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[Script analyst] Script Pipeline (formerly Script P.I.M.P.)

Maryn

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The conventional wisdom is that the Nicholl competition is the biggie. The other two with high status are the Disney and the Chesterfield. These have led to sales for the winners and sometimes others who placed well.

There are, of course, many more perfectly legitimate contests which can be a nice addition to your query letters, not to mention a boost to the ol' ego and checking account balance. There are also undoubtedly scams.

How can you tell 'em apart? Well, a legitimate contest will not be new. It will have its past winners named, along with their screenplays and the amount of the prize received. It will have a physical address (not just a website or post office box) and a phone number that's listed. It will name its judges and provide their qualifications and/or connections. It will charge a smallish fee (say, $50 or less) to enter and winners will win receive many times their entrance fee as a prize. (A hundred times the entry fee is reasonable. The Nicholl charges $30 and pays $30,000.)

No contest leads directly to a sale or production, so any that claims it does is one to avoid. Likewise, any contest that asks entrants to pay for any service beyond the entry fee--say, editing, or copies and postage--is undesireable.

Maryn, who's eavesdropped on a lot of screenwriters
 

Ezy Rider

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Well it does claim to have lead writers to sales, six figures in fact.

I don’t have the $40 to enter anyway.

I am definitely going to give up novel writing and stick to screenplays, I just don’t have the skill for writing, I love it, but I suck at it. I also have a passion for golf but you should see me out on the course… EEEKKK!

To have any chance at being a professional novelist, I would have to spend 24 hours a day, working on it, and that is no good if you aint making any money.

At least screenplay writing has a set format that is easily followed; I cannot be as extensive as I would like to be, but still it is writing, creating something, and telling a story. Good money to if you can crack the market.

So no more novels, just screenplays, and if I never sell one, then at least I won’t be lying in the gutter with a bottle of cheep wine and a frayed manuscript for a blanky.:sleepy:
 

RoccoMom

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Maryn said:
The conventional wisdom is that the Nicholl competition is the biggie. The other two with high status are the Disney and the Chesterfield. These have led to sales for the winners and sometimes others who placed well.


Does anyone have more information on the above competitions? Has anyone here ever entered them?
 

icerose

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krano

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script pimp

i'm beginning to have a negative experience with them. i don't expect them to score me a million dollar deal through their query system, but their services suddenly seem very shoddy.

about a month ago, i submitted a script for coverage. they advertise a 6 to 10 day turnaround. two and half weeks later i hadn't gotten anything back. i emailed them and the lone customer service got back to me, said he'd find out what happened. i then got an email from chad cloughwick, head of the coverage service, and he told me to hang and expect something soon.

two weeks later i still hadn't gotten anything back, so yesterday i called. basically, i got the same spiel, they'd check on it. the rep said said he'd extend my subscription to the database for another two years free.

so that's my experience with there coverage service. now: their query service.

about three months ago, whenever i logged on to script pimp, it would not grant me access to the writer's database to seach for prod cos. i emailed them and was a given a new username. that workerd for a couple months. then yesterday, i log in and again, i'm not granted access.

by the way, some of their company listings don't seem legitimate. contact info is sketchy and some of the information has to be blatantly wrong (there's no way New Line Cinema would accept material from new writers. that's even posted on their website. and the way it's listed, they just don't accept new writers with "pimp scrimpt recommends", but all writers).

so that's been my experience. has anyone else dealt with them?
 

IceCreamEmpress

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To be honest, I wouldn't expect a service called "Script Pimp" to be anything except shoddy and sketchy.
 

ExposingCorruption

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You can count me amongst those who say that a business called "Script Pimp" should be expected to be very unprofessional.
 

krano

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pimp stands for "Pipeline Into Motion Pictures". i had researched them beforehand and, despite the name, they seemed reputable. one of the moderators on this site had even said he knew cloughwick, that he was a decent guy. the company had a production project released at sundance a few years back, and their screenwritng competition is widely recognized.

EDIT: i hope i don't seem bipolar if it sounds like i'm supporting them now.
 
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Gravity

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Acronyms are fine, unless and until they cast your firm in a poor light. I think these guys traded professionalism for cuteness.

But since I have no dog in this, I'll simply wish them well.
 

krano

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update:

I got my notes back today and i have to say, despite the wait, i'm quite satisfied with the end result. i was given 6 pages of coverage, 2 of which was scene by scene help. they also took care of the technical problems in my account.
 
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IceCreamEmpress

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update:

I got my notes back today and i have to say, despite the wait, i'm quite satisfied with the end result. i was given 6 pages of coverage, 2 of which was scene by scene help. they also took care of the technical problems in my account.

I'm so glad they resolved the issue! Yay, you, for pursuing it, and yay, them, for fixing it.
 

rosehips

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Book Pipeline Contest?

A friend of mine just sent me a link to this contest. Looks like there's a $55 fee to enter. Does anyone know if their claims are legit? Has anyone done this contest? Any information is helpful. I did a search here and only came up with it listed among many sources of editing/manuscript evaluation services.
 

tiakall

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Do you mean this one? https://bookpipeline.com/

Their list of what they'll accept seems a little overbroad. First three chapters of a novel, graphic novel, short story, play, book proposal... This isn't comparing apples and oranges, it's comparing the whole dang fruit basket.

Screenplays and visual media isn't my thing, so I'm not sure how well known the prize companies are (no judges actually listed as far as I can see) but it reads like they're aiming more for adaptable material than standing on its own merits.