The recent success of Adolescence on Netflix serves as a strong reminder that for directors working in short films, the leap to television is not just possible – it’s increasingly viable. While the creators and stars of this harrowing drama may be in the spotlight, behind the camera for all four episodes was Philip Barantini, a filmmaker who was on the festival circuit with his short Boiling Point just six years ago.

And Adolescence isn’t an outlier. Some of the biggest TV shows of 2025 – Andor, The Last of Us, Dope Thief – feature directors like Ariel Kleiman, Kate Herron, and Jonathan van Tulleken, all of whom honed their craft in the short film world before making the jump to television.

Yet, while many Short of the Week filmmakers transition into TV, it’s often to direct projects created by others. But what about the short film-to-series pipeline – those shorts that evolve into episodic content? Compared to feature adaptations, these cases are rarer, but they do happen – as this playlist proves.

Click on image to view the collection

The collection includes:

• 5 Films about Technology by Peter Huang – At just five minutes long, Huang’s short featured a series of satirical vignettes highlighting the absurdities of modern technology. Initially, he intended to expand it into a feature – until a Sony executive read his script and convinced him, “It’s a show, not a movie.” Taking that advice, Huang rewrote the project, leading to Nine Films About Technology, which was eventually picked up by FXX’s Cake.
  
  
• Adventure Time by Pendleton Ward – One of many cult animation shows that started as a short (or pilot), Ward’s story of a young boy and his magical dog first debuted as a Nicktoons short in 2007 – earning an Annie nomination for Best Animated Short Subject – before evolving into a Cartoon Network series that ran for five seasons.
  
  
• Boiling Point by Philip Barantini – We’ve already mentioned Barantini and Boiling Point in the intro, but this 22-minute short didn’t just pave the way for a feature – it also led to a four-episode BBC series. Its ambitious one-take approach and Barantini’s collaboration with Stephen Graham were undoubtedly key factors in landing him the director’s chair for Adolescence.
  
  

  Donald Glover (L) in Clapping for the Wrong Reasons

• Clapping for the Wrong Reasons by Hiro Murai – Although not a direct short-to-series adaptation, anyone watching this collaboration between Murai and Donald Glover would find it hard not to see it as the foundation for the award-winning series Atlanta.
  
  
• Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared by Joseph Pelling & Becky Sloan – First created in 2011, this original short sparked five more Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared films before eventually being commissioned for a TV adaptation by Channel 4 in the UK, which was screened in 2022.
  
  
• Fear of Flying by Conor Finnegan – A creative mix of live-action puppetry with 2D and 3D animation, Finnegan’s 2012 short didn’t lead to a direct adaptation but instead inspired the 2018 preschool series Becca’s Bunch. Sharing the same distinctive aesthetic and a similar central character, the show ran for 26 episodes on Nick Jr.
  
  

  Goldie – the story of a giant girl with a big heart – is available to stream on AppleTV+

• Goldie by Emily Brundige – One of those shorts where the potential for a series adaptation is immediately clear, Brundige’s charming tale of a giant girl was expanded into a 13-episode series, which premiered on Apple TV+ on February 14, 2025. A family-friendly show with the message that ‘being different is something to celebrate’, following the success of Goldie Brundige is already working on developing a new show – Strawberry Vampire.
  
  
• Luce and the Rock by Britt Raes – A favorite of our team’s from our 2024 coverage, Raes is now in development of the animated series Luce in the Lovely Land. Featuring the same protagonists as the short – Luce, a curious and daring six-year old and her best friend, a giant rock – this preschool series was bought by France Télévisions and is co-produced with Thuristar.
  
  
• Milky☆Highway by Yohei Kameyama – Recently highlighted by Catsuka, Kameyama’s sleek 3D animation about a cyborg and a superhuman on a high-speed journey along the titular road was light on narrative – but that’s about to change. The director is expanding the concept into a full series adaptation, set to premiere on TV and YouTube in July 2025.
  
  

  Have you ever wondered what it’s like to raise a superhero? Raising Dion follows the everyday life of a single black mother raising a son laden with superhuman abilities

• Raising Dion by Dennis Liu – The shortest film on this list, Liu’s three-minute, VFX-heavy story of a single parent raising a child with super powers captured the internet’s attention in 2015 before being developed into a series over the next four years. Raising Dion premiered on Netflix in 2019, running for two seasons before being canceled in 2022.
  
  
• Tome of the Unknown by Patrick McHale – The short film that gave rise to the beloved series Over the Garden Wall, Tome of the Unknown was initially envisioned as a potential feature. However, with McHale busy writing for Adventure Time, the project was put on hold. Thankfully, he later revisited the idea, pitched it as a series, and created this short as its pilot.
  
  
• Scavengers by Joseph Bennett & Charles Huettner – Originally an eight-minute animated short created for Adult Swim’s Toonami branch, the series adaptation, Scavengers Reign, follows the stranded crew of a space freighter as they struggle to survive on a beautiful but unforgiving planet. With fans – ourselves included – disappointed by the news that the show wouldn’t be returning for a second season, Bennett reassured audiences via Instagram that there is “more story to be told” and that the team is “ready to make” it, should the opportunity arise.
  
  

  Sequin Raze takes its audience behind the scenes of a hit reality TV show, as a jaded producer and a spurned beauty queen face off in mental mortal combat.

• Sequin Raze by Sarah Shapiro – Created as part of the American Film Institute Conservatory Directing Workshop for Women back in 2012, Sequin Raze played at SXSW in 2013, before being developed into the series UnREAL in 2014. Running for four season, the show earned Shapiro and co-creator Marti Noxon a Primetime Emmy nomination in 2016.
  
  
• SMILF by Frankie Shaw – From Sundance winner to Golden Globe-nominated TV series, Shaw’s 2015 short quickly evolved into a full-fledged show, premiering in 2017. However, despite its initial success, the series lasted only two seasons, as Showtime ultimately chose not to renew it following allegations of on-set misconduct by Shaw.
  
  
• What We Do in the Shadows: Interview with some Vampires by Jemaine Clement & Taika Waititi – Starting as a scrappy 30-minute mockumentary short in 2005, Clement and Waititi’s vampire project took nearly a decade to evolve into a feature film. Five years later, the story found new life on television as What We Do in the Shadows, which has since become a fan-favorite series – now entering its sixth season.