This year has been a big year for Short of the Week. Let’s take a moment to look back on where we’ve been and look ahead to where we’re going.
1 new website launch 170 short films 250 posts 700,000 readers SOTW Presents (6 films, 1.2 million views)
In January, we started the year with a 5-part coverage of Sundance’s online series which surfaced many films from this top-tier festival for online audiences. Later in January we started piecing together a plan to launch our own short film, The Thomas Beale Cipher, to online audiences. With the experience of being online curators we knew there was a right way to it, but even we were surprised by how big it went. Rather than guard our recipe, we shared all the details of the plan with instructions for others looking to find an audience online—a process that filmmakers like Jesús Orellana (Rosa) have credited for their own success. Looking to further support great filmmakers looking to bring their masterpieces online, we launched a new program called Short of the Week Presents. We had the pleasure of working with six filmmakers doing just that. In April, our Great Film Competition drew in hundreds of filmmakers looking to debut their films through Short of the Week Presents. In July, we were surprised and flattered to earn a spot on Filmmaker Magazine’s prestigious 25 New Faces of Independent Film. In August we launched a major site redesign that brought new features and improvements like the new homepage, playlists, collections, commenting, and search. In November, long time friends Vimeo, offered Jason a dream curatorial job that brought him out to NYC (once again reuniting the SOTW founders—offline events to follow?). What’s planned for 2012? In the next couple weeks, look for Short of the Week’s Best of 2011. We’ll be honoring the best online films from the past year including films from new categories like branded, interactive, and crowdfunded films. Over the course of the year, we’ve had some great moments and made a lot of new friends. This is our fifth year at this, and never have we seen more festivals embracing and more filmmakers excited to reach audiences online. And this, my friends, is just the beginning… And of course, we couldn’t have done any of this without you. We like to try new things here at Short of the Week—sometimes crazy, wild ideas—some go well, some don’t. But we always appreciate your patience with us and your loyalty to SOTW. So, from myself, Jason, and the other writers, thanks for joining us on the journey this year.