I am about to shoot a short for a local film festival and I can't decide what to shoot in, 24p or 30p. Any suggestions? The entries are required to be on DVD if that makes a difference.
Overall frame rate choice is an aesthetic choice. Decide what you want it to look like and don't worry about the flood of technical reasons people will give you to pick this or that. The ultimate goal of narrative filmmaking is artistic, so those concerns should be your first concerns. Decide that, THEN worry about whatever technical issues can crop up.
You're going to see things all over the Internet telling you that you should shoot X frame rate for X purpose (a very common one is "you should shoot 30p for broadcast because it's 29.97 and broadcast is 29.97"), and most of it is balderdash.
Pick your frame rate because you think it's right for your project, and for no other reason.