Guide · four parts
Funding a short film in the UK
Who funds shorts, what they read for, and the six other ways a film gets paid for.
Read the guide
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A Guide to Making a Short Film.
Everything a short film needs, from the first pound to the festival run, in the order you need it.
Four chapters: three guides in plain words, twelve templates to download, and four lists we check and date. All of it free.
The whole guide at a glance
Four chapters, in the order a film gets made.
Chapter 1 of 4
Plan it and fund it.
Who funds short films and what they read for, how to make one on next to nothing, and a budget that adds up before you spend a pound.
Guide · five parts
Making a short on next to nothing
Write for what you have, shoot in two days, and spend the little money where it shows.
- Write for what you have
- The two-day shoot
- Where the money goes, and where it shows
- What costs nothing
- The one rule
Chapter 2 of 4
Get ready.
Break the script down, plan the days, get every permission in writing, and find the film office and the kit hire near you.
List · checked and dated
14
Locations and film offices
Film offices and screen agencies. Who to ask for a permit, a location, a small grant or a crew list, by area.
List · checked and dated
73
Kit hire near you
Hire houses. Camera, lenses, lights, sound and grip, and which houses have a rate for shorts.
The paperwork for this chapterFree to download
Plan the days
Script breakdown
Scene by scene: cast, extras, props, wardrobe, vehicles, special kit, time of day, pages. Fill it once and the schedule writes itself.
Shot list
Scene, shot, size, movement, lens, what is in it, and a tick when it is in the can.
Shooting schedule
The two days, by location and by light: scene, set, day or night, cast, pages, the estimate and the actual.
Get it signed
Risk assessment
The hazards a small shoot really has (roads, heights, electrics, weather, lone working, fatigue), who is at risk, what you will do about each, and who signed it.
Cast and contributor release
Permission to use the person's performance, name and likeness in the film and in everything around it, for good, everywhere.
Location agreement
The owner's permission to shoot there, on the dates, and to show the place in the film; what you will put back as you found it.
Crew deal memo
One page each: the role, the dates, the rate or the deferral, the credit, the kit they bring, and that the work belongs to the film.
Chapter 3 of 4
The shoot.
One page each morning that tells everyone where to be and when, and one each night that says what you shot.
Call sheet
One page for the day: calls, location, the nearest hospital, the weather, the scenes, the cast, the crew, the contacts.
Daily production report
What was scheduled, what was shot, the times, the footage, who was there, what went wrong.
How to plan two days that go like a shoot rather than a favour is in Making a short on next to nothing. Every template is on one page.
Chapter 4 of 4
Finish it and get it seen.
The festival plan, the festivals and funds open now, the events worth going to, and the music licence and checklist a festival asks for.
Guide · five parts
A festival plan for a short film
Premiere status, tiers, what the fees buy, and how to run a year on a small budget.
- Before you enter anything
- The tiers, and what they are for
- The money
- The year, in order
- What a selection is worth, and what it is not
List · checked and dated
40
Festivals worth your film
Festivals, funds, schemes, labs and competitions open now. The fee, the deadline, the length they take, and the date we checked each one. Your film's own page filters the list by its length.
Next to close
- BFI Film Academy London introductory coursescloses today
List · checked and dated
Events near you
Screening nights, meet-ups, labs and workshops coming up. The ones in your area first, when your page says where you are.
Open the listThe paperwork for this chapterFree to download
Music licence request
The letter that asks a composer, band or library for the sync and master rights a festival run needs, and the grant to sign.
Festival submission checklist
Everything a festival asks for, in one list to keep beside the film: the cut, the DCP, the stills, the synopses, the paperwork.
The one rule
Finish it.
A finished short made on nothing, put in front of people, entered where it belongs, with the paperwork done and the credits right, does more for everyone on it than a better short that stayed on a hard drive. Show it here, hear back, get picked, go further, crew up for the next one. That is the whole loop.