With new outlets to exhibit their work opening up, the long-term outlook for Canadian short filmmakers has rarely looked brighter. Never before have filmmakers sold their shorts so widely, even if fledgling dot-coms that stream film over the Internet are fewer in number these days.

Kelly Alexander, director of the Toronto International Film Festival’s Rogers Industry Center, says many potential buyers scouting features in Toronto are taking a long, hard look at shorts unspooling as part of the Perspective Canada sidebar.

‘Those [feature film] buyers are looking at the shorts…and they are scoping new talent,’ says Alexander, underlining the calling-card potential of short films. ‘Some of that new talent will become potential people that they work with on feature films.’

Last year, for example, David Weaver screened his short film Moon Palace, funded by the Ontario Media Development Corporation’s Calling Card Program, at TIFF. This year, Weaver returns to the festival as a feature director with Century Hotel.

Conversely, last year Guy Maddin cemented his reputation as a leading Canadian filmmaker with his silent film parody The Heart of the World, a six-minute prelude for TIFF.

Alexander says talent agents are also watching short film programs as feature directors increasingly return to making short films to hone their craft.

‘All of a sudden they [talent scouts] go to the curated short film program and they discover some wonderful new talent,’ she says.

With the new batch of digital Canadian specialty channels coming on-stream, short filmmakers will also gain a new market in television networks hungry for more product to fill their schedules.

The Independent Film Channel Canada’s director of programming, Johanna Lunn Montgomery, is in the market for live-action and animated shorts for two IFCC programs. She needs between 12 and 15 hours of short film programming for each of the Short Cuts and Alternatoons programs to air over the next year, a requirement Lunn Montgomery anticipates little problem filling.

As the IFCC launches, the digital channel is not pursuing exclusive rights to shorts. But that may change should the channel prosper over time. For now, Lunn Montgomery warns short filmmakers submitting product for possible airing on her channel to check the legalities of broadcasting their work, especially when it comes to rights clearances.

‘I think one of the things that filmmakers have to keep in mind is that we do need all the proper clearances on these shorts. I know that there are a lot of shorts that are made that probably don’t have errors and omissions insurance, for instance, and unless it had been broadcast before, it may be a little bit dicey for us,’ she insists.

The IFCC is casting its net wide for short films. Other new digital channels are looking to fill specific niches. Anne Golden, the curator for two PrideVision short film programs – Best of the Fests and Shorts for All Sorts – says she is looking for Canadian works by gay, lesbian and bisexual filmmakers, but the films do not require homosexual themes.

Golden says that, when accepting her current PrideVision post, she was well aware of the vast library of Canadian gay- and lesbian-themed film that looms before her.

‘We have an incredible amount of work in this country, made by artists who have been working since the 1980s or even more recent arrivals to the film and video scenes,’ she says.

Part of the challenge is locating gay and lesbian works in existing archives.

‘There is a lot of work out there. Part of [amassing the shorts] was doing research about work that has been placed in independent distribution centers, and also doing research about more recent work and seeing that work in more recent gay and lesbian film festivals,’ Golden says.

Many programmers point to WTN’s Shameless Shorts program as a trailblazer in getting a broad range of short films on television.

Liz Janzen, manager of acquisitions for WTN, is heading into her fifth season as producer of Shameless Shorts. She says WTN annually buys around 65 shorts either written, directed or produced by women for the Shameless showcase.

The new batch of digital channels has not made her job more difficult as Janzen insists there are plenty of Canadian shorts to go round.

‘I think if there are more venues on television for Canadian short films that is great,’ says Janzen. ‘I’d be glad to see more opportunity for filmmakers to get their work on Canadian TV.’

The CBC has been airing its own short film showcase, Canadian Reflections, for more than 20 years. Michael Coutanche, CBC’s executive in charge of production, says the consistently high ratings for Canadian Reflections – roughly 200,000 viewers per episode in its 11:30 p.m., Sunday time slot – underlines strong demand for short films by Canadians.

‘People are turning in some really neat stuff,’ says Coutanche. ‘I think the thing that is making the market better is a combination of it being easier to make a short film now, and the competition is more intense. The quality is going up and people seem to notice them, aside from them being a filmmaker’s calling card. They tend to be a real prestige item.’

TIFF’s Alexander argues that, even if websites streaming shorts are fewer in number these days, the Internet still provides useful exposure for shorts. Ifilm and AtomShockwave, for example, still screen films online, though neither will send scouts to TIFF.

‘When the media spotlights something like George Lucas in Love [an animated short based on Shakespeare in Love] that had a certain number of visits on the Ifilm site, then all of a sudden that site gets visited, and all the films shown on that site get seen,’ Alexander insists.

Canadian shorts Babette’s Feet, Shrink and Shoes Off, all of which screened at TIFF, are currently available for viewing on Atom Films.

Of course, short films are still a rare phenomenon on Canadian cinema screens, which disappoints the CBC’s Coutanche.

‘Until theatre owners, and that means the big American chains, can promote the short films and tack them onto features, and have people actually get interested in them, nothing is going to happen,’ he says.

‘The independents may do it, but I think general audiences don’t even know [short films] exist. The theatres see them almost as a liability,’ Coutanche protests.

Lunn Montgomery adds putting a short film in front of a feature film doesn’t make sense to the theatre chains.

‘I think they see that time as revenue-generating time that they might not want to give up,’ she says. ‘I think it is a lost opportunity.’