I have been in heavy demand as a screenwriter lately. Seriously. My in-box is clogged with enticing invitations from all around the world—Venice, Barcelona, Tokyo, Brisbane, London, Berlin, even Kosice (Google it—I had to).
Each email invitation is a variation of the following: “After discovering [insert name of script here], our jury was so impressed that we decided to send you this official invitation to join our festival.” The invitation continues to offer a registration discount of anywhere between 30 and 50 percent should I decide to enter my screenplay in competition.
Meanwhile, a different screenplay contest, one I had entered in 2023 and failed to qualify for, decided to follow up one year later with a totally different kind of enticement. For a mere $225, the organizers announced, I would be able to select a scene from my script. They would organize some “local actors” to perform the scene and send me the video.
These are offers I could, and quickly did, refuse. So should you.
The vast majority of these contests are completely worthless, mean absolutely nothing, and won’t move your Hollywood career needle one bit.”
Screenplay contests are exploding faster than a Marvel Comics movie. Current estimates place the number at more than 2,000 stand-alone competitions and another 10,000 if you include contests conducted as part of film festivals.
Registration fees can range anywhere between $25 and $95, depending on the prestige of the contest and whether you submit in time for an early bird discount. Most writers find these contests online through Film Freeway, which also handles the submission process (to be clear, Film Freeway is not involved in running specific contests).
As a two-year veteran of the competitive screenplay circuit, allow me to suggest/warn that the vast majority of these contests, probably more than 90 percent, are completely worthless, mean absolutely nothing, and won’t move your Hollywood career needle one bit.
After many years of trying, I finally succeeded in having a screenplay produced when Authors Anonymous was released in 2014. Since then, I’ve completed 1-2-3-4-5-6 new scripts, but as of 2022, only one of those, Seven Sisters, was under signed option with a legitimate director and producer attached.
Frankly, I began to think my Hollywood time had passed, that I would be the classic “one and done” screenwriter. Friends and family had to be wondering why I was still trying, especially at my advancing age. Meanwhile, producers once interested in my scripts either disappeared or mysteriously moved on without explanation.
For all the awards and “laurels” I collected, for all those Facebook “likes,” for all the validation I received about my work, nothing, absolutely nothing, changed in two years.”
It was enough to make me want to give up screenplays and write poetry instead.
Then I came across a small movie that had been produced locally in Santa Barbara County. I researched the credits and discovered one of the producers was also the director of a film festival—in Arkansas. A film festival that had a screenwriting contest.
Part of me started thinking that a plausible way forward would be to enter that contest, do well, and perhaps attract the attention of the festival director/movie producer. But I confess that I was also getting desperate for validation. Was I just wasting my time on all this, or could I really write?
So, I bit the bullet and submitted two scripts, $35 each. One didn’t even make the cut, but Four Score, my comedy about the Gettysburg Address, did, advancing from quarter-finalist, to semi-finalist, and then to a Top 10 Finalist, landing at No. 7. I proudly boasted about my “victory” on social media as friends cheered me on.
The contest organizer, who was not the film festival director, emailed me heartfelt congratulations, but I never heard from the woman producer.
Hollywood is full of sharks and opportunists, but that is now permeating more and more into these screenplay contests.”
Still, I decided to keep playing the game, seeking more validation, wondering if it all might lead somewhere. After all, I reasoned, you never know who is reading these scripts, who might show up at any awards ceremony.
I struck out in Chicago and Nashville, but placed in the top tier in Reading (Pa), Omaha, Stillwater, and Tampa, and snagged a first place in Austin. Film Freeway tracks your submissions and acceptances record—I batted about 50%. But, quite frankly, the truth is that I struck out professionally.
For all the awards and “laurels” I collected, for all those Facebook “likes,” for all the validation I received about my work, nothing, absolutely nothing, changed in two years. I had some meaningless certificates and more than a little regret about money that could have been better spent.
Meanwhile, I’ve been discovered by all these international film festivals, like Kosice, apparently salivating over the chance to read Four Score because they’ve heard such positive things about it. I guarantee you that they have heard zilch about my script and there are probably another thousand writers around the world getting similar emails praising their work.
Hollywood is full of sharks and opportunists, but that is now permeating more and more into these screenplay contests. These folks create a contest and slap a name on it, the “Hollywood This” or “LA That” in hopes that the unsuspecting will assume a direct pipeline to the studios and enter.
I won’t name the specific contest, but there is one that has the name of the largest city in California in its title. They offer a contest, but no awards ceremony, no listing of judges, and trophies that may be purchased for $85. I did some research and found that the coordinator of this “Hollywood contest” lives out of the country, with no professional film credentials, and he runs this contest multiple times a year.
A typical contest can generate between a few hundred and a few thousand entries. Do the math. Say the registration fee is $55. You get 500 entries. That’s almost $30,000. Double that and run a contest a few times a year, well, my eye brows are raised. My heart sinks. There are writers around the world, spending time and money on contests like these. Are they getting anything of worth in return?
Despite all my winning certificates and increased validation, neither agents nor producers seemed impressed when I highlighted my recent screenwriting accolades.”
Let’s be clear. There are a handful of serious, legitimate screenplay contests where winners earn a decent shot at Hollywood executives reading their stuff, getting to become part of the process.
The most prestigious is easily the Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting, now capping the number of contest entrants accepted at 5,500. My friend and fellow writer Randi Barros of San Luis Obispo had the good fortune to reach the Nicholl semi-finals this year for her brilliant script The Chicken Festival. Hollywood will certainly take her call.
Other top-ranked, legitimate screenwriting contests include: Screencraft, Austin Film Festival, PAGE International Screenwriting Awards, Finish Line, Slamdance, and Scriptapalooza. Fees are high and competition is fierce, but these remain better paths to the big screen.
A proven path to script production also has been The Black List. You pay a fee and submit a screenplay for evaluation. Everything is made available to all the players in town and The Black List annually publishes a list of their highest-ranked scripts still looking to be produced.
Meanwhile, in terms of all the others, ask yourself some basic questions before plunking down your money and submitting.
- Is the contest connected with a film festival or a legitimate established organization? Or is this some kind of fly-by-night operation where they just pick winners and email certificates multiple times a year? Winning is nice, but if there are no consequences, what did you spend that registration money on?
- Does the contest identify specific judges by name? Do they even use “industry professionals”? Or is this just a bunch of people who love movies and like the idea of having a screenplay contest?
- What happens if you win? Is there a cash prize? Will there be a meeting with a Hollywood agent or mogul? Will a scene from your script be performed live in front of an audience? Or is it just another certificate and bragging rights?
- Perhaps most importantly, what do you hope to gain by entering these smaller, mostly regional, contests? How does all this help you capture your Hollywood Dream? Yes, it would be great to win that screenwriting contest in Baton Rouge, but you’re still no closer to LA.
Trust me, I know. Despite all my winning certificates and increased validation, neither agents nor producers seemed impressed when I highlighted my recent screenwriting accolades.
The good news is that I’ve managed to get two more of my scripts optioned with an established producer/director team. That happened when I stopped entering contests and restarted beating the bushes and trying to identify personal connections.
Good luck on your creative journey. I hope to be in production by the end of 2025 with one of my scripts. Then I’ll go off and celebrate somewhere.
I hear Kosice is nice.