Screenwriting : Contests by Jay Thompson

Plus Tenet is super confusing. Not a very edible movie. Plus I think Dramas and comedies win because of the enormous amount of dialogue in them (they don't have explosions and car chases etc)

contest winning scripts is not a pipeline to making movies, they re auditions to find new cheap talent to hire. Of course a few Nicholls winning scripts have been produced but I think they were by writer-directors.

And a Big Mac wouldn't win Masterchef either.

Wachira, Tenet isn't super confusing. Granted there are one maybe two questionable actions done by characters, but super confusing it is not. Second, sci-fi films and action films are inferior because they have explosions and car chases in them? You do realize you just showed an example of bias biased decision-making. To suggest one genre is better simply because people talk more is dumb.

Dan, I didn't write this as a way or means to suggest contests are a viable way to Hollywood.

CJ, Big Mac? You must be talking about Infinite, yes, that movie was trash. But to suggest dramas and comedies are the cream of the crop, you and people like you need to come down off that pretentious peddle-stool of yours.

Movies and genres can be good and bad, neither one is better than the other. From what I've researched is, people don't understand, and cannot read/visualize action sequences or sci-fi elements on paper. Conversely, it doesn't take a whole lot of imagination to visualize people talking.

The point is there's a lot of bias in contests/general in favor of two specific genres simply because of the dumb ideology that one genre is better than the other for the fact that one has more talking in it. As showcased from the 2/3 replies so far.

I think the same when I see John Wick, which to me, is a great flick! I can already read the feedback, "it's too violent," lol. There needs to be more "prestigious" screenwriting contests that focus on blood and guts! Obviously, the story has got to be there, but let's not be prejudice against blood and guts!

I disagree. I been writing and entering contests for several years. I have placed every year I've entered, and have a few wins under my belt. And I did it all writing mostly Sci-Fi. I am living proof that your theory is incorrect. Good writing wins contests.

People who write dramas and comedies are more likely to focus on their characters and stories because they don't have some of the distractions that can become prevalent in other genres. Its very easy especially in Horror and Sci-fi for a new writer to be so focused on special effects and props that their protagonist becomes a cardboard cut out, or the antagonist becomes extremely clichéd, or the dialogue is too on-the-nose, or any number of rookie mistakes that can make a screenplay worse than sour milk.

The best sci-fi and horror films are actually a combo of their main genre and a secondary. (Examples - Alien, sci-fi/horror. The Exorcist - Horror/Drama). This insures that proper attention is paid to the writing. Great stories are about people, whether they carry a knife, a blaster, or a beating heart. And good writing to bring out that story, that's what wins contests.

John Wick script was a page 1 rewrite after Keanu Reeves agreed to play the lead. Supposedly, the screenwriter lived with Keanu for a whole year and they rewrote it together. That's movie making.

Anthony, I'm not taking anything from you, nor trying to dismiss your achievements when I say this, but you did prove half my point.

I too placed in contests. That's not the point. Placed and Win are not the same. Just because you've won one contest doesn't negate what I said. Also, there's a difference between writing a drama with sci-fi/comedic elements and writing a sci-fi film with dramatic/comedic elements. From what I've seen you've written dramas/comedies with sci-fi elements. I myself write Sci-fi's with dramatic elements.

For example, Inception is a Sci-Fi film with dramatic elements. Ex-Machina is a drama with Sci0fi elements. At the end of the day, you're still writing a drama.

Also, your second paragraph suggests that only rookies of the horror and sci-fi genres make cliched mistakes. As if there aren't melodramas and rookie cliched mistakes in dramas? Also, not every movie has to be character-driven.

The only thing I'm here to say is that there's a lot of pretentious ideologies surrounding dramas and high-brow comedies. Again, high-brow, because not all comedies are the same.

At the end of the day, I'm not here to bash anyone's genre. I just don't understand the blinded mindset that one is better than the other simply because people talk more.

"CJ, Big Mac? You must be talking about Infinite, yes, that movie was trash. But to suggest dramas and comedies are the cream of the crop, you and people like you need to come down off that pretentious peddle-stool of yours."

I literally write and produce cheeseburger movies, dude. I know my place.

Jay, Where do you & others in your tribe uncover these little untrue gems of nonsense? I never seem to find 'em.

Doug, what makes what I said untrue? Please explain. That is what you do right?

CJ, I think it's clear I misunderstood your initial comment "And a Big Mac wouldn't win Masterchef either." But it's easy to do so. I also could be overthinking it.

I just like that idea that instead of having an open debate, everyone, aside from a few, so far, tries to bash me thus proving the point of the hive-mind surrounding dramas and comedies. Did I say these genres were bad and they aren't better than action/sci-fi films no? I'm not saying the opposite either.

For what it's worth, the term "drama" is like plutonium within the industry. People often don't want to touch them because they're associated with being hopelessly uncommercial.

Horses for courses.

Competitions also vary a lot. There's some lesser-known ones that focus on the genres, such as horror, that struggle in the most well known comps.

Writing for competitions is a bit like showing you can design a boutique super-car in the hope someone sees your efforts and asks you design them a mass produced sports-car. It's about demonstrating a level of craft that goes above and beyond the norm. Writers with that level of competence can bring an edge that elevates something mainstream.

That's the theory anyway. The writers I saw placing highly in the comps when I started are still begging for work now.

I completely understand that. There are also, SO many people writing now. The market is saturated. The Talent pool is saturated. People and projects will, unfortunately, get overlooked.

Jay - just 'cuz it is.

I wouldn't exactly say those three are credible candidates in the area of great screenwriting, sure. But genre's don't exactly play into it. It's that they have high marketability and connections behind them.

If it makes you feel any better though, several producers didn't 'get' Pulp Fiction when Tarantino brought it to Tristar. Producers reneged on Little Miss Sunshine too. Not to mention writers like Guillermo Del Toro or Frank Darabont having stacks and stacks of unproduced works that nobody believes in for whatever reason. Great writing doesn't always register, but big names do.

Andrew Marlowe won the Nicholl with a science fiction action flick.

But the Nicholl focuses on quality of writing.

Max Adams won Austin with a quirky romantic comedy - that was bought and made by a studio.

But Austin is also all about quality.

I think if you wrote a quality genre script, it would make it to the semi-finals at least, and in a good contest that would get you noticed.

I read either the first or an early draft of JOHN WICK (SCORN). It would have made the semi-finals in a good contest.

Drama is universal. Everyone understands it. Comedy is more subjective. My daughter laughs, I doubt her intellect.

Action doesn’t read well. So it is harder for people that are not fans to imagine it. Especially if they are not aware of the tropes and conventions.

Drama being more universal will find favour with more people.

There are burger places than French Restaurants

Jay, I have multiple wins, not just one. I know the difference between a drama with sci-fi elements vs a sci-fi with drama elements. You are making assumptions about my work without any context other than a title and logline.

My second paragraph doesn't suggest that ONLY horror and sci-fi writers make cliched mistakes, just that its EASIER in those two genres. Even a seasoned drama writer can make a "rookie mistake". As a script reader, I've read far more screenplays of the sci-fi and horror genres that contain examples of these mistakes. One script I read, the writer spent a whole paragraph just describing a futuristic gun. That doesn't happen in a drama or comedy.

No script is ever made just because its great....If that would be true we would have nothing but great movies all around the world...

I have the Tenet script if anyone is interested in reading it.