Silver Lake Shorts Festival Founders Jared Corwin & Ben Sharpe on Creating a Local Indie Institution

If you live in the Los Angeles area and like to catch cool indie animated shorts created by artists from around the world, you need to check out the monthly Silver Lake Shorts festival, which takes place at the El Cid venue (4212 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles). We had the chance to catch up with the festival’s friendly neighborhood organizers Jared Corwin and Benjamin Sharpe to find out more about this super cool monthly outing:

Animation Magazine: Can you tell us a bit about the beginnings of the Silver Lake Shorts Festival? How did it all come about?

Ben Sharpe: I came up with the initial concept for the festival while I was managing El Cid and booking most of the events there. I went to film school but had not really done anything with that since moving out to Los Angeles and thought that using my access to the space would be a great way to connect with the creative community. The core identity has always been to feature things that are a bit more offbeat and alternative.

I met Jared in 2019 when I screened his short Time Enforcer that absolutely blew me away. We hit it off and he connected with the vision immediately and helped refine it into what it is today. So it all happened very organically. We wanted to build a community of creatives that love and appreciate one another beyond the usual Hollywood networking so that’s what we did!

Jared Corwin: As someone with a background in film production who spent way too much money on festival submissions and then tickets to the festivals themselves, I felt like COVID completely destroyed any semblance of a film community here in L.A. I longed to have a place to meet new people and screen my work that wasn’t “pay to play” as so many industry events are. Our monthly screenings quickly attracted a whole creative community of animation and genre film lovers, who also wanted to meet more people and find that much deserved sense of validation in their work. I want Silver Lake Shorts to be a ground-up community first response to the corporatization of the animation industry, the reliance on outsourcing and the existential threats of AI. I am so thankful for Ben for bringing me in as a partner and quickly becoming one of my very best friends.

I assume you have a strong interest in animation yourself … Can you tell us about your favorites?

Jared: Yes! I am a writer and producer in animation and have immersed myself in the medium my entire life. I grew up on ’90s Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon with shows like Dexter’s Lab, Courage The Cowardly Dog, Hey Arnold!, The Powerpuff Girls and Rugrats. I discovered South Park at a young age, which quickly led to the discovery of Adult Swim. I wish I grew up watching anime, but I was only thrown into that world as an adult. All in all, I’d say my all-time favorite animated shows that heavily impact my sensibilities, tastes and aesthetics are King of the Hill, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Bob’s Burgers, South Park, Scavengers Reign and Cowboy Bebop. I also have to give a huge shout out to Common Side Effects, which is quickly becoming a new favorite.

Ben: I love all kinds of animation, but was indoctrinated into superheroes at a young age by my father and grew up on classic Spider-Man and Batman cartoons. So naturally, my favorite animated show is currently Invincible.

How do you select your lineups?

Jared: We get a massive amount of submissions and it’s unfortunately impossible to program every single film. What we strive for in a programming block is to strike a balance between more established creators and emerging creators to make a really cohesive line up that elevates everyone. For example, we will program a Joe Bennett or Michael Cusack short alongside a high school or college animated short. Since our screenings are only 90 minutes long we really love to intermix in a ton of micro-shorts (1 min. or less) as interstitial shorts that allow even more filmmakers to be included in the line-up. We program films of all styles, tones and aesthetics. We just want any film we program to have a strong point of view and thoughtful intention. We also have a call to action for filmmakers to create intro videos or interstitials using the Silver Lake Shorts logo to give a clear sense of brand identity. These IDs are very much inspired by 2000s era Adult Swim.

Ben: Watching short submissions with Jared at his house is one of the most fun things we get to do. All of the selection philosophy that Jared spoke to above is so natural to us at this point that it really just comes down to two friends sitting down and enjoying art together. It’s always a blast.

What are some of the most notable and popular animated shorts you have featured at the festival?

Jared: Ghost Dog by Joe Cappa, Iggy and Friends by Joe Bennett, Jesus 2 by Jesse Moynihan, Hi Stranger by Kirsten Lepore, Catopolis by Victoria Vincent (Vewn), Drone by Sean Bucklew, Viewfinder by Nate Milton, God of Chaos by Maddie Brewer, Parrots by Jennifer Nie, Girls in Real Life Situations by Ofre Sparrow Vaknin and Cage Match by Bryan Lee are several of the more popular shorts we’ve screened over the years!

Can you tell us about your prizes and how you support the animation talent with your enterprise?

Ben: We like to keep the actual events free of awards to keep everyone on equal ground, however we are very pleased to have awarded a $5,000 grant to five different filmmakers in our community based on around 200 applications that we received last year for our first ever filmmaker fellowship program. Each filmmaker retains the rights to their own work and we also connect each filmmaker with a mentor to help them with their project throughout the process, as well as other resources to help with their production.

What is the toughest part of the job?

Jared: Running a monthly screening series in itself is a lot of work that we volunteer our time towards, but Ben and I have really expanded our vision for what we want Silver Lake Shorts to be as a festival and more recently in the past year, as a 501(c)3 Non-Profit organization. Since we have also started the independent filmmaker fellowship program, we’re eager to find more donations and sponsorships that will allow us to continue funding original visions and diverse voices through independent filmmaking.

We currently have some tremendous sponsors and tons of people who really support and value what we’re building, but we are always seeking more funding to sustain what we do because every bit helps. Thankfully we also have a dedicated team of volunteers, Associate Producers and Board Members who all help to keep Ben and I afloat. Our monthly tasks include curating an hour and a half lineup of films, coordinating with filmmakers and vendors for every screening, balancing budgets, inviting guests, meeting with potential donors and sponsors, curating internal events for studios and planning expanded events like comedy shows, art galleries, comic events, etc. This has basically been a full-time job of a commitment that Ben and I do out of the sheer love of it.

Ben: The hardest part of the job is having to go to my other job instead of working on all of this. Like Jared said, it’s quite the balancing act.

And the most rewarding part of the job?

Ben: What I love the most is this community that we have created and the honor of serving it. I love the opportunity that I have created to use my business skills for the benefit of art and community instead of just for shareholder value. Hanging out with all of our people after a successful show each month and catching up with them not just as artists, but as people always reminds me that this is a really special group of people that care about each other as humans first. And when I say “our people” that is not meant to be exclusionary at all, quite the opposite. If you show up and appreciate shorts and the people that create them, you are our people!

Jared: Silver Lake Shorts has meant everything to me. It introduced me to some of my best friends and creative collaborators. It’s gotten me connected to some amazingly innovative creators, minds and talents in animation, who are making some of the coolest animation of all time. It’s gotten me work as a writer and producer in animation, and more than anything, it’s given me a sense of purpose beyond just my own work. It instilled in me a sense of duty to champion this outstanding community of independent creators, and to fight for fair wages, equity and more opportunities of employment for the animation industry.

What are some of your plans for the future?

Ben: To continue growing our brand and the scope of what we do so that we can raise more money to fund more filmmakers, hold more events, and develop other services that benefit the members of our community. Since our screenings are always free, we would like to hold more non screening events to fundraise. We’ve held a screening in N.Y.C once before and would like to do more stuff outside of Los Angeles. We want to expand our digital presence and plan on soon launching a large playlist of past films that creators have already made available on Youtube. Mainly, we just want to expand our community and convince more people of the value of creating art without the tethers of commercial intent.

Jared: With the industry trends going the way they’re going, I believe that we need to solidify human made indie animation as a cultural institution that must be protected, preserved and celebrated. I believe that the non-profit system which funds opera, classical music, and fine art in this country can be applied towards creator driven indie shorts, and I want Silver Lake Shorts to be an institution that keeps the spirit of indie animation alive.

The next Silver Lake Shorts monthly screening will be held April 11 at the El Cid theater in Los Angeles. Visit www.silverlakeshorts.com to learn more.