Past Short Films That Made It Big: What We Can Learn
Short films are a great medium for filmmakers — both emerging and experienced. Because they are literally shorter than a feature or a television pilot, they are easier to create, from a financial and logistical perspective. Mark and Jay Duplass famously launched their career with a $3 short that the two of them filmed in their kitchen with the family video camera.
This is John took a simple concept — a man recording his outgoing voicemail — and managed to capture a vulnerable glimpse into humanity. Mark’s performance is natural and relatable while Jay’s camerawork is intuitive and intimate. They didn’t do anything special with lighting or sound, but their innate talent and attention to detail jumped off the screen and sent them to Sundance in 2003.
But just because short films are easier to make than a feature, doesn’t precisely mean they are easy. I like to think of shorts as poems — and we’ve all read boring or cringey poems. Same goes for short films.
The greatest thing you can do to help yourself write or create a great short film is to watch a lot of them. Watching good and bad films are both helpful practices, but let’s focus on some great ones to get you started.
Shorts that became features
WHIPLASH
Written and directed by Damien Chazelle, Whiplash started out as a 2013 drama short film that premiered at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival where it won the Short Film Jury Prize. The feature film adaptation won three Academy Awards. You could say it captured some attention.
Both films star J.K. Simmons — in fact, the short is a scene nearly word-for-word from the feature script. Watch a comparison of the two side-by-side to see how similar and how different they are, from lighting and location to shot selection.
Whiplash is a great example of how a short film should start late and leave early — it doesn’t require the same conclusion that the feature film needed to satisfy audiences. It’s also a great example of how feature films often contain segments within them that could be their own individual story.
OBVIOUS CHILD
Gillian Robespierre first made the Obvious Child short film in the winter of 2009. “We were frustrated by the limited representations of young women's experience with pregnancy, let alone growing up. We were waiting to see a more honest film, or at least, a story that was closer to many of the stories we knew. We weren’t sure how long that wait was going to be, so we decided to tell the story ourselves,” she wrote on the Kickstarter page for her feature film in 2014.
The short starred Jenny Slate (as would the feature) and did well in a festival run and online — sadly it is now password protected on Vimeo or as bonus content when you buy the film.
The short served as a proof of concept that earned the filmmakers some funding from producers and grants — and the crowdfunding campaign covered the rest. The feature film would go on to enjoy its world premiere at Sundance and earn a Critic’s Choice Award for its lead, Jenny Slate.
MONSTER → THE BABADOOK
Jennifer Kent’s first feature film, The Babadook, was another Sundance premiere — and a critical and commercial hit. Inspired by her 2005 short film, Monster, which Kent has referred to as her “baby Babadook.”
The short has similar themes and concepts as the feature would later display, but it’s much more simple in its execution (including the black and white cinematography).
The passion for horror films is alive and well, unlike many of the villains and victims in them — and you can tell a scary film in under a minute (watch this nightmare fuel) — so if you’ve got a scary feature on the brain, a short version of it might be the best way to sell it (just ask the creators of Saw).
HONORABLE MENTIONS:
Saw (2003)
Shiva Baby (2020)
Mr. Malcolm’s List (2022)
Academy Award winning shorts
I’M NOT A ROBOT (2024)
In this Dutch-language short science fiction film, a woman plunges into a strange new reality after she fails a series of CAPTCHA tests.
Written and directed by Victoria Warmerdam, this film may feel similar to Companion (2025) thematically, if not quite tonally. After a great international festival run, the short became the first Dutch film to win the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film — a coveted honor. It explored men’s entitlement in a patriarchal society through a modern sci-fi lens.
THE WONDERFUL STORY OF HENRY SUGAR (2023)
In this adaptation of Roald Dahl’s short story about a gambler who masters an astonishing skill to cheat at cards, Benedict Cumberbatch stars as the whimsical lead.
Written and directed by Wes Anderson, this lovely film was a bit of a controversial win at the Oscars in a category usually honoring emerging filmmakers. Originally announced as a feature film, the short was released in a series of four short films based on Dahl stories.
The film premiered out of competition at the Venice International Film Festival and is available on Netflix.
AN IRISH GOODBYE (2022)
On a farm in rural Northern Ireland, estranged brothers Turlough and Lorcan are forced to reunite following the untimely death of their mother, but when the pair discover an unfulfilled bucket list belonging to their late mum, their pained reunion takes an altogether different course.
Written and directed by Tom Berkeley & Ross White, this bittersweet short film won Best British Short Film at the BAFTA Awards and Best Live Action Short Film at the Irish Film and Television Awards in addition to a prestigious festival run before heading to the Academy Awards.
Official Selections at Sundance
DADDY’S GIRL (2022)
A young woman’s charming but overbearing father helps her move out of her wealthy, older boyfriend’s apartment — and gives viewers one perspective into “daddy issues.”
Written and directed by Lena Hudson, this comedy premiered at Sundance in 2022 and was nominated for the Short Film Grand Jury Prize (in addition to selections at SXSW, Aspen, Palm Springs, and San Diego).
Daddy’s Girl subtly and playfully explores the psychology of a young woman through her relationships with her father and her ex-boyfriend. Hudson’s comedic use of unscrupulous decision-making from the characters is particularly fun.
HAIR WOLF (2018)
In a black hair salon in gentrifying Brooklyn, the local residents fend off a strange new monster: white women intent on sucking the lifeblood from Black culture.
Written and directed by Mariama Diallo, this horror-spoof explores gentrification, microaggressions, and appropriation of Black culture. Beautifully shot and designed, the film won the Sundance Jury Award for U.S. Fiction in the Short Film category, along with a strong festival run including SXSW, Palm Springs International Shortfest, and placing as a finalist for the American Black Film Festival HBO Short Film Competition.
DIRTY (2020)
Two queer teens navigate the intimacy of their first time together.
Written and directed by New York-based Matthew Puccini, this tender portrait was nominated for the Sundance Film Festival Short Film Grand Jury Prize and received a Special Jury Award at SXSW. Things don’t exactly go as planned for these young lovers, something Puccini explores with relatable embarrassment and the kind of gentle wisdom anyone could hope for with a partner.
Short film tips & what to avoid
If you watch even this small collection of short films, you may begin to notice some patterns. The lighting and sound design ranges slightly in quality — you are not likely to be competitive with the quality of This is John in today’s marketplace — but the production design is thoughtful, the editing is sublime, and the stories are profound.
What story do you want to tell and why? Has someone told it before or does it speak for the unrepresented? What makes your project meaningful right now? These are important questions to answer when hoping to rise above the competition.
In 2025, 11,153 short films were submitted to Sundance. Of these, 57 were selected.
Something else you might notice with these shorts is that not a moment is wasted onscreen with the kinds of backstory or exposition you might expect from a feature film. In a short, you need to get in and get out. People have short attention spans and festival programmers only have so much time in a shorts program. Having judged short film contests before I can promise you, if your short drones on and on, it will hurt your chances of selection.
Finally, the cinematography really does make a difference — not so much the lenses and lighting design, but what the filmmakers chose to frame. You really don’t see shots that seem like they were propped on a tripod. The camera is helping to capture human emotion and behavior detail. That’s the kind of sublimity that will help your film stand out when you submit it to festivals or hope for awards contention.
And that’s the same kind of detail your writer-brain should be paying attention to, as well. What was going on in Graham’s mind when he played the piano at Marco’s house in Dirty? What responses did Alison consider when her father opened her computer in Daddy’s Girl? That internal character work may not have made it to the screenplay, but they came alive in the subtext of the scenes, which is what made the films so poignant.
So the biggest takeaways I can give you are to not waste any time and to make your short profound — just like a great poem.