Screenwriting contests
What are your thoughts on screenplay writing contests? There are hundreds of them to choose from, and most of them charge around $50 to enter. Is this truly a viable way for an unknown writer to get discovered? Or is it a waste of money?
–Tim Wilson
The two screenwriting awards I know best are the Nicholl Fellowship and the Sundance Screenwriters Lab, both of which have a history of being a tremendous boon to a young writer. The benefit is not just being selected, but in the follow-up and guidance these programs provide. If you have a great script that feels right for these competitions - and by that I mean it’s not an obviously commercial action thriller or such - these might be places to consider.
Beyond these two, it gets murkier, and harder to separate the good competitions from the bad. In general, I’d say the ones associated with festivals are a little more reputable, and might be worth the entry fee. Just make sure it’s a real festival that’s run for a least three years.
I’m more suspicious of unafilliated competitions, because it’s never clear what their real motivation is. Some are run by upstart management companies who are trolling for young writers. Others are just in it for the cash. And even if it is an honest competition, having won a contest no one’s heard of isn’t going to help you in your career.
Articles
June 8th, 2006 at 1:31 pm
Dear John:
I met you at the screenwiters expo last year and am currently living in Boulder, CO.
I am the executive director of screenplaycontests.com
I am also the ED of the ONE IN TEN SCREENPLAY CONTEST and wanted to ask if you would be willing to help us judge this year. It would only require reading the top 5 screenplays and rating them.
David Jensen
October 23rd, 2006 at 3:09 pm
I met you at the AAF recently and would like to say you gave a wealth of info and was very personable(which I didn’t really expect …it was refreshing)..
What film Festivals do you deem appropriate for submission of screenplays? Also what is your take on script coverage and how do you not get robbed? I have skowered websites that charge 39.95 to almost 3000.00. Is it worth it or are there any programs that you suggest that will hone a writers skills??
thanks alot
December 24th, 2006 at 7:51 am
Hello, I am retired. Do you kniow of any legitimate place to promote my novels or poetry. I have 4 action novels set up and one larger novel of a unique nature. I cannot decide who is a legitmate contest or not so I am loath to pay 50 bucks to anyo stranger.
I thank you in advance for you help.
February 13th, 2008 at 4:15 pm
I just ran across an interesting contest called “The Bluecat Screenplay Competition” run by Gordy Hoffman, the brother of actor Philip Seymour Hoffman. The contest has been around for ten years and has a pretty decent cash prize, but one of the more interesting aspects of it is that each entrant gets a written analysis (600 words) of their screenplay. I thought this was cool because you get something useful for the cost of the submission. I don’t enter many of these, but I’ve never seen a contest that offer analysis. Granted, it’s not an exhaustive analysis, but it seems reasonable given the cost of submission is a pretty customary $50.
The 2005 winners have done great and have a film coming out this year: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0787470/
There’s really good information on other past winners also. Seems like a solid competition that gives you more for your money than most, and offers winners not only decent money, but decent exposure as well.
http://www.bluecatscreenplay.com/