How to Get Ideas for a Short Film

Co-authored by Kendall Payne

Last Updated: October 9, 2022 References Approved

If you’re struggling to generate ideas for your next short film, don’t worry. There are so many different places you can look for inspiration, and we’ve compiled some of the best tips for discovering your next big story idea. We’ll also walk you through how to take a great idea, develop it into a fleshed-out story, and turn it into a reality.

Part 1

Part 1 of 3:

Finding a Story

1
Start with a word, image, or object. All a story needs is a seed that you can follow through until it grows. Will it turn into a great short film? Maybe, maybe not. In the beginning, all you need to focus on in the beginning is getting an idea started and seeing where it goes. Here are some effective ways of brainstorming to get a story started:
- Good way to get a story started? Just start writing. Get out paper and pencil, or sit down in front of the computer, and make yourself keep writing for a given period of time. Say 10 or 15 minutes. Don't worry about whether or not what you're writing is a "story" or will make for a good movie. You're just looking for an idea. You might write 99% junk, but there might be one little fragment that could generate into a story. Give yourself an idea.^{[1]
  X
  Research source}
2
Try a word exercise. All you need to get a story idea is one little spark. Generate a list of more or less random images, the first words that pop into your head: Kindergarten, Oakland, ashtray, oil paint. Great list. Come up with at least 20 words, then start trying to connect them. What does the list make you think of? An after-school painting class full of kindergartners in the East Bay? A cigarette burning in a painter's studio? Start with an image and let it roll. Find the story around the images.

Advertisement
3
Start speculating for some good ideas. One good way to get going on a story idea is to start speculating strange, surprising, or absurd scenarios that might make for a good story. What if all food was in pill form? What if you found out your father was a spy? What if your dog could suddenly talk? Good plots and characters can come out of speculation.^{[2]
X
Research source}
4
Look for short stories to adapt. One great way to come up with an idea for a short film is to adapt a story that's already been written by someone else. Check out recently published short story collections made up of stories with compelling plots, and find one that might be fun to film.^{[3]
X
Research source}
- In general, it would be hard to adapt a novel into a short film. Try to stay focused on short stories. Check out Joyce Carol Oates' "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" for a great example of a minimal story with a compelling and exciting plot.
5
Try filming real life. Who says a short film has to be fiction? If you want to make a short film, consider filming the world around you and making a documentary. Find a local music festival in your area and ask if you can film interviews with the bands, or try filming your friend undertake his training regimen for sports. Find a good story that's happening around you and get permission to record it.
- Even if you don't want to make a documentary, you can still get inspiration from real people and stories all around you.^{[4]
  X
  Expert Source
  
  Kendall Payne
  Writer, Director, & Stand-up Comedian
  Expert Interview. 3 April 2020.}
6
Keep a dream journal. Dreams can provide good inspiration for a short film, especially if you like weirdness. If you want to come up with an idea for a dream, set an alarm in the middle of the night to wake yourself up in the middle of one, then scribble the plot down quickly. Dreams can be a great place to supply images, strange occurrences, and dialog for short films.^{[5]
X
Research source}
- What scares you? A good creepy dream can be a great way to start a horror short. When you write your script and film your short film, try to capture the same vibe of your creepy dreams. Check out David Lynch's short series Rabbits for inspiration.
7
Look to History. History is full of fascinating and often fantastical stories. Other areas of study can also be just as rewarding: Psychology (for character development), Geography etc
8
Adapt a feature length film idea. There is no reason why you couldn't adapt a feature length film idea to a short film. You could adapt the idea by taking a scene, a them or a character from the feature length film.^{[6]
X
Research source}
9
Boil down the story. Can you write a short sentence of 15 words or less that outlines the fundamental concept and the plot of your idea? Then you're on the right track. Once you've got your initial idea, try getting your "elevator pitch" down. Describe your movie as briefly and quickly as possible to give yourself the chance to write the best possible script, and to describe the story to others so you'll be able to enlist actors and other supporters. Avoid vagueness or abstraction and focus on the scenario and the plot.
- Good examples of a story synopsis might look like:
  - A boy finds a small alien in a field and brings it home.
  - The kindergarteners start painting strange images after school.
- Bad examples of a story synopsis might look like:
  - A man struggles with depression.
  - A series of mysterious events befall the residents of Pittsburgh.
10
Think practically. Consider what's available to you and how you can use what you've got. Make a list of every prop, location, and actor available locally, and consider how they might generate a good story as you're getting started. Maybe your friend who boxes three times a week might inspire a great boxing story.
- Make sure your story is filmable. Equipment and sets are at a premium when you're making a movie on your own and working without studio support and a bunch of money. Again, it's going to be hard to film a sci-fi opera in your mom's basement. Try to make sure you'll be able to get the shots you need to make the movie you want to make. Will you be able to do a swooping crane shot over New York City if you live in Scranton and don't have any money or a camera? Probably not. Work around it.

Part 2

Part 2 of 3:

Developing Stories

1
Find a protagonist and the antagonist. Every story has a protagonist and an antagonist to supply conflict and provide tension. If you're unsure of which is which, it's important to give some thought into developing your story so there's a clear sense of who we should care about and why.^{[7]
X
Research source}
- A protagonist is the character that we're rooting for, the one that we empathize with and feel some kind of emotional connection to.
- The antagonist is the character, situation, or setting that works against the protagonist, creating drama. An antagonist isn't necessarily a mustache-twirling villain, but can be a tough situation or some other abstraction.
2
Find a great setting. In a short film, this will partially be a practical concern and a story concern. Good settings provide tension and drama of their own, but you may not be able to fly to Bermuda to film a beach scene. Find a place to set your story that will complement the story you want to tell, but is also available.
- Try to work with what you have. If you know you're going to have to film at your parents house, it'd be hard to film a sci-fi epic in the backyard and in the basement. Instead, Try to think of a good domestic story that would work well locally. Think of stories that happen in houses, in the town you might live in. Stories that work with their setting work much better.
3
Find a conflict. Stories need conflict to get us to care. What will hook the viewer into becoming invested in your story and in your short film? What does your protagonist want? What's keeping the protagonist from getting it? The answers to those questions supply your source of conflict. Once you've got your original idea in place, start focusing on what it is that creates the conflict in the story and teasing it out as much as possible.
- Conflict doesn't have to involve a fist fight or a shootout to count as high drama. It needs to involve real conflict between characters and emotional heft. If a boy brings home an alien, what trouble is he likely to encounter? What's the risk in it for him? What hooks us about watching kindergarteners paint?
- Find the inner story and the outer story. What we watch is the outer story: a character moves around the world and things happen. What makes it compelling is the inner story. How does this change the character? What does it mean for the character? A good short film, or any kind of story, will have both of these elements happening simultaneously.
4
Keep it simple. Limit the scope of the story as much as possible. A short film is barebones story telling, a short story, not a novel. That doesn't mean it can't be ambitious and unconventional, but short films need to work with a limited number of elements, characters, and scenes to work properly.
- Alternatively, it might be fun to force yourself to film a super-long or complicated story as briefly as possible. What would War and Peace look like as a ten minute short? What if all six Star Wars movies happened in 10 minutes with the equipment you've got handy? How would you pull it off?
5
Be aware of common short film clichés. Like any art form, short film is not without its tired ideas and clichéd stories. If you've never made one before, you'll be one step ahead of the game if you skip these clunkers.^{[8]
X
Research source} Avoid the following short film cliches:
- A character is alone, staring into a mirror talking, then commits suicide.
- Avoid genres which have been overused in short films, such as film noir and the gangster film.
- Anything involving a hitman.
- Two characters argue about something, until we discover that it's really one character with multiple personality disorder
- The movie starts with an alarm buzzing and the protagonist gets out of bed.
6
Aim to keep your film under 10 minutes of running time. Making a film of any length is extremely difficult. Try to keep your movie as short as possible, especially when you're first getting started. Filming a really great, tight, dramatic, exciting three minute movie is a serious accomplishment. Try doing that successfully before you tackle a 45 minute gangster masterpiece with a slow-mo shootout.
7
Watch some short films. If you're going to make a film, watch some films. Just as you shouldn't Try to write a novel without having studied the form of the novel, it's important to get a sense of how short films work and what it takes to make a good short film before you Try to make one yourself. It's not just a shorter version of a full-length movie: a short film is it's own unique medium with different tricks and techniques. Watch some before you set out to make your own.
- YouTube and Vimeo are great resources for short films, both bad and good. Check out and see whether or not your town has a short film festival–common in some metro areas–to see some submissions in person.
- Music videos are also a great style of short film that you're probably already familiar with. Watch closely the way your favorite music videos are put together and study them closely. Check out Spike Jonze, Hype Williams, and Michel Gondry for modern masters of the form.

Part 3

Part 3 of 3:

Writing the Script

1
Outline your story. Story outlines don't have to be formal or involve any Roman numerals (although they can if you want). Storyboards are typically used to help you get a sense of what shots you'll need to film later in the process, and to get a comic book-style visual theme for the film down as you're writing. Briefly sketch out what will happen physically in the story and the basic dialog.^{[9]
X
Research source}
- Film is a visual medium of telling stories so don't rely purely on dialogue to tell the story. In good stories, the outline should be explicit about the outer story, though the inner story should be implied.
2
Write a script. When you've got the basic elements of the story down like you want it, then you can fill in the rest with a more closely scripted treatment, with all the dialog and the stage directions you want to include in your film. Try to make it as specific as possible, so someone else would be able to film it and see it as you see it.
3
Let yourself be surprised. You probably have some idea of where you want your story to go, but Try to save room for surprising yourself as you actually do the writing. If you're locked into a particular direction for your short film, it may come off as unsurprising and expected to the audience, as well. As you're writing, try to take it in a direction that you're not sure of. Let happy accidents happen and follow them to other, more interesting conclusions. That's how good stories get written.
- Francis Ford Coppola filmed the sequel to The Outsiders, called Rumble Fish, without having written a script until the day the scene was to be shot. None of the actors had any clue what was going to happen next, giving the film a spontaneous and experimental feel.
4
Seek constructive criticism. Once you've put a script together, show it to some friends, or to some people who share your love of film and who'll be able to offer constructive criticism. Hear them out and try to revise your script as much as possible. Some filmmakers work on scripts for years, which are then in production for years after that. Making a film is a long process for a reason.
- Try to show your script to potential collaborators, as well. Actors, producers, potential directors. Show your script to people who can help.
5
Start an ideas folder. Not every idea will work right now. Keep a folder where you keep your ideas and let them generate into future scripts. Some filmmakers have an idea and don't get a movie made for decades. Scorsese's Gangs of New York had been discussed as a possibility for over 30. Keep your ideas around for times that they might be more workable. Keep your little sketches organized according to the following elements:
- Characters
- Locations
- Plots
- Structure

Community Q&A

Question

Do I need a screenplay as well?

Community Answer

Yes, screenplays are the blueprint of a film. It tells the actors what to say and do. It tells the camera person what to film.
Question

How do I write a script in an easy manner so that an actor could understand?

Community Answer

Simply write out the lines and actions that the actors need to do and if they are having difficulty, highlight the actor's individual parts for them.
Question

How many pages are there in a short film script?

Community Answer

Usually, one page equals one minute of screen time. Since short films are under 50 minutes, your script should be 50 pages or less.