The short film

One idea

A feature can follow a whole life. A short film has room for one event, one decision or one change. Pick the moment that matters most and build the film around it.

Keep the cast small. Two or three people give you conflict without crowding the screen. Every extra character needs an introduction, and you do not have the minutes.

Aim for under ten pages. A page plays for about a minute, so ten pages is already a ten minute film.

Write for what you can shoot

List what you already have: a flat, a rooftop, a friend's shop, a scooter, an uncle who can act. Write towards that list.

One or two places is enough. Every new location costs travel, permission and light. A story that stays in one kitchen can spend its time on performance.

Go easy on things that are hard to film with a small crew: crowds, rain, moving vehicles, long scenes with small children or animals. If the story needs one hard thing, keep everything else simple.

The twist ending trap

Many first shorts are a long set up for a surprise in the last ten seconds. He was dead all along. It was only a dream. The audience feels tricked, because nothing before the twist mattered on its own.

A surprise works when the film is good without it and better with it. Run the film in your head with the ending already known. If it is dull that way, the twist was hiding a weak story.

Endings that land

A good ending answers the question the opening asked. If the film opens with a girl who wants to leave home, it ends when we know whether she goes.

End on a choice or an image, not an explanation. Let the character do one thing that shows what has changed, then stop. A short film can often end a beat earlier than feels safe.

Know your ending before you write page one. It tells you what to set up and what to leave out.