AW Playwriting Contest

alleycat

Still around
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Apr 18, 2005
Messages
72,881
Reaction score
12,229
Location
Tennessee
I know there's a post about this in Scripts, and there has been a stickie posted, but sometimes these notices are still missed by people. I think some of you only visit Office Party! ;-)

We are currently having a playwriting contest (a ten-minute play). There will be cash prizes (and maybe baked goods as well). This is the official guidelines link: http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=175893

You don't have to be an experienced playwright to enter. Nor does it have to be all of ten minutes, it could be a simple three-minute skit written as a play. It can be a drama or a comedy. The formatting has been simplified for AW posting.

And, if someone need a prompt or two to get started, just let us know and we'll throw out some general ideas. We can't give you the actual storyline, but we can give you enough to maybe spark an idea of your own, or to at least set up the premise, then you take it from there.

The deadline for entering is April 15, which is still enough time to do a short play.
 

Silent Rob

Riff-Raff
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jul 8, 2009
Messages
48,116
Reaction score
12,938
Sounds like a good idea. I'm just going to read the results this time round but it's cool that people are doing this kind of thing. It gives a bit of focus and inspiration, I'm sure.
 

KTC

Stand in the Place Where You Live
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Mar 24, 2005
Messages
29,138
Reaction score
8,563
Location
Toronto
Website
ktcraig.com
Thanks for posting, Alley.

I hope some of you jump in and give it a go!
 

Angie

Shaddup and lemme think.
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 12, 2005
Messages
12,217
Reaction score
4,273
Location
Not really here.
Website
www.tranquiligeek.com
C'mon, everyone - I submitted one, and I've never written a play before in my life. It's fun to play (ha!) with a new form. ;)
 

Maryn

Baaa!
Staff member
Super Moderator
Moderator
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 12, 2005
Messages
55,620
Reaction score
25,746
Location
Chair
I wrote one, then went back and read the rules. Uh-oh. I'll be doing a little rewriting to conform. But hey, ten minutes? It goes by pretty damned quick.

Maryn, who can fritter away ten minutes without noticing
 

rhymegirl

It's a New Year!
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 12, 2005
Messages
21,640
Reaction score
6,411
Location
New England
Ooh, interesting. I wrote a short play once.
 

Maryn

Baaa!
Staff member
Super Moderator
Moderator
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 12, 2005
Messages
55,620
Reaction score
25,746
Location
Chair
My rewrite is done. Is there a special Muse just for titles? I've been futzing around for hours without success.

Maryn, thinking "A Tale of Two Cities" might be good
 

KTC

Stand in the Place Where You Live
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Mar 24, 2005
Messages
29,138
Reaction score
8,563
Location
Toronto
Website
ktcraig.com
OKAY, PLAYWRIGHTS. EXCITING NEW NEWS. THE PLAYS THAT ARE ENTERED WILL BE JUDGED. WINNERS WILL BE CHOSEN FROM THE TWO INDUSTRY JUDGES. AND FEEDBACK WILL BE GIVEN!

GET YOUR ENTRIES IN TODAY. DON'T MISS OUT ON THIS OPPORTUNITY!
 

kayleamay

I'm on the phone.
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jul 29, 2009
Messages
15,143
Reaction score
4,250
Location
Vantucky, WA
I've finished mine.

One act
Seventy-two scenes
Six words
 

alleycat

Still around
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Apr 18, 2005
Messages
72,881
Reaction score
12,229
Location
Tennessee
KTC,
I thought the deadline was April 15?
Am giving the structure some humble thought, before I give it my best shot.
KTC didn't actually mean "get your entries in TODAY". He just meant hurry up and work on your play and send it in.
 

KTC

Stand in the Place Where You Live
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Mar 24, 2005
Messages
29,138
Reaction score
8,563
Location
Toronto
Website
ktcraig.com
yes. you have until the 15th. Sorry...I just meant, "don't delay!"

Thanks, Alley.
 

KTC

Stand in the Place Where You Live
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Mar 24, 2005
Messages
29,138
Reaction score
8,563
Location
Toronto
Website
ktcraig.com
3 entries have arrived in my inbox.

Where is yours? or is that your'ses'? (this is AW!)
 

rhymegirl

It's a New Year!
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 12, 2005
Messages
21,640
Reaction score
6,411
Location
New England
Okay, I came up with a new idea. Gotta play it out in my brain first.
 

KTC

Stand in the Place Where You Live
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Mar 24, 2005
Messages
29,138
Reaction score
8,563
Location
Toronto
Website
ktcraig.com
I am VERY excited to announce that I now have 6 entries! And there are still a couple of people out there who said they were either working on theirs or thinking about writing one.

Come on, people! Break free of the box. Try something new. You have until Midnight April 15th to get your entries in!
 

Maryn

Baaa!
Staff member
Super Moderator
Moderator
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 12, 2005
Messages
55,620
Reaction score
25,746
Location
Chair
FWIW, it took me much less time to write a ten-minute play than it does a short story, and I'm not an experienced playwright. (I tried one other time is all.) So there is literally still more than enough time to try your hand at something unfamiliar.

Maryn, who did
 

KTC

Stand in the Place Where You Live
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Mar 24, 2005
Messages
29,138
Reaction score
8,563
Location
Toronto
Website
ktcraig.com
Yes, Maryn...as I was saying in the other thread...I wrote the one that was recently produced in a play festival in one hour. And then hemmed and hawed over it for 7. So...if I can do that, anybody can!

For those of you who have not yet tried playwriting...give it a go...for no other reason than to give yourself some dialogue practice. The best part of playwriting for me is making every single syllable of dialogue matter. It wakes you up to the voice of characters and the importance of dialogue in your prose writing. A wonderful exercise...AND you can win!
 

KTC

Stand in the Place Where You Live
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Mar 24, 2005
Messages
29,138
Reaction score
8,563
Location
Toronto
Website
ktcraig.com
Quote:
<table width="100%" border="0" cellpadding="6" cellspacing="0"> <tbody><tr> <td class="alt2" style="border: 1px inset ;"> Originally Posted by Maryn
Caramel corn is hereby offered. I still have the description from the old days, when AW had auctions:

Maryn’s Caramel Corn

Home-made caramel-coated popcorn with your choice of peanuts, almonds, or bite-sized chunks of a broken beer bottle. (Brown and colorless glass only; green discontinued.)*

Fresh canola oil-popped popcorn, real butter, and dark brown sugar slow-bake, stirred every ten minutes, into Maryn’s Caramel Corn, a rich blend of candy-like decadence with health-friendly popcorn and protein from nuts. Add a glass of water and you can write for hours fueled by this stuff, as long as you lick your fingers after every handful.

The winner will receive approximately 2 quarts of caramel corn with nuts, wrapped in plastic as soon as it’s cool enough, then packaged and shipped via US mail within 24 hours of preparation. (Same day is likely but not guaranteed.)

Maryn, whose family calls this “Hardcob Cornography”

* For goodness’ sake, it’s a joke. We still drink both Heineken and Woodchuck. You can get green glass if you want.

</td> </tr> </tbody></table>
--Maryn's heralded caramel corn is one of the prizes up for grabs.

--I am donating $50 to the prize pool as well.

--alleycat, were you going to donate to the prize pool? Could you please confirm.

If there are any others who would like to contribute something to the prize pool, please let me know...either here or in PM or REPland.

Thank you!
 

rhymegirl

It's a New Year!
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 12, 2005
Messages
21,640
Reaction score
6,411
Location
New England
I am still working on mine.

I could donate a lock of hair. Or hare?
 

rhymegirl

It's a New Year!
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 12, 2005
Messages
21,640
Reaction score
6,411
Location
New England
I finished my play!

Man, that was hard. But fun.