Enter Your Script to a Screenplay Contest or Two...

Entering your polished and proofed work to a couple of well-recognized screenplay competitions can be a very good way to measure your scripts potential for success. Does it mean that if you place well in the competitions that you will have your script optioned or sold? There are no guarantees in this crazy business. But I would say that if your screenplay can place consistently in the top 100, or top 10 percent of all entries, this is a pretty good indication that you've done something right. Congratulations, your script has potential, because of it gained recognition here, in the competition field, it certainly has the stuff to gain the attention of an agent, manager, producer or any number of movie and television exec's who are shopping around for the next blockbuster hit.

The first contest where I entered my script, Martin Eden, based on Jack London's classic novel, was awarded second place in the 2009 Inkwell Opportunity Screenplay competition. What a suspenseful waiting game it was. With Inkwell, and with most all competitions, you must wait at least four months after entering for results to begin posting. I recall with The Inkwell Opportunity, the very first contest I entered my work, I was not even notified that Martin Eden had made the cut and was one out of seven others that were being judged for 1st, 2nd and 3rd Place. I was shocked to see my name and my screenplay in the running. I remember going back to the site often to make sure it was real. I waited again for some weeks to pass before the final announcement was posted. I Googled the names of the other authors that I was competing against and found that some of them were quite accomplished writers with some impressive literary accomplishments. I recall one entrant had already published a book, on which her adapted screenplay was later based.

Still, I was completely satisfied with just being among the top seven. I honestly would've been satisfied with that, as this was my very first competition and Martin Eden was my first attempt at writing a screenplay. After several weeks, of waiting, I returned to the site where results were being posted (honestly, I was there daily). I was thrilled to see that Martin Eden had placed 2nd, even beating out some of the aforementioned writers, that I was certain I could not compete against. What a time of pride. I was elated. In the months to follow I entered other competitions: Scriptapalooza, Fresh Voices, Sundance Film Festival's Table Read My Screenplay and placed in the semi-finals and top 10 percent in all of these.

This was all very exciting, but there were no offers of representation or production of my material...no cash prizes or free software. Though you can get some very valuable feedback and critiques from some of the judges and readers. The Fresh Voices competition was particularly thorough and provided some very interesting and helpful feedback on my script. They are, in my opinion, a real class act. So what next? How many contests do you need to enter? What really is the goal here? Then recently I thought, hey...this could be just the kind of leverage I could use to garner some attention from the people who could really make things happen. That's when I created a marketing piece that highlighted the contest results that had made me so proud. The next step was getting the query letter to those industry folk who make the decisions. There are services who will do this at about the same cost that an entry fee to a screenplay competition costs. The topic of my next blog-post...