Should I do comedy short films if I want to direct thriller feature films?

I

ironpony

Carbonite Member
I love suspense thrillers and I would like to have success in directing those. I want to make shorts for a portfolio naturally, but I find it difficult coming up with short stories in the thriller genre. All my ideas that are 10 minutes or less pretty much comedy. My filmmaking collaborators also have comedy shorts they would like me to direct and have no thriller ideas to write. Comedy is easier for that short of time, where as thrillers are really tough to come up with a plot to develop, wrap up and tie all the loose ends in 10 minutes.

Is it a good idea though to do comedy shorts, if I hope to get funding for a thriller script of my choice? Or a thriller feature script in general?

For example if say, The Farrelly Brothers wanted to direct The Girl Who Played With Fire, would a Hollywood company let them likely?
 
No.

That's really the long and short of it: no. Sometimes, you can direct "touching comedy" or "dramedy" short films if you want to direct straight drama, and get away with it (i.e., Alexander Payne could go from any of his given films to doing Blue Valentine without too much of a stretch), but comedy to thriller? No. If you're literally just looking to get some experience, sure, make the shorts regardless of genre.

But if you're looking to establish any kind of audience for your work, OR want to use your short films to prove you can direct, you need to make short films in the same genre you want to direct features in. You said you want to make short films for a portfolio, so I'm assuming you want to do something like the above. Find writers online with short thriller scripts.

Or, if you find a good straight drama script, you can usually use that to show what you can do with a good script (thrillers are just dramas with a more emphasized source of external tension). But shooting comedy to prove you can shoot thrillers is like shooting Hostel III to show the studios you're ready to direct the next Nicholas Sparks adaptation.

There are plenty of writers on this site who I'm sure have thriller scripts or ideas they'd love to see produced by someone competent, or at least could assist in the conception, development and/or writing of a thriller short. Just post something over in the Screenwriting section.

-EMB
 
I agree with Eric.

If you're having trouble coming up with thriller ideas, my guess is that you're focusing too much on plot and not enough on story.

Always let the plot come from the characters, the characters from the story and the story come from the theme.
For instance, don't start with 'A heist'.

Let's say you want to go old school and create a noir inspired thriller short. The theme in noir is 'Obsession', so you create a story around that.
That will give you a main character who obsesses about an item or a person that he/she is fighting to obtain, an antagonist who tries to stop your main character from obtaining the item or person he/she is trying to obtain, a dangerous love interest with an ulterior motive, a first act that sets up the obsession, a second act that is the hunt, and a third act that resolves the obsession.
That's your story, and anything else like the arena you're working with (is it a cop thriller? a ganster thriller? a supernatural thriller? a newsroom thriller? an action thriller?) is just plot. That will take care of itself.

You can do this with any theme, it doesn't have to be "Obsession" just because Noir thrillers are about that. It could be Greed, or Revenge or anything.
 
I think the question is a great one, and complicated. A lot of it depends on where you are in your career.

If you are just starting out, then I think it might be beneficial to try a lot of different genres. This will give you a broad set of skills and a bigger perspective. You will want to make as many short films as you can, as often as you can, until you really start getting to a place where you are creating work of enough quality to show the world.

Once you reach that point (or if you already are), then you definitely want to focus on making shorts of a similar genre and aesthetic to what you want to make features of. Why would someone give you funding for a thriller if they don't even see an example that you can direct thrillers? So much of this industry is about being pigeon holed, for better or worse. Since it's a heavy financial burden to make a film, the money men want to know what they are getting themselves into.

Whatever you do, just make something!
 
Yeah so far I shot one film, a revenge movie, that didn't turn out so well, quality wise, cause of very low budget. I should have put more budget into things like camera support equipment for better movement. It's hard making more than one short a year though it seems, as actors are not as available, and it seems to be a once a year thing for the ones I met so far. I would like to make more.

I wanted to redo the same revenge story, but they don't want to do the same thing again. So I will try to come up with something different. What if instead of a story, it was just a scenario? Like showing say, how a police officer uses procedure to get out of a deadly situation? Not much story really, but just a well thought scenario, that you don't see typically. Or do I need a story with developed characters, and a conclusion, where everything holds together, even if it's a short?
 
There's nothing wrong with just shooting scenes as a form of study. In fact it could be quite useful. Think of a film you want to make, then pick a single scene from it, and only do that scene. Not only does this obviously save a lot of time and money from doing the full film, but it can be wonderful practice at putting a complete scene together. You have to crawl before you walk, as they say.


Also, if the actors you know are only up for doing one film a year, then you need to find new actors. A lot of young ambitious actors are willing to work on projects as often as possible, because it's practice for them as well. Are you near a big enough city where you can start drawing from a bigger pool? A steady group of actors to work with is one of the best things a young director can have.
 
You know ... screw ALL that genre crap. Do what you want to do most. What do you have to say? Why are you wasting the audience's valuable time? To show off techniques? To prove you can color grade your footage?

Say something. And if you don't have anything to say, then that's your answer.
 
Whatever your experince is in, I might lean towards that. If your experience is in doing stand up live, then there's material there by nature. If your workplace is a factory, expand on that. The gossip or the processes. Use your imagination. What is interesting to "you"? . Tell "your" story. :)
 
ironpony said:
I wanted to redo the same revenge story, but they don't want to do the same thing again. So I will try to come up with something different. What if instead of a story, it was just a scenario? Like showing say, how a police officer uses procedure to get out of a deadly situation? Not much story really, but just a well thought scenario, that you don't see typically. Or do I need a story with developed characters, and a conclusion, where everything holds together, even if it's a short?
Click to expand...

Even a scenario should be a story (beginning, middle and an end). IMO the best shorts are typically ones that explore a little moment in life that is easily relatable to by others. So many people try to shoehorn a feature-sized idea into a short film and it never works out well.


-Andrew
 
Yeah that's what I've done before. So far I have not been able to come up with an idea that is small enough for a short. I wrote 4 features so far. Two were bad, one not bad, the last one, pretty good I've been told. But cannot come up with any ideas short enough for a short. I tried a couple of scripts, but people told me that there were too many unanswered questions that need to be resolved. I will keep thinking but I get constant writers block, compared to a feature, where I can come up with everything in a few weeks to months.
 
I was thinking of doing that. Do writers write a lot of shorts? I thought shorts were more of a practicing director's thing, to gain director's experience. Writers want to do features to sell I would have thought more so.
 
Shorts are not a practice for writers in general.
Writers don't direct. That a directors job. That's seperate. :)
 
It's also a good idea, imo, to try everything at least once and try to find your niche. What comes to you naturally. Sometimes you don't know what your really good at.

//edit: Like I'm the pro. Not. Barring anyone else commenting, hey. :)
 
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ironpony said:
Yeah that's what I've done before. So far I have not been able to come up with an idea that is small enough for a short. I wrote 4 features so far. Two were bad, one not bad, the last one, pretty good I've been told. But cannot come up with any ideas short enough for a short. I tried a couple of scripts, but people told me that there were too many unanswered questions that need to be resolved. I will keep thinking but I get constant writers block, compared to a feature, where I can come up with everything in a few weeks to months.
Click to expand...


I definitely feel you on this. I would say I have a good dozen solid ideas for feature films, but coming up with a good short film concept is difficult for me. It's just not what my mind leans towards or is interested in. However shorts are a necessary step for most all filmmakers, so it's definitely a skill worth developing.
 
ironpony said:
For example if say, The Farrelly Brothers wanted to direct The Girl Who Played With Fire, would a Hollywood company let them likely?
Click to expand...

Here you go, classic noir thriller comedy, "Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid"(1982)

Notes:

1) You can have people smoke, or as this subtitle indicates... not smoke with a sarcastic reply...
2) Don't shoot a person in a plaid outfit with a DSLR... could lead to noir moire...

tumblr_ma3i5g7JNp1qbbjkio1_500.gif
 
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