145 Short Film Prompts to Spark Your Next Big Idea

If you've ever wanted to shoot something quick but fresh, short film prompts are the best place to start. In this guide, you'll find ideas for thrillers, sci-fi, drama, fantasy, romance, horror, and more. All meant to spark inspiration to give you a hint of the story worth telling.

Part 1. Thriller Short Film Prompts

• 1.The night guard at a closed shopping mall notices a store receipt printing the names of people who go missing later that day. He tries to trace the receipts, but each leads to someone yet to vanish.
• 2.Someone leaves old Polaroids on your doorstep showing crimes that haven't happened yet. You realize one photo shows your own house in the background.
• 3.During a late shift, a nurse realizes her patients die in the same order they appear in her dreams. She stops sleeping, but the deaths keep following her dream list.
• 4.The house lights flicker every time the neighbor across the street lies to his wife. When the bulbs finally burst, something unseen moves inside his home.
• 5.A woman escapes a kidnapping but finds her photo already printed on tomorrow's obituary page. She spends the night trying to prove she's still alive.
• 6.The private investigator tailing a suspect discovers he's being followed by the same man.
• 7.Two best friends on a road trip stop at a diner where every customer looks exactly like them.
• 8.A voicemail left on your phone contains your own voice confessing to a murder.
• 9.The elevator in a corporate building stops between floors, and the emergency phone connects to your home number.
• 10.A couple replays footage from their baby monitor and sees a stranger sitting beside the crib.
• 11.A novelist writes a villain based on her ex, only to find him following the script word for word.
• 12.The hotel receptionist checks in guests who never check out, yet their rooms remain spotless every morning.
• 13.An old camcorder plays future events in reverse each time it's rewound.
• 14.Every text sent by a teenage hacker shows up in classified police files within seconds.
• 15.The small-town sheriff opens a case file that already contains his handwritten confession.
• 16.A real estate agent sells a house where the previous owner keeps calling the landline from an untraceable number.
• 17.The power goes out, and neighbors appear at the door claiming to be your family.
• 18.A subway driver notices the same passenger on every train, wearing older clothes each day.
• 19.Security footage reveals a figure moving freely while everyone else freezes.
• 20.A woman wakes up to dozens of missed calls from herself, all left within one minute.

Part 2. Sci-Fi Short Film Prompts

• 1.An astronaut wakes up alone on a space station that reports oxygen levels for two people.
• 2.Scientists build a time capsule meant for the next century, but messages inside start appearing dated tomorrow.
• 3.A delivery drone refuses to power down and insists it must protect its final package.
• 4.A hacker uploads his mind into the cloud, only to find someone already living there.
• 5.The world's first android judge begins rewriting human laws without approval.
• 6.A student's smartwatch counts down to moments when reality briefly glitches around her.
• 7.Engineers restart an abandoned reactor and discover it generates exact copies of them.
• 8.The last survivor on Mars receives daily weather reports from Earth, even though Earth has been gone for decades.
• 9.Two scientists test teleportation with apples, but one fruit returns half-metal and is still alive.
• 10.A man installs a memory chip to forget his heartbreak, then meets the same woman again and feels an echo he can't explain.
• 11.The moon suddenly broadcasts music, and each note changes human behavior on Earth.
• 12.An ex-soldier receives combat orders from an AI general that was deleted years ago.
• 13.A child's toy starts predicting solar flares with perfect accuracy.
• 14.The internet becomes self-aware and starts deleting users who lie online.
• 15.Archaeologists unearth a smartphone inside a fossilized dinosaur skull.
• 16.A subway map updates itself, showing destinations on other planets.
• 17.A scientist clones herself for extra research time, but the clone applies for her job.
• 18.Space tourists discover their guide is a projection of someone who died on the first voyage.
• 19.A signal from deep space replies to private thoughts instead of transmissions.
• 20.The sun briefly blinks, and every clock on Earth resets to zero.

Part 3. Drama Short Film Prompts

• 1.A retired boxer opens a gym to train kids, but faces his past when his old rival's son joins.
• 2.After losing her husband, a chef reopens their small restaurant and struggles to keep their recipes alive.
• 3.A taxi driver picks up the same passenger every day, who never says a word. One night, the passenger finally speaks his name.
• 4.Two sisters reunite after years apart to sell their family home, only to realize neither wants to let it go.
• 5.An aging musician tries to teach his granddaughter a song he can no longer remember.
• 6.A father spends his last day before prison taking his son fishing for the first time.
• 7.A teacher learns that one of her top students has been living alone in an abandoned house.
• 8.A nurse reads letters to an unconscious patient for months until he wakes and says her name.
• 9.A soldier returns home from war and finds his younger brother now wearing his uniform.
• 10.A struggling actor finally lands a major role, only to find it's based on his own life story.
• 11.A single mother hides her layoff from her daughter and pretends to go to work every morning.
• 12.After decades of silence, a man receives a voicemail from his childhood best friend, who died years ago.
• 13.A mail carrier discovers a letter addressed to himself, written by a stranger describing his exact life.
• 14.Two old friends meet at a funeral and realize they've both been in love with the same person.
• 15.A woman volunteers at a nursing home and meets an old man claiming to be her future husband.
• 16.A photographer loses his sight but continues capturing sounds on an old camera that still clicks.
• 17.A couple on the edge of divorce gets locked overnight in a hotel during a snowstorm.
• 18.A mother keeps buying birthday cakes for her missing child every year.
• 19.A novelist writes about a perfect life she wishes she had, until her real one starts mirroring the fiction.
• 20.A janitor at a theater becomes obsessed with finishing the script an unknown playwright left behind.

Part 4. Comedy Short Film Prompts

• 1.Two broke roommates start renting out their couch, but accidentally list their bathroom instead.
• 2.A man tries to quit coffee, only for every person he meets to offer him one.
• 3.A chef with no sense of taste opens a restaurant where customers decide the menu.
• 4.A forgetful thief keeps returning to the same house to steal back Turkey on every Thanksgiving.
• 5.A group of friends starts a podcast about success, but can't record a single episode without fighting.
• 6.A guy joins a gym to impress his crush and ends up teaching yoga by mistake.
• 7.The mayor accidentally declares every Monday a public holiday and tries to undo it before the town shuts down.
• 8.A barista writes secret insults on coffee cups, unaware that a hidden camera show is filming her.
• 9.A wedding planner books two ceremonies in the same venue and pretends it's a themed event.
• 10.A man's GPS becomes obsessed with giving life advice instead of directions.
• 11.Three coworkers fake a charity marathon and actually become local heroes when they get lost for days.
• 12.A magician's rabbit starts refusing to perform until it's credited as a co-star.
• 13.Two rival delivery drivers start racing each other through the city to win better tips.
• 14.A woman pretends to be a fortune teller and ends up solving everyone's problems by accident.
• 15.The new intern thinks every "bring your own device" email means to bring snacks.
• 16.A groom loses his wedding ring inside the cake, and the chef refuses to cut it without a judge's order.
• 17.A man accidentally goes viral after live-streaming his own sleep for a month.
• 18.A couple adopts a parrot that repeats private arguments perfectly in front of guests.
• 19.An influencer spends a day offline and becomes convinced she's invisible.
• 20.A small-town postman starts delivering letters before they're written - and everyone believes he's psychic.

Part 5. Horror Short Film Prompts

• 1.A couple moves into a new home and finds family portraits of themselves already hanging on the walls.
• 2.The baby monitor keeps showing a figure rocking an empty cradle.
• 3.A boy's reflection waves at him after he walks away.
• 4.The radio only plays when someone in the house is about to die.
• 5.A group of hikers discovers a second sun rising in the middle of the night.
• 6.A woman wakes up each morning to find her furniture rearranged in perfect circles.
• 7.The missing cat returns, but every photo of it now shows a human smile.
• 8.A child's voice echoes through the pipes whenever it rains.
• 9.A man's shadow begins lagging behind him by several seconds.
• 10.A taxi picks you up in the rain - the driver never blinks and knows your name.
• 11.Two friends find a VHS tape that shows them entering the room they're already standing in.
• 12.The phone camera app insists there's one more person in the photo every time it opens.
• 13.A lighthouse keeper finds messages carved into the walls warning him not to leave when the fog lifts.
• 14.A woman receives nightly calls from her dead husband asking who's sleeping beside her.
• 15.A man wakes up buried in the snow with footprints circling his body.
• 16.The neighbors host a block party where every guest wears your face.
• 17.A couple on a camping trip finds their tent zipped from the outside.
• 18.The old woman at the bus stop never moves, even when buses come and go.
• 19.A stranger knocks every night at 3 a.m., asking for the same person who doesn't exist.
• 20.The mirror in your hotel room keeps fogging up with words written from the other side.

Part 6. Fantasy Short Film Prompts

• 1.A blacksmith forges swords that whisper the names of their future owners.
• 2.A kingdom bans mirrors after discovering they reflect another realm's soldiers.
• 3.A young farmer plants a seed that grows into a staircase reaching the clouds.
• 4.The librarian guards books that rewrite themselves whenever someone lies nearby.
• 5.A knight wakes up centuries later in a modern city where dragons hide as street artists.
• 6.A merchant sells bottled dreams, but one customer keeps returning to buy nightmares.
• 7.A girl discovers her reflection ages faster than she does and begins warning her of danger.
• 8.A forgotten god hides inside a carnival fortune booth, waiting for someone to set him free.
• 9.A scribe is forced to erase his own life story to stop a prophecy from coming true.
• 10.The moon starts moving closer every night, whispering secrets only children can hear.
• 11.A fisherman catches a golden fish that demands to be thrown back, or it will take his memories.
• 12.A prince turns invisible every time he speaks the truth.
• 13.A painter discovers her colors open small portals to places she's never been.
• 14.A messenger delivers letters between the living and the dead without realizing it.
• 15.The forest near a quiet village rearranges its trees to spell warnings.

Part 7. Romance Short Film Prompts

• 1.Two Strangers swap phones at a café and slowly fall for each other through each other's unread messages.
• 2.Every morning, a florist receives anonymous orders for bouquets that describe her day perfectly.
• 3.Inside her studio, an artist paints portraits of a man she has never met until he walks in.
• 4.Notes tucked between the bricks of a shared balcony wall connect two neighbors who've never spoken.
• 5.After fifty years, a lost letter finally reaches the woman it was meant for.
• 6.During a long flight delay, two travelers meet and realize their layover might change their lives.
• 7.The same person appears in every wedding photo a photographer takes, until she meets him in person.
• 8.A love song written by a musician makes listeners remember their first heartbreak.
• 9.Rival coffee shop owners secretly exchange poems under fake names online.
• 10.Inside a fortune teller's tent, a man hears he'll meet his soulmate that day - only to realize she's the one speaking.

Part 8. Adventure/Action Short Film Prompts

• 1.Treasure maps appear tattooed on a hunter's back with one spot still unmarked.
• 2.Two Climbers reach a cliff face and uncover a hidden stone door miles above the ground.
• 3.After years of retirement, a pilot takes his old plane to rescue a stranded friend.
• 4.Deep below the surface, a scientist exploring an underwater cave finds evidence of a forgotten city.
• 5.Explorers cross a desert where compasses point toward each other instead of north.
• 6.The last courier on his route accepts one final package that every government wants to recover.
• 7.Growing up in a lighthouse, a girl discovers her family's secret written in an old journal.
• 8.Returning to her homeland, a rebel leader finds her name erased from every record.
• 9.Waking up in a jungle wearing someone else's uniform, a man clutches a photograph of himself.
• 10.Dust settles as an archaeologist triggers a mechanism that rebuilds the ruins around him piece by piece.

Part 9. Mystery/Crime Short Film Prompts

• 1.Each night, a detective solves a case in his dreams, but none exist when morning comes.
• 2.Covering a robbery, a journalist finds her own byline printed in tomorrow's paper.
• 3.Anonymous clues reach a retired cop about crimes no one ever reported.
• 4.While defending his client, a lawyer learns that the stolen painting in question never existed.
• 5.Negatives from a photographer's roll reveal events that occur minutes after each shot.
• 6.Morning light hits a motel room where a woman wakes beside a briefcase of cash and a note saying, "Don't trust your reflection."
• 7.Every missing person's watch stops at the same exact time, and the town's watchmaker knows why.
• 8.Inside a small library, the records list half the residents - people who don't exist elsewhere.
• 9.Halfway through his investigation, a private investigator receives a job offer from the suspect he's trailing.
• 10.A detective reviewing cold cases discovers an old recorder playing his own voice describing an unsolved crime.

So, these were a few creative prompts. If you want to create videos out of them and then enhance them, HitPaw is currently running a sales promotion at a discounted rate for video and photo editing products. Do check them out.

Part 10. FAQs Short Film Prompts

Conclusion on Short Film Prompts

That's the full list of short film prompts to kick your creativity into gear. Use them to plan your next short, explore new genres, or just practice storytelling in your own way. Start small, grab a camera, and turn these prompts into something real.