2. PART ONE - WATCH SHORT FILMS
Short Films are easily available to anyone
and everyone. There are lots of websites,
such as shortfilms.com, YouTube pages,
such as youtube.com/futureshorts and
DVD compilations you can buy like Buster
Keaton: The Complete Short Films.
Watching other short films will help with
inspiration and also provide information
about basic rules and short film elements.
3. PART TWO - READ SHORT FILM
SCRIPTS
Reading scripts of other short films is important too for the same
reasons as watching them: Inspiration and knowledge.
There are websites available online on which you can read
professionally written scripts.
On Zoetrope you can read other scripts and upload your own in hope
of other people reading and making comments/suggestions.
4. PART THREE - READ MORE ABOUT
SCREENWRITING
It’s also a good idea to look at things directly written by other screenwriters.
Many of them keep their own blogs which you can ‘follow’ or subscribe to.
For example:
dannystack.blogspot.com
blog.geoffthompson.com
5. PART FOUR - TREATMENT
The treatment is a scene by scene description of a screenplay, minus all or
most of the dialogue. It should be the blueprint of a script and is normally a
page long, maybe two.
You can read screenplay treatments online including Steven Spielberg’s for ET:
http://www.writingtreatments.com/et2.pdf
6. PART FIVE - SCRIPTING
You can use websites like finaldraft.com to help with the actual
scriptwriting. Having internet access is a great advantage to
screenplay writers as you can also have your script read by a
professional once finished using sites like Scriptfactory.co.uk and
bang2write.com.
7. PART SIX - FUNDS AND NETWORKING
Once you’ve written your script and had it read by
professionals, you next need to start meeting potential
funders, cast and crew. You can find all of these people online.
You should find your local film fund. The UK Film Council
should be one of the first you look at. Contact any funds you
find and say you would like to meet them for a chat about
your idea.
You can even go direct to Film4 using their website
(http://www.film4.com/features/article/get-your-short-film-
distributed) as they also fund and distribute indie films
including shorts.
8.
9. http://www.swscreen.co.uk/how-we-
can-help/short-film-funding.html
“We develop the region’s talent by investing in
creative people and distinctive ideas. We want
to spot and support talented individuals as they
develop creative products ranging from
alternative reality games (ARGs) to short films
and from interactive content for mobile phones
to online soaps.”
