Shortfundly, a platform for shortfilm filmmakers to get connected with film festival events
According to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes or less, including all credits, is known as a short film. Today, many are able to explore their creative spark by putting their imagination to film in this format. A short film is a common man's movie, usually with no big star's presence in it, yet many of them move your heart and soul.
Selvam Muniyandi, with his over 11 years of experience in multiscreen video advertising, is trying to give wings to such entrepreneurs. He and his Co-founder Selvammyume Maharajan decided to design a platform that could help short film makers let loose their talent and gain the recognition they deserve. They founded Shortfundly in September 2015.
According to Selvam, "We took note of some of the pain points that filmmakers and film festival organisers often faced. They were:
- How to get connected with a short film filmmaker and get an acting chance?
- How to submit their short film to a short film festival?
- How to get funding support for their short film projects?
- How to hire a new cast and crew for their short film project?
- How to promote a short film to the right audience?
- How to release a short film poster and gain teaser attention?
What does it do?
Shortfundly serves filmmakers as:
- IMDB for short films.
- Naukri for short film filmmakers.
- Short film screening in theatres.
- Dedicated short film promotion platform.
- Short film filmmakers professional network.
As the name suggest, it helps short film makers get funds for their project with its crowdfunding support. They had first released a web version, but have recently launched iOS and Android app versions as well to help filmmakers reach a wider audience. This could also help them get more feedback for their creative short films.
The platform acts as a LinkedIn for short film filmmakers, a dedicated short film video discovery platform, and a crowdfunding platform for short film makers.
Market position
South East Asia's expected shortfilm market size by 2020 is $2.7 billion. 350,000 filmmakers and artists are available worldwide and more than 5,000 short film festival events are happening every year.
The company plans to work on a freemium model, selling direct ads, a subscription model, and a membership fee. Other options could be an affiliate marketing model, CPM display advertising on the website, and CPC advertising on the site. Sponsorships, film festival fees, short film screening event fees, subscriber data access, pay-to-watch, selling it via platform, and raising funds for film projects could also be employed in the future to generate revenue.
Shortfundly is bootstrapping as of now, and is growing in many forms, with a nine member-strong team today. The company sees Viddsee, Indieflix, Youtube, Vimeo Filmfreeway, Withoutabox, and Festhome as its competitors. They are all solving a common problem, just through different methods.