Making It Big in Shorts: Faster, Better, Cheaper: The Ultimate Filmmaker's Guide to Short Films

Each year 8,000+ short films compete to fill 60 slots at the Sundance Film Festival. On an average day, 792 film and video projects vie for funding on Kickstarter. And every minute 300 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube. In this competitive environment, a short filmmaker can no longer invest time, money, and dreams of glory in the theory that “if you build it, they will come.” The challenge is making the right kind of short: one that will make a splash. Covering the nuts-and-bolts of production while stressing the importance of artistic expression, this invaluable handbook shows a first-time filmmaker how to make a buzzworthy little film that could launch a lucrative Hollywood career. Packed with over 75 photos and insider advice from dozens of high-profile professionals, including Sundance and Tribeca festival programmers and Academy Award® winners and nominees, Making It Big in Shorts puts the emphasis on making films shorter, faster, and cheaper.

Kim Adelman currently teaches Low-Budget Filmmaking at UCLA Extension. She was honored as Instructor of the Year in 2014 and won the UCLA Extension Distinguished Instructor Award in 2016. She lectures annually at USC School of Cinematic Arts’ Career Week. She has conducted filmmaking workshops across the United States, Canada, and New Zealand. Ms. Adelman has written about short films and film festivals for Indiewire since 2006. She has co-programmed the American Cinematheque’s annual Focus on Female Directors short-film screening series since 2005. Adelman began her short-film career in 1996 by launching the short-film program at FXM: Movies from Fox (now called FX Movie Channel). The 19 short films she produced for Fox won 30+ awards and played over 150 film festivals worldwide, including the Sundance Film Festival four years in a row. She then signed on to produce Short and International Release, the acclaimed short film compi-lations released by Warner Home Video. Kim Adelman is also the author of The Girls’ Guide to Elvis, The Girls’ Guide to Country, and The Ultimate Guide to Chick Flicks. Her books have been translated into Spanish, Japanese, and Mandarin.