1 of 137

How One Strategic Short Film Can Open the Next Door in Your Career?

(Even If Your Last Film Went Nowhere)

Exclusive Workshop Presented by

2 of 137

SHORT FILM BLUEPRINT

Level Up, Get Funded, and Fast-Track Your Career!

Exclusive Workshop Presented by

3 of 137

Before we dive in…

3

Quick question:

How many of you have already made a short film?

[LEAN INTO CAMERA]

So before we dive in, I want to ask a few quick questions.

Just type "yes" in the chat if it lands.

How many of you have already made a short film?

Submitted to festivals?

[PAUSE]

Maybe even gotten selected somewhere — got a laurel, got into a regional, maybe a top 50 festival…

[PAUSE]

And still — if you're honest with yourself — feel like nothing actually moved forward.

[BEAT]

The chat is going crazy. (Yep. Yep. Yep. Yes. Same. That's what I thought.)

Because here is what I have learned after producing over twelve short films, sitting on panels at festivals like SXSW and Tribeca, and talking to literally hundreds of filmmakers in your exact position —

that experience you just described is not unusual.

It is the default outcome for almost everyone who makes a short film without a strategy.

And tonight I'm going to show you why.��Now — if your hand went up on that question. If you've made the films, done the

festivals, put in the work — and you're still sitting here waiting for something to

click —

I want to tell you what that feeling is NOT.

It is not a sign that you're not talented enough.

4 of 137

Let me be direct

4

I know that's the quiet fear. I’ve heard lots of filmmakers saying some version

of the same sentence — "I've thrown everything I have into this career, and I'm still

hitting a wall." And when you hit that wall enough times, your brain starts whispering

that maybe the wall is you.

It's not you.

It's also not that you need more connections. It's not that you need a bigger budget.

It's not that you need to go back to film school. Every one of those is the wrong

conclusion — and chasing the wrong conclusion is exactly what keeps a talented

filmmaker stuck for years.

So let me be direct with you — because you've earned directness.

Here is the real reason. You were never shown the strategy that sits around the film.

You were taught craft. How to write, how to shoot, how to cut. Nobody ever sat you

down and showed you the set of decisions — the ones made before you ever roll a

camera — that decide whether a short film opens a door or disappears.

That is the layer we're working on tonight.

And let me set one honest expectation, because I'm not going to insult you with hype.

This is not a "get into Sundance overnight" training. There is no trick that replaces

the work. Anyone who promised you that was lying to you.

But there is a dramatically smarter way to approach the work you're already doing.

A way that takes the same effort, the same talent, the same hours you're already

giving this — and finally points them at an outcome, instead of into a void.

That's what I can show you tonight. So let's get into it.

5 of 137

Just Like I Did With

5

6 of 137

Short Film Case Study

6

Stucco�

Exclusive release in Hollywood Reporter�
Distribution deals with Short of the Week, Alter, Omeleto, Argo�
138M+ Views

7 of 137

Who This Is For

7

This is for you if:

You've made short films, maybe even gotten festival selections, but none of it converted into real career momentum.
You're submitting, networking, putting in the work.�But the opportunities you expected still haven't materialized.
You don't need more motivation. You need a different approach.
You're starting to wonder if the problem is the strategy, not the talent.

So before we go any further, I want to make sure you're in the right room. This workshop is for you if —

You've made short films. Maybe you've even gotten festival selections. But none of it converted into real career momentum.

You're submitting. You're networking. You're putting in the work. But the opportunities you expected still haven't materialized.

You don't need more motivation. You are already motivated to the point of exhaustion. What you need is a different approach.

And maybe — and this is the one nobody says out loud — you are starting to wonder if the real problem is the strategy, or whether you're just not talented enough

[PAUSE — 4 seconds]

I want to address that thought directly, because I have had it. I had it for years. And it is the single most destructive thought a filmmaker can carry around. I'll come back to that in a few minutes.

If anything I just said feels like I'm describing your last twelve months — you are exactly who this is built for. Stay with me.

8 of 137

The Most Reliable Path to Real Career Momentum

8

9 of 137

Your Instructor

9

John Trefry

12+ short films produced: SXSW, Tribeca, HollyShorts
Producer, Paramount+ , NBCU, Netflix
Expert Instructor for
Speaker at SXSW, Tribeca, HollyShorts

So real quick — for the people in the chat who don't know who I am.

I'm John Trefry. I've produced more than twelve narrative short films. Films I've produced have played SXSW, Tribeca, HollyShorts, and dozens of other top-tier festivals. I recently produced My Killer Father: The Green Hollow Murders, a series that just dropped on Paramount+, and within days a clip crossed five million views on TikTok with press in the New York Times and People.

But — and this is the part I want you to hear —

I did not start with industry connections. I grew up in Anchorage, Alaska. I did not go to USC. I did not have a parent in the business. I did not have a check waiting for me when I moved to Los Angeles.

What I had was a system. A system I built over a decade of trial and error, watching what worked and what didn't, and then doing the same thing again and again until it became repeatable.

And tonight I'm going to give you the three most important pieces of that system.

10 of 137

Short Film Case Study

10

How To Be Alone�

Distribution deals with Short of the Week, Alter, Omeleto, Argo�
Licensing deals with Canal+, Telefonica, Virgin Atlantic�
Exclusive release in Indiewire

11 of 137

Why I start making short film?

11

Okay. Let me tell you the actual story. Because I think the version of me from ten years ago — that's probably closer to where most of you are right now than I'd like to admit.

So why did I start making short films in the first place?

I was born and raised in Anchorage, Alaska.

Not exactly the film capital of the world. But I fell in love with photography as a teenager — shooting for the local newspaper, learning composition by accident. That love for image-making turned into a film studies degree at the University of Colorado at Boulder. And by the time I graduated, I knew one thing for sure — I wanted to make films for a living.

The problem was, I had no idea how to actually do that.

So I did what a lot of you have done. I took every penny I had and enrolled in a film program — in my case, in Australia. And the school was, to be polite about it, not what they said it was on the brochure. I left.

But I stayed in Australia, and I started a small production company with a partner. We did commercials. We did music videos. We did web series. We did whatever paid the rent. And I started learning what no school had taught me — which was how to actually get something made when you have no resources.

12 of 137

Whats happen when I arrived in Hollywood?

12

Then my visa expired. And I moved back to the States. And I went where every filmmaker thinks they need to go.

Los Angeles.

[PAUSE]

And Hollywood hit me like a ton of bricks.

I had a handful of contacts I'd built up over the years. People I thought would open doors for me. They didn't. Not because they were mean. Just because nobody actually owes you anything in this industry, and nobody actually has the bandwidth to carry someone else's career on their back.

So I worked PA jobs. I did craft service. I drove drivers. I did everything I could just to be near a set.

And then something happened that I don't talk about a lot. I started to drift.

I had some experience in the food business, so I picked up work in restaurants. And I was good at it. I was making more money in food than I was in film. And there was a moment — and I want you to hear this — there was a real moment where I almost gave up on filmmaking altogether. Not because I stopped loving it. But because the math wasn't working.

13 of 137

The Moment I Realized I Had to Create My Own Opportunities

13

But here's the moment everything pivoted.

I was producing video content for a startup. Eighty cooking videos a week. Educational content. And I was good at it. I was leading the culinary team. From the outside, this looked like a real career.

[BEAT]

But every Sunday night — I felt this hollow thing in my chest. Because I wasn't making the work I wanted to make. I was helping other companies sell their products. That's all.

And one day I realized — nobody is going to come and rescue me from this. Nobody is going to knock on my door and hand me a narrative feature. Nobody is going to sign me to a manager because I produced a great recipe video.

If I wanted to be a filmmaker, I was going to have to create the proof that I was a filmmaker. From scratch. With my own money. On my own time.

That was the day everything changed.

14 of 137

I Discovered That The Best Way To Do It Was To Create A short That Get in Festival

14

15 of 137

No industry connections. No built-in opportunities. Just persistence, short films, and learning everything from scratch.

15

16 of 137

Everything change after this SXSW

16

And then SXSW happened.

In 2017, I produced a short film called Souls of Totality. And Souls of Totality was the film where I stopped doing what I had been doing for years — and started doing something completely different.

I'll come back to exactly what that difference was in just a minute, because it's the foundation of Shift Number One. But what I want you to know right now is — Souls of Totality premiered at SXSW. And then it went on to win three Oscar-qualifying festivals.

And after that — the door I had been pounding on for ten years, the door that had been closed the entire time —

[PAUSE]

— it opened.

Just like that.

Not because the industry suddenly decided to like me. Not because I got famous overnight. Because I had finally made a film that operated at a professional level, that was positioned the way the industry actually reads films, and that gave people a specific reason to take a meeting with me.

17 of 137

After Producing 12+ Short Films:

I Learned This The Hard Way

17

18 of 137

If You’ve Been Struggling… This Is Probably Why :

18

Now I want to look at you for a second.

Because if you're still with me — and the chat is telling me you are — there's a very good chance that what I just described in my own story is happening to you right now.

You're doing everything right. Making the films. Submitting to festivals. Networking. Putting in the hours while balancing a day job, a family, a partner, a life.

And you still feel — in the words of filmmakers we surveyed — "like I'm running endlessly on a hamster wheel."

That sentence has shown up so many times in our research that I have it taped to the wall of my office. Because it is the most honest description of what most short film makers go through that I have ever read.

And here is what I want you to hear me say, very clearly —

[PAUSE]

The problem is not your talent.

The problem is that no one has ever shown you the strategy around it.

[PAUSE — 4 seconds]

19 of 137

The HARD WAY….

19

Before Souls of Totality:

Made 10+ short films… hoping one would finally break through
Submitted to 100+ festivals across different projects
Spent $5,000 – $20,000+ per film… without knowing if it would pay off
Constantly networking… but nothing turned into real opportunities
Reached out to producers, agents, collaborators… with little to no response
Started new projects… instead of leveraging existing ones

(What I was doing for years before things started working)

So let me show you what I mean. This is what I was doing before Souls of Totality.

I had made over ten short films, hoping one would finally break through. None did.

I had submitted to over a hundred festivals across all those projects. I was getting some selections. Most were small. None of them moved anything.

I was spending between five thousand and twenty-thousand dollars per film — without knowing if it was ever going to pay off.

I was networking constantly. Showing up at every event. Meeting every person. And almost none of those conversations turned into anything real.

I was reaching out to producers, agents, collaborators — and getting almost no responses.

And every time a project disappointed me, what did I do? I started a new one. Instead of leveraging the one I'd just made.

[BEAT]

That is the hard way. And I am almost certainly describing what some of you are doing right now.

20 of 137

So how do you level up your career with a Breakthrough Short?

20

21 of 137

Before revealing

the exact 3 Shifts behind a Breakthrough Short

21

22 of 137

What Actually Makes a Breakthrough Short

22

It is built as a career asset not just a film.
The concept is built around who it can attract: actors, collaborators, reps, festivals, and audiences.
The project looks professional before anyone says yes.
The festival strategy is tied to a clear career goal, not just “submit everywhere.”

A breakthrough short — the way I define it — is a short film with four specific traits.

One — it is built as a career asset, not just a film. the film creates a conversation the filmmaker is actually ready to continue. Because the worst thing that can happen to you is — you finally get the meeting, and you have nothing to say after the meeting.

Two — the concept is built around who it can attract. Actors. Collaborators. Reps. Festivals. Audiences. The concept is the magnet.

Three — the project looks professional before anyone says yes to it. Before any actor signs on. Before any festival accepts you. Before any investor writes a check. The packaging is real from day one.

Four — the festival strategy is tied to a clear career goal. Not "submit everywhere and hope." A specific door, and the specific festivals that lead to that door.

[PAUSE]

Those four traits — that's the difference. Every short film I've produced since 2017 has hit those five traits. And every one of them has produced a measurable career outcome.

23 of 137

The 3 Strategic Shifts Behind A Breakthrough Short

23

SHIFT 1 : Concept as leverage : How to choose the concept, talent, and approach that positions your film as a career asset from day one�

SHIFT 2 : Funding as positioning : How to build the kind of project that attracts money, without connections or a big budget

SHIFT 3 : Festivals as strategy : How to use festivals, distribution, and outreach to get in front of the right people, not just audiences

24 of 137

Concept as leverage :

How to choose the concept, talent, and approach that positions your film as a career asset from day one

SHIFT 1 :

24

25 of 137

SHIFT 1 :

25

I was producing content constantly… but not the kind of work that actually moved my career forward

I Was Working In The Industry… But Going Nowhere

26 of 137

SHIFT 1 :

26

Not just to create something… but to finally take control of my career

So I Decided To Bet On One Short Film

27 of 137

SHIFT 1 :

27

I Decided To Give Everything On

28 of 137

SHIFT 1 :

28

Sundance Accept Less Than 1% Of Submissions

But Getting Into Top Festival Required A Different Approach

29 of 137

SHIFT 1 :

29

I stopped treating it like a small project… and started treating it like a professional film

So This Time… I Did It Differently

30 of 137

SHIFT 1 :

30

Built Around A Real Eclipse

A Concept Big Enough To Attract Serious Talent

Concept. Let's start with concept.

The script for Souls of Totality was a story set during a real solar eclipse. Real eclipse. Real location. The August 2017 Great American Eclipse, which was a huge cultural moment.

And the reason that mattered — the reason a real eclipse was strategic, not just creative — is because a real, cinematic, once-in-a-generation event in your story does two things.

One, it gives the film a built-in production value that a low-budget film almost never has.

Two, it gives serious talent a reason to care. Because a working actor who has thirty offers a week is not going to do your short film because you asked nicely. They're going to do it because the concept is interesting enough to be on their reel.

Big concept = magnet for serious talent.

That's what I mean by concept as leverage.

31 of 137

SHIFT 1 :

31

Jarin Blaschke (Oscar-Nominated Cinematographer)

Bringing High-Level Collaborators

Tatiana Maslany (Orphan Black)

32 of 137

SHIFT 1 :

32

Festivals. Opportunities. High-level collaborators. Real career momentum.

And That One Film Changed Everything

33 of 137

SHIFT 1 :

33

10+ Short Films Produced
Years On Set & In Production
Hundreds Of Thousands Invested In Projects

My Total Investment To Learn All Of This…

34 of 137

SHIFT 1 :

34

Created as a strategic career project (not just a film)
Won Oscar-qualifying festivals
Opened doors to high-level talent & collaborations
Led to films like How To Be Alone & bigger opportunities

This Is What Happens When You Treat A Short Film Like A Career Move

35 of 137

Case Study

35

Christian Chapman & Paul Jason Hoffman built I Can’t Cut It Out!

LA Shorts International Film Festival
HollyShorts Monthly Screening
FilmShortage feature streaming distribution

36 of 137

SHIFT 1 :

36

You've made films that you're proud of but they haven't opened the doors you expected.
You're ready to approach your next project differently.
You want to know, before you shoot a single frame, exactly what opportunity this film is built to create.

Who This Actually Works For…

37 of 137

But At This Time You Might Be Thinking

37

38 of 137

"I'm not breaking through because the industry is gatekept, I don't know the right people, and I can't compete with the film school graduates."

38

39 of 137

39

The filmmakers who break through with zero connections aren't exceptional.

They positioned their film differently.

They chose their concept for who it could attract not just what looked interesting to them.

The problem was never who you know. It was how you built the film.

In reality:

40 of 137

40

It's not the budget. It's not film school.�It's a decision made before production starts about what this film is for, who it's meant to attract, and how it will be packaged.

That decision is teachable. It's what nobody taught you.

What Actually separates A Short That Opens Doors From One That Disappears?

41 of 137

SHIFT 1 :

41

90% of short films don't move careers.�Not because they weren't good enough.�Because they weren't built as strategic assets from the start.

That's the only difference.

42 of 137

Funding as positioning :

How to build the kind of project that attracts money, without connections or a big budget

SHIFT 2 :

42

43 of 137

SHIFT 2 :

43

We didn’t have connections…

or a big budget

When we were trying to fund “5150”

44 of 137

SHIFT 2 :

44

We tried crowdfunding…

reaching out… asking for support…

And it wasn’t working

So we did what most filmmakers do…

45 of 137

SHIFT 2 :

45

No one was willing to take a chance.

It felt like unless you already had momentum…

46 of 137

SHIFT 2 :

46

People don’t fund films because you need money… They fund films because they believe in them.

That’s when I realized something…

47 of 137

SHIFT 2 :

47

Instead of chasing money… We focused on building a project people wanted to be part of.

So We Changed Our Approach

48 of 137

SHIFT 2 :

48

Private investors.�Kickstarter.�Strategic collaborators.

Everything started connecting.

So We Built A Funding Ecosystem

49 of 137

SHIFT 2 :

49

Momentum built.

People started saying yes.

The film got funded.

And everything shifted.

50 of 137

Case Study

50

$33K+ raised via crowdfunding
$52K+ secured through fiscal sponsorship & private financing
Created by Denzel Whitaker (Black Panther)
Fully financed independent production

$85,000 Production Budget

51 of 137

You can find it inside

51

So I turned this into a 4 steps system

52 of 137

If your thinking…

52

53 of 137

53

There has never been more competition.

There has also never been more opportunity.

“There are too many filmmakers competing for attention.”

54 of 137

54

People don't fund budgets. They fund belief:

Belief in the director.
Belief in the concept.
Belief in the positioning.

"Professional films cost money. Mine won't be taken seriously."

55 of 137

SHIFT 2 :

55

Funding your short film is NOT about getting lucky

I want to leave Shift Two with one idea — because the whole shift rests on it.

Funding your short film is not about getting lucky.

And I want to tell you why I'm so certain of that. It comes back to Souls of Totality.

[PAUSE]

That whole film was built around a total solar eclipse — the 2017 Great American

Eclipse. And here's the thing nobody stops to think about. An eclipse looks like the

luckiest thing in the universe. A once-in-a-generation cosmic accident. If you

happened to be standing in the right field, on the right afternoon, you got to see it.

Pure luck. Right?

Wrong.

[BEAT]

Astronomers knew the exact date of that eclipse — the exact minute, the exact path

across the country — years in advance. Because an eclipse isn't luck. It's a system.

Orbits. Math. Something completely predictable… if you understand what's actually

moving underneath it.

Funding is exactly the same.

From the outside, funded filmmakers look lucky. "They must know somebody. They

must have caught a break. A rich uncle. Good timing." That's what it looks like from

the field.

But I've now funded twelve-plus films. And I promise you — luck does not show up

twelve times in a row for the same person.

[PAUSE]

What shows up twelve times is a system. A way of positioning a project so that, when

you put it in front of the right person, the yes becomes predictable. Not guaranteed —

predictable. The way an eclipse is predictable.

And here's the part that should give you hope. If funding were luck, you'd be stuck —

because you can't learn luck, you can't practice luck. But a system? A system is

teachable. The filmmaker who funds one film the right way can fund the next one.

And the one after that. The skill compounds. Luck never does.

So stop waiting for lightning to strike. Start building the thing that makes the spark

catch.

Okay. That's Shift Two. Shift Three.

56 of 137

56

Short films aren't funded as businesses.�They're funded as opportunities to be part of something that could matter.

Crowdfunders, private investors, brand sponsors, collaborators they say yes to the same thing: a project that feels real, professional, and going somewhere.

"Investors don't fund short films… there's no ROI."

57 of 137

You’ve got the funding Now how do you break through the noise at festivals and with distributors?

57

58 of 137

Festivals as strategy :

How to use festivals, distribution, and outreach to get in front of the right people, not just audiences

SHIFT 3 :

58

59 of 137

SHIFT 3 :

59

Souls of Totality was finally out in the world.

I had made a film I was really proud of…

60 of 137

SHIFT 3 :

60

I was focused on reach… numbers… exposure.

At first, I thought success meant getting as many views as possible…

61 of 137

SHIFT 3 :

61

It wasn’t about how many people saw the film…It was about who saw it.

But then I realized something…

62 of 137

SHIFT 3 :

62

The goal isn’t to make a short film… it’s to prove you can operate at the next level

That’s When Everything Changed…

63 of 137

SHIFT 3 :

63

Over 200 targeted outreach emails in under 2 months

We Treated Outreach Like A Strategic Campaign

64 of 137

SHIFT 3 :

64

Festivals, distribution, outreach… became strategic tools to get the film in front of the RIGHT people.

That’s when I started thinking differently…

65 of 137

From One Short Film to Career Opportunities

65

66 of 137

Case Study

66

Evan Miller used the short film Thoughts and Prayers as a strategic filmmaking tool to build industry momentum:

Secured high-profile cast including Zachary Levi & Adrianne Palicki
Leveraged a socially relevant concept to attract industry attention
Earned visibility through major film platforms including Film Shortage
Expanded creative collaborations into future feature film work including Due West (2025)

67 of 137

Most Filmmakers Believe:

67

If I make a great film, it will take care of itself

But the reality is:

The average festival acceptance rate at general festivals is 13%.

At top-tier festivals, it's under 1%.

And most films that DO get in still never convert into a meeting, a rep, or a funded project.

Now I have to break the single most expensive belief in this entire industry. Almost

everyone in this room has carried it. I carried it for ten years.

The belief is: "If I just make a great film, it will take care of itself."

It's a beautiful belief. It feels noble — like all you have to do is focus on the art, and

the universe handles the rest.

It is also completely false. And I want to break it into the four smaller beliefs hiding

inside it — because you might be holding one of them right now.

False belief number one: "If my film is good enough, it'll get seen."

[PAUSE]

Let me tell you a true story. Souls of Totality — the film with Tatiana Maslany, the film

that changed my career — we submitted it to a major festival. And we got rejected.

Months later, I'm at an event, and I meet a programmer from that exact festival. They

watch the film. And they turn to me and ask — "why didn't you submit this to us?"

We DID submit. Nobody at that festival ever watched it. A great film, submitted blind,

can sit in a queue and never be seen by a single human being who matters. Good is

not a delivery system.

False belief number two: "Festivals are basically a lottery — it's just luck."

If festivals were a lottery, the same filmmakers wouldn't get in over and over. But

they do. I've had multiple films at SXSW. Multiple at Tribeca. That's not me winning

a scratch ticket twelve times — that's a system. The lottery belief is comforting,

because it means your rejection isn't about your strategy. But it also means you can

never improve. And that's the lie. You absolutely can.

False belief number three: "More laurels means more career."

One of the most honest things a filmmaker told us in our research — and I'm quoting

it word for word — "I've gotten into over a dozen festivals, but none of them were

important enough to make a difference. It's a pat on the back. Unless it leads to a gig,

it doesn't mean much." Twelve laurels that lead nowhere is not a career. It's a collage.

And false belief number four — the most painful one — "getting in is the win."

It is not. Look at the screen. The average acceptance rate at general festivals is

thirteen percent. At top-tier festivals, under one percent. And here's the part that

actually hurts — most films that DO get in still never convert into a meeting, a rep, or

a funded next project. They get in. They screen. The lights come up. And nothing

happens.

[PAUSE]

So here is the truth that replaces all four. Your film does not need to be luckier. It

does not need more laurels. It does not even need more exposure.

It needs to be built — before production begins — for a specific audience of specific

people who can actually move your career. That is a decision. And decisions are

learnable.

68 of 137

The goal isn’t just to make a short film.

The goal is to get it seen by the right people

SHIFT 3 :

68

69 of 137

The 3 Strategic Shifts Behind A Breakthrough Short

69

SHIFT 1 : Concept as leverage : How to choose the concept, talent, and approach that positions your film as a career asset from day one�

SHIFT 2 : Funding as positioning : How to build the kind of project that attracts money, without connections or a big budget

SHIFT 3 : Festivals as strategy : How to use festivals, distribution, and outreach to get in front of the right people, not just audiences

70 of 137

Now the real question is :

Why is this different?

70

71 of 137

How many of you have already made a short film…�…but nothing really came from it?

Or you’re about to make one…�…and you’re wondering if it’s actually going to change anything?

71

72 of 137

To Help You In Your Journey Let Me Present You

73 of 137

SHORT FILM DEEP DIVE :

| COURSE

The proven system to build, produce, and launch a short film that moves your career forward

74 of 137

Why I created

| COURSE

[SHOWS EXAMPLE]

Let me tell you why I created it.

After Souls of Totality hit — and then How To Be Alone — and then Stucco — and the pattern kept repeating —

Filmmakers started reaching out to me. Constantly. By the dozens. Then the hundreds.

And every single conversation was the same.

"John, I've made three shorts and nothing's happening. What am I doing wrong?"

And I would say the same thing every time. You're doing the work. The strategy is missing. And I'd walk them through the three shifts. And I'd watch the light bulb go on.

And after about the thousandth version of that same conversation — I realized something.

I cannot personally take every filmmaker who needs this through it. There aren't enough hours.

But I could build the entire system into one program. Every conversation. Every framework. Every example. Every template. Every guest expert. Put it all in one place. Make it permanent. Make it accessible.

And that is what Short Film Deep Dive is.

It is not a course. It is the conversation I would have with you if we sat down for fifty hours.

75 of 137

| COURSE

Here’s Everything You Get Inside

A complete roadmap to become a professional filmmaker

Proven strategies to fund your films and get them off the ground

A system to get your work seen by the RIGHT people in the industry

A step-by-step path to turn your short film into real career opportunities

76 of 137

8 Guest Instructors. 1 Proven Roadmap.

Learn directly from top industry voices—guided by producer John Trefry.

| COURSE

And I'm not the only voice in the program.

I brought in eight guest instructors. People I've worked with. People who have been on the films you've seen.

Denzel Whitaker, who you know from Black Panther, on teamwork and acting collaboration.

Kate Trefry, who wrote on Stranger Things, on script development.

Ramfis Myrthil, a producer whose films have played Sundance and Tribeca, on bypassing gatekeepers.

Cristina Dunlap, an award-winning cinematographer, on finding the magic on set.

Trevor Gates, an Emmy winner from Atlanta, on post-production sound.

Janina Gavankar and Russo Schelling, the team behind Stucco — twenty-five million-plus views — on releasing your film.

Eight instructors. One unified roadmap. Curated and guided by myself.

But here's what I actually want you to see. Because guest instructors are great — but

right now you might be thinking, "sure, John, those are industry people. Of course it

worked for them."

So forget the instructors for a second. Let me show you two filmmakers who, not long

ago, were sitting exactly where you are sitting tonight. Same doubts. Same stuck

feeling. No special access, no rolodex. And then they used this system — and look

what happened. If they could do it from where they started… there is no reason on

earth you can't.

77 of 137

Kent Lamm: Will "The Machine"

HollyShorts Film Festival — Palm Springs International ShortFest — SHOT TV international distribution

| COURSE

He Did It

78 of 137

| COURSE

Raised $43,388 on Kickstarter from 208 backers for Moving Her Remains
Earned Kickstarter’s “Project We Love” distinction
Attached recognizable talent including Mehcad Brooks (Supergirl)
Collaborated with high-end VFX studio Chicken Bone FX (The Queen’s Gambit)

HOW JAMIN MEARS BUILT MOMENTUM WITH ONE SHORT FILM

And this is Jamin Mears.

What I want you to pay attention to here is not just the movie itself — it’s the momentum he was able to build around a short film.

Not long before this campaign, Jamin was not sitting on a giant Hollywood network. He was an independent filmmaker with a strong concept and a strategic approach to packaging the project.

Then he applied this framework.

He built a compelling world around the film. He positioned the concept clearly. And he created enough excitement around the project to raise more than $43,000 on Kickstarter from over 200 backers.

Not only that — the campaign was selected as a Kickstarter “Project We Love.”

[PAUSE]

That momentum helped him attach recognizable talent including Mehcad Brooks and collaborate with high-end artists like Chicken Bone FX whose work includes The Queen’s Gambit.

That’s the shift most filmmakers miss.

They think they need connections before they can make something meaningful happen.

But often the connections come AFTER the project is positioned correctly.

Jamin didn’t wait until he had access.

He built leverage first.

And that leverage attracted collaborators, supporters, and momentum around the film

79 of 137

What If : I don’t have a project yet…

| COURSE

80 of 137

So let’s start with the first piece…

How do you actually create a short film that opens real doors

| COURSE

81 of 137

The Complete System For Professional Short Filmmaking

(Market Value: $2,997)

This is Module One — The Complete System For Professional Short Filmmaking.

And I want to be specific about what "complete" means, because that word gets

thrown around. This module takes you through every stage of actually building the

film:

Ideation — how to develop and pressure-test a concept that works as career leverage.

Pre-production — packaging, talent, crew, the director's statement; running the project

like a professional before anyone says yes.

Production — how to run your set so the film looks like it cost three times what it did.

And post-production — the decisions in the edit, sound, and color that separate a film

festivals program from a film they pass on.

Concept to locked picture. Every single stage.

Now look at the market value on the screen — two thousand nine hundred ninety-seven

dollars. And I did not pull that number out of the air. Go price a one-semester

filmmaking intensive. Go price a weekend production workshop with a working

professional. A course that genuinely takes you from idea all the way through post,

taught by someone who has actually done it at SXSW and Tribeca — on the open

market, that is easily a three-thousand-dollar education. Comfortably more.

That's Module One. And it is one of four.

82 of 137

Why We Built This Part Of The Program

| COURSE

83 of 137

What It Really Took To Figure This Out

| COURSE

Decades spent producing short films… learning through trial and error… trying to break into the industry…

Producing over 10 short films…
Learning how to fund them…
How to get into top festivals…
How to actually turn them into opportunities…

84 of 137

Make Your Film Feel Professional From Day One

| COURSE

85 of 137

You already know how to make films. What you haven't had is the specific framework for making decisions that attract serious collaborators regardless of budget

| COURSE

But I’ll learn you :

How to build a strong project with a controlled budget
How to make your film look professional without expensive tools
How to start with a small team and still create something powerful

86 of 137

This system is built from:

| COURSE

10+ years of real-world filmmaking experience�
Films that have gone to major festivals like SXSW & Tribeca�
Projects that actually opened doors and created opportunities

87 of 137

What if I’m just not at that level yet?

| COURSE

The filmmakers who get there aren't the most talented.

They're the ones who started treating their next project as a strategic career move not a creative exercise with vague ambitions.

That starts with knowing what the right process actually looks like.

88 of 137

Filmmaking System : Develop a strong concept, Produce at a Professional Level (Value: $2,997)

| Here’s everything you get

Total Market Value: $2,997

89 of 137

So once you know how to build a film that can actually open doors… the next step is understanding how to fund it, no matter your situation.

| COURSE

90 of 137

The Proven Short Film Funding Blueprint

| COURSE

Market Value: ($1,997)

Module Two — The Proven Short Film Funding Blueprint.

This is the module that solves the problem that stops more films than any other —

money. Inside it, you get the exact four-step funding system I run on every project:

How to build materials that make people believe — the EPK, the deck, the director's

statement. Who to actually contact, and what to say to them. How to match the right

ask to the right kind of partner — private investors, crowdfunding, brand sponsors,

in-kind collaborators. And how to layer multiple funding paths so you are never

depending on one single person's yes.

This is the difference between a filmmaker who waits years for one savior — and a

filmmaker who can fund a film, then fund the next one.

Market value — one thousand nine hundred ninety-seven dollars. And honestly — a

single sit-down with a film finance strategist can run you most of that for one

conversation. This is the entire system, and it's yours permanently.

91 of 137

Why We Built This Part Of The Program

| COURSE

When I started making short films… I quickly realized something funding was always the biggest challenge

Short films are incredibly hard to finance… because in most cases, they don’t make money back

So after having to bootstrap projects and figure it out the hard way… I started building a system I could reuse on every film

92 of 137

What It Really Took To Figure This Out

| COURSE

Reaching out to thousands of peoples… trying to get someone to believe in a project
Testing 5+ differents ways to fund films crowdfunding, investors, partnerships…
Projects that didn’t get funded… ideas that never made it to production
Over 10 years spent figuring out what actually makes people say yes

93 of 137

How To Get Your Film Funded Without Guessing

| COURSE

94 of 137

Filmmaking System : Develop a strong concept, Produce at a Professional Level (Value: $2,997)

Funding Blueprint : Who to Contact, What to Say, and How to Get Your Film Funded (Value: $1,997)

| Here’s everything you get

Total Market Value: $4,994

95 of 137

Now… once you know how to fund your film and actually make it…

You need a strategy to get it in front of the RIGHT people.

Because your goal isn’t just to make a film…

| COURSE

96 of 137

The Festival Breakthrough Strategy

| COURSE

Market Value:

Module Three — The Festival Breakthrough Strategy.

This is everything we touched on in Shift Three, turned into a step-by-step system:

How to know exactly which festivals to target — instead of burning eight hundred,

fifteen hundred, two thousand dollars on fifty random submissions. How to position

and package your film before you submit, so it actually stands out in the queue. How

to run programmer outreach the right way — both warm and cold. How to turn one

festival acceptance into a ladder of others. And how to convert a festival run into the

thing it's actually for — meetings, relationships, momentum.

This is the strategy that put my films into SXSW and Tribeca. Not once. Repeatedly.

Market value — two thousand nine hundred ninety-seven dollars. And think about what

that number is really protecting you from. One misjudged festival run costs more than

that — in submission fees and in a wasted year of your life. This module pays for

itself the first time it stops you from submitting to the wrong fifty festivals.

97 of 137

Why We Built This Part Of The Program

| COURSE

98 of 137

What It Really Took To Figure This Out

| COURSE

99 of 137

How You Skip Years Of Guesswork… And Get Your Film In Front Of The RIGHT People Faster

| COURSE

Know EXACTLY which festivals to target… instead of wasting money on 50+ random submissions
Position your film the right way BEFORE you submit… so it actually stands out
Use the same strategy that got films into festivals like SXSW & Tribeca
Turn one acceptance into multiple opportunities… instead of starting from zero every time
Get your film seen by industry decision-makers… not just audiences

100 of 137

Let’s Be Honest About What You Might Be Thinking…

| COURSE

"I can piece this together from podcasts, forums, and trial and error. I've gotten this far on my own."
The filmmakers in your situation who figured this out alone averaged 3–5 years and $40,000–$80,000 in films that didn't convert before the strategy clicked.

SFDD compresses that into one roadmap. $997. 7.5 hours.

101 of 137

Here’s The Truth…

| COURSE

Here's the truth. And I'm going to say it plainly, because I've earned the right to.

I'm not teaching you festival strategy from theory. I'm teaching it because it has

worked — for me, and for the filmmakers I've coached — over and over again.

I've produced more than twelve short films. And this system, in one form or another,

runs underneath all of them. The three I keep coming back to tonight — Stucco, How

To Be Alone, Souls of Totality — those are not the only films it worked on. They are

just the ones it worked on the loudest. The most visible. The easiest to point at on a

slide.

I'm not going to stand up here and parade twenty festival laurels past you — that's

not the point, and honestly, it gets boring fast. The point is the opposite of a highlight

reel. The point is that it is repeatable. Quietly, consistently, across film after film,

year after year. Luck doesn't do that. A system does.

So let me break the beliefs that keep filmmakers locked out of it.

"You need connections to get selected." No. Festivals do not care who you know.

They care how your film shows up — how it's positioned, how it's presented, who

vouches for it.

"If my film is good, it'll get seen." No, it won't. I told you the Souls of Totality story —

a great film can be submitted and never watched by anyone. Thousands of films get

submitted. Most disappear without a trace. Good is not enough on its own.

"This only works for big productions." No. Some of the most successful shorts in

history were made with almost nothing. What matters is how you play the game — not

how big your film is.

Getting into festivals is not magic, and it is not luck. It is a system. And a system —

unlike luck — is something I can actually hand to you.

102 of 137

Filmmaking System : Develop a strong concept, Produce at a Professional Level (Value: $2,997)

Funding Blueprint : Who to Contact, What to Say, and How to Get Your Film Funded (Value: $1,997)

Festival Strategy : Distribution for visibility, Festival strategy that actually works (Value: $2,997)

| Here’s everything you get

Total Market Value: $7,991

103 of 137

So now that you know how to create, fund, and get your film seen…

The real question is: what does it actually do for your career?

| COURSE

104 of 137

The Career Opportunity Engine

| COURSE

Market Value:

Module Four — The Career Opportunity Engine.

The first three modules get you a finished, funded, festival-positioned film. This

module makes sure that film actually changes your life — instead of just sitting on

your reel.

Inside it: how to convert a festival run or a distribution deal into actual meetings. How

to do warm outreach to managers, producers, and reps — without sounding desperate.

How to use one short film as proof of concept for the feature you actually want to

make. How to turn a single relationship into the next three. And you learn it not just

from me — from working filmmakers who are doing this in real time, right now.

This is the module that answers the question every filmmaker is secretly asking:

"okay — I made the film. Now what?"

Market value — one thousand nine hundred ninety-seven dollars. And I'd argue this is

the most undervalued module in the whole program — because this is the one that

decides whether everything else you did was actually worth it.

105 of 137

Because making a film means nothing… if it doesn’t change what happens next

| COURSE

We built this strategy to turn your film into real opportunities not just another project that goes nowhere.

106 of 137

What It Actually Takes To Figure This Out Alone

| COURSE

Trying to figure out the industry on your own… with no clear path and no one to guide you
Spending years working… without knowing if you’re even moving in the right direction
Watching others move forward… while you stay stuck trying to connect the dots

107 of 137

How You Skip Years Of Guesswork… And Learn From People Actually Doing It

| COURSE

Get direct insight from filmmakers who are actively working in the industry
Understand how projects actually get made, funded, and seen from people doing it in real time
Learn not just one perspective… but multiple real-world approaches from experienced professionals
Avoid years of trial & error by following what’s already been proven to work

108 of 137

Yeah… but this only works if you already have connections… right?

| COURSE

I don’t know anyone in the industry
I don’t have a big budget
I didn’t go to a top film school
People like this are already inside the system…

That’s exactly what I used to believe too.

109 of 137

8 Guest Instructors. 1 Proven Roadmap.

Learn directly from top industry voices—guided by producer John Trefry.

| COURSE

110 of 137

Filmmaking System : Develop a strong concept, Produce at a Professional Level (Value: $2,997)

Funding Blueprint : Who to Contact, What to Say, and How to Get Your Film Funded (Value: $1,997)

Festival Strategy : Distribution for visibility, Festival strategy that actually works (Value: $2,997)

Career Opportunity Engine: Build relationships, Open doors to bigger projects (Value: $1,997)

| Here’s everything you get

Total Market Value: $9,988

111 of 137

40+ Pitch Decks, Email Templates, and Resources Tools

| Ressources

Market Value: ($1,510)

112 of 137

Why Most Filmmakers Get Stuck Here

| Ressources

You don’t know what to say in your pitch
You start from a blank page every time
Your emails get ignored
Your deck doesn’t stand out
You lose opportunities before they even start

113 of 137

You Don’t Have to Start From Scratch

| Ressources

40+ proven templates ready to use
Pitch decks that actually work
Emails you can adapt instantly
Real-world examples
Just plug in your project

114 of 137

This Is How You Get Taken Seriously

| Ressources

115 of 137

| COMMUNITY

Connect with like-minded filmmakers, collaborators and future creative partners

Get exclusive invites to special events—our members have participated at SXSW and beyond

Access a private community portal with downloadable pitch decks, outreach templates, and course materials all in one place

116 of 137

| COMMUNITY

117 of 137

BONUSES

118 of 137

Access to the SFDD network we have a deep roster of vendors, crew and professionals to support your project

Alumni Directory of past SFDD filmmakers you can connect with for feedback and insights

| BONUSES

119 of 137

Filmmaking System : Develop a strong concept, Produce at a Professional Level (Value: $2,997)

Funding Blueprint : Who to Contact, What to Say, and How to Get Your Film Funded (Value: $1,997)

Festival Strategy : Distribution for visibility, Festival strategy that actually works (Value: $2,997)

Career Opportunity Engine: Build relationships, Open doors to bigger projects (Value: $1,997)

Ressources: Slack Community Access 40+ Pitch Decks, Email Templates, and Tools : (Value: $1,510)

Bonuses: Alumni Directory / Access to the SFDD network

| Here’s everything you get

Total Market Value: $11,498

So here is everything — the complete picture. Let me total it honestly.

Module One — the Filmmaking System — two thousand nine hundred ninety-seven.

Module Two — the Funding Blueprint — one thousand nine hundred ninety-seven.

Module Three — the Festival Breakthrough Strategy — two thousand nine hundred

ninety-seven.

Module Four — the Career Opportunity Engine — one thousand nine hundred

ninety-seven.

The resource library — forty-plus templates, decks, and tools, plus the community —

one thousand five hundred and ten.

And the bonuses — the alumni directory and access to the SFDD network — included

on top.

Add it up the way the market would price every one of those pieces — and the total

value is eleven thousand four hundred ninety-eight dollars.

[PAUSE]

Now — I know exactly what you're thinking. "Here it comes. Here's where he tells me

it's eleven thousand dollars."

Stay with me for one more slide. Because what I'm about to tell you… is not that.

120 of 137

SHORT FILM DEEP DIVE: $997

| COURSE

Eleven thousand four hundred ninety-eight dollars. That is the honest market value of

everything inside Short Film Deep Dive.

And I am not going to charge you eleven thousand dollars. I'm not even going to

charge you half of that.

The regular price of Short Film Deep Dive is nine hundred and ninety-seven dollars.

[PAUSE]

And I want to tell you WHY — because the "why" matters to me.

I came up with no connections. No prestigious film school pedigree. No money. I watched this

industry put its real education behind doors that cost fifty, a hundred, two hundred

thousand dollars — doors most working filmmakers can never afford to walk through.

And those expensive doors teach you craft. They teach you to point a camera. They

do not teach you the strategic layer — the thing that actually decides whether your

career moves.

I spent over a decade, and hundreds of thousands of dollars, learning that layer the

hard way. And when I finally had it, I made a decision. I was not going to lock it

behind an eleven-thousand-dollar wall and become one more gate in an industry

that's already full of them.

Nine hundred ninety-seven dollars puts the entire system within reach of a real,

working filmmaker. That's the point. That is the whole point.

[BEAT]

Now — one more thing before I move on. And I'm only going to say this once.

For those of you who stay with me all the way to the end of this webinar tonight —

who go the distance — I've put together something extra. A surprise. I'm not going to

tell you what it is yet. But it is real, it is valuable, and it is only for the people who are

still in this room when we get there.

So stay to the end. It will be worth it.

For now — let me show you why nine ninety-seven is the easiest math you'll do all

year.

121 of 137

What does NOT having this system actually cost?

One FilmFreeway festival run (strategic, not volume): $800–$2,500, gone
One short film that doesn't convert: $10,000–$50,000 + 12–18 months
One more year of trial and error: priceless in the wrong direction
One EPK built without a strategy: $1,500–$3,000 for a document that gets ignored
Total cost of the wrong approach: far more than $997 and it compounds every year you wait.

Before we talk about price — I want you to put a number on something most

filmmakers never do. The cost of NOT having a system.

Because there's a price on the screen tonight. But there is a much bigger price you

are already paying — quietly — every year you keep doing this the hard way.

One FilmFreeway festival run, done randomly, with no strategy behind it — eight

hundred to twenty-five hundred dollars. Gone.

One short film that doesn't convert — ten thousand to fifty thousand dollars. Plus

twelve to eighteen months of your life you do not get back.

One EPK built without a strategy — fifteen hundred to three thousand dollars, for a

document that ends up in someone's deleted folder, never opened.

And one more year of trial and error — that one is priceless. In the wrong direction.

Add it up. The cost of the wrong approach is far, far more than nine hundred

ninety-seven dollars. And here's the part that should genuinely bother you — it is not

a one-time cost. It compounds. Every single year you wait, the bill gets bigger.

So the real question was never "can I afford the system."

The real question is — how much longer can you afford the alternative?

122 of 137

I had a decision to make about how to make this accessible.

I could price SFDD at what it's worth compared to the alternative of years of trial and error.

Or

I could make it available tonight, during this webinar, at a price that makes the decision easy.

I chose the second option.

123 of 137

What’s One Breakthrough Short Film Worth To You?

One short film that gets into SXSW, Tribeca, HollyShorts
One short film that gets featured on Short of the Week, Omeleto, Alter, seen by millions of viewers…
One short film that gets featured in The Hollywood Reporter or IndieWire

$10,000?�$50,000?�A career?

124 of 137

What does it cost to learn this the hard way?

Film school: $50,000–$200,000+ teaches craft, not career strategy�3 years of trial and error: 3 films that didn't convert, $60,000+ invested, still spinning
One short built without strategy: 18 months of your life and $15,000–$30,000 you won't recover

SFDD: $997. 7.5 hours. One system. One strategic film.

The math is not complicated.

125 of 137

This Is Your Shortcut Into The Industry

The difference between a film that gets 0 traction�and one that gets selected, seen, and opens doors
The difference between getting rejected from festivals like SXSW or Tribeca�and finally knowing what actually gets you in
The difference between wasting $10,000+ on dead projects�and making one film that actually moves your career forward
The difference between staying stuck for years�and having a clear path from your next project

This is your shortcut into the industry.

The difference between a film that gets zero traction — and one that gets selected,

seen, and opens doors.

The difference between getting rejected from SXSW or Tribeca — and finally knowing

what actually gets you in.

The difference between wasting ten thousand-plus dollars on dead projects — and

making one film that actually moves your career.

The difference between staying stuck for years — and having a clear path starting

with your very next project.

That shortcut — the complete system — has a regular price of nine hundred

ninety-seven dollars. And at nine ninety-seven, against eleven and a half thousand in

real value, that is already a decision that makes complete sense.

But you are not going to pay nine ninety-seven tonight. Because I have some good

news — and it is specifically for the people in this room.

126 of 137

Tonight, during this webinar only:

$497

| Special offer

Join at : https://www.shortfilmdeepdive.com/

Here is the good news.

Because you showed up. Because you gave me ninety minutes of your night. Because

you are the kind of filmmaker who takes action instead of just bookmarking one more

video to watch later —

Tonight, for everyone in this webinar, Short Film Deep Dive is not nine hundred

ninety-seven dollars.

It is four hundred and ninety-seven.

[PAUSE — let it land]

The link is shortfilmdeepdive.com. It is being dropped into the chat right now.

This is the lowest price Short Film Deep Dive will ever be offered. Not because the

program is worth one dollar less tonight — it is the identical system, the identical

eleven-thousand-dollar value. It's because showing up live, ready to do the work,

should be rewarded. That has always been my belief.

Four hundred ninety-seven. For the people in this room.

127 of 137

What happens if you don't join tonight:

| Special offer

Join at : https://www.shortfilmdeepdive.com/

Tomorrow: $497

�After that: $997 (regular price permanently)

Now let me be straight with you about what happens if you don't act on this.

This webinar price holds through tonight and tomorrow — four hundred ninety-seven.

After that, it goes back to its regular price. Nine hundred ninety-seven. Permanently.

The program does not change. The content is identical — the same four modules, the

same eleven thousand four hundred ninety-eight dollars of real value. The only thing

that changes is the number you pay.

And just so the comparison is crystal clear in your head — if you tried to assemble

what's inside Short Film Deep Dive out on the open market — the filmmaking intensive,

the funding consultation, the festival strategy, forty-plus templates — you are not

spending nine ninety-seven, and you're certainly not spending four ninety-seven. You

are spending thousands. Many thousands. We just totaled it together — eleven and a

half.

So acting inside this window is worth five hundred real dollars off the regular price —

and many thousands off what the open market would charge you. That is not a fake

countdown that resets when you reload the page. That is a real number.

128 of 137

At $497, the question isn't whether you can afford this

| Special offer

Join at : https://www.shortfilmdeepdive.com/

You've spent more than that on festival submissions that went nowhere.

So the real question is: are you ready to stop guessing?

That's the only decision in front of you right now.

129 of 137

Everything You Need To Write, Produce, And Launch A Breaktrough Short Film…

Would Normally Cost You $997+

But Tonight (only You Get The Entire System For Only $497

(Step-by-step, from idea to festivals and career opportunities)

| Special offer

Join at : https://www.shortfilmdeepdive.com/

130 of 137

| Special offer

Join at : https://www.shortfilmdeepdive.com/

$497

131 of 137

30-Day Guarantee! Here's exactly how it works:

Go through the full masterclass
Do the work. Complete the exercises.
If you don't have a clear strategic direction for your next short film including your concept framework, your funding approach, and your target festival list. Email us. We refund you. Full amount. No questions.

The risk is on us, not you.

| Special offer

Join at : https://www.shortfilmdeepdive.com/

132 of 137

You Have 2 Choices

133 of 137

If Your Next Short Is Worth Making

It's Worth Making Strategically

Tonight: $497. Tomorrow: $497. After: $997.

| Special offer

Join at : https://www.shortfilmdeepdive.com/

134 of 137

Filmmaking System : Develop a strong concept, Produce at a Professional Level (Value: $2,997)

Funding Blueprint : Who to Contact, What to Say, and How to Get Your Film Funded (Value: $1,997)

Festival Strategy : Distribution for visibility, Festival strategy that actually works (Value: $2,997)

Career Opportunity Engine: Build relationships, Open doors to bigger projects (Value: $1,997)

Ressources: Slack Community Access 40+ Pitch Decks, Email Templates, and Tools : (Value: $1,510)

Bonuses: Alumni Directory / Access to the SFDD network

| Here’s everything you get

(Total Market Value: $11,498)

Short Film Deep Dive: $997

Today Offer: $497

So here is the final picture. Everything you get.

Four modules — the Filmmaking System, the Funding Blueprint, the Festival

Breakthrough Strategy, the Career Opportunity Engine. The full resource library —

forty-plus templates and decks. The community. And the bonuses — the alumni

directory and the SFDD network.

Total market value — eleven thousand four hundred ninety-eight dollars. Regular

price — nine hundred ninety-seven. And tonight, for everyone in this room — four

hundred and ninety-seven.

That, by itself, is the easiest yes you will get all year.

[PAUSE]

But remember what I told you earlier — that I had a surprise for the people who stay

with me to the end?

We are almost there. And it's even better than I let on. Because it is not just one

thing for everyone who stays — there is an ADDITIONAL surprise on top of that, and

it is reserved for the people who don't just stay… but who move the fastest.

Let me show you exactly what I mean. Next slide.

135 of 137

For the 5 First People Who Join Tonight

| Special offer

Join at : https://www.shortfilmdeepdive.com/

Okay. Here it is. The surprise — and specifically, the part for the fastest movers.

For the first five people who join Short Film Deep Dive tonight — only the first five —

You are also going to get free, immediate access to a complete, separate mini-course

I built, called "Nine Proven Secrets To Get Your Short Film Into Top-Tier Film

Festivals."

This is not a PDF. This is not a worksheet. It is a full mini-course — the nine specific,

tactical secrets I have personally used to get films into SXSW, into Tribeca, into

HollyShorts. The festival spreadsheet system. How to use your premiere as leverage.

How to leverage your network for a warm introduction straight to a programmer. How

to write a cover letter that actually gets read. The exact way I do programmer

outreach. How to ladder one festival win into the next.

It is the most tactical, do-this-on-Monday training I have ever recorded. And it is the

perfect companion to Module Three.

Here's what I want you to understand. This mini-course is not for sale tonight — not

at any price. It is not part of the checkout. The only way to get your hands on it is to

be one of the first five people through the door.

Five spots. First come, first served. The moment the fifth person joins, this bonus is

gone for good.

So if you have been sitting on the fence this entire webinar — this is your signal. The

link is shortfilmdeepdive.com. It is in the chat. Go now — and if you are one of the

first five, the Nine Secrets mini-course is yours, on me, on top of everything else.

136 of 137

Questions?

136

Ask Your Question In The Chat

John Trefry

@johntrefry on Instagram

Join at : https://www.shortfilmdeepdive.com/

[LOOK AT CAMERA]

Okay. I'm going to stay on as long as you need me. Drop your questions in the chat.

If you've already made the decision — go ahead and grab your spot at shortfilmdeepdive.com. Use the link in the chat. The first five who join get the exclusive Nine Secrets festival mini-course, free, on top of everything..

If you have a specific question about your project, your situation, your sub-genre, your timeline — ask it. I will answer.

[DRINKS WATER]

I'm John Trefry. You can find me at johntrefry on Instagram. And I want to say one more time — thank you for spending the last ninety minutes with me. Whether you join tonight or you don't — I hope you leave this room with a different way of thinking about your next film.

[PAUSE]

The chat is open. Let's go.

⚠ Stay live for at least 15 minutes of Q&A. The decision-to-buy happens disproportionately during Q&A, after the close. People who are on the fence convert when they hear someone else's question answered.

137 of 137

137