I'm a "late bloomer" in the field of screenwriting. Its something I've really come to enjoy. I read somewhere that getting "short screenplays" produces is a way to build a "resume" and get "noticed. Wondering what my friends here at Stage 32 think of this idea? I've written a few "shorts", posted one. Should I do more? Thought....
Screenwriting : Is writing short screenplays a way to build a resume? by J. Ralph Fisgus MD
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If the right short gets in a director's hands and they have the finances to make it a feature, they'll look to you to write it. But they'll ask if you've written a feature before so yeah, what Ron said, if you want to write to features, write features.
Many major film careers have been started with shorts. Short-film screenplays are respected to be more difficult than features. I couldn't find the link, but @Scriptcat speaks of this rather regularly. Hit up the competitions. Shorts are huge. /cheers
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Whiplash was a short before it won some Oscars -- just putting that out there. You know what J... do what makes you happy man. No matter what you are doing, it's going to help you hone your craft and give you experience.
I think the WHIPLASH short was used as a way to find funding for the feature. The problem with short films in the USA is that there is no real market for them, so they go unseen by anyone who can help you. The exceptions seem to be CGI heavy shot films which get passed around online and lead to the writer/director/FX artist getting a job on some FX heavy project... where they hope they will also do some of the FX supercheap. My only suggestion regarding shorts is that screenwriters might want to consider making them to get a handle on what does and does not work on film.
I have two examples, personal ones, that have both come from shorts I've written 1) a producer has bought a short script from me because he wants to make it into a feature at a future date. I'll receive Story By credit in this example. 2) a different producer/director took one of my short scripts (free option), like the writing and has now hired me to write a low budget feature for them. So in these cases shorts are definitely adding to my Resume (and bank balance)... Apols if this comes across as a humble brag, but I'm an advocate of short scripts/films and think they do have value to screenwriters as learning opportunities and have the potential to lead to other things, as these hopefully show.
I really want to thank everyone for their comments! I appreciate all the input and people sharing their experiences! Stage 32 is just a great place! Thank you all!