Whether you’re brand new to the game or you’ve been plugging away for a while now, you’ll probably already know just how hard it is to make it as a screenwriter. But there is a great way to get your work seen by some of the biggest names out there.
If you’re an aspiring screenwriter hoping to make it to the big leagues, then there are few better opportunities than screenwriting contests, competitions, and fellowships!
Screenwriting contests could do a great deal of good for you if you’re an up-and-coming writer, by:
Getting your writing in front of some of the best people in the business.
Offering you invaluable, expert feedback.
Helping you find connections and networking opportunities.
And, of course, giving you career-defining prizes if you win.
Not to mention the fact that, with a win under your belt, your portfolio will be a lot more competitive than it is now. This is especially true if you win one of the more prestigious contests out there.
If you want to be a household name with your writing featured in movie theaters everywhere, you can’t be complacent. Unless you take all of the leg-ups you can get, you’ll have to rely on being in the exact right place at the right time and with the right people – with your screenplay to hand. And, since a lot of the Hollywood hotshots tend to mix in pretty exclusive circles, the chances of that happening are pretty slim.
Do you want to make the most of the incredible opportunities that contests present to screenwriters?
If so, you’ll probably need a helping hand figuring out how they work, what you need to do to get noticed, and how to deal with the outcome, whatever it may be.
Well, you’re in the right place.
What Are Screenwriting Contests?
Basically, when you enter a screenwriting contest, you submit a finished draft of a screenplay to expert judges, who will read, appraise, and – if you’re really, really good – rank your writing.
There are many benefits to entering screenwriting contests, especially if you’re just starting out or you’ve been struggling to make your mark. But, unfortunately, you will be far from the only person to submit your work in the hopes of receiving feedback or even winning.
Thankfully, there are plenty of different contests that run each year in the United States. So, you should be able to find ones that are well suited to your style of writing.
Before you start to think about entering, though, there are probably a few questions going through your mind:
Why are screenwriting contests important?
Who can enter screenwriting contests?
Are screenwriting contests even worth it?
Here are all your burning questions answered.
Why Are Screenwriting Contests Important?
The screenwriting industry is very saturated and very competitive. It’s also really exclusive, meaning that if you don’t have connections, you’re going to struggle to break through. For people hoping to work their way in, then, screenwriting contests are extremely important.
You see, to a certain extent, it is all about who you know.
You could be the next Quentin Tarantino, but if nobody ever gets to read your writing or see it played out in movie theaters, then that doesn’t really amount to much.
It sounds harsh but it’s true. To make it anywhere, you must seek out the right doors and find a way to get your foot in them.
Screenwriting contests have helped lots of people get representation and see their screenplays through to production. Without them, chances are that the majority of these erstwhile winners would still be unknown today.
So, if finding success in a screenwriting contest has helped people achieve their dreams in the past, why not you, too? The competition might be fierce, but somebody’s got to win.
All you need to do is back yourself enough to enter and truly believe in your screenplay. You stand just as much of a chance as anyone else does.
Who Can Enter Screenwriting Contests?
If you’re worried that you’re too young to enter a screenwriting competition, or too old, or that you’ve not been doing it for long enough, then please rest assured that your fears are largely unfounded.
Pretty much all of the major contests are open to everyone to enter, as long as you’re not already an established professional.
In other words, it doesn’t matter if you’ve only just graduated college or you’ve been struggling for years to get your name out there. At the end of the day, these contests are all about finding talent with a capital T.
Your background and years of experience will be irrelevant if you write a screenplay that blows the judges away.
Still, while you can simply enter screenwriting contests whenever you like, it’s advised that you don’t start submitting until you’ve spent some time perfecting your entry. Obviously, if you’ve got very little experience and have just completed your first-ever draft, then you probably don’t stand much chance.
In that case, your energy would be better spent learning your craft and fine-tuning your entry for next year’s competition.
Are Screenwriting Contests Worth It?
This is a quite big question. The answer is largely a big, fat yes.
But, there are a few things you’ll need to think about when trying to decide whether to enter one or more screenwriting contests, including:
The number of entrants.
Getting feedback.
Entry fees.
For starters, any screenwriting contest worth its salt will likely receive more than a thousand entries every single year. So, they’re not exactly easy to win. The competition is inevitably going to be tough, and you’ll be up against countless other exceptionally talented people.
Plus, in a lot of cases, you probably won’t even hear back unless your screenplay comes out on top.
Therefore, if you plan to enter a contest to get feedback from industry insiders, you’ll need to find out which ones guarantee a response. Or, find other avenues for getting valuable feedback.
You could also reach out to screenplay consultants and work with them on your screenplays.
Of course, you might still think that there’s no harm in entering a contest, even if you’re not sure you’ll receive any constructive criticism.
But, you have to remember that all screenwriting contests cost money to enter.
Screenwriting contests will charge anywhere between
And, again, there’s no guarantee you’ll get feedback or even hear back about the result.
You’ll have to do your research before entering. Find the competitions that offer the best prizes, the best feedback, and seem best suited to your style. You need to work out whether or not you think the price of entry is worth what you might get out of it.
And, just remember, if you don’t have quite enough money or confidence to enter this time around, there’s always next year.
How To Choose A Screenwriting Contest?
Once you’ve done your research and decided that you are going to enter one or more contests, then it’s time to choose which to go for.
As has already been mentioned, there are loads of screenwriting contests out there. Some might be better suited to what you do than others. Some are so prestigious that they warrant an entry just because of how great the rewards are if you win.
Either way, you have to make an informed decision about which contests you’re going to submit to and why. You can do this by:
Reading through the submission guidelines for each contest – they’ll all have them!
Having a look at past winners’ entries to get a feel for what each competition is looking for.
Comparing entry fees and factoring them into your budget.
But, while the choice of what contest to enter is entirely down to you, there is some general guidance that you should take on board.
Don’t Stay Local
This advice is particularly important for people who are looking to really advance their screenwriting career.
The fact of the matter is that local screenwriting contests won’t do much for your resume, even if you win. They simply don’t hold enough weight to get you noticed. The same is true of a lot of the smaller regional contests.
These sorts of contests are great for younger or more amateur screenwriters. Although, some do provide feedback as standard, meaning they have value for those hoping for pointers to help them develop their screenplay.
But, at the end of the day, there’s just no point in proving that you can be a big fish in a small pond.
If you want to launch your career straight into the Hollywood stratosphere, you have to prove you’ve got what it takes to compete with the best! And, for the most part, the best will not be found in the program of a hometown film festival.
So, save your time and money for the contests that can take you places. If you’re not sure what those are just yet, keep on reading.
The Best Screenwriting Contests To Enter In The USA
There are plenty of great screenwriting contests that will help you turbocharge your career – if you win.
Here’s some more information on five of the best.
Academy Nicholl Fellowship
It’s safe to say that the gold Academy Awards statuette is one of the most sought-after prizes in the entire film industry.
So why not enter the official screenwriting contest of the Academy and start your career amongst the very best in the business?
Here’s what you need to know about the Academy Nicholl Fellowship.
ScreenCraft Screenwriting Fellowship
The ScreenCraft Screenwriting Fellowship prize also offers excellent exposure and industry involvement.
Try not to worry too much if you miss the deadline for this one, though, because it runs every year.
Plus, ScreenCraft also holds genre-specific screenwriting contests that you can enter.
Austin Film Festival Screenwriting Competition
This is another prestigious contest that boasts the ability to jumpstart your career and help you find your place in the world of TV and film.
They also sometimes have celebrity guest judges! As such, the Austin Film Festival Screenwriting Competition receives thousands of entries every year.
Regardless of volume, they still send all entrants some brief feedback from their script’s reader. Anyone who gets into the second round or beyond will receive more thorough reader comments.
For every entrant
Launch Pad Feature Film Screenwriting Competition
Winners of the Launch Pad Feature Film Screenwriting Competition have historically gone on to get more signings than the winners of the other major contests. Launch Pad has great connections and plenty of experience in promoting new writers in the film industry. They promise to work with the winners to find the right networking opportunities for them.
There are also prizes available for a lot of entrants.
The top 100 screenwriters, for example, will have their project and profile shared to the extensive Launch Pad industry network and be included in the Launch Pad Alum community.
For top 100 entrants
Save The Cat! Screenplay Challenge
If you’re looking to enter a contest that will offer you in-depth, constructive feedback, then the Save The Cat! Screenplay Challenge could be just what you need.
Each screenplay submitted gets a full read, and every entrant will receive 50 points of analysis as standard.
For every entrant
The feedback you get will be grounded in structure and marketability, rather than subjective opinion. So, you won’t have to pay extra to get thorough critiques!
The five finalists will also receive a meeting with one of the judges and a 12-month subscription to Save The Cat! software, which will make writing your screenplays that bit easier.
How To Enter Screenwriting Contests?
When it comes to entering a screenwriting contest, there are a few fundamental things you have to make sure you get right from the outset. Otherwise, you risk counting yourself out before you’ve even started.
Plenty of people make some pretty big blunders when sending in their submissions, meaning that they stumble at the first hurdle.
So, make sure that you don’t:
Break or flout the contest rules.
Send in an unfinished draft.
Forget to format your submission.
Here’s some advice that will help you avoid these mistakes.
Follow The Rules
If you’re serious about making something of yourself with your competition entry, then you have to play by the rules. If you don’t, chances are high that your screenplay will be rejected.
Always bear in mind that the readers and judges for any of the big contests will be stretched thin. Seeing that your screenplay doesn’t adhere to the rules when everyone else’s does is all too likely to knock you out of the running.
So, to avoid raising any red flags with your submission, make sure you go through all of the rules and regulations with a fine-toothed comb. Then double and even triple-check them. It’s too much of a risk not to.
You can never expect a contest to make an exception for you. At this point, you don’t have the credibility or authority to be bending the rules and getting away with it. Your chance to do that will come later, once you’ve established yourself.
To make the best first impression possible, ensure that each part of your submission is laid out and filled in as expected, that your page counts are in line with the rules, and that everything else is as it should be.
Send In A Final Draft
You might think that your first draft is an absolute masterpiece – and who knows? You might be right!
But even the best first drafts can and should be improved in later editing stages. It will take more time, energy, and effort. But, with such life-changing prizes up for grabs, surely you should be putting everything you have into your submission.
No matter how good your writing is, there will always be plot points that can be perfected, characters that can be better developed, and dialogue that can be enhanced.
Not to mention the fact that first drafts are usually pretty sloppy. Even if you work exceptionally hard at them, there are always going to be mistakes.
They could be grammar errors, repetitions, or absolute clunkers like wrong character names and spliced plotlines. Whatever they might be, you are far more likely to pick up on them during a rewrite than you are a quick proofread.
Plus, even if your mistakes are minor, they could irritate the judges.
Think about it:
If your screenplay is the tenth they’ve tackled, they probably won’t have much patience left for typos and mix-ups.
Format Your Screenplay
In the same way that grammar errors are more likely to leave the judges with an unfavorable impression of your work, poor formatting can also be a deal-breaker.
It shows good professional standards to format a screenplay correctly. This is because, as you probably already know, accurate script formatting helps the script breakdown process. This process is key to turning screenplays into feature films.
Beyond the super important elements of formatting, there are other general rules that you will be expected to understand and follow.
For example, standard screenplay formatting tends to include:
Size 12 Courier font.
A 1.5-inch margin to the left, and a ragged, one-inch margin to the right.
Dialogue speaker names, dialogue, and actor parentheticals each a set number of inches from the left side of the page.
So, take extra care to check through the formatting in your PDF before clicking submit. You can download screenwriting software to help you do it.
Do Screenwriting Contests Give Feedback?
As we have already seen, some contests give feedback as standard and some offer it for an additional fee. Some, however, just do not offer feedback at all unless you rank among the very best.
If you’ve entered one or more screenwriting contests that send feedback, you will likely have to learn to deal with the good, the bad, and the ugly of the constructive criticism you get.
Subjective opinions and disappointing rejections are all a part of the game, after all.
What To Do With Good Feedback
If you get good overall feedback on your screenplay, then great! Whether or not you actually win the contest or rank as one of the finalists, you’ll at least know you’re on the right track. It should help you to feel confident in sending off your screenplay to more competitions, too.
Chances are, though, that you won’t get consistently glowing feedback, even if you do well. There will always be ways for you to improve, no matter who you are and how many screenplays you’ve written.
So, if you get feedback that says you did one thing extremely well, take that and run with it.
It could be related to the dialogue you’ve written or the way you’ve formatted the screenplay as a whole. Either way, pay attention. You will need to apply this pointer to the edits you make and any future screenplays you write.
A good piece of advice would be:
Make a note of all the positive feedback that you get. Write each point down on one piece of paper.
And then, spend some time figuring out why exactly you’ve excelled in these areas. Are they related? Is there a common theme that runs through the things you do well? If so, it should be that much easier to work out how you can elevate the rest of your writing.
How To Handle Bad Feedback
Just as you shouldn’t become complacent when you get good comments, you also shouldn’t feel disheartened because you received bad ones.
Getting critiqued is important. And, if you want to be a professional screenwriter, it’s going to happen a lot.
It could be by competition judges, producers in pitches, or critics who watched your movie from the comfort of a plush theater seat. Regardless of who it is, your work is always going to be subjected to scrutiny.
So, learn to see any bad feedback you get as a positive. For one thing, it will help you to better deal with the views of the discerning public and film critics further down the line.
But, more importantly, it will help you to figure out how much work you have left to do right now. Any bad feedback that you get on a screenplay will tell which marks you’re missing. And, in many ways, that’s far more valuable than knowing what you’ve done well.
The not-so-good aspects of your work are the ones that are going to turn people off. The more you know about where you’re going wrong, then, the better you will get at avoiding those mistakes.
Get good at improving your work with each negative comment, and you’ll eventually make your screenplays pretty airtight.
Just try not to take things to heart too much.
Readers and judges for screenwriting contests know what they’re talking about. They’ll have a solid idea of what’s likely to do well during a pitch or at the box office. Any advice they give you is simply there to help nudge you in the right direction.
With that in mind, remember that negative comments can help you figure out what really is not working. It might be difficult or even kind of devastating, but you have to accept that sometimes a screenplay or a storyline just isn’t worth taking forwards.
Coping With Rejection
If you’ve been given some seriously bad feedback or been told point-blank that your screenplay isn’t good enough, then you’ll likely be feeling quite dejected.
Rejection never feels good, whether it’s your first time or fiftieth time.
But, you will have to learn to live with rejection as a screenwriter. In fact, some of the very best screenwriters in the world have had their work rejected.
Did you know that Back To The Future was knocked back 44 times before finally being greenlit?
Or that the first-ever Star Wars film almost didn’t get made?
So, if you want your screenplays to eventually become classics, you’ll have to find a way to deal with any “noes” you get. Remember:
Don’t reply to the judges in the heat of the moment or rant online about being rebuffed. Such impulsive behavior is likely to come back to bite you in the future.
Keep pushing. Just because one screenplay hasn’t done well doesn’t mean that there’s no hope. Never forget that if you write screenplays, you’re a storyteller. So, find new, improved stories to tell.
And always, always, always take it on the chin. If you don’t learn to accept the rejections, you’re going to burn out pretty fast.
Conclusion: Entering Screenwriting Contests
There are plenty of screenwriting contests out there that can catapult you from obscurity to dazzling Hollywood heights. But, if you want to see your screenplay come to life in a movie theater near you, you’ll have to find the best competitions to enter and figure out the right hoops to jump through.
Prestigious contests such as the Academy Nicholl Fellowship are ideal for people who think they’re ready to hit the big time. Feedback-centric ones like the Save The Cat! Challenge are likely to be better for those who feel their screenplays still need some work.
Whichever you decide to go for, you’ll have to make sure that what you submit is free of mistakes and a joy to read.
Just remember that the major screenwriting contests are incredibly competitive – just like the industry itself! So, learn how to roll with the punches and keep pushing on despite the pushbacks.
You never know when your big break might come!