Research into Distribution

How to Distribute Films 

In terms of short, a distributor is an individual or organisation who will represent your film and market it around the world. They will also attempt to sell it to television, airlines and other companies that show short films.
It is very rare to make a profit on selling a short film. It is not a good idea to overspend on budget with the hope that you will get it back afterwards from selling the film. You probably won't. Short film distributors tend to sell films in packages to make their profit margins sustainable, with a slant on high production values, romance /comedy / drama genres.
If you ditribute your own film, you can retain full control and rights over your film, giving you the choice over where your film is shown. In addition to this you dont have to give a cut of the money made from any sales of your film to a distributor. However, it can be a full-time job in itself as it can be very time consuming chasing buyers and sales and filling in paperwork. Furthermore it may limit your options for sales as distributor have established relationships with buyers and many buyers may only be intrested in packages of films.