Part 83: Conquering The Competition Season II: Selecting Your Contest

Last week, we discussed what the more common screenwriting judging guidelines used throughout most screenwriting competitions. Today, we'll discuss HOW one can go about deciding which competitions to enter.

?There are as many opinions about the benefits, or lack thereof, of contests as there are contests itself, and there are literally thousands of screenwriting contests available every year - 3,500 at last count.

However, BEFORE even contemplating entering a competition, PLEASE get some professional feedback first. I would actually recommend THREE feedbacks- and you do NOT have to use The Script Mentor if you choose not to. This is not why I'm saying this; to gin up more business. I say this because, without the feedback, you might as well send me the money you were going to spend on a contest entry and let me send it to your favorite charity.

At least, you'd be putting it to good use, and NOT just flushing it down the toilet.

Now, only a handful of competitions are truly worth your time, energy and money, and deciding which ones are worth entering is purely subjective. If you are ego-driven, there are thousands of smaller competitions that offer very little in prize money, and almost NO career help, but they'll have few entries and mostly beginning writers, so you could win a plaque and feel good about it.

I prefer competitions that actually OFFER competitions- and nice cash prizes, contacts and exposure. Truth is, I always pay the entry fees and submit the screenplays of my client's screenplays for them, since I'm working on them. It's been years since I've entered my own concept in a screenplay contest.

However, the following is MY process:?

1) Determine what your budget is going to be for the year. This year, mine was set at $500, because I felt I had several strong entries. Last year, I was writing it, so I didn’t enter any. In essence, it was $250 for each year.

?2) Sign up for Moviebytes.com. I’m a paid member (Winning Scripts Pro) and it is a very helpful and informative site and service. They list most major contests and offer ways to easily enter and track your entries.

?3) Investigate each contest, including user reviews. User reviews are very enlightening, I assure you. Keep in mind, people who win a certain competition will almost ALWAYS speak highly of, and, conversely, someone who loses, or doesn't get beyond the QF, will generally trash them. It's the American way.

?4) Determine what the prizes are and if that is what you are looking for. For me, money, recognition and exposure were my goals. I’m less concerned about table reads or free airfare to someone’s seminar in Cabazon, CA.

?5) Calendar EARLY BIRD DEADLINES. You can save significantly if you enter early.

?6) Spend any extra money on the occasional contest feedback. It might double the entry fee, or more, but in most cases, it is well worth it. My very first feedback, years ago, was from Script Pipeline (Script P.I.M.P. as it was known then). The script was awful, but the reviews made it sound like it had, and I had, potential. This was extremely important to me, because, like many others, I was feeling vulnerable when submitting my life’s dream- my first completed screenplay- up for ridicule. The feedback was spot-on, extremely informative, but more importantly, highly positive in tone. This was a major reason for my delving into another script, and another, and so on.

7) Read, accept and learn from the feedbacks, but do not dwell on them. Take the review to heart, because if it’s factually correct, it comes from a good place. Make an effort to make the improvements/corrections as pointed out in the feedback. Also understand not everyone is going to like it, and not everyone is going to hate it. Chances are that the reader probably knows a bit more than you, especially in the bigger, more prestigious contests.

? 8) Read all of the contest rules. Some REQUIRE cover pages with info; some others PROHIBIT them. DO NOT get caught with your contact info anywhere on the script or you’ll be disqualified.

? 9) Get confirmation on your entry and save it. There will be times that you enter a competition, and never hear from them again. With thousands of entries, one or two are bound to slip through the cracks. It's nice to have a paper trail.

?10) Document your script entries. If you use "Coverfly", they will track your submissions automatically, and document script, contest name, date of submission, cost,?fee for feedbacks, date of finals and any other pertinent information. By the way, contest entries with feedback are tax deductible as a business expense (refer to your tax professional for details).

One last consideration I always have when contemplating entering a screenwriting contest, is just how many contests a certain website might offer over the year. The better ones have ONE major contest annually, and the entire year leads up to this culmination of awards. Smaller contests- or the less legitimate ones (that I call "money grabs") run contests all year long. They'll run monthly contests; they'll run a contest under every creative media known to man; television; feature films of every genre and sub-genre; short films; novels; short stories; songs; poetry; fingerpainting and tarot card designs. It is SO transparent and ridiculous. WILDsound was the first major site to do this, but many others have copied this trend. They are simply making money on their entry fees, which is how they stay in business.

Ask yourself; do you REALLY want YOUR feature film screenplay judged by a poet, or vice versa? All I would say is this:

I would avoid these multi-contest websites like I would Covid-19.

THIS WEEK'S PROMO:?The Script Mentor client and member, Pamela Hartnoll

Congratulations again to Pamela Hartnoll for her SEMI-FINALS victory (so far) in the?"Annual True Story/Biopic Screenwriting Competition"?with her masterful screenplay?"MAKING BROKEN BEAUTIFUL", adapted from her own book of the same title. This screenplay outlines her tragic life-long abuses of unimaginable proportions- from a toddler through her teen years, until she was eventually abandoned by her family at 15 yrs. of age. She overcome this horrendous start in life to secure several Master's degrees, a law degree and become a sport-pioneering woman as a women's world champion wave skier!

Ms. Hartnoll is a lifetime member of THE SCRIPT MENTOR.

WRITER'S BIO:?Mr. Scala spent 24-plus years in the Hollywood community and was the?Executive Director for the?72nd Annual Academy Awards,?as well as?The Soul Train Awards,?The Grammys,?The Blockbuster Video Awards Show?and?The Saturn Award Show.?He is writing the biopics of early rock pioneer?Jimmie F. Rodgers,?Motown star?Tammi Terrell?and iconic folk singer and philanthropist?Harry Chapin- all while continuing to mentor new writers and self-published authors. Currently, he is working on a project scheduled to be filmed in the spring,?starring?Liam Hemsworth and Samuel L. Jackson.?Geno has three produced feature films:?"Assassin 33 A.D.", "Black Easter"?and?"The Tombs".?All are currently available on Amazon Prime and Tubi.