It isn't every day that aspiring writers get the chance to meet with a writer/director who has seen as much success as Sam Baron. But at our panel during the Coverfly Career Lab, hundreds of writers got the opportunity to connect and learn.
Sam won our Short Film Fund with his comedy "The Orgy" and has since made two other short films (as writer/director) also starring BAFTA-nominee Amit Shah - "Tall, Dark, and Handsome" and "Big Ears."
He also won the Academy Nicholl screenwriting fellowship, has been on the Brit List twice, and has written for TV shows on Amazon and Netflix. He has also written feature scripts for directors James Marsh and Alice Seabright.
If you were unable to attend, don't worry! We've summarized below Sam's top five tips for finding success in short films.
TIP #1: WRITE WHAT YOU KNOW
Your experiences and the people you have met, the conversations you've had and the points of view you have formed, can serve as the touchpoint for your script. "What's the most personal thing that I can write? What could I write that no one else can write? You know, weirdly, the more specific and personal you get, the more universal it is."
TIP #2: BREAK WITH CONVENTION
The film industry is looking for stories that are unique, interesting, and sometimes even outside of the box. Sam thinks about it like this - "What would you write if it was just for yourself, and no one was ever going to read it, and it had to be burnt afterwards? Expose yourself against all of the good instincts of polite society. That's the film everyone's going to want to see!"
TIP #3: BE OPEN TO COLLABORATION
Some of the most successful short films are the result of deep collaborations between creatives, rather than a lone wolf approach to writing. Sam found a creative partnership in his lead actor, Amit Shah.
"Amit and I, the more we've gotten to know each other, we realized that we went through very similar experiences. And although we're from different cultural backgrounds, the roles we played in our family are very similar...We were able to go deeper into both of our experiences...being in a social situation where you feel out of your depth and what it feels like to be afraid to express your own desires or your own needs... These are the layers that we're playing at in order to then make a silly comedy about a man going to an orgy, and through that process, we then became extremely close friends."
TIP #4: MAKE AN IMMEDIATE IMPACT
Sam suggests every script should have an "unusual moment of choice." Ultimately, when the chips are down, which path will the character take? And what does that tell the audience about who the character is?
"If you can, at the start of a story either drop us into a sizzling, fizzing situation which is going to be leading to that choice, or light the match that illuminates what that choice might be early on. In the first minute of your movie... Can you drop a banger of a moment?"
TIP #5: CONSIDER PRODUCIBILITY
Thinking about budget and accessibility is an important part of the writing process. "I've written a ton of short films and the ones that were made are the ones that are all set in and around one location. These just happen to be the ones I've been able to pull off," says Sam. "And I think it's often the case - the principle of containment."
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This season, the Short Film Fund will award one $15,000 cash production grant and $4,000 in finishing funds. The Final Deadline is May 2nd. Submit today!
