Official DJI Screenwriting competition was a scam

G

gi-jones

Well-known member
This summer, DJI launched a screenplay competition, with a set of nice prizes and the promise of production of the winning scripts.
I thought that was great and decided to apply. I then spent quite a lot of time coming up with a nice idea, and writing the actual screenplay. I am sure many others did too.


Now, the deadline for submission was 4th july. DJI set themselves the rather ambitious goal of having a screening of the completed films on 13th of august. This always seemed a tad on the optimistic side to me, but hey! If they felt they could do that, who am I to argue? And if they couldn't then the whole would get delayed a month, which wouldn't kill me either.


Well, we are now coming up on three months, and nothing has been heard. No films have been produced. No winners announced.


I wrote them a couple of emails, and got replies in the beginning. Then silence. It seems to me that DJI has simply decided to let this troublesome competition die. That, to me, is unacceptable.


Please note, that I am not complaining that I didn't win. I'm complaining that apparently nobody did!


The original setup for the competition is described here:
http://event.dji.com/ronin-film-competition/
In the event that DJI will at some point take that page down, I have a screendump here:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/tota7sq38hz9aa1/DJI competition.jpg?dl=0
 
That's unfortunate, but I'm surprised that anyone is surprised. I guess many folks just don't realize how very, very, very, very common this is. I can't tell you how many legitimate production companies announce some competition or another, or just release a presser about how they're setting up f.ex. "an independent department looking for scripts" or "to develop projects from first time film makers" and such, and then that's the last you hear about it. Unfortunately, common as dirt. I'm not saying you don't have the right to be disappointed, but realize that the odds of this happening were pretty high from the beginning.
 
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It was a dark and stormy night. An ear splitting scream broke the silence but Buffy and Muffy, sitting on small stools around a campfire, kept downing the plastic cups of Jägermeister regardless. They were on their spring break and were going to enjoy it one hundred and ten percent. And then some.

Muffy - Did you hear that?

Buffy - Ya. Sounded like Tiff.

Muffy - But like really intense, you know. Like someone was slicing her throat or something.

Buffy - Nah. Then she wouldn't be able to scream. She'd just be like, "Khhhhhhhhh" or "arggghhhh".

Muffy - Well, maybe she was shot.

Buffy - We would have heard the gunfire.

Muffy - Maybe she was shot by a guillotine or something.

Buffy - I dunno. I can't think about nothing. My head is killing me. I think I need to go puke some of this sh*t out.

Muffy - OK. Just be careful. You never know who or what is hiding out there.

Buffy leaves.

A beat and a horrifying guttural sound blasts from an undetermined direction. Muffy twists to the side and peeks into the darkness again.

Muffy - Is that you, Tiff?

Buffy - Nah, it's the Jägermester.

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Grand prize worthy?
 
same here, first they responded me a few times, later on nothing.
they even responded on the facebook site about a month or so .. but..
even a cancelation notice would be nice.
 
Would you mind writing me a PM with your name and your email address? I think I'll try and get as many entrants together as possible.
It may be that this sort of thing is common, but a company with a big public profile like DJI, should be careful about these things and I'm would like to make as much hay of this as possible.
 
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