The Short Project is at heart an online collaborative animation project. Unlike many similar projects though the Short Project awards not only screen credit but also actual cash and prizes to its participants. (Learn more about the prizes to the left.)

Getting involved is straightforward.

Step 1: Read the rules.
You can actually skip this one and move on to the more entertaining steps, but you’ll need to come back to it at some point.

Step 2: Read the script.
No point going any further than this if you don’t like the script for the animation we’re going to create. Grab a copy of the script from the below on this page, read it over and if you like what you read move on to Step 3.

Step 3: Pick a Phase.
We’ve broken the production down into seven steps that we call Phases. Take a look to the left, the active Phase or Phases will be shown there (and in various places around the site). If the Phase you want to participate in is over, well, sorry about that. If the Phase you want to enter is live right now, move on to Step 4. If the Phase you want to enter has yet to begin than you should sign up for the Newsletter to be kept in the loop about when it will be starting.

Step 4: Dive in.
So the Phase you want to participate in is live right now, huh? Good, then you should head off to the Forums, create an account (free of course) click ‘Current Phase’ and read the Director’s Notes, than hop over to the Work In Progress section of the forum and create a thread there to house your work. From there you just need to do what ever it is you love to do and post your work in your thread. If you have any questions just ask in the forums, you’re guaranteed to get an answer quickly.