As a screenwriter, you’re no stranger to the challenge of getting your work noticed in Hollywood. But did you know that short stories are increasingly becoming a viable way to sell stories to studios for development? Peter Katz, a seasoned producer and literary manager at Story Driven, reveals that short stories offer a unique advantage and entry point into the business.
“Short stories provide a concise, focused narrative that can be easily adapted into a feature film or series,” Katz explains ver succinctly. “They also allow writers to showcase their voice, style, and storytelling chops in a condensed format, making it easier for producers and studios to identify and acquire talented new voices.”
With the rise of entertainment platforms, the demand for fresh content has never been higher. And with studios and producers looking for new ways to discover and develop talent, short stories are emerging as a key source of inspiration.
Peter Katz offers his short story advice to screenwriters with Creative Screenwriting Magazine.
How should screenwriters consider short stories as a viable composition of their portfolios?
One way to look at short stories is that it allows people to engage with a larger project much quicker and get an immediate sense of what you’re doing.
A short story allows for something to travel quickly; it’s a short read, so it’s low time investment. You could take it to somebody who has a reading list that’s pretty large, and they may read a short story quicker than reading something that’s a longer form. Just like a short film or a reel to showcase your directing talent, short stories can display your writing. In the same way, a really well-directed short film could potentially launch a feature like Saw, which started as a short film. It quickly got attention and conveyed a larger vision.
Short stories a quick way to showcase your voice as a writer
If you’re actually trying to get a bigger project made such as a film or televisions series, a short story can be the catalyst to build a team around it. Short stories can showcase your writing style, tone, and characters.
Related: “Know Your Space” Says Peter Katz From Story Driven
Should short stories always be considered as a pathway to a film or television series or could they just be standalone pieces?
The book publishing and the TV businesses work off of each other, but there are different ways that a short story could be discovered.
A short story isn’t always widely shared between industry people. It could be that someone has a short story that could be developed internally. So it’s not seen by anybody outside of that.
A short story can also be posted on Reddit, YouTube or Substack, so it’s visible to a wider audience. You could look at social media as being everything from zero exposure to self-published online to a more of a traditional anthology book or literary magazine.
There are multiple ways that someone could get a short story out there, but not all communities cross-pollinate.
A short story could be the catalyst for other formats. It could just be a short story, someone adapts it into a short film, which potentially gets adapted into a film or TV show.
Can short stories be viewed as writing samples like monologues or plays?
I think any form of writing could be looked at as a writing sample to showcase your skills. You could be a playwright or an author writing a short story.
I’m looking for the right voice for a project. Voice is your signature as a writer, and if your writing really demonstrates your abilities, whether or not it’s a short story, I think it could definitely get someone’s attention.
In any form of writing, you show your range as a creator.
If you’re a comic book writer and you have a comic book that’s stellar, that comic book’s going to get people’s attention, whether or not it’s for a writing assignment or for representation. They’re seeing what your potential is. There are a lot of screenwriters and showrunners that come from being authors, so writing short stories is also a good way to sharpen your craft.
I definitely feel that they should be in your arsenal if that’s something that excites you as a medium. And certainly the shell shock of the difference in style from a screenplay, the room you have to wander around describing things in stories is worthwhile.
I signed a client based on her short stories. I liked her voice, and we started to develop a project together as a screenplay. I really like how she tells genre stories, and now she’s working in a different medium. So it’s sometimes more fluid than people think.
I know friends who are screenwriters, who wrote their first short story and they had a great time. It was freeing to be able to get outside of their regular form.
Related: 6 Popular Feature Films & TV Shows Which Began As Short Films
What makes a short story successful?
It’s very existence.
I follow this guy, who’s a film critic on TikTok, who does really weird reviews, really interesting. I’m a huge fan of his, and there’s only 100 people following him. And someday, if I have an angle for this guy posting these weird comedy reviews, I’ll connect with him.
And he’s saying the same thing with writing. No-one knows who sees what or who knows that person. I think if your work is out there in a meaningful way, people could really engage with it. The internet is the most connected version of our society we’ve ever had.
If something’s interesting, someone might pay attention. It doesn’t mean it needs to go viral. But really, if a hundred people see something that you create, one of them could change the course of your career.
Related: Veteran Screenwriter Bob DeRosa Talks Films, TV & Podcasts
What are some of the more reputable platforms for short story writers?
I think that people should experiment with platforms and see what works for them. Maybe they post short stories on TikTok or YouTube, and they narrate them? Maybe they post them on X or on Reddit?
I think as a creator, you not only are the producer, you’re also the distributor. A lot of the analytics that you get from being an online creator are sometimes better than analytics that a filmmaker or showrunner gets from a streamer.
If you’re putting out work online, you may get a real clear picture of who your fans are, because you’re engaging with them directly.
You should look to building your own community. Maybe you have an email newsletter through a Substack? Reach out to your friends from college or film school.
So you have 50 people on your Substack who are now engaged. That’s a community. It doesn’t have to be huge. But if you have an energized group of people that are getting your email newsletter every month, new stories, and it grows a little bit.
If you want your short story to be made as a short film, get a director from your community who’s looking for material, work with them and put a short film out based on your short story.
Do you want your short story to be on a podcast? Make a podcast or find an anthology podcast that posts anthologies or anything in your genre.
And through experimentation, you can ultimately create a system where you write the story, you have distribution set up, and do it in increments.
As you get better and better, you refine the process to be able to generate, distribute, and to some degree, market your work. There are people that are already anticipating your stories in communities that are interested in the writing you do. So keep writing.
I don’t think there’s one size fits all process. And the beauty of it is that you’re not waiting on a few gatekeepers to greenlight your work. You build your own system as you build your own value.
Over time, you’ll find out what’s good for you. Then you could find a model where you control your own audience. And that gives you power.
Related: Scripted Audio Is Having Its Moment… Again
How important is it to build your community
When I was younger, my brother was roommates with a filmmaker. Other filmmakers came to the apartment and we had movie nights.
And all these people sat on the couch together, ate pizza, drank beer, and had a good old time watching movies. And one of the people who came was a film sales agent. Through these nights, not a giant audience, movies got made because it created collaborations.
Even though we were there to have fun, people were coming in and out, and somebody would know somebody who knew somebody who could potentially finance a film.
I think it’s the same thing with being a writer. If you start building a community, even if it’s small, it’s very energized. You don’t know what opportunities come out of that community.
Eventually industry people value could come out of that. People need to understand that an energized audience creates ripple effects. And those ripple effects could trigger a producer or a manager.
You need to focus on, not only giving your stories to the community, but giving your passion to that community. Then the community will give back to you.
If you’re writing in a genre, you’re also engaged with other writers in that genre too. So it’s a more of a cycle of sharing and supporting, not just your own one project. You’re creating a system. And then you could take your writing to the next level.
Who are the main buyers of short stories?
Short stories aren’t usually bought like traditional film scripts.
Short stories could take on a lot of different paths to success. The less obvious one is a short story can connect with an indie filmmaker that could be developed as a feature film outside the system.
It could be an indie movie. It could be a short film. A director wants to make a proof of concept outside of the studio system.
A short story could become an audio drama. It could be the foundation to build a podcast. It is the foundation to attract funding.
These are things that are outside of what you’re typically expecting. This could be a very grassroots approach between an author and a director who’s only done commercials who wants to make a short film. Or an indie filmmaker who’s maybe made one indie movie but is not a huge director. They could take a short film or short story and adapt it.
You could make a podcast built out of a short story or an audio drama. Those are the more of the indie routes.
Let’s say you don’t have a manager or an agent. You could email them in the same way as you query them with a script with a short story. You want to be very specific with the genre. You don’t just want to spray the town with short stories.
You also want to talk about if there are any prominent details about yourself, like if one of your stories was covered in a decent publication, or if you have an audience or attachments that might attract financing. It has to be very simple. Hey, this is who I am. This is my genre.
