This is perhaps the most important element in the submission. First impressions count. It should be expressed in your logline and ecapsulate your film. If you are unable to encapsulate your film in under 30 words, then there is a problem with your film.
Somewhere along the way, dramas became the ideal for festivals, which is why most film funds have a heavy bias towards drama. There is nothing wrong with drama, but there is nothing wrong with comedy, thriller, science fiction or horror either (though science fiction is hard to do on a budget).
The subject matter should be inherent to the concept. The story is what is important and we are not looking for diversity for the sake of diversity. For instance, a gay relationship in itself is no longer inherently interesting: really, only male sports stars are still pretending they are all heterosexual.
Some people claim a short film should not follow the classic three-act structure. This is of course absurd. But whether or not your script does follow this structure (and by no means avoid it), make sure there is some structure to it. Humans like structure.
This is more subjective. We take the view that pace is where shorts and features, by their very nature, should deviate. As online distrubtion becomes ever more important, it is also advisable to keep things ticking along as online viewers are unbelieveably fickle.
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