# A Group of Industry Dealmakers Are Offering $1 Million to Turn a Rising Director’s Short Film Into a Feature (EXCLUSIVE)

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/a-group-of-industry-dealmakers-are-offering-1-million-to-turn-a-rising-directors-short-film-into-a-feature-exclusive/
- Published: 2026-11-05T17:30:00+00:00
- Updated: 2026-11-05T20:06:25+00:00
- Original publisher: Variety
- Original article: https://variety.com/2026/film/news/million-dollar-shortcut-short-film-contest-movie-1236940433/
- Topics: Business, Companies, Entertainment, Film, TV

## Key points

- InTension is offering $1 million to produce a feature from a short film.
- Fans vote in the competition’s first two rounds.
- The company’s next project is a Steve Zahn sci-fi thriller.

## Summary

InTension Industries has launched “The Million-Dollar $hortcut”, a competition inviting emerging filmmakers to submit genre short films for the chance to turn one into a feature. The winning filmmaker will receive a $1 million production budget, giving the new independent company a way to find and develop projects while involving film fans in the selection process.

Submissions can include thrillers, horror, suspense and related genres. Audiences will vote on films in the first two rounds, after which InTension and a jury of established filmmakers will review the top-voted entries; runners-up may receive feedback and a development session. The company was founded by four industry veterans and has recently premiered its first film, “Whiskey Throttle”; its next project in development is sci-fi thriller “Sentinel”, starring Steve Zahn.

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.