Script-a-thon - good or not?

If you want to enter because you think winning will have a positive impact on your career trajectory, forget it.

If you enter because you want some kind of motivation to finish up a script in thirty days, then it's probably a good way to invest $30.

Contests are good if they motivate you to write or finish up scripts.

Most contests are NOT good for advancing the careers of screenwriters. My advice is always to follow the money. Since most contests cannot advance your career, enter contests that hand out big cash prizes.

Avoid the ones that make vague promises about introductions to all sorts of Hollywood big wigs. From my professional viewpoint, most contests matter very little on the agency and production side of the business.

The Nicholl & Disney Fellowships (good cash prizes) can alter career paths.

The Screenwriting Expo contest will make no difference in your professional affiliations, but it hands out a big cash prize.

And the trackingb.com contest (no cash prize) has done a great job in landing its winners with very good representation. In fact, one of the winning scripts announced this year sold about two weeks later. But remember that most writers with representation find themselves in the same exact boat as when they didn't have representation.

Contests can be fun and add some excitement to your life. They can be extracurricular to aspiring writers who work 9-5 jobs that have nothing to do with making movies. But they can also be an expensive addiction (entering every contest in sight) and a waste of time (sitting around waiting for results).

Remember: there's only one contest that truly matters. That's Hollywood.

That's the contest of writing two or three spec scripts a year and getting them out in the "real" world of buyers and sellers - and not the fringe universe of contests.

While there are about three contests (and probably a couple more) that do serve as conduits from the amateur side to the professional - most are simply a business designed to take your entry fee.

Use contests judiciously - as a boost to other strategies into the business. Choose your contests wisely and keep your expectations realistic.

Good luck!

Can we make CreativeExec's reply a sticky? He nails it. I sometimes use a contest deadline as motivation... and then don't enter when I make the deadline. Having an award or two hanging on your wall is nice for those moments when you're saying to yourself "I'm a crazy?" A final placement in a decent contest can be the 'objective affirmation' beyond your significant other's... but it's not going to land you 'the big deal'.

Over and over again, while sitting at panels and hanging out with Production Executives and Agents from CAA and such - the only contest names mentioned were Disney, Nichols, Chesterfield, Austin and 'Sundance" as worth noting. And what wins or placements in these do - is open a door. Make it a bit more likely your script gets moved to the TOP of a large pile.

WriteKnight said:

- the only contest names mentioned were Disney, Nichols, Chesterfield, Austin and 'Sundance" as worth noting.

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I wouldn't put Austin on any list. And does Chesterfield even exist anymore? As for Sundance, it seems to be less of an entry point for complete unknowns.

While winning a contest gives a writer bragging rights (in very limited circles), my philosophy regarding contests is hardcore. And I've read hundreds of "award winning" scripts in my career.

Most winning scripts are simply the best of the worst.

The contest has to award a prize. And if the entrants are a hundred of the world's worst scripts, one of them will be declared a winner.

This is why the same script can win contest after contest but never land the writer representation, or an option, a sale or any kind of work. The script is good enough to win the LMNOP Screenwriting Contest out of Peoria - but doesn't meet the standards of the professional industry (however they may be defined).

It's one thing when you're competing in a contest against someone who cracked open a copy of Robert McKee, installed Final Draft and wrote his very first script.

It's another thing when your competitors are of a higher caliber - Aaron Sorkin, Steve Zaillian, Scott Frank and Diablo Cody to name a few. That's the real contest. In Hollywood, that's who you're playing against.

A good contest analogy would be the difference between little league and major league.

Most contests are just little league, and it's impossible to make the jump to the majors (professional Hollywood) from the little league.

The handful of good contests are like the minor leagues. And a leap to the majors is possible but very difficult.

The contest industry works hard at creating a glamorous image for itself and selling it to struggling writers. Most in the business have a very different take.

I mention Austin Film Festival, because I was attending it in October, and sitting with a table of Agents and Producers and from CAA, Sony, Disney, Dreamworks and talking to screenwriters/directors like Shane Black and Phil Rosenthal. Sitting with those people, having them hand you their card after you pitch the project, and hear them say "Send it to me" - or getting career advice from Shane Black - is a lot better than winning Uncle Bob's Film Festival and Chilli Cook Off. THEY are the ones who told me that list. They ASK to read the winners and finalists from those contests. So I wouldn't call it a waste.

WriteKnight said:

I mention Austin Film Festival, because I was attending it in October, and sitting with a table of Agents and Producers and from CAA, Sony, Disney, Dreamworks and talking to screenwriters/directors like Shane Black and Phil Rosenthal. Sitting with those people, having them hand you their card after you pitch the project, and hear them say "Send it to me" - or getting career advice from Shane Black - is a lot better than winning Uncle Bob's Film Festival and Chilli Cook Off. THEY are the ones who told me that list. They ASK to read the winners and finalists from those contests. So I wouldn't call it a waste.

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Yes, I've been to Austin. It's a terrific, fun writercentric festival. Lots of networking opportunities and good advice bandied about.

But I'm referring to the screenwriting contest out of the festival - not the fest itself.

While the contest might be popular with some of the execs who attend, I would contend that as whole - within the widespread industry - the screenwriting contest doesn't have much clout in terms of jumpstarting careers.

And with Chesterfield defunct about ten years, I think their list of top contests loses a little credibility.

I'm with CreativeExec on this one!!!

I would go with Disney, Nichol, Tacking B, and that would be it, unless I wee into just witing fo the hell of it and chasing contests as I am sure thee are those out there that do that because it does seem to be a booming business each and every year. I have to agree with CreativeExec on this one... and SunDance isn't for the unknown...

We will see

I entered Script-a-thon this year. I like the fact that they judge scripts by genre. I also like the fact that they have award-winning screenwriters reading the scripts. From the testimonials on the site,I would say it's worth it. Whether you win or not,youget coverage