Welcome!

Welcome to the companion website for Producing and Directing the Short Film and Video, Fifth Edition, the definitive book on the subject for the serious film student or beginning filmmaker. Here authors Peter Rea and David K. Irving have taken a unique approach to short filmmaking, clearly explaining how the separate roles of director and producer must work together to create a successful short film or video. Through extensive examples from award-winning shorts and insightful interviews, you will learn about common challenges the filmmakers encountered during each step of filmmaking process—from preproduction to production, postproduction, and distribution—and the techniques they used to overcome them.

In celebrating this book’s twentieth anniversary, this edition has been updated to include:

  • Two all-new, in-depth cases studies of esteemed short films—Memory Lane and the Academy Award-winning God of Love
  • A revised chapter progression that reinforces the significance of the actor - director relationship
  • Interviews with the filmmakers integrated alongside the text, as well as new images and behind-the-scenes coverage of production processes
  • Revamped sections on current financing strategies, postproduction workflows, and the wide variety of distribution platforms now available to filmmakers
  • A "Where are They Now" appendix featuring updates on the original filmmakers covered in the first edition
  • An expanded Resources page on this companion website, containing useful forms and information on distributors, grants and financing sources, film and video festivals, film schools, internet sources for short works, and professional associations

David K. Irving is an Associate Professor of the Undergraduate Film and Television Department at New York University, Tisch School of the Arts. He has directed six feature films, fifteen award-winning short documentaries, three short narrative films, and has written and produced three feature films.

Peter Rea is an Associate Professor of the Undergraduate Film and Television Department at New York University, Tisch School of the Arts. He has been a producer, cinematographer, editor, production manager, and postproduction supervisor on numerous short films, TV movies, and features.