It's best not to think about the costs too much... shorts have to be made for next-to-nothing, so long as your script approaches that you should be OK. 10K is just not realistic for most short film makers, especially when it doesn't take money to win acclaim. Takes money in a feature because they are profit-based... shorts generally are not. Shorts are made to showcase talent to the people upstairs that have all the dosh to make real films.

Writing a 10K short will be a waste of time... but fun perhaps to write... in terms of getting made, no chance. An inventive writer can write around any obstacle, especially money.

Quoted from DustinBowcot Writing a 10K short will be a waste of time... but fun perhaps to write... in terms of getting made, no chance. An inventive writer can write around any obstacle, especially money.

How about a $1 Million short?  Those are the ones I like to write.  

Actually, a lot of shorts that have serious producers/directors behind them plan on spending a lot. If the goals are to take the film to Sundance or hoping for an Oscar, $50K - Sky's the limit is not unheard of. Plenty of short films playing in those arenas have budgets of $500K or more. I believe the short documentary Oscar winner this year had a budget of $750K. Here at SS though, $0 - $15K seems to be the norm.

Quoted from Grandma Bear Actually, a lot of shorts that have serious producers/directors behind them plan on spending a lot. If the goals are to take the film to Sundance or hoping for an Oscar, $50K - Sky's the limit is not unheard of. Plenty of short films playing in those arenas have budgets of $500K or more. I believe the short documentary Oscar winner this year had a budget of $750K. Here at SS though, $0 - $15K seems to be the norm.

Well I suppose all films have budgets once we figure in time and equipment. Even the short we are making we're calling 'no budget' will cost around 5k... but that is all put in by us. The big cameras, for a half decent one can cost over 2K per day to rent. Times that by three and the cash soon starts to build.... lighting, sound, make-up, costumes, stunts, special effects locations, auditions, rehearsals... food, coffee.

However... although I can see how one must speculate to accumulate, and that a 50K short is possible *technically* for free... I fail to see how investors would be enticed into putting money into a short when there can be no return.

I'd like to see a 500K short. I've seen plenty of great 100K and less features... can you link me to one? Google isn't being kind to me.

Quoted from Dreamscale How about a $1 Million short?  Those are the ones I like to write.

The shorts I wear are valued at about a million. The chicks love them

  

Quoted from stevie The shorts I wear are valued at about a million. The chicks love them

Stevie, you old goat!

The shorts may indeed be worth a shitload as they're as old as the sky and few denim shorts from the 80's have survived all those years.

The problem is that what's inside those shorts is probably only valued at around 3 or 4 bucks and if you think about it, it makes perfect sense - the reason why shorts wear out is because of what's contained within - in your case, it's like the shorts are just on a hanger, cuz there ain't nothing inside to wear them out.  

Wow, talk about good timing!  

http://www.grindtv.com/outdoor.....on-at-recife-brazil/

I have an idea I'm really excited about, but I just don't think I'll be able to get it done in four days. I think I'll read the entries regardless of whether or not I submit it in time. Good luck everyone!

Quoted from PrussianMosby I guess, everybody's sure about we "probably" can't write this one budget-friendly, whatever this exactly means. From what I guess and I haven't got a clue of those costs exactly; I want to improve my knowledge concerning this in the future: There won't be even an "amateur company" which gives you sparsely pieces of CGI below 5k. The other way, actually engineering some effects, that sounds even more expensive.

Hey Alexander,

Dude, you don't know how right you are. Even low budget CGI can easily push your cost out of reach nowadays. To give you a brief example; Swordfish (2001) used a small production company in my neck of the woods for some CGI. They were kind of the 'new kids on the block' in FX back in the late 90s. Here's a cut and paste from IMDB;

"The opening scene of Swordfish is the most complicated visual effect in Warner Brothers history. It was shot using Matrix-like effects (The Matrix (1999)) by Frantic Films of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. The effect has so many composites in it that the producers and director of the film could not determine what was real and what was created by computer."

This is just a tidbit re: the CGI costs. I heard through the grapevine up here, that this scene alone put them (Warner Bros) out somewhere near 5 Million! Any truth to that? I'm not sure, but here's the final effect in case someone (which I doubt) hasn't seen it;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-o5KfGtvFU

My OWC has CGI written all over it... ya, there's no way it's going anywhere but this board, LOL!
Cheers... Rick.

This was within a pretty sensible CGI budget:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceaVvMoWMKs

Quoted from DustinBowcot I'd like to see a 500K short. I've seen plenty of great 100K and less features... can you link me to one? Google isn't being kind to me.

I haven't had the time to do some research, but I remember way back when I was watching a lot of short films. A lot of them playing at the bigger festivals like Sundance and Cannes and the like had really HUGE budgets. A lot of them were made by either really rich people or by people in other countries where the state supports filmmaking and thus fund them. Lots of countries are like that. In Sweden for example most films are funded by The Swedish Film Institute.

If mine were to be filmed in it's current length and level of interaction with the actors and shark, I'd say it could be done for under 20K.

Two locations, three people and a shark.

Oh, and a story that most likely sucks.

Shawn.....><

Quoted from wonkavite Wow, talk about good timing!   http://www.grindtv.com/outdoor.....on-at-recife-brazil/

Ooooo... !
That was so cool I wanted to make some myself!









Source images:
http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01440/shark5_1440223i.jpg

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8375/8504185931_8b610158f7_o.jpg

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6lcNaD2bC7I/UMuZwsQF_aI/AAAAAAAABto/Mn7k7y4jbpw/s1600/IMG_5056+copy.jpg

http://cdn.fusion.net/images/ABC_Univision/gty_blackout_130204_wmain.jpg

Quoted from Grandma Bear I haven't had the time to do some research, but I remember way back when I was watching a lot of short films. A lot of them playing at the bigger festivals like Sundance and Cannes and the like had really HUGE budgets. A lot of them were made by either really rich people or by people in other countries where the state supports filmmaking and thus fund them. Lots of countries are like that. In Sweden for example most films are funded by The Swedish Film Institute.

Yeah, there's funding here too for up to 50 grand for shorts, although nobody ever gets the top end. 50K here is like 75K in the US due to conversion from £ to $. We're going for funding on our second short as it's going to be all action. We have some of the stunt equipment already, like harnesses... but we could do with lots more stuff, like fake glass and of course always better cameras. I can see some rich idiot dropping 500K on a short, I suppose. That would be a nice 20K for the writer too - if we figure 4% of the budget as the option fee.

However, for most purposes, writing to 'zero budget' is the best way for us to go when starting out, as they stand the most chance of being made. Even when writing features, if we stick to very low budget it will stand more chance being picked up by an indie producer.

I did some research. Found a german tv-masterpiece which got a phenomenal 2.3 on imdb. Ralf Moeller (Gladiator) got the lead role. It even got US (DVD) distribution title "Shark Attack in the Mediterranean"; But I think the german title "Shark alarm on Mallorca " is even more weird.

The kill at 3.30 lol.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHSltIdxc0s