Why make films?

Making a film - be it a short or a feature - is largely a labour of love, so it's always worth clarifying why you are embarking on such madness and adventure. You could be making it for:

experience - you might want to experiment with pulling a team together to make a story on film.

a showreel - you might be pursuing a career in filmmaking and want to demonstrate your skills.

partnerships - you'd like to try working with certain people to see if you can go on to collaborate on projects in the future.

kudos - you may have found a high profile director/writer/actor, who'll help you raise your filmmaking profile, or want to use your film to elevate your own industry profile.

testing an idea out - you've always thought a certain story would work well on screen or you've got a feature film idea that you want to try out on a small scale first.

money - you may have been asked to work on a production with a budget to pay its crew. (This is very rare as short films don't generally pay in any financial dividends.)

Sweet by James Pilkington: Noel Fielding and Julian Barratt's famous and comedic partnership on The Mighty Boosh made for a very successful short film.