So many contests. So little money.
by Jim Cirile, Coverage Ink
There ya are, struggling along in year 7 or 27 of your noble pursuit of screenwriting, and dammit, the 12-foot-thick armored door to Hollywood still hasn’t opened for you yet. Time to stir things up, throw some linguine against the wall and see what sticks. Time to enter some contests.
So you go onto Moviebytes or FilmFreeway or Coverfly, and you are greeted with more than a few selections. 857 to be precise. That’s how many screenwriting competitions are accepting submissions right now on FilmFreeway. From all around the world. And all of them cost real money.
So you may be thinking then, O industry-savvy reader, how do I know which of these are actually worth shelling out for?
Read on…
Just another day on FilmFreeway…
THE GOOD
Let’s cut to the proverbial chase. There are around 10-12 contests with any real juice. Ones with proven results – they get people signed, they launch careers, yada yada yada. You can generally tell how real they are by checking out their industry panel (if they have one,) by their success stories, and by who’s running the show.
Sorry to say, but a fair amount of the others exist for one purpose only: to part you from your hard-earned cash. And this includes several venerable, well-known contests that we will not mention here.
But we will mention these 11 that we DO think might be worth your entry fee, in alphabetical order:
Academy Nicholl Fellowship
Austin
Final Draft Big Break
LaunchPad
Scriptapalooza
Script Pipeline
Shore Scripts
Slamdance
Stage 32
Sundance
TrackingB
NOTE: CI has no relationship with any of these companies.
All of these break new people and are tracked by Hollywood. There are also some excellent fellowship programs offered by movie and TV studios, many of which will place the winners with a prestigious mentor or in an internship within their company. These are all recommended if you meet the various criteria. And we’d be remiss if we didn’t mention our own Get Repped Now. While not technically a contest, we also introduce writers to the industry and have gotten writers signed the last three years straight.
So what about all the rest of ‘em? Well, sure, some may have cash prizes or offer to post your script on their website (yeah, that’s worthless) or “send it to their industry contacts,” (you guessed it: also worthless.) We’ve heard from so many of our clients over the years who won or placed in this or that contest, andddd… nothing happened.
Hey, it’s your cash; if you have a good feeling about one, or you’re just so desperate to make something happen that you’re willing to roll the dice, go for it. Just remember that for the vast majority, all you get for your sixty or eighty bucks is, “Sorry, thanks for playing.”
One other thing to keep in mind about contests: few have any real value outside of the top ten. The Nicholl is one; quarterfinalist is considered a real achievement. But some others, even ones on this list, if you’re not in the top ten or at least a finalist, the value may be limited. And jeez, be careful about loading down query letters with your quarterfinalist placements. All that tells most industry types is there were a lot of other scripts judged better than yours…
This festival was so tiny, the red carpet was in a storage room and we had to take our own photos. True story.
THE BAD
648 of those 857 contests are FILM FESTIVAL WRITING CONTESTS. Generally speaking, these have almost no value.
Here’s how this works: the good people who run film festivals (and some indeed are awesome people) know they can make extra cash (sometimes a LOT of extra cash) by also offering a screenplay contest. They generally have no connex, no juice, and often, no clue. Your screenplay might be read by students or interns or film fans who just don’t know jack about screenwriting and get paid ten bucks a script.
And let’s be real: some of these guys are just scammers.
The positives? If you win or place, and if you attend, you may meet other like-minded folks and maybe even have a great time. Relationships are key in this business. And you’ll get a brief moment in the sun when you accept your certificate or trophy. Let’s also state that it’s way easier to win a film festival screenwriting award. They usually have far fewer entries than the big guns. So if they get in 73 scripts, and you can write? Hell, you’ve got a shot, versus Austin with their 7,000 frickin’ entries.
And heck, winning an award feels good. After years of getting your ass handed to you over and over, some acknowledgment may be just the ticket to keep you going.
The negatives? Well, travel is expensive. Is it really worth 1200 bucks to schlep to Terre Haute or Sheboygan for the weekend to accept your award? And again, will that award have any meaning to anyone? Will it do anything for you? Will mentioning it in a query letter have any value? Unless that particular festival is well-known for its industry juice, the answer is probably no.
image by macrovector on Freepik
THE UGLY
We mentioned it’s often way easier to win a film festival or smaller writing contest than other writing contests.
In fact, too easy.
Wait, what? How is that so terrible? Problematically, it could give one a false sense of where one is at with one’s writing. And while that might feel good in the short term, ultimately it’s not doing the writer any favors.
See, everybody in the biz knows that kudos from unknown contests and festivals are, for the most part, valueless. But the writer, not knowing this, charges boldly ahead, makes industry submissions with a script that might not actually be “there” yet, and they’re often shocked when they don’t get the results they’d hoped for. How can this be?
As well, mentioning a pile of nothing-burger contest placements or even wins in a query letter could even create a negative impression from industry types.They just don’t care, and worse, they expect you to know that they don’t care about the Lower Saskatchewan Film Festival and Bake Sale and not to waste their time.
CI actually judges and/or offers prizes to a handful of festivals. So we see the winners and the runners-up, and we know where they are in relation to where they need to be. And with rare exceptions, these scripts are often not yet at the level of quality needed for industry success. Now with elbow grease and a can-do attitude? Of course they could be. Hey, it’s a marathon, not a sprint.
Point is, these little festival contest wins may well stoke the flames of ego and give the writer the wrong idea – which may doom a project if important industry submissions are made before it’s where it needs to be.
Big fish in a small pond doesn’t often cut it in Hollywood – the biggest pond of all.
THE UPSHOT
Be selective. Be realistic. Adjust expectations accordingly. And try to resist the temptation to blow a thousand bucks shotgunning your script to 50 unknown contests in a desperate attempt to get something, anything, happening with your writing career. Hey – we understand!
That said, heck, don’t be afraid to take a flyer on a contest if it makes sense and if you like what you see. A passionate, go-getter contest director who loves your script and knows a few people? Who knows what could happen.
But the best investment in yourself is probably going to be… another draft.
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