Gregory Kasunich is the director of the short film “The Heart of Texas,” which he co-wrote with the film’s star, Lauren Noll. The film plays this weekend at his hometown film festival, Pittsburgh Shorts. In the piece below, he lays out the reasons to make short films.—M.M.

The prevailing wisdom is this: don’t do it. 

“It’s insane,” they’ll say.  

“A waste of money and time and resources,” they’ll whisper. 

Don’t make that short film. Don’t go to film festivals. Don’t pour your heart and soul into a bite sized piece of cinema when you could do anything else.

It is, admittedly, in all estimation, a very bad idea.

But when faced with all the reasons not to make a short, and there are many, I did the damn thing anyway – and my journey, taking a small idea scribbled on a scrap of paper in my bedroom, to screens all over the world, from Beloit to Bulgaria, might have been the best decision of my career. Little did I think that this little-movie-that-could would land on the Oscar long-list and end up being considered for the Academy Award. 

In the spring of last year I flew my cast and some crew to Waco, Texas to film “The Heart of Texas,” a 15-minute live action short film about Janie May, an aspiring singer-songwriter stuck in the paycheck-to-paycheck grind who has a life-changing encounter on her way to a career-making opportunity that forces her to examine the cost of her American dream at the expense of another’s. If that seems a bit vague, it is, as there is a central twist that I would hate to spoil here. 

Production was a challenge, from the blazing Texas sun, to the classic not-enough-time-not-enoung-money scenario, to a myriad of other challenges. But we pulled it together and got it in the can in three quick days. Battered, burnt, bruised, and broke I flew home wondering if I had made a huge mistake. Maybe they were right, maybe you shouldn’t make short films. 

I’ll admit, there is a strong case against it. In this day and age you’re up against shortening attention spans, indifferent executives, and the whims of the almighty algorithm. You can’t really sell a short film. Sure, maybe you’ll get it onto a streamer, or onto an airline headrest playlist, but you’re not going to make your money back, not really.

It’s expensive to make and market a short film, and even more time and money goes into sharing it at festivals. Once you factor in travel, hotels, food, car rentals, printing postcards, and posters, festivals can add up quickly, not to mention the opportunity cost of missing out on other work. Shorts can often disappoint or fall short (apologies for the pun) in other ways for emerging filmmakers. 

More often than not, shorts don’t become the features they were hoping to incubate into or they don’t move the needle of a budding filmmaker’s career, even with prestigious film festival laurels pinned to the poster. Heck, sometimes it’s even a challenge to get your friends and family to drive out to a screening, so much so SNL did a great sketch about it, or to sit still long enough at their computer to get to the good part (we have the Vimeo receipts, we know when you digitally duck out early), which is, perfectly understandable. Your audience owes you nothing. I believe if you’re going to ask someone for 15 minutes of their time, you better earn it, buster. 

So why do it? Why put yourself through the pain, peril, stress, and strain of making a short, especially if, with today’s tools, you could have just made a feature? Honestly, I don’t know. All I can say is that my journey has opened the door to a relentless bloom of opportunity, discovery, friendship, and wonder I never would have experienced had I not said yes. 

So, I humbly submit to you, dear reader, my flawed and subjective: Six Reasons to Make a Short Film

Short Films are Do-able

Maybe you don’t have the time, budget, or resources to bite off a feature film. Maybe you only have a weekend, a two-person crew, or 1 location. Make the short. It’s better to have a completed short film than a non-existent feature film.  And yes, you can make micro-budget features, but those inevitably take time to shoot and edit. A short can be done, it’s doable, so do it. 

Short Films Build Muscle

Filmmaking is a sport. You need to have the strength and stamina to do it. Shorts help you get there. When filming a short you have to do all, or most, of the things you would have to do on a feature, but on a smaller scale. You might learn how to pull a permit, or use a new piece of gear. You get to be on set working with actors and crew members. You have to problem solve, make creative compromises, and manage resources. Making shorts is like going to the gym for filmmakers. No pain, no gain. 

You Get To Go to Film Festivals

This is a big one. Going to festivals is a massive opportunity for emerging and established filmmakers.

First, there are people you’ll meet: fellow filmmakers, audiences, producers, writers, cinematographers, people who own cameras or work at rental houses, people who want to work on your film, people who don’t owe you anything and will give you real feedback.

I met several collaborators at film festivals that I continue to work with today. The people who travel to festivals to screen their film are your people: the true, dyed-in-the-wool filmmakers. 

Also Read: ‘Rat King’ Reflects a Chilliwack, BC Film Scene That Takes Young Filmmakers Seriously

There are also the films: You get to the good, bad, ugly, inspiring. Festivals are the place to see what your peers are making, what’s winning, what’s not working. You’ll discover actors you want to work with, shots you want to emulate, music you want to Spotify later. This is the place where you will see something new and different, sitting in the dark, cell phone off, with an audience that has no idea what’s coming up on the screen next. 

Then, there’s the unforeseen opportunities: you’ll be touring and learning about different locations all over the world. There are contests, grants, trophies, prizes, gift bags. You might walk home with some funding for your next movie, or a tote bag you can use everyday for grocery shopping that starts a conversation with another filmmaker while you’re picking out avocados, and boom — you’re off to the races. There is no telling what unknown benefit will find you between the screenings. Which leads us to…

Short Films Build Your Reputation 

All the greats started making short films: Scorsese with “The Big Shave,” Spielberg with “Amblin”… heck, some still make shorts. Wes Anderson just won his first Oscar for a short film this year. Yorgos Lanthimos put out a short film called “Nimic” in 2019. Shorts are an extension of your brand — a visual business card. As you share your short you will learn how to talk about it to audiences, colleagues, the press, and fellow filmmakers. Your shorts become breadcrumbs that people can follow to see where you are headed as an artist and where you’ve been. 

Short Films Set The Groundwork for Future Projects

Shorts are a proving ground for a future feature, sure, but more than that they are a place to figure out what works, both in terms of your creative voice and your creative team. By making your own shorts, and (listen up) working on other peoples shorts, you will meet the people that will eventually help you make that next thing.

Every good thing I’ve achieved in my career started with making something. By making something you build the foundation for what’s next. 

Short Films Are Fun as Hell

If nothing else, shorts are fun to make, they are allowed to be fun to make. They are not a commercial product built to make back their investment. The creative stakes can be high, but the financial stakes can be low. Making something creative with your friends or family can teach you something about your voice, what you want to say and how you want to say it. You may learn you never want to make a movie again, and that’s valuable too. In the end we are all going to die, so why not spend some time making art. 

There you have it. A short list of reasons to make that short film. There are many, many more reasons why you should do it, but I’ll leave those for you to discover and share on your own. 

Making ‘The Heart of Texas’

And look, my film “The Heart of Texas,” is living proof. The film was written in a moment of inspiration and then sat idle in a drawer until I made a different short called “How to End a Conversation.” That film was shot in one day during the pandemic with very little resources and a couple friends. We did it because it was do-able. We had to book locations, adhere to covid safety protocols, and have a tight production plan.

When it came to post, we cut and re-cut the picture, we re-wrote the film with a new voiceover, and composed an original score — in other words, we built the muscle. Then we got to go to film festivals, like the Waco Independent Film Festival, where I met Lauren Noll — a writer, director, and actress with a fantastic short called “Honor.” I loved her short, she loved mine. We were both there building our reputation and our network in the film community.

We got to talking, and together we pulled out the script for “The Heart of Texas,” re-wrote it together, sent it in to the Waco Indie Film Fest Screenplay Competition, and won a grant — an unforeseen opportunity that we made the most of. We assembled a cast and crew of friends, professionals, and many local talents in Texas. We shot the film and started building the groundwork for a feature film version of the short.

And the cycle continues. Now we are wrapping up our festival run after playing at Hollyshorts, In The Palace, Sidewalk, Mammoth, Lighthouse, Beverly Hills, and many others. Now, we are in consideration for Best Live Action Short Film at this year’s Academy Awards. While I’m hard at work on the feature version of “The Heart of Texas,” I’ll tell you this, I’m already working on my next short as well.

So sure, novels sell, poems don’t, but the world needs poetry and poems are worth writing. Go write the script, get the crew together, make the short. I promise you won’t regret it… too much. 

You can learn more about Pittsburgh Shorts, which is playing “The Heart of Texas” tonight, here.

Main Image: Lauren Noll in “The Heart of Texas.” Courtesy of the film.