Comments on: Screenwriting Contests: 5 Ways to Use Them In Your Career https://smartg.com/screenwriter/screenwriting-contests-5-ways-to-do-it/ (818) 907-6511 • smartgirls@smartg.com Tue, 24 Oct 2023 04:41:34 +0000 hourly 1 By: Patrick Gamble https://smartg.com/screenwriter/screenwriting-contests-5-ways-to-do-it/#comment-5303 Thu, 09 Mar 2017 06:21:15 +0000 http://smartg.com/screenwriters/?p=387#comment-5303 For me and many other Fledgling writers who are slaves to a mortgage and don’t have the success yet to make a living out of writing, I find contests can give you an idea whether your script is worth investing more time on and whether your writing is improving or not. I, like most, usually believe my latest script is a work of art, so I will often enter my latest work in a few well known contests. If I make it to the quarters or Semis in a well known contest, I know I’m onto something.
As per your advice above, enter in a few contests cause you may have written a wonderful script but it might be that the contest reader/reviewer may be a novice or might hate your genre or story or may even have just had a bad bagel for lunch – so definitely enter in more than one contest.
I entered a Family script into the Final Draft contest a few years ago and got into the top ten. I revised the script, took on a lot of different suggestions and the following year didn’t even make the quarters for that year and the next so contests can be fickle and it might come down to just that one person who reads it and it strikes a chord with them and they will champion it for you.
Beware of some smaller contests. Some ask for a $50 entry but then they only have one winner and you might find there past few winners sound suspicious with names like Will shakespeare or James Trumbo etc and when you do a google on the winning script of author you get zilch. There are some very brazen contest organizers out there who are willing to run a bogus contest for some easy money – so stick with the more well known ones.

I always enter Page, Nicholl, Austin, BlueCat, Slamdance, Cinequest and Final draft. Story Pros is a smaller contest but they seem to always be consistent. There are probably a few other contests worth considering but I’ll stick with these this year. My plan is if I ever make it to the finals in one of these prestigious contests, then it would be then a good time to consider the services of Smart Girls to get that script in the right hands.

]]> By: Mike Shields (@MatchesMalone) https://smartg.com/screenwriter/screenwriting-contests-5-ways-to-do-it/#comment-5302 Tue, 11 Oct 2011 16:45:55 +0000 http://smartg.com/screenwriters/?p=387#comment-5302 Well, I took first runner up with Diamond is a Girl’s Best Friend in Ft. Lauderdale’s Festival contest around a decade ago, and won a subscription to Script Magazine, whereas the winner got a check for $5K and was flown there to collect it.

Got an honorable mention with the same script at Worldfest either the same year or year before.

As I’m sure you know, this script is yet to be produced, however, having optioned another script that eventually will be, I’m no longer eligible to enter contests.

This is what makes me, a filmmaker.

]]>