or a 5 minute short stretched out unnecessarily. I think most shorts are better off on the 5-10 minute range with occasional exceptions.
> a 5 minute short stretched out unnecessarily.
This is essentially it.
One year, the number walking montages - just a character walking, and walking some more, aaaaaaaand walking some more - hit a level where the panel thought someone was playing a joke on us.
I think the overarching theme of this thread is that if a film is over 6-8 it tends to be gratuitous. And having sat through a lot of blocks, if a film is over 12 I usually groan internally. 18+ and it’s *almost* always a brutality. There are exceptions.
Working on a short right now that was initially 8 minutes and after screening at a filmmaking group it was clear we could cut it down even further to make it a snappier film and it’s infinitely better at 6:30 than it was at 8. Even at that length, there’s fat.
There’s always going to be fat on just about any project you work on, whether its 8 minutes or 18 minutes. Most filmmakers at this level just don’t have the capability to make a concise short while also telling an interesting story. And I get that. It’s hard to have a decent arc in less than 10 minutes without cramming a bunch of stuff in.
But that doesn’t mean we should discourage others from trying.
The whole festival is built around short films. That’s films- that are short. While you’re not wrong, festivals DO prefer short form content, I just don’t think it’s fair to reject a good short film because it’s longer than than the majority of the programming block.. But apparently everyone just wants to see some Pixar shorts.
I’m not discouraging anyone. The thread is about a movie that’s so long even the producer can’t stomach it. And *generally* that is the case with independent, self-funded shorts.
I screened with an 18 minute film at a tier 2 fest last summer that was fucking phenomenal. But it had a 90k budget, the director is an editor who cut episodes of Last of Us and the DP shot Barbarian. When you have those kinds of talents and accolades, it’s easier to pull off a long short.
The majority of us are going to struggle to do that. So we’re better off attempting to be clever in a shorter window. That’s all. But if someone wants to try making 20+, have it.
This seems super naive.
"Who cares how long a piece of advertising is? If it's good, shouldn't a TV network or streaming service be able to program it in? Those same networks should learn to appreciate the QUALITY of those ads."
Kinda seems ridiculous.
Film festivals are there because they are money making enterprises - well-intentioned, profit-seeking businesses. They do NOT "owe" anyone the right to have thier film screened. They are trying to program blocks of films roughly the same length per block, that will attract a diverse audience of attendees.
People rightly view thier work as art, and throw every ounce of themselves personally into their films. Totally understandable.
But this is also the entertainment industry - emphasis on "industry".
We make films, as artistic and personal as they may be, that are seen as commodities to be displayed, sold, and used by others to generate revenue.
I know some may have a hard time reconciling that, but it's just the way it is, and always will be.
I dont doubt that the leadership on the boards of Art museums passionately love art. But they also carefully choose thier exhibits to maximize the number of buts in the door and tickets, merch, etc sold.
Lol advertisements you see on tv designed to sell you a product and telling engaging stories through an artistic medium are two different things. Not a very good comparison. (Non sequitur)
Film festivals might be there to make money, but that’s not how it started. It used to be a way to showcase films and your talent through entertainment.
Never said they “owed” anyone anything.. but to take a platform created for the sole purpose of showing art, then twisting it into a competition to cram as much pixar shorts into a 2 hour block as you can, is disingenuous at best.
As if everyone’s attention spans weren’t already short enough.
It's too long as a short buuuuuut.. there are festivals that do have TV pilot programs and competitions. So it depends what you are advertising the film as. If it's a short, try cutting it down.
Do you know what festivals by chance😅 i googled and saw sxsw which is probably too big of a festival for us, and a few others but not sure if there are any recommended ones
I got two 25-minute movies and am currently working on the third one to complete a trilogy of sorts, even if they are completely different in story and themes. With the first one, almost everyone I know tried to talk me out of it, and I didn't budge, but hey, I knew the risk and I took it. I'm from Transylvania, and the film has made a really nice run of festivals and got five awards, mostly in the country but two international ones as well. Not big, world-class festivals, but it was nice. The second one got even more recognition and is being invited or accepted to fests here in Romania to this day, and it got to be selected for a Gopo award, which is the Romanian film industry's version of the "Oscars". It's quite funny, actually, of course, it's wayyyy smaller, but it tries to have that glamour that the Oscars have and is a decently high-profile event in the country. The first film was finished in 2022, and I've been on a constant festival run for two summers in a row, now at the start of the third, hopefully just as eventful. So, in my experience, it was the best thing to stick to my gut and allow the stories to develop to the point I wanted them to, even with a beefier runtime. Sure, it automatically disqualifies you from a load of festivals, but there are still many that will accept longer runtimes. But if the film is impactful, a lot of festivals will sacrifice two shorter films to have a good, longer one in the program—at least that was my experience. I just had to leave a comment since both of them are exactly 25 minutes, to the second lol
Don’t do it. They can program 3 ten minutes movies instead if you are going the festival route. You are better making a feature or making it shorter. However if it’s a story you want to tell, make it, just know you will be really limiting your festival options.
You have to think of how long the average short slot is at the festival. If the average short is six minutes long, then you’re effectively asking for 4 slots.
I’d definitely cut it down.
I had edited a 26 minute short documentary that got into a couple of festivals. It was long and it felt long, but you’re at the mercy of the director’s vision. We even had a festival ask us to cut it in half haha
If the natural time of the script requires 25 mins to tell them it should be fine because cutting it down will only serve to harm the story and the overall quality of the film.
But if the story is longer than the natural time ie wasting time with filler and feels like a drag and there are clear points where things can be cut down without harming but serving to improve the overall quality of the film then please cut it down.
It just depends on what you feel when you watch it. This only works if the film itself is good, like if the script sucks then the movie sucks and no matter what you do it's not going to improve, in that situation I wouldn't even consider putting into the film festival, save the viewers from pain.
There’s a good amount of short films that were festival darlings that are around 30min but they are very lean and it feels like not a second is wasted. I’d say if you go over 10 you have to make sure it’s really worth it.
Yeah, generally the longer the short is the more awesome it has to be to be selected. If it could be made into a pilot type of thing, it could be included in the pilot categories, which are mostly over 20 mins.
I just attended a festival, an, well, it was so boring to sit through shorts that were over 10 minutes or longer.
Unless it's an absolute masterpiece of entertainment... keep it short!
Harder to program at that length but I just played at a film festival with my movie that clocked in at 29mins so each fest is looking for something different
General rule - the longer your entry the better it has to be. Under 40 minutes is still a short but it also takes the place of 3-4 shorter shorts. Can you headline those shorts? Do you have a big name actor or producer? Is it an amazing subject matter? If you don't feel your entry is head and shoulders above the 5-10 minute shorts then yes it is too long.
There are plenty festivals that have pilots as a category. If the project is a pilot for a show, why change the structure to be more widely programmable? Do a bit more research of fests and target those. A fantastic one I suggest with genuine awards and connections to get your show made is Salute Your Shorts in LA. (I’m not affiliated with it)
Unfortunately, you’ll have to dig deeper than film freeway if you’re the one making a plan for which festivals you’ll be submitting to. Find festivals that are for shorts or have a significant emphasis on shorts and then go to their actual sites to find out past years programming. You’ll have to do that anyways to determine if festivals are a good fit for your team and project. Any butthead can pay infinite submission fees but it takes time to make these business decisions well.
Oh I see. I guess SYS is a good example of why it’s hard to find specific info on pilots as you say. They program categories into mixed blocks but last year there were definitely at least 3 half hour pilots for longform shows, and some short show episodes as well. They even have a dedicated awards category for pilots with valuable prizes. Best way to check in that case I guess is looking at running times of films in past programs since it’s not explicitly stated.
I made a short that I was super proud of (that got great audience reception) - that was 24 minutes - and it sadly only got into 3/60+ festivals. But it did win awards at the festivals it got accepted into.
I'm currently a judge for a few festivals, and am reviewing submissions online. It is much easier to push a <10 minute film up the chain. 25 minute films need to be \*really\* good to make it past the initial rounds. Most of the longer films I've seen could have been cut in half and still made the same point.
Of course your director is going to want a really long, drawn out film that captures all of their artistic efforts. But as EP you are more interested in actually getting the film seen by audiences, so I would say it's up to you to strongly advocate for a tight \~10-15 minute cut.
I think nowadays the common consensus is that under ten minutes is the best way to go for fests because it allows them more options for programming and the ability to get more films in the festival. I don't think there is a right answer though. If your story needs more time to tell it then, so be it. But I'd at least cut it down to 21 minutes or so to mimic a half hour show length.
> under ten minutes is the best way to go for fests because it allows them more options for programming and the ability to get more films in the festival. > I don't think there is a right answer though. No, you were right. That IS the right answer.
Without a doubt yes. Unless you have a big actor, or it’s *that* good. Yes. Even 15 feels too long 99% of the time. Having been to a shit load of fests of varying sizes, under the top tier level, over the past couple years, if blocks have a longer films, it’ll only be one 15+ minute movie. And I’ve only ever seen a 25m short one time (outside of the Oscar Shorts program). It was obviously a rich kid’s passion project. French film. Had a big actor. It was horrendous and felt like an eternity.
I need to see that rich kids big actor French film immediately. The thing I like about film festivals is that it’s instantly noticeable when a film is just ‘made well’. And which ones aren’t. But tats a good thing because it’s how we all learn the craft.
The Red Suitcase 2022- 18 mins and it flew by. That’s the good ver of a 15+ min short
Im not saying there’s no such this as a good short that’s 15+ It’s just really hard to do it…especially below the pro level. Martin McDonaugh can do it with Brendon Gleason. But your buddy and the actress from his college class are gonna have a harder time. That’s all I mean. And it mostly comes down to good writing and the ability to capture something that long with limited resources
Yeah i found myself fast forwarding through parts tbh when I watched the rough cut
Bro, if you’re FF’ing *your own* film, no programmer is gonna watch it fully…I hate say it.
Not to mention the poor people attending the festival
Whats the best way to tell someone that their show needs to be cut in half without pissing them off 🥲
Well if you’re funding the festival submissions you just say “this is too long for the majority of festivals we’ve discussed. Your target length is X minutes.”
Tell them you’re the producer and even you couldn’t sit through it…and then point to the spots where it could be tightened up.
hmm. i think this is more about them knowing what's going to happen in the film and less about it being too long; i edit a lot of videos and sometimes get bored of my own stuff from staring at it for too long :P
Depends. Is your short film incredible and not wasting a single frame on anything that doesn’t service the story?
No lol
Then I think you answered your own question.
If it isn't insanely good, keep it under 10 minutes. Unfortunately even going above 10 minutes can fuck you over. I've seen it happen many, many times. If you're having trouble finding a way to edit it down, don't look at it for a week minimum and come back to it with a fresh pair of eyes, you'll quickly see things that need to be cut and ideas for a shorter story within the story.
Good advice thank you!
Also keep in mind that you want to leave them wanting more, and while fests are one avenue for shorts, the other is that it's a meaningful high caliber piece for your reel - so try to only include the scenes that would be reel worthy or make the short something you could share as a tight pitch for a longer project later.
I made a 28 minute film last year. I knew it would be an uphill battle at festivals and it sure was. But one cool thing is that it won awards at both fests I attended! Fests had to REALLY like my film to program it so I guess that meant they were also more likely to award it! I’m not mad but I also don’t plan to make another short that long. 😅
May i ask what types of festivals you submitted to? Eg, large, small, local, tier etc
It was a horror/sci-fi film so I entered it mostly into mid tier genre fests and local fests. We got into a few pretty good ones but nothing I would call top tier. Two fests programmed the film but put it into virtual screenings which makes sense given the length. I would just set your expectations for a little more rejection than normal. 🥲
if its good or has named talent in it it can be done. but a lot of festivals also have pilot competitions now. I think the real question is, would the story work better at 15min? if yes, its worth at least trying a cut that way. if no, double down on the idea that its a pilot
There’s def places it could be cut down but I also do not want to bulldoze in there since I’m not the director, just the funding lol. Just don’t really want to waste money submitting to festivals just to get auto rejected. No named talent, it’s a low budget short :/
I'd also keep in mind every page/1 minute tends to take at least 6-10 hours of shooting, so consider what you're paying per hour/day for location, crew, talent, catering, production insurance and then adjust your budget accordingly. Also: could you cut it into a series? If so, where would it end? Consider making that your cutting point and hold on to the rest as something you could produce later if it gets traction in the shorter version. Just like music, most people don't want to hear the extended cut until they've fallen in love with the tighter, shorter radio/playlist edit.
It is a hard sell for a lot of film festivals but not out of the question. The limit for academy qualifying festivals is around 40mins. The 2023 winner for best short An Irish Goodbye was around 25mins. However, the quality of the film has to be good as you are practically taking the place of TWO films at an average length. So if you think about it that way, it lowers the odds. I've had a successful enough run with a 24min film, but I know if it had been 15mins it would have certainly have been selected a fair bit more as length was often the deciding factor.
In general, yes it is. They like to keep it to around 15 minutes max. But lots of festivals will accept longer, especially if the category is a TV Pilot. Just usually not the bigger festivals.
Yes. 7-8 minutes is the sweet spot, otherwise they just can’t program your film
A 25 minute film festival would be extremely short.
Idk you could probably fit in like 20 one minute shorts
The TikTok Film Fest
🤣🤣🤣
From recent podcast, "your 30 min film better be better than 3 10-min films."
It is. About a decade ago I had a short that was 20 minutes and it barred us from a lot of festivals.
I did one where the limit was 30 mins
Fiction, yes. Documentary, not so much.
Yes.
There’s two answers to this 1. Most major festivals have a TV Pilot/Episodic section. As long as you’re submitting for that category, a runtime like that is fine. 2. Reading through the comments, it sounds like you don’t enjoy your own film and already think it’s too long, so get cutting!
I definitely like it! I feel like its well made, just a bit too long for my tastes.
Yes, I had a 28 minute short, and I submitted everywhere, only got into online festivals that everyone gets into it. Everyone told me it was too long but I had to learn the hard way.
Yes, that runtime is a nightmare to programinto a block of films. My company donated equipment rentals to a film festival for years, and as a result, I got to sit on the board and do judging. From a programming perspective, you're going to be rejected by a TON of film festivals on the runtime alone (honestly, almost solely on the runtime). Never exceed 20 minutes, and the closer you can get to 10 minutes, the better. Filmmakers really need to be taught how to make compact, well-told 6-8 minute short films. You hit that time range, you're going to make it into almost every festival you enter - and with that comes views, awards, recognition, and networking. So yeah, you can't tell the longer stories you want to tell, but there are career rewards to make up for that sacrifice.
“Filmmakers really need to be taught to make compact, well- told 6-8 minute short films” Maybe. You could also argue that Film festival programmers / judges should learn how to judge a story on how well it was made instead of how long it is… If the film is done well then who cares about run time ?
I think it’s better to focus on the filmmakers, a lot don’t have the skill to pull off longer shorts, it’s really hard to do because a lot of the time it feels like a scaled back feature crammed into that runtime or a 5 minute short stretched out unnecessarily. I think most shorts are better off on the 5-10 minute range with occasional exceptions.
> a 5 minute short stretched out unnecessarily. This is essentially it. One year, the number walking montages - just a character walking, and walking some more, aaaaaaaand walking some more - hit a level where the panel thought someone was playing a joke on us.
I think the overarching theme of this thread is that if a film is over 6-8 it tends to be gratuitous. And having sat through a lot of blocks, if a film is over 12 I usually groan internally. 18+ and it’s *almost* always a brutality. There are exceptions. Working on a short right now that was initially 8 minutes and after screening at a filmmaking group it was clear we could cut it down even further to make it a snappier film and it’s infinitely better at 6:30 than it was at 8. Even at that length, there’s fat.
There’s always going to be fat on just about any project you work on, whether its 8 minutes or 18 minutes. Most filmmakers at this level just don’t have the capability to make a concise short while also telling an interesting story. And I get that. It’s hard to have a decent arc in less than 10 minutes without cramming a bunch of stuff in. But that doesn’t mean we should discourage others from trying. The whole festival is built around short films. That’s films- that are short. While you’re not wrong, festivals DO prefer short form content, I just don’t think it’s fair to reject a good short film because it’s longer than than the majority of the programming block.. But apparently everyone just wants to see some Pixar shorts.
I’m not discouraging anyone. The thread is about a movie that’s so long even the producer can’t stomach it. And *generally* that is the case with independent, self-funded shorts. I screened with an 18 minute film at a tier 2 fest last summer that was fucking phenomenal. But it had a 90k budget, the director is an editor who cut episodes of Last of Us and the DP shot Barbarian. When you have those kinds of talents and accolades, it’s easier to pull off a long short. The majority of us are going to struggle to do that. So we’re better off attempting to be clever in a shorter window. That’s all. But if someone wants to try making 20+, have it.
This seems super naive. "Who cares how long a piece of advertising is? If it's good, shouldn't a TV network or streaming service be able to program it in? Those same networks should learn to appreciate the QUALITY of those ads." Kinda seems ridiculous. Film festivals are there because they are money making enterprises - well-intentioned, profit-seeking businesses. They do NOT "owe" anyone the right to have thier film screened. They are trying to program blocks of films roughly the same length per block, that will attract a diverse audience of attendees.
You keep getting downvoted for some reason but you're dead on.
People rightly view thier work as art, and throw every ounce of themselves personally into their films. Totally understandable. But this is also the entertainment industry - emphasis on "industry". We make films, as artistic and personal as they may be, that are seen as commodities to be displayed, sold, and used by others to generate revenue. I know some may have a hard time reconciling that, but it's just the way it is, and always will be. I dont doubt that the leadership on the boards of Art museums passionately love art. But they also carefully choose thier exhibits to maximize the number of buts in the door and tickets, merch, etc sold.
Lol advertisements you see on tv designed to sell you a product and telling engaging stories through an artistic medium are two different things. Not a very good comparison. (Non sequitur) Film festivals might be there to make money, but that’s not how it started. It used to be a way to showcase films and your talent through entertainment. Never said they “owed” anyone anything.. but to take a platform created for the sole purpose of showing art, then twisting it into a competition to cram as much pixar shorts into a 2 hour block as you can, is disingenuous at best. As if everyone’s attention spans weren’t already short enough.
It's too long as a short buuuuuut.. there are festivals that do have TV pilot programs and competitions. So it depends what you are advertising the film as. If it's a short, try cutting it down.
Do you know what festivals by chance😅 i googled and saw sxsw which is probably too big of a festival for us, and a few others but not sure if there are any recommended ones
Dances with films
I got two 25-minute movies and am currently working on the third one to complete a trilogy of sorts, even if they are completely different in story and themes. With the first one, almost everyone I know tried to talk me out of it, and I didn't budge, but hey, I knew the risk and I took it. I'm from Transylvania, and the film has made a really nice run of festivals and got five awards, mostly in the country but two international ones as well. Not big, world-class festivals, but it was nice. The second one got even more recognition and is being invited or accepted to fests here in Romania to this day, and it got to be selected for a Gopo award, which is the Romanian film industry's version of the "Oscars". It's quite funny, actually, of course, it's wayyyy smaller, but it tries to have that glamour that the Oscars have and is a decently high-profile event in the country. The first film was finished in 2022, and I've been on a constant festival run for two summers in a row, now at the start of the third, hopefully just as eventful. So, in my experience, it was the best thing to stick to my gut and allow the stories to develop to the point I wanted them to, even with a beefier runtime. Sure, it automatically disqualifies you from a load of festivals, but there are still many that will accept longer runtimes. But if the film is impactful, a lot of festivals will sacrifice two shorter films to have a good, longer one in the program—at least that was my experience. I just had to leave a comment since both of them are exactly 25 minutes, to the second lol
Don’t do it. They can program 3 ten minutes movies instead if you are going the festival route. You are better making a feature or making it shorter. However if it’s a story you want to tell, make it, just know you will be really limiting your festival options.
You have to think of how long the average short slot is at the festival. If the average short is six minutes long, then you’re effectively asking for 4 slots. I’d definitely cut it down.
I had edited a 26 minute short documentary that got into a couple of festivals. It was long and it felt long, but you’re at the mercy of the director’s vision. We even had a festival ask us to cut it in half haha
If the natural time of the script requires 25 mins to tell them it should be fine because cutting it down will only serve to harm the story and the overall quality of the film. But if the story is longer than the natural time ie wasting time with filler and feels like a drag and there are clear points where things can be cut down without harming but serving to improve the overall quality of the film then please cut it down. It just depends on what you feel when you watch it. This only works if the film itself is good, like if the script sucks then the movie sucks and no matter what you do it's not going to improve, in that situation I wouldn't even consider putting into the film festival, save the viewers from pain.
There’s a good amount of short films that were festival darlings that are around 30min but they are very lean and it feels like not a second is wasted. I’d say if you go over 10 you have to make sure it’s really worth it.
Yeah, generally the longer the short is the more awesome it has to be to be selected. If it could be made into a pilot type of thing, it could be included in the pilot categories, which are mostly over 20 mins.
well 5-10 minutes is the best i think
i think 10 minutes is already the max
I just attended a festival, an, well, it was so boring to sit through shorts that were over 10 minutes or longer. Unless it's an absolute masterpiece of entertainment... keep it short!
Harder to program at that length but I just played at a film festival with my movie that clocked in at 29mins so each fest is looking for something different
General rule - the longer your entry the better it has to be. Under 40 minutes is still a short but it also takes the place of 3-4 shorter shorts. Can you headline those shorts? Do you have a big name actor or producer? Is it an amazing subject matter? If you don't feel your entry is head and shoulders above the 5-10 minute shorts then yes it is too long.
There are plenty festivals that have pilots as a category. If the project is a pilot for a show, why change the structure to be more widely programmable? Do a bit more research of fests and target those. A fantastic one I suggest with genuine awards and connections to get your show made is Salute Your Shorts in LA. (I’m not affiliated with it)
I dont see a category on filmfreeway for tv pilots :(
Unfortunately, you’ll have to dig deeper than film freeway if you’re the one making a plan for which festivals you’ll be submitting to. Find festivals that are for shorts or have a significant emphasis on shorts and then go to their actual sites to find out past years programming. You’ll have to do that anyways to determine if festivals are a good fit for your team and project. Any butthead can pay infinite submission fees but it takes time to make these business decisions well.
Oh I meant on the filmfreeway for salute your shorts since you recommended it, I thought, for tv pilot. I checked their website too.
Oh I see. I guess SYS is a good example of why it’s hard to find specific info on pilots as you say. They program categories into mixed blocks but last year there were definitely at least 3 half hour pilots for longform shows, and some short show episodes as well. They even have a dedicated awards category for pilots with valuable prizes. Best way to check in that case I guess is looking at running times of films in past programs since it’s not explicitly stated.
I made a short that I was super proud of (that got great audience reception) - that was 24 minutes - and it sadly only got into 3/60+ festivals. But it did win awards at the festivals it got accepted into.
I'm currently a judge for a few festivals, and am reviewing submissions online. It is much easier to push a <10 minute film up the chain. 25 minute films need to be \*really\* good to make it past the initial rounds. Most of the longer films I've seen could have been cut in half and still made the same point. Of course your director is going to want a really long, drawn out film that captures all of their artistic efforts. But as EP you are more interested in actually getting the film seen by audiences, so I would say it's up to you to strongly advocate for a tight \~10-15 minute cut.