Part XI: Conquering the Competition(s)

Many screenwriters have been asking TSM about certain contests, specifically “Which are the good ones?” Screenwriters and screenwriting contests are like a Winnie The Pooh and the honey jar: no matter how many times they might get stung, the temptation of what they might get out of it is too strong to pass up.

Others still will never go near them, no matter what the “honey jar” may yield.

 While I absolutely believe that each contest is so different, with such different levels of professionalism, different types of script readers, with different judging criteria, there are a few that stand out, at least in my mind.

1) The Nicholl Fellowship (https://www.oscars.org/awards/nicholl/index.html) is widely accepted as the premier screenwriting contest in the contest, and how can it not be? It is owned and operated by The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the same people who bring us the Oscars each year. This is a career “game-changer”. The downside is that it is an International contest and will receive close to 7,000 entries. The odds are long, so unless you’ve received several “recommends” from various coverage companies, I’d think twice about entering, at least in the early stages of your career. Previous winning entries include “Arlington Road”, “Finding Forrester”, and “Akeelah and the Bee”.

2) Scriptapalooza- (https://scriptapalooza.com/home) another international contest with a solid reputation, but probably somewhat fewer entries than the Nicholl. Past winning entries include “L.A. Confidential”, “Dark Woods” and "Banking on Betty". They offer substantial prize money ($10,000), and include multiple levels of winning prizes, as well as several different genres winners.

3) The PAGE Awards- This contest has been around for eighteen (18) years, and has garnered a lot of respectability in the contest world. They offer substantial cash awards ($50,000) over several different categories.  

4) StoryPros- Now in its fourteenth (14) season, they boast of having the same contest “grade”, provided by Creative Screenwriting Magazine, as The PAGE, Scriptapalooza, and Warner Bros. contests. They offer money prizes, and have a unique system that gives you up to sixteen (16) chances to become a winner. Probably more of a second-tier contest, it's a sentimental favorite because this contest was where I enjoyed my first competitive victory.

5) Script Pipeline (formerly Script P.I.M.P.)- another solid contest, which boasts 2010 winning entry “Snow White and The Hunstman”, as well as the 2008 winning script “Killing Season” which is to star Robert De Niro. Pipeline is entering their tenth contest season. Money prizes, but more importantly, you will glean important connections. Winning this contest got me a meeting with producer David Foster ("Collateral Damage"; "The Thing").

You can review all of these and more at https://www.moviebytes.com.

CASH GRABS: There are approximately 3500 different screenwriting competitions in any given year in the United States alone. The best ones will rise to the top (maybe 50, in total), while the others fall back. They lack the publicity, the "juice" and the monetary prizes to be considered "career changers" or even enhancers. I read the titles of some of these contests that writers highlight in their bios, and I'm embarrassed for them, frankly. Winning ANYTHING is fun, but "The Oshkosh Beer and Brat Film Festival and Screenwriting Competition"- really? These are cash grabs, and they'll do NOTHING for you, writing-wise, professionally, or financially. If you want to enter and hope for a psychological boost by potentially winning, have at it. I know several writers who have well over 100 contest victories with several different screenplays- promoting themselves at every level they get to; the quarters, semis, etc. There's quite a difference in winning a genre contest when your genre has eleven entries in total, and winning the Nicholl, beating out seven thousand of the best screenwriters in the world.

THIS WEEK'S PROMO: Author Demi Bom is a former American intelligence professional who was injured at the height of her career yet continued to pursue her passion for spy craft through fiction writing. It took a battle with her severe spinal injury to give her the courage to write and share that amazing underworld of intrigue and spies.

"I don't write about 'the intellectual spy' or 'the sexy spy'. My spies are ordinary emotional beings that are compromised by their government and manipulated by their employers…I want my readers to see themselves in my characters and relate to the situations they find themselves trapped in."

A page-turning dark novel, King of Pawns is inspired by the true story of a wave of murders of prominent mafia bosses that swept East Europe. It’s a story of a young woman, who escapes her past only to be thrown back into it. Recruited for her creative mind and high tolerance for risk, the CIA sends her back home to play a deadly game of chess with an experienced, ice-cold assassin, and narcissistic psychopath, Alexander Orlovsky. "King of Pawns" is the clash of two fearless souls whose only fear is being defeated in this deadly game of chess. https://www.amazon.com/King-Pawns-Deadly-Espionage-Chess/dp/1795266945/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

WRITER'S BIO: Mr. Scala spent 22-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. 

Today, he and his writing team are actively working on several ghostwriting projects for his celebrity clientele as well, including the adapting the novel "Making Broken Beautiful" by Pamela Millican-Hartnoll; a tragic story of excessive abuse and redemptive success; and biopics of early rock pioneer Jimmie F. Rodgers and iconic folk star Harry Chapin- all while continuing to mentor new writers and self-published authors.

Geno has two screenplays produced into feature films; "Assassin 33 A.D." and "The Tombs". Both are currently available on Amazon Prime.