jibadajaba
Member
Is there any main script competitions out there now that project greenlight is no longer an option? Or are there any other decent profile companies that accept submissions?
Any good script competitions?
- Thread starter jibadajaba
- Start date
Barry_Green
Moderator
The Nicholl and Chesterfield and Sundance Institute are massive screenwriting competitions with major prizes, and there are many others. Heart of Austin, for example.
For a list of contests, check out www.moviebytes.com
For a list of contests, check out www.moviebytes.com
Chris Messineo
Veteran
Barry is correct. Check out www.moviebytes.com for a complete listing and review of all major screenwriting contests.
I used to run a screenplay competition and listing on moviebytes.com got us all of our entrants.
Chris
I used to run a screenplay competition and listing on moviebytes.com got us all of our entrants.
Chris
jibadajaba
Member
Wow, that's the motherload. I really appreciate the info, thank you. I'll definitely utilize this site.
sodotoguwangus
Well-known member
CMessineo said:
CMessineo, when you ran your screenplay contest, did you make any money? Why did you stop? Is there a link on moviebytes where I can advertise such a contest?
Chris Messineo
Veteran
sodotoguwangus said:
No. I ran a quarterly short script competition and I charged no entry fee. At the time it was the only free short script competition on the Internet.
sodotoguwangus said:
I ran the contest for a year and a half very successfully. However, I quickly got the filmmaking bug, bought a DVX and my focus changed from writing to filming. I wish I still had time to run the contest, but filmmaking consumes all my energy now.
sodotoguwangus said:
Yes, just search and you will find it.
Chris
Charli
cool little "title"
Nicholl is the BIG one, I think sponsored by the Academy Awards.
Chesterfield I believe is sponsored by Paramount.
Austin Film Festival.
Sundance.
Disney Fellowship.
These are the juggernauts of screenwriting contests. Your script must be properly
formatted, have a voice, have internal/external conflict for it to even have a chance
of reaching the semi's. Nicholl Fellowship usually are the most heartfelt.
Sundance tends to lean toward the Indie mentality. Disney can be all over the map.
Austin I think the same.
I made it to the quarter finals of the Austin Film festival two years running on my
first two scripts. They had great external conflict but not enough internal conflict
or character arc. You must have it all to get far with these contests.
Charli
Chesterfield I believe is sponsored by Paramount.
Austin Film Festival.
Sundance.
Disney Fellowship.
These are the juggernauts of screenwriting contests. Your script must be properly
formatted, have a voice, have internal/external conflict for it to even have a chance
of reaching the semi's. Nicholl Fellowship usually are the most heartfelt.
Sundance tends to lean toward the Indie mentality. Disney can be all over the map.
Austin I think the same.
I made it to the quarter finals of the Austin Film festival two years running on my
first two scripts. They had great external conflict but not enough internal conflict
or character arc. You must have it all to get far with these contests.
Charli
Rots of Ruck
Rots of Ruck
Screenwriting contests are a cottage industry. There are many, many out there, some okay some not so great. You have to remember that there are a zillion hopefuls who think their script is the next Casablanca and get sucked in by these contests, but the grim reality is that good original scripts take lots of talent, enormous perserverence and luck before it will see the light of day. Competition is writhering and the chances of winning are next to nil Even the established screenwriters with credits and agents have a rough go of it.
I don't want to discourage anyone from writing. Go with that story that's been bouncing in your head for the last six months, but make sure you have 25 rewrites and lots of good feedback before you even think about entering any contests or peddling it.
The other thing you have to remember is that even if you do write the best screenplay of the last ten years, the people judging it are subjective. Most studios and screenwriting contests have readers who have piles to go through. If you don't grab them in the first two New York nano-seconds you're script is h i s t o r y.
And, finally, most astute experienced directors, producers and agents can separate the wheat from the chaff, but even they don't really know what's absolutely, positively going to make a great movie.
Hey, never promised you a rose garden. But, never no mind, if you have a story to tell, tell it and let the chips fall where they may. Who knows, people draw to inside straights alll the time and once in awhile they draw that magic card.
Cruise
Rots of Ruck
Screenwriting contests are a cottage industry. There are many, many out there, some okay some not so great. You have to remember that there are a zillion hopefuls who think their script is the next Casablanca and get sucked in by these contests, but the grim reality is that good original scripts take lots of talent, enormous perserverence and luck before it will see the light of day. Competition is writhering and the chances of winning are next to nil Even the established screenwriters with credits and agents have a rough go of it.
I don't want to discourage anyone from writing. Go with that story that's been bouncing in your head for the last six months, but make sure you have 25 rewrites and lots of good feedback before you even think about entering any contests or peddling it.
The other thing you have to remember is that even if you do write the best screenplay of the last ten years, the people judging it are subjective. Most studios and screenwriting contests have readers who have piles to go through. If you don't grab them in the first two New York nano-seconds you're script is h i s t o r y.
And, finally, most astute experienced directors, producers and agents can separate the wheat from the chaff, but even they don't really know what's absolutely, positively going to make a great movie.
Hey, never promised you a rose garden. But, never no mind, if you have a story to tell, tell it and let the chips fall where they may. Who knows, people draw to inside straights alll the time and once in awhile they draw that magic card.
Cruise
thematthewbone
Well-known member
I think its a little easier to catch that inside straight on the river than to catch a break in this industry.
its worth every shot in the world though.
its worth every shot in the world though.
Cruise said:
I've whined about bad screenwriting advice here so thought I'd praise advice that's dead on--like what Cruise just said. And by the way Cruise, if your first name happens to be Tom, would you mind if I emailed you my latest screenplay? It's a Sci Fi about a guy who reads the future but the whole movie is a flashback, except the end, when you find out the guy is really a dog. My mom thinks it's brilliant.
Mama's are Never Wrong
Mama's are Never Wrong
Hey, sure, send it on over. Just don't get bent out of shape if I don't fall over myself praising it. Most scripts I've read have good and bad things in them. You're much better off if you encourage honest feed back. Then you know what to concentrate on.
Look at it this way. If you keep diligently polishing your script it will incrementally keep getting better and better. And then, finally, one day it will be so good that everyone will have to pay attention to it.
Cruise
Mama's are Never Wrong
Hey, sure, send it on over. Just don't get bent out of shape if I don't fall over myself praising it. Most scripts I've read have good and bad things in them. You're much better off if you encourage honest feed back. Then you know what to concentrate on.
Look at it this way. If you keep diligently polishing your script it will incrementally keep getting better and better. And then, finally, one day it will be so good that everyone will have to pay attention to it.
Cruise
I entered the Final Draft compeition last year and finished in the top 20 out of 3500 screenplays. I contacted a bunch of agents... no one cared. One agent took my call just because I mentioned being a semifinalist but he said, "My clients write big movies, what have you done?" He actually said those words. It made me wonder why the guy even took my call, other than to inflate his ego. On a side note, I was talking to my editor friend and he mentioned his buddy just signed with William Morris. I asked if he could pass on my script and he said, "sure." Man... Hollywood is weird.
I'm suspicious of many screenwriting contests...
Last year I entered the HorrorScreenplayCompetition.com -- really, for the heck of it. I'd written a horror screenplay and just wanted to do something with it... anything, really.
So, the deadline for entries was like the 15th of a certain month, with winners to be announced like a few days later. First of all, if they got 50 screenplays in on the last week before the deadline -- how do they get them all read in time for the announcement? What are the assurances that they even get read, if there is NO FEEDBACK given to you regarding your script? They said that each script gets read by two different judges... how many judges are there... if there are 10 judges, and only 2 read your script... how is a winner determined?
This competition charged $40 per entry. Let's say they get 500. That's an easy $20,000. Less than a year later, they are running another contest.
There's a list of winners posted, but how do we know they aren't just made up names and titles? Or that they weren't just randomly pulled from the list of entrants?
After the winners were announced, I asked them if one of the two judges could just drop me a couple lines about my script... any feedback would be great... after all, they took the time to read it, right? Surely they wouldn't mind writing me 2 or 3 sentences about it? They wrote back and said, "Sure thing." Well, that was December, and after a few more email reminders to them, I've not heard anything.
That is just my experience with just one contest... but I'd be leary.
And to clarify, my rant is not based off the fact that I didn't win... or place, for that matter. Maybe it wasn't any good, but that's not the point. Point is, I still don't know anymore than before I entered... at least not from them. I don't even know if the $40 just went straight into someone's pocket.
Last year I entered the HorrorScreenplayCompetition.com -- really, for the heck of it. I'd written a horror screenplay and just wanted to do something with it... anything, really.
So, the deadline for entries was like the 15th of a certain month, with winners to be announced like a few days later. First of all, if they got 50 screenplays in on the last week before the deadline -- how do they get them all read in time for the announcement? What are the assurances that they even get read, if there is NO FEEDBACK given to you regarding your script? They said that each script gets read by two different judges... how many judges are there... if there are 10 judges, and only 2 read your script... how is a winner determined?
This competition charged $40 per entry. Let's say they get 500. That's an easy $20,000. Less than a year later, they are running another contest.
There's a list of winners posted, but how do we know they aren't just made up names and titles? Or that they weren't just randomly pulled from the list of entrants?
After the winners were announced, I asked them if one of the two judges could just drop me a couple lines about my script... any feedback would be great... after all, they took the time to read it, right? Surely they wouldn't mind writing me 2 or 3 sentences about it? They wrote back and said, "Sure thing." Well, that was December, and after a few more email reminders to them, I've not heard anything.
That is just my experience with just one contest... but I'd be leary.
And to clarify, my rant is not based off the fact that I didn't win... or place, for that matter. Maybe it wasn't any good, but that's not the point. Point is, I still don't know anymore than before I entered... at least not from them. I don't even know if the $40 just went straight into someone's pocket.
EJ Pennypacker
Well-known member
IMHO there's only a few worth entering.
And you need to actually WIN to get something out.
EJ
And you need to actually WIN to get something out.
EJ