Proof of Concepts

Proof of concepts. An action or event that helps one make progress towards a specified goal.

Finding a way into the film industry is proven to be a difficult and often exhausting process, it may take people years or even entire lifetimes to achieve their dream roles on a film set, but there are many ways for a person to pursue their goal of becoming a Hollywood Director and making big budget films, and one of those ways is by simply, making films.

Short films have been proven to be a way to enter the film industry through the likes of competitions such as Raindance, Sundance, or Venice film festivals, and even some of the industry’s most critically acclaimed and successful Directors have started off with making short films as a stepping stone to launch their film careers.

Reservoir Dogs

Before he was a renowned director and household name Quentin Tarantino was a struggling aspiring filmmaker who worked in his local dvd store on Manhattan Beach, California.

In the early 90s Tarantino’s script for what would become his debut feature Reservoir Dogs was gaining traction in the Hollywood sphere. After receiving funding from different sources who were impressed by the script for his crime thriller, Tarantino went to Sundance who invited him in to the Sundance Directors Lab. This lab was an opportunity for screenwriters to workshop scenes from their script and have advisors come in and advise them how they are directing actors, blocking scenes, shooting, etc. Tarantino used this lab to its fullest extent and made a 12 minute proof of concept short film of Reservoir Dogs and the rest is history.

Whiplash

Writer-director Damien Chazelle was a struggling young writer in Los Angeles at the time that he wrote Whiplash. Chazelle’s script for his feature length film kept getting shopped around only to land in the rejection pile. It did, however, spend a year on The Black List: the go-to website founded by Franklin Leonard which, among its many facets, produces a yearly publication highlighting Hollywood’s most popular unproduced screenplays. Whiplash got named one of the best unmade films of 2012. That generated interest for the feature from major Hollywood producers. A recommendation came in for Chazelle to create a proof-of-concept short film.

And so he did. Chazelle lifted a section of the feature for the short version. It centers on the lead character’s first day at a high-profile and ultra-competitive music conservatory. Well-known character actor J.K. Simmons took on the role of the abusive bandleader.

Whiplash won the Sundance Short Film Jury Prize, and from there, the feature got the go-ahead. It grossed nearly $50 million, having only been made on a $3.3 million budget. Yet another example of a proof of concept short film being the breakthrough to creating a successful feature and career.