The short film route to feature success

In The LA Times, Steven Zeitchik says that short films are increasingly seen as a good route to Hollywood success

...to contemporary Hollywood, shorts are serious business — or at least a serious fad. The massive success last year of the shorts-derived "District 9" — and the power of YouTube to spread word quickly — has transformed how Hollywood views these mini-movies. "Studios and financiers have always said they'd like to see as much of the movie as they can, figuratively, before they develop it," says the veteran Hollywood producer Douglas Wick, who has been behind mega-hits such as "Gladiator." "With shorts, they literally can."

(Although screenwriter John August recently advised against turning your short into a feature.)