• Darragh O’Connell, producer, Granny O’Grimm

• Destin Daniel Cretton, writer/director, Short Term 12

• Michelle Savill, writer/director, Betty Banned Sweets

How much did it cost to make your film?

• Darragh: We had a cash budget of 50,000€ from the Irish film board/Arts Council & RTE (national broadcaster) but we easily invested the same again from our own money.

• Destin: US$4,000 source: the exact amount I saved up from my part-time teaching job.

• Michelle: 2000 New Zealand dollars, which came from my own pocket.

How did you raise your funding?

• Darragh: We are very lucky in Ireland to have what is called the Frameworks scheme. Essentially every year the Irish Film Board have a fund for short films. You submit a script and if you're shortlisted you get to pitch your project to a panel and typically they fund five films annually. We made a passionate pitch and were granted the money.

• Destin: I basically survived off of 99 cent burritos for a year so I could save enough to pay for 16mm film.

• Michelle: I got a job and worked until I had saved enough

How much work goes into managing your film’s festival life?

• Darragh: A huge amount of this work takes place after the film is finished. Initially our film was digital and so the first thing we needed to do was get a film print done. At first we did only three prints but then when we were nominated for the Oscar® the demand became much bigger so we had to order some extra prints. It’s really a matter of keeping plates spinning once your film is out there on the festival circuit. Typically a festival will pay for only ONE courier so the last thing you want is for your film to be sent back to you. You have to work out the timing so you can keep each festival sending it on to the next one and that way you can keep your costs low.

• Destin: Sending any film to festivals is like running a marathon with a twisted ankle. It's really brutal, depressing, and hopeless at times. It's usually the time when I decide once and for all that I'll never make another film for the rest of my life. And then, out of the blue, I'll get that first acceptance email or letter or phone call, and it's all worth it. Cos once you get in one, they're the best.

• Michelle: Not much work at all, the great thing is that in New Zealand we have a film commission that represents, then distributes, the films for us. So once it gets into an A list festival they take over all the hard work for you.

Were you strategic in how you submitted to festivals?

• Darragh: To be honest we didn’t think about it. There is a list of about eight festivals that the Irish Film Board submit to on our behalf through the assigned distributor for their shorts program. We had a policy of not putting it into festivals where we had to pay an entry fee but that was about it.

• Destin: I tried to submit to the bigwigs first: Sundance, Clermont-Ferrand, Tribeca, SXSW, Aspen, CFC Worldwide Short Film Festival. Because if you get into any of those it sometimes makes it easier to get into some of the others.

• Michelle: I decided to try the A list festivals first - the big ones with the competitions. I just applied to the next festival submission date that was open after I finished my film. It got rejected from a few before Melbourne picked it up, and from there it had a really great run.

Was there a point where you didn’t have to submit anymore?

• Darragh: Yes, pretty early on we were lucky enough to win an audience prize at Palms Springs and then all of the other festivals sat up and took notice and we received a lot of interest and invitations.

• Destin: After we won the jury prize in short filmmaking at Sundance it made it easier to get fees waived and things like that. But I still had to submit to the fests that I wanted to play at. After a little while, I got tired and stopped. I think it's time to make another one.

• Michelle: Yup, as soon as it got into the first A list festival (Melbourne) it was all over to the New Zealand film commission, they're great!

How quickly did you put your film online?

• Darragh: As soon as we found out that we were nominated for an Oscar® we put the film online. If it went online before that then the film would not have been eligible for the Oscar®. Once we had the nomination we wanted to build awareness for the company and the film. It will always find a much bigger audience online than it ever would at a festival. I think a festival audience will still enjoy seeing the film on the big screen so I don’t think it affected its festival run hugely once we got it online.

• Destin: I'm looking at putting it online now. I waited for a year because I didn't want to be disqualified from the Academy Awards®. We made it to the short-list but didn't make the final cut, so I guess it didn't matter. I think I want to get it on iTunes, but I really don't know. I'll let you know when I figure it out.

• Michelle: I didn't put my film online and I still haven't because there is some demand for it and hopefully I can get a few more sales. Eventually I will probably put it all online.

How much did you spend on your website?

• Darragh: We spent a LOT. We felt it was important as we had plans to develop the character into something bigger. I think it was important in that it certainly helped to get a lot of interest in the character but it’s hard to know how tangible it is. These days it’s probably easier to set up a Facebook page… which is free!

• Destin: Like everything else regarding this film, I got some talented friends to help me out. A friend of mine who's a web designer slapped ours together for free. We went for a very simple, minimalistic style, so it wasn't too difficult for him. But it works.

• Michelle: I don’t have a website for my films. It’s probably a good thing to do though if you can be bothered. I personally just can’t be bothered.

What does the short film medium mean to you?

• Darragh: I love shorts! It’s a way to flex your muscles creatively and make something that you are passionate about. From the moment of seeing the opening credits on my first short in front of an audience in a darkened auditorium, I felt such a rush that I knew I was hooked.

• Destin: Short films are usually the closest thing that moving pictures can get to true art. Sure, it's still not as accessible as painting or dancing or songwriting, but it's still a medium that filmmakers are allowed to really experiment with. They don't cost a lot (at least they shouldn't), so there's not a lot of risk involved in trying something you've never done before, or telling a story that may or may not be accepted by people. If no one likes it, who cares?
  
  If you don't make your money back, that's what you expected in the first place. Because of this absence of pressure it takes away the business side of film which is why some of the most interesting, outrageous, bizarre, shocking, mind-blowing stories are being told through the short film medium. I think I'll go try something new right now.

• Michelle: Life is a series of incidents. I like that I can just make something about one little incident if I want to. There is a sense of freedom in that.  

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