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Jason Brubaker - Filmmaking Stuff – 101 Short Film Ideas

Filmmaking tools for serious filmmakers…

101 Short FilmIdeas

A Quick Guide To Unlocking Your Creative BlocksFor Short Film Ideas

By Jason Brubaker

© 2014 Brubaker Unlimited LLC - All rights reserved. No part of this book, including interior design, cover design, and icons may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, by any means (electronic, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the author, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review.

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Contents

Disclaimer:........................................................................................................................................................... 3

Introduction........................................................................................................................................................ 4

Getting Started.................................................................................................................................................... 8

101 Short Film Ideas......................................................................................................................................... 9

Make Some Short Films................................................................................................................................. 20

Modern Moviemaking Manifesto................................................................................................................ 23

About Jason Brubaker.................................................................................................................................... 24

Advanced Filmmaking Courses................................................................................................................... 25

About Filmmaking Stuff................................................................................................................................. 26




Disclaimer:

This eBook is designed to provide information on modern filmmaking. It is sold with the understanding that the author or publisher is not providing tax, accounting, legal, investment, business or other professional advice. Filmmaking is risky.

While the process of making movies can be fun, filmmaking can also be detrimental to your life, wellbeing and savings account. The information in this book is meant to supplement, not replace, proper filmmaking training. Like any business involving money, employees, personal and professional liability and emotions, Filmmaking poses inherent risks.

Although the author and publisher have made every effort to ensure that the information in this book was correct at press time, the information contained herein is limited. This book is meant to provide a viewpoint on filmmaking and serve as a supplement to other texts and information on the subject.

The purpose of this book is to educate and entertain. The author and publisher do not assume and hereby disclaim any liability to any party for any loss, damage, or disruption caused by errors or omissions, whether such errors or omissions result from negligence, accident, or any other cause.

ALSO: Many of the companies, products and services mentioned in this book are affiliates of Brubaker Unlimited LLC. This means that the publisher gets paid to recommend various products and services. Your price will not be affected. But please conduct your own due-diligence prior to making ANY purchases both here and everywhere on earth.

Before making any business or financial or life decision, you are advised to speak with the necessary qualified tax, legal and business professionals.




Introduction

When I got out of college I could think of no other vocation that appealed to me more than filmmaking. Like most graduates, I sent out resumes extolling my wonderful academic achievements, packaged in specially purchased, elegantly designed resume envelopes. In the days that followed, I awaited the influx of telephone calls from would-be employers, eager to snatch up such a talented candidate.

Suffice it to say a couple weeks with no responses were my introduction to the catch twenty-two of having no working experience. I remember walking into the few interviews I managed to schedule, equipped with my black briefcase and firm handshake, knowing the interviewer would overlook any technical shortcomings and hire me on the spot. Invariably, these imaginings faded with the screech of my student film being fast-forwarded through the VCR; my interviewer holding the controller, explaining he wanted merely to “look at the framing.”

Regardless of how I perceived myself in a town revolving around motorcycles, my dwindling bank account was a stabbing indication that ambition combined with stubbornness could be a curse. So instead of California and New York, I started my career in York. York, Pennsylvania, that is… except I wasn’t pitching package deals to major studios or for that matter, any studio. Instead I was pitching household appliances, like washers and dryers and microwave ovens.

In the weeks that followed, I gained twenty-six pounds and added another chin to what was once a pretty chiseled jaw line. I joined the “Midnight” bowling league and was pleasantly surprised to learn that the inability to button my trousers had no effect on my bowling release. Thus, my scores increased and I became a familiar face among a culture of beer drinking, hard-edged factory workers. And, in retrospect, I was drowning my dreams with beer and cheeseburgers.

After bowling, I would go back to my parent’s house, plop down on my bed with a cupcake and a glass of milk and I watched Top Gun for hours, pretending that instead of Tom Cruise, it was me.




I wanted to barrel down the highway to the danger zone on a cool motorcycle. I wanted to date hot chicks. I wanted to be someone. I wanted to move to Hollywood and make movies.

In the morning, I would wake up with cupcakes mashed in my hair, stare at my fat face in the bathroom mirror, and leave for my appliance sales job. When sales were slow at the store, I would order cheeseburgers, and start eating. One day, when I really felt bad about my sad existence, I decided to do something. I went into my cubicle and started writing a screenplay. Since I never wrote a screenplay, I had no idea what I was doing. But I was so frustrated, and fat, and hating my life, that it didn’t take long until I had a first draft.

During my time writing, I also landed an interview and got my foot in the door at a local production company. There I spent the summer working as a production assistant, learning about film and video equipment, audio, lighting and blue screens. Our projects were mostly corporate videos and television commercials. And on a half dozen occasions, with only six people, we were able to pull off 35mm shoots. Even today I look back on the experience as invaluable.

And although everyone was happy to teach me the inner workings of production, off set, it was my responsibility to scrub toilets and mop the floors. I didn’t mind the crap work. In fact, scrubbing toilets taught me a valuable lesson. I realized if I can keep my dreams bigger than the crap, I can get through pretty much anything. I had no choice but to become the most successful janitor this company ever had. And I never complained. Someone had to do it, and at the very least, I ate lunch with a group of talented film and video professionals.

After a month, the president of the company walked across my freshly mopped floor and asked me if I wanted to take a trip…

“Where?” I asked.“The Maine Media Workshops in Rockport, Maine.”“What the heck is that?” I asked.“You can work with Hollywood people. Learn something.”

Two weeks later, I headed north.




In Rockport, I was enrolled in eight-week film work-study. The curriculum was intense, but awesome… In the mornings our class learned everything about film theory and technology and at night we would make movies. The course was set up to teach us the entire filmmaking process, from script-to-screen… Of course, it was work-study, so part of my time there was spent working.

This time my crap work was trash. I was assigned the duty of hauling heavy and smelly trash bags to the dump! I think someone in our class made a documentary of this…

But that’s another story.

After Maine, I went back to Pennsylvania. In my months away, I had shed some pounds and was back to my normal weight. I even had the first draft of a screenplay, but I still hadn’t figured out how to get to Hollywood. After a few more weeks, I was about to regress back into my bowling ball and cheeseburger life, but I got lucky. One night I received this weird phone call from a producer in New York City. Turns out he was a former grunt at the small production company.

“Our buddy Joe dropped your name… Said you want to get out of Pennsylvania. Think you can come over to the Apple and work a corporate gig?”

The next day, I was on Amtrak, headed into the heart of Manhattan. When I got off the train, things moved quickly. I had never worked in New York prior to this. The producer met me Penn Station, took me to the location, and gave me a list of things needed. I started the day fetching coffee and lemon lime seltzer water, and bagels.

Having never worked in the city, at times I was lost in the streets with fifty pounds of drinks and hot coffees. And even though this was the neatest day in my life, it was also October 2001. Ground Zero was still smoking. People around me were wearing dust masks to filter out the dust, ash and debris. What a surreal contrast between my enthusiasm for the job and my empathy for everyone around me.

When we got back, the producer and director pulled me aside.




“Kid, let me ask you a question. One of our camera guys didn’t show. Have you ever worked a camera?”“Yeah (But not really!) ““Good. You’re getting a 50 dollar raise.”

Now in retrospect, that put me at $150 for the day, which at the time seemed like a million dollars. But knowing what I now know about day rates – I was such a bargain!

The director handed me a set of headphones and when I put them on and plugged in, I heard this amazing electrical “phoowsh.” And with that sound, I became a professional. Over the next hour my work was close to Zen.

During the NYC shoot, one guy gave me the telephone number of a NYC indie feature film producer who was working on his seventh feature.

In the months that followed, I packed my car and moved to New York City. There, I quickly learned how to hail a cab, where to find cheap food and how to navigate the subway. I remember those first couple months… Everything in that town seemed like an adventure!

Soon after, I began reading stacks and stacks of screenplays and writing coverage for the producer. Every day a new shipment of scripts would come from managers and agents (and a few savvy writers who got past our gatekeeper). Then it was my job to go through the pile and read everything in hopes of finding a gem.

Unfortunately, most of the screenplays were pretty bad and ended up in the filing cabinet. During this time, I also learned an interesting lesson. At times we would receive unsolicited screenplays and would have to send them back to the filmmaker, unread. But from time to time we would receive short movies.

The interesting thing was, while many screenplays did not get read, someone in the office always took note of the short films that arrived. Do you know what this means? If you make an awesome short, you can use it to open doors.

So let’s focus on making awesome short movies so you can get noticed and move on to bigger projects.




Getting Started

So you want to make a short movie, but you need some help coming up with an idea. In this short action guide, I have decided to share some tips and ideas to help you get your short films off the ground.

But a few things first…

Most short films are DRAMATIC. I have seen this phenomenon at every film festival I have attended. So in response to a short film festival market saturated with drama, my ongoing to suggestion for all filmmakers is this: Do not do drama!

Consider comedy.

In addition to recommending that you try comedy, I have decided to give you a list of 101 short film ideas. As a disclaimer, I do not claim that any of the following ideas are awesome. In fact, many of these ideas are (maybe) OK at best.

I mean, how many times have you seen people magically switch bodies? How many times have you seen the hero save the girl? Stories are told over and over again. And ideas are a dime a dozen. The real talent begins with YOU.

How do you take an idea and expand upon it? How do you take a a pretty OK story idea and make it GREAT?

To that end, I have decided to leave part of the following log-lines open ended. Sometimes this results in some filmmakers emailing me something like this:

“I can't figure out how to expand on the short film idea.”

If that describes you, then I suggest that you utilize these ideas to help you spark you own creativity. Then fill in the blanks.

In this sense, if one hundred filmmakers take the same idea and act on it, we will have 100 different completely different movies.

I hope so.




101 Short Film Ideas

Here are 101 short movie ideas to get you into the action. When you finish your movie, make sure you upload it to YouTube - then share your YouTube link on the Filmmaking Stuff community page. www.FaceBook.com/FilmmakingStuff

1. ____ has a talking dog and...?

2. A ____ runs faster than the speed of light.

3. Mom discovers she has X-Ray vision and…

4. A mobster goes to the____ and…

5. Two brothers go back in time and visit____

6. Guy moves to a big city and finds____

7. Fisherman catches a mermaid and…

8. Zombie goes to high school and…



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9. ____ finds out his friend is a vampire and…

10. A bank robber is afraid of guns and…

11 .____ discovers he can clone himself…

12. Surfer gets sucked out to sea and…

13. Aliens arrive at a wedding and…

14. Secret agent falls into a time warp and…

15. Woman discovers she can read minds and…

16. Glassblower decides to blow a ____ and…

17. Hamster starts talking and…

18. Kid discovers a laser gun and…




19. Dead grandma comes back as a _____

20. Gangster is afraid of snakes and…

21. Homeless man finds 20,000 dollars and…

22. Man stuffs snakes in ____ and…

23. Kid finds a magic rock and…

24. Woman can walk through walls and…

25. Ninja suddenly appears at a wedding and…

26. Cowboy gets transported to the future and…

27. Bike rider gets a flat tire and…

28. Car breaks down in ____ and…




29. Stuffed animals start talking and…

30. A kid digs a hole deep in his sandbox and…

31. ____ falls from the sky and…

32. Fisherman reels in ____ and…

33. Kid creates jet pack and…

34. Kid finds a black-magic book and…

35. A talking bear shows up for breakfast and…

36. Deer hunter goes into the woods and…

37. Skateboarder enters a contest and…

38. Kid finds out his dad is a werewolf and…




39. Weightlifter figures out he can____ and…

40. Demon hunters find a ____ and…

41. Exchange student gets sent to the wrong…

42. Teen smokes ____ for the first time and…

43. Hitchhiker gets picked up by____ and…

44. Guy escapes from ____and…

45. Man at ATM notices someone watching him.

46. Man gets letter from long dead relative…

47. Man with peanut allergy eats a peanut…

48. Family accidentally books vacation at nudist colony and…




49. Man finds suitcase full of and...

50. Writer steals a manuscript from a taxi and…

51. Kid discovers grandfather's time machine…

52. ____ discovers magic ninja sword and…

53. Vampire gets stuck under a tree during daylight and…

54. Man gets a phone call from dead great-grandfather and…

55. ____ discovers the fountain of youth and…

56. Kid builds submarine and…

57. Ex Special Forces Op comes home and…

58. Arm wrestling competition goes bad when…




59. Football player finds he is indestructible …

60. Little girl finds one-hundred dollars and…

61. Blind date turns bad when____ finds out about____.

62. Man has dinner with the in-laws and…

63. Woman loses her job and…

64. A talking ____ crawls out of the toilet and…

65. Magical clock that stops time is sold at a yard sale and…

66. Man pans for gold and finds a____.

67. Aliens attack a summer camp for the ____.

68. Computer hacker uncovers enemy attack...




69. Kid puts pennies on train tracks and…

70. Golfer makes a deal with the devil and…

71. Marathon runner trains to win the race…

72. Exorcism goes wrong when____ happens and…

73. Wannabe rock star enters the karaoke tournament and…

74. Comedian gets on stage and isn't_____.

75. Door to door salesman uncovers a ____ and…

76. Car mechanic finds a ____ when he____ and…

77. Bus driver falls asleep at the wheel and…




78. Seafood chef finds talking lobster and…

79. Obese man eats a tapeworm and…

80. Old man robs a ____ and…

81. Yoga instructor ____ in class and…

82. Hiker uncovers mysterious cabin and…

83. Guy switches bodies with O____ and…

84. Kid gets picked up by his kite and…

85. Nerdy teenager casts spell to____.

86. Meteor crashes in neighborhood and…

87. Magic fortune cookie says ____ and…




88. Prisoner tries to escape from ____and…

89. ____ breaks his leg in the ____and…

90. Model rocket disappears and comes back…

91. Clown gets wrong address and ends up at…

92. Man in elevator with future____ and…

93. Female kickboxer must fight for____ and…

94. Man wakes up on a strange rooftop and can't ____.

95. School bully learns a lesson when ____.

96. Mom gives birth to a talking ____.

97. An old man discovers a time machine and…




98. Kid starts new school and realizes…

99. Neighbor turns out to be a wanted ____.

100. Kid enters ____ eating contest and…

101. Man picks up radio frequency from_____ and_____ break into his house to _____.




Make Some Short Films

One of the first accomplishments most filmmakers check off their list is the short film. If you’ve never made a short film, you’re in luck. Not only are there a gazillion film festivals that offer a short movie program, but with so many websites, like YouTube and Meta Cafe’, you have the ability to reach a global audience.

In the old days, the short movie was often projected in theaters before the feature presentation. Then later, the short movie seemed to disappear. The market for shorts wasn’t great. And it was almost impossible to make money with a short film – so finding investors for a short was super challenging.

While I can’t say that the economics of short movie making has improved dramatically, I have noticed an emergence of viral marketing associated with fun movies, as well as short web series which remind me of the old-old-old days when radio filled the airwaves with Saturday morning serials.

But regardless, the short movie is still great training ground for feature filmmakers. And if you haven’t yet made a short, you can make the process simple or complex. The following action steps should help:

1. In the event you have not yet made a short, write one or two page scripts and then capture your short on a camera phone.

2. Edit the footage on a friend’s computer.

3. Upload the footage to video sites like YouTube. Test audience reaction. Is it good or bad? Learn from it. Then make another video… Then another… Then another.

4. Once you feel confident with short storytelling, move on to bigger and bigger projects.

5. Keep pushing yourself. Keep refining and learning!

You do not have to break into Hollywood to make money making movies. But if you are like most filmmakers, you probably wouldn’t mind a little Hollywood recognition.




I mean, the upside of building a Hollywood career means that you won’t have to seek private investors to get movie money. And once in the in crowd, you will meet movie stars and Hollywood power players.

But here is the thing. In order to get noticed in Hollywood, you can’t start from scratch. Hollywood is a town focused on selling and producing a product. And that product is your movie, television series or viral web show that can later be spun into other forms of media.

If you are looking to break into Hollywood, the first thing you need to do is create something that will get you noticed. And the good news is, thanks to YouTube, you can start creating content and uploading it tonight. My recommendation is to create some short Saturday Night Live type of skits…

Think about something interesting and funny. Make sure the run time is anywhere from thirty-seconds to two-minutes. Anything longer and you run the risk of losing eyeballs. Make sure your skit has a call to action at the end, preferably a title card that advertises your website. The reason for this is simple.

In the event your video goes viral, you can rest assured that many people will re-post your video on their sites. You will want to make sure they have a way of getting back to your site.

Finally, your goal is to get into the habit of continually producing content. A lot of filmmakers waste years doing nothing because they want everything they do to be perfect. Instead of actually producing content, these filmmakers fill their garages with all sorts of fancy filmmaking equipment with the thought that someday they will make a movie.

This is a fool’s game.

If you want to make movies, you start today. You stop reading this article. (Actually, before you stop reading, you might want to grab some of my filmmaking stuff.) But after you grab your stuff, you then take action. You come up with a short film idea that you can produce next weekend. Then you upload it, tweet it and start planning your next project.




The goal is to work fast and stop worrying about your outcome. So what if your first few movies suck. By making short YouTube skits fast, you won’t have time to think about how to break into Hollywood. Ironically, if you do this and end up with 52 short skits per year. In this regard, even if you don’t break into Hollywood, you will start producing YouTube revenue.

Look, if think you will break into Hollywood because you think you have the greatest movie idea on earth that has never been done before… Think again. You’re old hat.

What Hollywood wants is a sure thing. And while there is no such thing as a sure thing – if you’re a filmmaker with a gazillion views on YouTube, you are much better off than the would be filmmaker who just bought another camera because they want to “future proof” their filmmaking.




Modern Moviemaking Manifesto

1. Modern Moviemakers are entrepreneurs and view each movie as a startup. Instead of raising investment dollars for just one title, Modern Moviemakers focus on creating mini-studios, complete with development, planning, production, marketing, distribution and sales.

2. Modern Moviemakers focus their business on producing a slate of at least five genre specific movies. These movies are created inexpensively and will be delivered to the audience via ALL popular VOD marketplaces.

3. Instead of focusing on projects centered on freelance day-rates, Modern Moviemakers raise enough money to put crew on a salary, with benefits. Everybody in the company will own equity in the company. So in this regard, someone who owns 10% in company stock will get 10% of all movie profits. This will supplement crew salary with an ongoing, lifelong stream of income - and incentivize everybody involved to succeed.

4. Modern Moviemakers work to grow our community (and customer base) bigger. And over time, our fans will begin to know us and celebrate our work. Only in this way will we eventually reach mass great enough to increase ongoing revenue through multiple streams of movie income.

5. Modern Moviemakers believe that producing multiple movie titles over time builds enough buzz to create long term, sustainable revenue. In this regard, modern moviemakers focus on creating entire library instead of just depending on one title to support our career.




About Jason Brubaker

Jason Brubaker is a Hollywood based Independent Motion Picture Producer and an expert in Internet movie distribution. He is focused on helping YOU make, market and sell movies more easily by growing your fan base, building buzz and creating community around your title.

Events, Workshops and Festivals

Jason Brubaker speaks about modern movie distribution. If you know a meeting planner or film festival coordinator, Jason is available for speaking, workshops and panel discussions.

How to Market And Sell Your Movie:

Maximize Movie Profits Without The Middle Man: With an independent movie market saturated with competition, finding a traditional distribution deal for your movie is increasingly challenging. Nobody knows this better than Jason Brubaker.

After failing to garner a traditional distribution deal for his first feature, he figured out how to market and sell his movie online. Five years later, his original movie is still selling! In his easy to follow, step-by-step presentation, Brubaker shows filmmakers how to maximize movie profits without the middle-man!




Advanced Filmmaking Courses

As you work through the basics, you may decide to dive into other areas of filmmaking in greater detail. These advanced filmmaking tools will help.

The Indie Producer’s Guide To Screenwriting

- By Jason Brubaker

Unless you finish a marketable screenplay and get the attention of a busy producer, getting your movie produced could be very tough. The Indie Producer’s guide to Screenwriting is the road map.

[Find out more HERE]

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The Indie Producer’s Guide To Film Financing

- By Jason Brubaker

One of the most challenging parts of producing a movie is raising money. How do you find and then build relationships with Hollywood heavyweights and prospective investors? This guide will help.

[Find out more HERE]



http://www.GetMovieMoney.com/



http://www.writeyourmovienow.com/




About Filmmaking Stuff

At Filmmaking Stuff, you will receive tips and strategies on how to make your movie without the middleman.

My name is Jason Brubaker. Over the last decade, I have worked professionally in the film industry. In addition to producing four feature films, I have spent the last five years working in film distribution, where I have helped hundreds of independent filmmakers get their movies seen and selling in popular video on demand marketplaces.

Filmmaking Stuff for independent filmmakers.

The site includes filmmaking articles on how to take a story idea from script to screen, including scriptwriting, producing, film finance, shooting, editing, directing, marketing, distribution and how to build an audience.

Here are popular filmmaking articles that sum up our philosophy:

1. Modern Moviemaking Manifesto

2. How To Finance Films with VOD Sales Projections

3. Thoughts on Film School

4. My Story

5. 7 Steps for Selling Your Movie Online

Our motto is “Make, Market and Sell Your Movie Without The Middle-Man.” The reason for this is simple. The future of filmmaking is not Hollywood. It is the thousands of independent filmmakers empowered by the digital revolution.

The truth is, many filmmakers wait years to make a movie. But with the new world of film distribution, you cannot depend on DVD distribution model to get your movie into the world. If you are serious about filmmaking – now is the time to pick up a camera… Do not wait for permission. Rather, you should take action make your movie now!



http://www.filmmakingstuff.com/7-step-filmmaking-formula-for-selling-your-movie-online/

http://www.filmmakingstuff.com/my-filmmaking-story-part-1-of-4/

http://www.filmmakingstuff.com/thoughts-on-film-school/

http://www.filmmakingstuff.com/financing-movies-with-vod-sales-projections/

http://www.filmmakingstuff.com/modern-moviemaking-manifesto/

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1263205/

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