Filmmaker Guides
Everything you need to know about submitting your film, how it’s reviewed, and how the Filmmaker Impact Fund works. The Short Film Show streams hand-picked independent short films (drama, comedy, horror, animation and more) from around the world, in many languages.
How to Submit Your Film
It’s simple to submit. Submitting is free.
A standard review can take up to 3 months, because of the number of films we receive. If you need a decision sooner, Fast-track costs £19: a decision within 7 days of your payment, with three lines of notes from the reviewer, or the full £19 back automatically if we miss it. Fast-track places are limited, so it can be full when you submit. How review and Fast-track work
What's free and what's paid for filmmakers
You can choose between two options:
• Exclusive Placement – your film streams only on The Short Film Show for a 12-month term, and gets prioritised promotion.
• Non-Exclusive Placement – your film can stay on other platforms while still being featured here.
When you’re ready to upload, have these items prepared:
Required
- Your film file (H.264 MP4 or MOV, 720p up to 1080p, up to 59 minutes, max 5 GB)
- Film Poster (2:3 portrait, e.g. 1000×1500)
- Film Hero Image (landscape and no text)
- Synopsis
Optional
- Film thumbnail
- Film trailer
- Behind-the-scenes stills or video
- Full cast and crew credits (they help people find your film)
- Subtitle files (VTT or SRT). If you don’t have them, we can generate subtitles in up to six languages
After submission you’ll receive an automatic confirmation email and can track progress through your filmmaker account.
Review & Curation
Every film is watched in full by a person before any decision is made.
They look for:
- Clear storytelling and pacing
- Technical quality (image / sound)
- Originality and impact
- Suitability for our audience and broadcast standards
If anything’s missing or needs attention, we’ll contact you to update your assets.
Approved films are scheduled for the on-demand platform, and may also appear on our channel.
Ones to Watch
Ones to Watch is our weekly home-page spotlight of up-and-coming filmmakers (see everyone on the Filmmakers page): to be eligible, have a film live on The Short Film Show that credits you under your profile name, and add a profile photo and a bio of 20 words or more to your profile.
Filmmaker Impact Fund
Once your film is live it’s automatically considered for the Filmmaker Impact Fund.
Viewing on our 24/7 channel is not part of the Fund.
Learn more about the Filmmaker Impact Fund.
Rights & Licensing
You retain full ownership of your film.
By submitting, you grant The Short Film Show a licence to host, screen, and promote your work across our platforms (including our website, apps, social channels, and where applicable the 24/7 channel), according to your selected placement terms.
Key points:
- You can withdraw within 14 days of uploading by emailing support@theshortfilmshow.com. After that, the film stays on the platform under the licence you granted, for hosting and promotional use.
- We may feature stills and short clips in trailers, social posts and on our 24/7 channel.
- Don’t want a film featured in our marketing? On your filmmaker dashboard open My Films, choose the film and, under Marketing, tick “Don’t feature this film in TSFS marketing”. The film stays on The Short Film Show; we just won’t use it in our blog posts, newsletters, social media or app notifications. You can turn it back off any time. If a Release+ or Premiere is booked for the film, it is cancelled and refunded in full.
- If any copyright concerns arise, contact us and choose Copyright / Rights / Legal. We’ll investigate and pause use of the film while we do.
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