What does featurette mean?
A featurette is a short film — longer than a typical trailer but shorter than a full-length feature — most often produced as supplementary material such as a behind-the-scenes look at how a movie was made. The word also extends to print and broadcasting, where it describes a compact article or segment that spotlights a single subject. Formed with the French diminutive suffix '-ette', the term literally means 'little feature', and it entered English through the American film industry in the mid-twentieth century. Today audiences most commonly encounter featurettes as bonus content on DVDs, Blu-rays, and streaming platforms, where they offer interviews, production footage, and craft explanations. Informal and industry-flavoured in register, the word is useful precisely because no common synonym captures this niche: it signals something professionally produced yet deliberately brief, secondary to the main attraction but substantial enough to inform or entertain on its own terms.
A short film, especially one briefer than a feature film, frequently documenting the making of a movie.
"Before the main presentation, the festival screened a featurette on the director's early career."
Most common in entertainment-industry contexts, particularly as bonus material on physical media and streaming services.
A brief article or broadcast segment that focuses attention on a specific subject.
"The programme closed with a featurette profiling the harbour's last traditional boatbuilder."
Regular plural; straightforwardly formed by adding -s.
"The collector's edition included three exclusive featurettes."
Hollywood invented its own diminutive: a featurette is literally a little feature — and studios have used it to sneak trailers, making-of shorts, and mini-documentaries onto screens since the 1940s.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of featurette
Featurette combines the English noun 'feature' — ultimately from Latin 'factura', meaning 'a making or fashioning' via Old French 'faiture' — with the French diminutive suffix '-ette'. The term arose in the American film industry, first attested around the 1940s, to describe short films shown alongside or in place of features. Its structure mirrors other cinematic coinages of the era, such as 'novelette' and 'kitchenette' in broader usage, all borrowing the same French suffix to signal smallness. Related words sharing the underlying root include 'feature', 'featured', and 'featuring'.
How featurette is actually used
Featurette carries an informal, media-industry tone. It most often appears in the context of home-video extras, streaming bonuses, and entertainment journalism. It can occasionally carry a slightly dismissive connotation when used to describe a short fiction film considered minor or slight.
Easily confused with featurette
A 'feature' (or feature film) is the main full-length film or article, while a 'featurette' is deliberately a shorter, secondary piece.