However, there is a note of caution here: Just because placing, or even winning, such a competition would be incredibly validating for the writer, and an indicator that the craft is getting stronger and landing well with the readers, it doesn’t mean that the industry at large would respond to such a placement in a smaller or mid-size competition the same way that the writer would. Even though they won’t net you the same reward or exposure as the big competitions, it’s still incredibly validating to see your screenplay or TV pilot come in top 10 out of 500 or Top 10 out of 1,000, which is, technically, the top 1% and a very good place to be. ![]() ![]() So how do you decide which screenwriting competition to enter when?Įarlier in your writing journey, you might want to invest in entering a few (probably a handful) of the smaller/medium-sized competitions. Because they are all over the map, the writer’s objective has to be different when entering each type of competition. Big competitions (like the ones I mentioned above), small competitions, medium-sized competitions, competitions that specialize in a particular genre. Today, there are all too many screenwriting competitions out there to count. I’ve seen first-hand what winning or being named finalist in one of these competitions can do for the writer, which includes everything from the basic landing of representation to leading to general meetings, studio writing assignments, or even, on those rarest of occasions, a script sale.īut just because this can happen, doesn’t mean that this is a guaranteed outcome in any way. Austin Film Festival, Final Draft’s Big Break competition, for which I mentor the winners and in which I was fortunate enough to have a couple of past and existing clients named Grand Prize winners. Over the years, I’ve had the privilege of working with writers who have won, were finalists or semi-finalists in some of the biggest competitions out there: The Nicholl. Screenwriting competitions offer an arena in which to highlight the best amateur screenplays and TV pilots from writers who are – more often than not – not yet working, and therefore spotlight those writers who may just be on the cusp of breaking into the industry. If you want to read the best, or most liked, screenplays in the industry in any given year, turn to The Black List (that is, the list, rather than the website), The Hit List, The Blood List or The Young & Hungry List, which are voted on annually by executives and producers from within the industry. Screenwriting and TV writing competitions, along with their subsequent winners, represent the best of the amateur space, of writers working their way up, or writers who are already working, but seeking to give a little oomph to a screenplay or TV pilot that has thus far been overlooked by the industry or by their team. ![]() Right off the bat, I want to dispel one of the statements made above: Screenwriting competitions, even those that are the most prestigious, do not seek to select the best screenplays in the industry. So much so that when I finally decided I would sit down to write this blog post examining the value of screenwriting competitions, I knew that they would serve as a sort of guiding light. These statements have stayed with me over time. “I don’t get it!” he exclaimed, “Why wouldn’t people in the industry, managers, agents, executives, want to read one of the best screenplays in the industry today?” A few months before that, a category winner from one of the big competitions lamented to me, after his big win netted him no industry interest, that his queries were not able to generate a ton of read requests. This wasn’t the first time I was confronted by some of the huge misconceptions that exist out there about screenwriting competitions. We all looked at each other, not quite certain who should take this one and break his heart. ![]() “So… how does it work? You enter a screenplay into one of those big screenwriting competitions you talked about, you win the competition, and then you sell your screenplay to Hollywood?” Last year, I was sitting on a panel at a screenwriting conference with my friends and industry colleagues in management and development, when one of the audience members, eager to wrap his brain around this whole breaking-into-Hollywood business asked a question:
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