We’re living in extremely exciting time as filmmakers. The last piece of the puzzle- self-distrubtion is now more accessible than ever.
Vimeo is finally adding a way for content creators to get some money for their hard work. As of right now the only feature that is active is the ‘tip jar’ which allows anyone to submit a tip after watching a film if they choose to.
As mentioned in their blog, they have plans for a pay-to-view service. The beta will be launched sometime in the winter.
Not many people know this, but we already have a very simple way of monetization for short films (and feature films)- itunes.
You can get your feature film or short film onto iTunes through the complex approval process or you can simply use distribber. (works for other popular VOD services like amazon/netflix/hulu)
Finally don’t forget about youtube monetization which has been around for a long time now.
What are you waiting for? Go out and make beautiful shorts even if you don’t get actual profits from it… the experience itself would make you a better storyteller and that in itself is worthwhile.
I might consider charging people for future shorts if they needed a hefty budget but at this point I’m keeping all my future/past shorts free.