Simon Young

Shorts International

What does a distributor do?
Shorts International represents a catalogue of over 2500 short films of all nationalities which we sell worldwide to all media platforms from the traditional TV outlets, to mobile phones and UMD releases (disc format for Sony PSP). We make bespoke showreels according to our client's requirements or requests (for length, format, theme etc) which we send out to the client for consideration.

What kind of films is Shorts International looking for at the moment?
Very short films are good for our Shorts TV channel (currently streaming 24 hours a day on Orange mobiles). We also like good quality 35mm productions as favoured by TV. The optimum length is approx 10 minutes. Star names help sell films too obviously... Pre-watershed content is in high demand. Also genres such as sci-fi, horror and especially comedy are popular with clients.

What makes a good short film?
Originality and conciseness.

Is there anything prospective film makers remember if they want their short films to be sellable?
A good script will shine though in a low budget effort. Money spent on a big production won't disguise poor writing.

Don't use music which will require clearence from a big publisher... it can be very time consuming and also very expensive to obtain.

Gritty UK council-estate type dramas have been done to death, as have films about children and/or old people...

Keep it SHORT!

From your perspective, what’s the point of short films?
Obviously they are a good stepping stone/training ground for anyone hoping to make a feature but they are also an art-form in their own right. A short script can be a complete and rounded story which doesn't need the feature-length format to be told - and is 100% satisfying to watch. Shorts can take the kind of risks which are very rarely seen in features.

Submissions are always open.
See www.shortsinternational.com for details.


A film I would like to have directed?
This week: The Ipcress File.