InTension Industries is opening a million-dollar route from short film to feature production with “The Million-Dollar $hortcut,” a competition aimed at emerging genre filmmakers.
The new independent production company, based in Provo, Utah, will produce and release a feature inspired by the winning short with a budget of $1 million. Eligible submissions span thrillers, horror, suspense and other genre work.
The program also extends beyond its eventual winner. Runners-up will have an opportunity to receive individual feedback from InTension’s creative development team and take part in a development session with the company’s industry veterans.
Audiences Will Help Choose the Winner
Film fans will have a direct role in the competition’s opening stages, voting for their favorite shorts during the first two rounds. InTension will then assess the top-voted projects alongside a specially selected jury of established filmmakers.
That combination of audience participation and industry review reflects the company’s stated interest in building connections around the films it develops.
“The future of distribution is community. Audiences want more than something to watch; they want to connect,” InTension producer Dave Hunter said in a statement. “This competition is about building a community around great storytelling.”
InTension is specifically pursuing projects built around tension and dread. Producer Bringham Taylor pointed to John Carpenter’s work as an inspiration for the company’s creative direction.
“John Carpenter taught us in 1978 that there’s no stronger expression of what film can do, nor fun you can have at the cinema, than a stripped-down exercise in tension and existential dread that pins you to your seat for 90 minutes — that’s the high we are chasing with our projects,” Taylor said.
The Team Behind InTension
The company was founded by four entertainment-industry dealmakers and producers: Taylor, Ian Puente, Hunter and Tom Goddall.
Taylor was formerly a producer at Disney and worked on films including “The Jungle Book” and the “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise. Puente has held business development and strategy positions at Samuel Goldwyn Films, Sony Pictures and EPIX.
Hunter is a film producer and co-creator of “Nitro Circus.” Goddall has produced Disney projects including “Christopher Robin” and “Lady and the Tramp,” in addition to independent films.
“The Million-Dollar $hortcut” arrives as InTension begins establishing its own production slate. The company recently premiered its first film, “Whiskey Throttle,” at FilmQuest in Provo. It is also developing the science-fiction thriller “Sentinel,” which stars Steve Zahn.
ShowBiz Take
The significant promise here is not simply the size of the budget. InTension is offering a defined progression from an emerging filmmaker’s short to a produced and released feature, while also creating development opportunities for runners-up.
The voting format gives audiences influence before the finalists reach InTension and its jury, tying the competition’s selection process to Hunter’s view that distribution and community are increasingly connected. At the same time, the company has set a clear creative lane by seeking thrillers, horror, suspense and related genre stories rather than issuing a broad call for every type of short.
For filmmakers, the central opportunity is concrete: one selected concept will be expanded into a feature with a $1 million production budget. For InTension, the contest provides a way to find new material while inviting viewers into the process from its earliest rounds.
What Happens Next?
Filmmakers can submit their shorts now through InTension’s website. Once voting begins, fans will help determine the top projects across the first two rounds, after which InTension and its hand-picked jury will review the leading films and select the project to move toward feature production.