You see, the micro-short format practically begs to be watched online, whether it’s in people’s social media feeds or on sites like YouTube and Vimeo. The short running time signals to people that it’s way less of a commitment on their part to watch your film. It signals that it’s a small investment of time that could have a huge potential upside if the film is good.

Just consider this: if one of your filmmaking friends posts their new film on Facebook, with the obligatory message asking everybody to watch it and share it, which are you more likely to actually watch in full? A 90 minute feature, or a two minute short?

The vast majority of people are going to choose the two minute short and watch it in its entirety. And if it’s actually good — if it’s funny or sad or surprising or thought-provoking — then people are going to share it. And because it’s so short, the people with whom it’s shared are more likely to watch it in full and share it themselves. And the cycle continues.

By creating content that’s short and easily digestible, you’re basically optimizing your films not only for the way the internet works, but for people’s psychology and fear of commitment.

If you produce good micro-shorts consistently, you will build an audience around your filmmaking

Most of us want to be successful with our filmmaking. And while being successful means something different to all of us, I’d say that one of the things that success means for everybody is having people watch our films.

Success means having an audience.

This is the key to how someone like Don Hertzfeldt can be so successful. Despite the fact that he works independently and only makes the films he wants to make, Don is kicking ass. Not only has he made a name for himself at prestigious festivals, he’s got an incredible amount of people following him online, all of whom know and love his work.

For example, when he launched a Kickstarter last year to bring his films to BluRay, this is what happened.