I submitted my script "Cadaverine" to the Austin Film Festival, but I didn't make it to the second round. They received 13,175 submissions! Good grief, how do they read all of those? Maybe they just stop reading after the first typo. Oh, well, I'm interested to get another set of notes and see what the reader liked.
Screenwriting : AFF Script Competition by Holly Jurbergs
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13k submissions--I'm afraid to do the math! My little 30 min pilot got positive coverage notes but did not advance. I know reader comments come in Dec, but I'm tempted to resubmit for coverage notes just as a second opinion.
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Well, it's not one person reading them all, it's probably hundreds of people.
They go through several rounds, working their way up. A friend of mine read for a different contest and she had 40 scripts to read and pick the best ones - and I believe she had to do a brief form of coverage on each of them. So she had to real all of each script.
How is a contest any different than the business, where there are literally a million scripts in circulation and the studios buy 100 between them?
This is a very competitive business. Lots of scripts, only one winner.
Jack, no offence taken. The vast majority of the 'intern' readers appear to be college age kids exploring potential career paths or volunteers at local contests. A number of Agents and some studios 'hire' them to attend & take pitches at numerous Writer's Conferences around the country. It's good training/experience for them.
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Screenplay competitions are tough. And there's no tougher crowd than a Brooklyn audience. Last week, this screenplay competition had to postpone the announcements twice due to the sheer volume of entries. The judges could not make up their minds. I was sweating bullets to the very end.
I submitted a script too that didn't make 2nd Round whereas last year another script did. What bothers me is that the one I sent this year was (in my view) a much stronger story. Its a perennial problem for me where stronger more complex stories are a harder-sell than more conventional ones!!
@Rosemary, you have to remember, its not just about how good your script is - its about how good it is up against 13,700 other scripts. last year, the number of submissions was less. But also, with 13000 submissions, MANY good scripts didnt make the cut so keep at it!
Please advice -- I've written 60 queries to Literary Agents about my most recent book manuscript. Now I have several award-winning scripts -- do I query Film Agents the same way? Is there a list of those willing to accept queries? This is new territory for me. I've read Danny Manus query letter -- it's terrific -- but who do you send it to??
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Holly, a couple of years ago after entering a bunch, I did an unofficial study of screenplay contests, including number of entries and chances of placing and winning. Here's the cliff note version:
About a third of entries are total garbage and are tossed by or even before page 10, usually a first time writer who has no idea of what they are doing. (First readers)
Half of those left are weak and highly lacking in different areas like formatting or character development, or proofreading. (Pro readers)
The ones left actually get a "real read" where the above average ones are cut from the less than average. This also cuts down to about half of the remaining entries. (Judges)
At this point the finalists are selected. (About 15-20% of remaining entries.)
So out of over 13K, entries you'd have to beat about 8K just to remain in the running. Now ask yourself, is your idea more original than 10.5K other people's idea? Is you story so compelling that people would rather read it than 12K other average tales. And finally, is your script so well written that it would beat 13K to advance to the finals?