Miracle Fish, a great artistic achievement, but not as golden as Oscar

Producer Drew Bailey told Encore that Australia’s short film hope at the Oscars Miracle Fish has only earned him approximately $1,000.

Bailey said that despite all the success Miracle Fish has had in the festival circuit – screening at more than one per week – the filmmakers had earned about $1,000 from it because making a profit with a short film is particularly difficult, and although they have won prize money, most of it has been offset by entry, submission and postage costs.

“We would have spent around $10,000 in entering the film into competitions and different festivals […] But on the other hand, there is a market for short films, especially in Europe in terms of television sales,” he added. “If you can exploit that and get a good distributor, you can do really well.”