Screenwriting contests

Mike The Mover said:

There sure are a lot of them out there.

Does anybody have any recommendations? I'm leaning towards Scriptapalooza.

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Nicholl
Austin Heart of Film
Teluride
Maui Writer's Conference
Breckenridge Festival of Film
Reader's Digest (maybe, at least it's inexpensive)

come to mind. And Scriptalooza is a good one. But as you say there's a ton of them out there. You can review comments at www.moviebytes.com.

The Nicholl stands out head and shoulders above all the rest and gets the most submissions by far (5,000+ this year).

Good luck!

The ones above are excellent choices and are pretty solid, just be careful of the unfamiliar contests no one has ever even heard of.

Steph

I wonder what the profit margin is on some of these shadier contests?

I'm sure extremely high. Their prizes are generally low and only need about 50 submissions to cover the prize and I can guarantee they get far more than 50.

I agree with everyone. Stay with reputable ones and research on Moviebytes.Also, choose wisely based on Genre.

Keep in mind that contests are very subjective.

One of my best friends just won the Disney Fellowship for this year, yet the very same script made only QF in all the three other comps entered.

It all depends on who the initial readers are-- depends on when they get it and depends on the general mood of the comp and ultimately the final judges.

Scriptapalooza tends to go with high concept and comedies, whereas Nicholl goes more towards dramatic indies.

Don't submit you next great buddy comedy to Shriekfest and don't submit a Horror flick to Nicholl.

My advice to people who want to enter comps is simple.

1. Make sure your script is flawless in grammar, spelling and format. When in doubt on "if"y format rules, go less (for caps, transitions, etc...) A reader who hates caps may knock you out regardless of how good your script is.

2. Send in the middle of the contest run. Too late to the deadline they are swamped, too early they may forget you later.

2a. Go for hard copies rather than online submissions. I know withoutabox.com is getting hot, but I know a lot of readers that skim read when pages are on the screen. Choose paper first but if not, then go for online.

3. Look at past winners and see if there is a genre bias or style bias and enter accordingly.

4. Make sure your first 10-12 pages are kick ass and memorable. No room for slow get to know the characters scripts.

5. Less is more. If they say no more than 120, go for 115 pages. Make it a quick read.

Good luck.

tourdeforce said:

I wonder what the profit margin is on some of these shadier contests?

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It may not be what you may think. Shadier events do not attract lots of submissions, and while 100 * $40 is $4,000 ... by the time an operator covers his overhead he may not have much left over.

Most of the shady operators get into it thinking they can build a rep and get their submissions up to a level where it becomes worth it, but most fail at this.

There are easier ways to scam dough than a shady script contest.

Still, this doesn't mean writers don't have to exercise good discipline and avoid the shady events, certainly they must.

Between about 1997 and 2003 I went bananas with contests and entered a slew of them and spent a small fortune doing so. I had some very good results, wins, places, and shows (as it were) and enjoyed some of the events where prizes were awarded and networked with some folks I was pleased to meet and get to know.

But, on the whole it didn't really move my career forward, as I thought it might, so I sort of gave it up. I have stuck with the Nicholl but that's about it in recent years.

Few agents or producers are impressed with good contest results, the Nicholl and perhaps Austin and maybe one or two others excepted. If you were to win a Nicholl Fellowship, your career would practically be guaranteed.

Hmmmmm

icerose said:

I'm sure extremely high. Their prizes are generally low and only need about 50 submissions to cover the prize and I can guarantee they get far more than 50.

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A good business idea.

Just kidding.

Goodwriterguy

Goodwriterguy said:

Between about 1997 and 2003 I went bananas with contests and entered a slew of them and spent a small fortune doing so. I had some very good results, wins, places, and shows (as it were) and enjoyed some of the events where prizes were awarded and networked with some folks I was pleased to meet and get to know.

But, on the whole it didn't really move my career forward, as I thought it might, so I sort of gave it up. I have stuck with the Nicholl but that's about it in recent years.

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This surprises me, but I believe you. Obviously, you would know. Still, it seems like having a few contest victories would really boost your queries and perhaps help you get a read or a meeting. But, I guess not?