Make it SHORT and smart..
..to go long. A case study of Nuhash Humayun, Filmmaker
Making your first feature film is hard. Several internal and external factors come into play. You may have a truly fine piece of writing but to green-light it, your potential producer has to read it. With all the will in the world, few executives/ producers have time to read everything that comes their way. And having read it, and loved your writing, they would rightly need to be convinced that you have the required skills, the technique, and the entrepreneurial spirit to pull it off. It is up to you to prove that you are a talent worth investing in.
So why not use a short as a calling card?
Nuhash Humayun did precisely that. He began making fiction shorts at the age of 13 as a way to learn the craft, and continued to do so on the side while making ads for a living.
He wrote a feature script, Moving Bangladesh, that was first presented in Film Bazaar in 2020. Nuhash decided to refine it further through various labs across the world and garner development support. This is an emotionally difficult process at the best of times.
Meanwhile, several short films later, his 22-min horror film Moshari (2022) opened at SxSW Festival, Texas, USA. The festival organisers, says Nuhash, gave him great advice - share the screener of the film, even before the festival begins, to spread the word.
With brushed-up people skills, his entrepreneurial hat on, and an effective log-line, Nuhash used the film as a creative and business calling card. It served him in more ways than one.
The film reached CAA, USA where Nuhash found a supportive partner in his agent, Bryant Barile, and also signed up with Anonymous Content.
Simultaneously, one of the jurors in SxSW festival, 2022, an executive from Monkeypaw Productions (Jordan Peele’s production company) brought the film to Mr. Peele’s attention. To cut a long story short, Jordan Peele and Riz Ahmed boarded the film as Executive Producers.
A feature version of the same is in the works.
The film also helped Nuhash secure a writing/directing gig (Foreigners Only) in Season 3 of Bite Size Halloween for Disney/Hulu, becoming the first original Bangladeshi production on a streaming service in USA.
And finally, Moving Bangladesh is in a positive upward spiral.
It was not Nuhash’s intention to build his short into a feature film. However, with this move, he ended up with not one, but two feature films in development, one of which he hopes will go on the floor in 2024. More importantly, he found partners who are willing to invest in him, and not simply in his film.
Making shorts brought some key learnings for Nuhash -
Develop your unique voice
Shorts allow you to separate the wheat from the chaff and hone in on a workable idea for a potentially viable feature. They also allow you to buck trends. You can focus on concepts close to your heart, bring your unique voice into the mix, and test the idea in the market. Thus, significantly reducing the risk for your debut feature film.
Careful planning
Your inevitable involvement at every stage of production demonstrates your understanding of the craft. Your ability to conceptualise as well as execute a good story stands out and inspires confidence.
3. Demonstrate entrepreneurial capability
Producing your short teaches you careful budgeting and you learn to stretch a dollar. This, in the long term, stands you in good stead. You realise the importance of impactful promotion. And you understand that you not only have to position your film, but yourself as well.
Pitching yourself as a dependable, responsible filmmaker through a short film is a smart strategy. A short is an efficient way to get a foot in the door, to be noticed by busy executives, to have people bet on you.
“Movies don’t look hard, but figuring it out, getting the shape of it, getting everybody’s character right….it’s creating a puzzle”, said Nancy Meyers.
Making a short could be your cheat sheet to that puzzle.
Nina.
Great story. But remember shorts are hard to do well.
very inspiring