There is no one way to break into the movie business. But one of the most dependable routes for decades has been to make a short film, submit it to festivals, and then hope someone with money or power or both sees it and wants you to turn it into a feature.
20 cases in point: The 20 short films below, all of which served as the source material for 20 extremely popular movies, some of which launched the careers of successful filmmakers like Paul Thomas Anderson, Sam Raimi, and George Lucas. (Ever heard of him? He went on to produce a little movie called Howard the Duck.) Just bear in mind that some of these films ain’t all that short; any movie that’s less than 40 minutes is technically considered a “short.”
The Babadook (2014)
Based on “Monster” (2005)
Almost a decade before Jennifer Kent’s breakthrough horror feature The Babadook, she created a similar short film called “Monster.” It’s only ten minutes long and, unlike The Babadook, it’s shot in black and white. But it also concerns a single mother of a small child fixated on an invisible monster. Kent later described the film as “Baby Babadook.” Which gives me an idea for a prequel…
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Boogie Nights (1997)
Based on “The Dirk Diggler Story” (1988)
I still remember watching the massively detailed DVD special edition of Boogie Nights in college and discovering, via the film’s commentary tracks, that Paul Thomas Anderson had based the film on his own short, “The Dirk Diggler Story,” which told the same basic story in condensed form and with a less famous cast. Both of the short’s lead actors do appear in smaller roles in Boogie Nights: Robert Ridgely, the original Jack Horner (Burt Reynolds’ character) played the role of the Colonel, while Michael Stein, the original Dirk Diggler (Mark Wahlberg) is one of the customers who comes into Don Cheadle’s stereo store. The short version is structured as a fake documentary, in part because the real-life model for Dirk Diggler, John Holmes, had his own documentary called Exhausted.
District 9 (2009)
Based on “Alive in Joberg” (2005)
District 9 owes a lot to director Neill Blomkamp’s original short “Alive in Joburg” including its setting, premise, and some of the cast — most importantly, star Sharlto Copley. The short is only six minutes long, but given its limited resources, its scope and effects are genuinely impressive — if I was a film financier I would absolutely give the guy who made this the budget to make his own sci-fi feature.
The Evil Dead (1981)
Based on “Within the Woods” (1978)
If you thought The Evil Dead was a low-budget horror movie, you ain’t seen nothing. To get the funds to make his debut feature, Sam Raimi and his buddies — including future star Bruce Campbell — scrounged up a couple hundred bucks and created a short about a pair of couples attacked by evil, dead forces at a remote cabin in the woods called “Within the Woods.” Sound familiar? The goal was to make something good enough to convince investors to back The Evil Dead. “Within the Woods” may not be a masterpiece, but it accomplished its mission.
Frankenweenie (2012)
Based on “Frankenweenie” (1984)
The big difference between the Frankenweenie feature and the short that inspired it: Unlike the feature, Tim Burton’s “Frankenweenie” short, which the director made in the early ’80s while he was still working as an animator for Disney, stars flesh-and-blood actors rather than stop-motion puppets. Both films feature black-and white photography, though, along with dramatic camera angles and lighting design inspired by classic horror films.
Hard Eight (1996)
Based on “Cigarettes & Coffee” (1993)
If you’ve seen Paul Thomas Anderson’s first feature, Hard Eight, you’ll recognize “Cigarettes & Coffee.” It features very similar characters, and both star Philip Baker Hall as an aging gambler. After the short played at Sundance, Anderson was invited to the Sundance Institute, where he expanded it into a script called Sydney. (Anderson was eventually forced to change the title.) “Cigarettes & Coffee”s story is a little different than the final film, though, so you might be surprised how the short version turns out.
Lights Out (2016)
Based on “Lights Out” (2013)
Whether it’s because filmmakers like Sam Raimi have had so success doing it and so others have tried to copy that formula, or because horror directors are a particularly industrious lot, there are a lot of feature-length horror films based on shorts by the same director. Filmmaker David F. Sandberg made a series of no-budget films for YouTube hoping to get noticed by the movie business; his 2013 short “Lights Out,” about a monster that only attacks its targets in darkness, did exactly that. After the film went viral, Sandberg was able to make a feature film version.
Machete (2010)
Based on “Machete” (2007)
Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino’s unique collaboration Grindhouse featured two feature films, one from each director, plus a variety of fake trailers shot by the men and their friends. Several of the trailers from Grindhouse then became full-fledged movies in their own right, starting with Machete, Rodriguez’s over-the-top action film about former federale from Mexico on a mission of revenge. The movie was successful enough to get its own sequel, 2013’s Machete Kills. It included trailers for a second sequel, Machete Kills Again … In Space. Sadly, that one has yet to materialize.
Mama (2013)
Based on “Mama” (2008)
Here is another short film that spawned a feature and launched a major director’s career — in this case, Andy Muschietti, who followed Mama with two It movies (and then an It TV show) and The Flash. The YouTube clip of the short below is introduced by Guillermo del Toro, who was a big fan of the “Mama” short film and became an executive producer on the feature.
Marcel the Shell With Shoes On (2021)
Based on “Marcel the Shell With Shoes On” (2010)
Given its handmade aesthetic, it’s perhaps not too surprising that the Oscar nominated feature Marcel the Shell With Shoes On was based on an even more DIY series of shorts by director Dean Fleischer Camp. He actually made three Marcel shorts over a span of five years before he put together the 90 minute version.
Martha Marcy May Marlene (2011)
Based on “Mary Last Seen” (2010)
Writer/director Sean Durkin made the short film “Mary Last Seen” during the development and funding of his indie feature, Martha Marcy May Marlene. The two films share the same subject matter (religious cults), and both feature Brady Corbet as a charismatic cult member. But Martha Marcy May Marlene is less of a remake of “Mary Last Seen” than a sequel to it; where the feature version follows a woman trying to escape from an abusive cult, “Mary Last Seen” is about a woman joining the same organization.
Napoleon Dynamite (2004)
Based on “Peluca” (2002)
The main character’s name is different, but the kid at the center of Jared Hess’ student film “Peluca” is unmistakably the same awkward teenager who anchored Hess’ breakthrough feature Napoleon Dynamite two years later. (Both are played by actor Jon Heder.) In the short film, Seth gets picked on at school, then goes to a convenience store with his buddies Pedro and Giel and buys a lottery ticket. They use the proceeds to buy a wig for Giel, who recently had his head shaved. (“Peluca” is the Spanish word for wig.) The short does not feel like the dawn of a comedy empire, but it certainly has a distinctive vibe.
Pixels (2015)
Based on “Pixels” (2010)
The “Pixels” short was more of a special effects demo reel than a full-blown story. It certainly looks incredible, with a bunch of of famous old school video game characters like Pac-Man and the Space Invaders invading New York City and wreaking havoc on the population. The short doesn’t give a reason for the chaos; at two minutes long, it doesn’t really need one. The feature film had to justify the cool visuals, and grafted on a scenario where hostile aliens invade the Earth with giant-size versions of Atari and Nintendo icons, and thus only a video game savant (i.e. Adam Sandler) can save us all.
Short Term 12 (2013)
Based on “Short Term 12” (2009)
Writer/director Destin Daniel Cretton based Short Term 12 on his own experiences working in a group home for teenagers — to the point that the original short he made on the same subject focused a character named Denim who was inspired by Cretton himself. When he blew the story up to feature length, he decided to flip the gender of the protagonist from male to female, and then cast actress Brie Larson in the role that became her big-screen breakthrough.
Sling Blade (1996)
Based on “Some Folks Call It a Sling Blade” (1994)
Interest in Billy Bob Thornton and his breakthrough indie film Sling Blade, which won Thornton an Oscar best Best Adapted Screenplay, was so high in the mid-1990s that the original short film that it was based on, “Some Folks Call It a Sling Blade,” wound up get its own VHS release. That’s despite the fact that the short was only 29 minutes long. You could even rent it at Blockbuster; I vividly recall seeing it there as a kid. The box art had “SLING BLADE” written in huge block letters, and then “Some Folks Call It a” so small you could barely see them from a distance. How many people do you think rented the short because they mistook it for the feature?
Smile (2022)
Based on “Laura Hasn’t Slept” (2020)
The Smile series follows the same model as Martha Marcy May Marlene; the short film is more of a prequel than direct source material for the feature version. “Laura Hasn’t Slept” focuses on a woman named Laura (Caitlin Stasey) terrorized by visions of a monster with a ghoulish grin. In Smile, Laura (once again played by Stasey) reappears in a hospital, where she kills herself and in the process passes on the smiling Entity to her therapist.
This Is the End (2013)
Based on “Jay and Seth Versus the Apocalypse” (2007)
The same year that Seth Rogen became a full-blown movie star headlining Judd Apatow’s Knocked Up, he appeared in a 10-minute short with his former Undeclared co-star Jay Baruchel about how the tensions in a relationship between roommates get exacerbated by the end of the world. A few years later Rogen and his collaborator Evan Goldberg turned the same basic premise into a far more elaborate sci-fi spectacular, with Rogen, Baruchel and a lineup of up-and-coming comedy stars all playing themselves as pampered celebrities who are extremely ill-equipped to survive the apocalypse. The short is basically one clever idea and not much else; the feature does an impressive job of mining its premise for every ounce of comic possibilities.
THX 1138 (1971)
Based on “Electronic Labyrinth: THX 1138 4EB” (1967)
The best part about the incredibly uncommercial title THX 1138 is that it’s actually simplified from George Lucas’ original short, which was called “Electronic Labyrinth: THX 1138 4EB.” Man, that just rolls of the tongue. (Imagine having to spell that out on a marquee in those big block letters.) Lucas made the short while he was still at USC Film School; a few years later, Lucas had hooked up with filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola, who made the THX feature the first production in a deal he had struck between his own company, American Zoetrope, and Warner Bros.
12 Monkeys (1995)
Based on “La Jetee” (1962)
Even before Terry Gilliam adapted it as 12 Monkeys, Chris Marker’s “La Jetee” was already one of the most famous shorts in cinema history. The two share the same premise, with a man from a ruined future sent back into the past in the hopes of preventing the apocalyptic war that destroyed the planet. But where Gilliam’s movie presents that story with recognizable movie stars and surreal special effects, Marker’s version is told through a series of still photographs and voiceover. It’s one of the few short films with its own release in the Criterion Collection (although technically it shares its disc with another Market film, Sans Soleil.)
What We Do in the Shadows (2014)
Based on “What We Do in the Shadows: Interviews With Some Vampires” (2005)
Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement supposedly made the first “What We Do in the Shadows” mockumentary short for a measly $200. That’s got to be one of the best initial investments in movie and TV history; What We Do in the Shadows has now been made into a successful 2014 feature film, and a six-season TV series on FX. (It also spawned a spinoff, Wellington Paranormal, about police officers in the same fictional universe.) All from $200!
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