Screenwriting : Credibility of Contests by B A Mason

Just read your posts and I have to say I don’t think most Contest have to give out accolades to rake in the Dough. What I mean by that is that so few place in the finals or win that the Vast majority of people entering the contest are doing so without winning. Depending on how small the contest is this submission you read might have been really good relatively speaking. Maybe they only received 100 screen plays and 90 percent were worse? I mean I’m pretty sure the guys/gals placing and winning any of the big contests know how to format a screen play and when to use a capital. All that being said I do share your sentiment most of the screen play contests are just money making engines.

B A Mason That is strange! Did they happen to send the wrong file? One that they had rewritten? I find it hard to believe that judges at contests would turn a blind eye to spelling mistakes.

Forgive my type-os. Voice to text on my phone is pretty shady and this app doesn’t give me the option to edit my comment.

Jpeg awards don't cost much.

I saw a contest posted on filmfreeway by a couple living in a texas ranch. Lol. I think they charged $50 fee per script.

Some contests AND film festivals are money grabs. They exist for their own benefit and we should all be aware.

Dan MaxXx You are implying that the writer basically did well in what you are kinda describing as a 'rip off, mom-and-pop operations'. Could there be a possibility that some of the competitions they entered and did well, could be one of the more prestigious ones? I think you, of all people (given the number of times you post and proffer pearls of wisdom), know very well, whether it is a competition or a reader or a producer or an agent, it's all very subjective. But, I don't see any point in marginalizing another person's accomplishments. Their bright spots of pride may be blights of embarrassment to you. However, it could mean a lot to them. It could be the carrot that keeps them forging forward. Belittling their personal triumphs accomplishes nothing, other than diminishing their self-belief.

I've heard that there are a few contests that are totally legit (Nicholl Fellowship being one of them), but for the most part a lot of the other ones are total BS.

Just what I've heard.

So B A, you spent your weekend reading, rereading and evaluating a total garbage script; why? You thought you could really help the writer? Ain't happenin'! If it's that bad, you should have realized that within a few moments and stop wasting your weekend. A quick note reading "your script sucks due to poor spelling, bad formatting, capitalizations and absurd dialog'. Folk like that will waste more of your time arguing with you. They're only looking for ego pats. Many (most) of these little 'festivals' understand that and realize that the more praise they hand out, the higher their profit.

True tale: A few years ago a small time screenwriting competition sprang up in the NW. In it's first year it only had 118 submissions - of those, 118 made the 'quarter' finalist. ENOUGH SAID?

Very few - VERY FEW - contests will advance your career as a writer (you can literally count them on one hand and have fingers left over).

Not one - NOT ONE film festival will advance your career as a writer. A director, perhaps. But no fests do anything for a writer's career (yes, I know some festivals have writing comps, but I making the distinction between a writing contest and a writer who's script has been produced and submitted).

And, as much as I hate to admit it (because I've advocated the produce-your-scripts-yourself philosophy), producing your own scripts does very little for your career as a writer.

Please see the distinction I'm making - if you want to direct, act, produce, edit, almost any job other than writer, festivals and DIY filmmaking have some value.

As a pure writer with no interest in the other key jobs, the only thing that advances your career (besides being a kick-ass writer, of course) is CONNECTIONS. Relationships with others in the biz. That's it. Period. Networking is the only thing a writer needs to do (besides writing, of course).

IMHO.

Doug Nelson I believe in being a proactive evaluator - it lends to my credibility as someone you can trust to read your script and give a fair unbiased review. I'll give a script a minimum of ten pages before I abandon it, no matter how bad those first ten pages are. I will comprehensively note down all issues, pointing out grammar errors, faulty formatting, poor pacing, damning dialogue, etc. In that way the writer has no retort to argue back that it was unfair.

I don't want to be one of those types of reviewers that leaves a potential up-and-coming writer hanging with just a "your script sucks" - we've all been there in the beginning. They will never know what their mistakes were, they won't be able to reevaluate their writing, and worst of all: they'll be left wondering if it was a fair evaluation - or if I even if I read their script at all.

Everyone has the potential to be a decent writer - or at the very least write some decent work.

I find a lot of the comments on here a bit on the extreme side. All contests bar 1 or 2 are rip offs? You will never advance a writing career through a screenwriting competiton? Really? Yet there are countless writers working in the industry that got in through a host of different competitons. Whether they have 1 credit or 100... the fact is the competiton was what got them noticed.

One thing I've seen too often here on Stage 32 is people being very quick to trash an entire sector in filmmaking because of a couple of bad apples. Seriously, check yourselves. Your comments are uncalled for and alarmist to new writers with zero connections.

Last time I checked there were over 800 festivals. You can win by being the only person in a category. Competitions are about making the competition money.

After reading that screenplay and see the awards. How much credibility do you really think competition have in the industry?

Just for perspective, how much does it cost to enter a festival?

Well, that explains why the quality of movies has been decreasing lately, with rare exceptions. It all starts with your majesty, the script.

When I first started writing screenplays I entered a bunch of festivals. I took top prize in a few, Hon. Mention in another (which I never mention), a couple of second places, and outweighing all of them - no placement at all. I was able to put the wreaths on the script posters I had.

I won't call the smaller contests rip-offs (they may very well be) because even placing in them gave me a boost of confidence to get better, although I can't say as they actually got the attention of producers/managers.

However, I eventually placed in Nicholl as a QF, and that got a lot of attention and some script requests. I have another script currently entered in Nicholl, and that's the only contest I've entered in a while. I entered Austin several years ago as well but didn't place (looking back, I never stood a chance. I've learned so much since then). I think if I enter any in the future it would be Nicholl, Austin, and Page... I think if you place in those you might get some attention and get through some doors.

B A Mason - above all be honest and truthful. If you tell 'em ' your script sucks' - tell 'em why... spelling, grammar, format - those are easy fixes. Flat story line, cardboard characters, no underlying theme all fall into the story development phase and you're not the teacher/mentor.

Not everyone (actually very few) are hardwired to be screenwriters - there's no shame in being a Doctor, Accountant, a Bricklayer, a line cook - or any one of a thousand others. If you lead someone on by blowing a little smoke up their pant leg - you're doing more harm than good. And that's the truth!

I have read for several seasons of a contest. I can definitely tell that the quality improves as the rounds narrow them down. The first round had plenty of entry level tripe. Believe it or not, many newbies try to “improve” the format with their own formatting and punctuation. By Quarters those get weeded out. The ones that made semi were significantly better. Any contest worth the entry fee is hoping to have one or more of their winners show up in headlines. They do want to find best scripts One of biggest issues is finding objective judges.

Only a handful are credible and placing high enough in one of them to make a difference is extremely difficult. If you are fairly new to screenwriting you would find yourself competing with screenwriters who have a lot more experience which means you would probably be throwing away your money. You would be better off spending money on getting coverage from a professional who you can trust to give you good and honest feedback. This is just my own opinion and I haven’t paid for either of those things or anything except a couple of screenwriting software programs

In my first year as a part-time, newbie, totally clueless screenwriter, I entered the Nicholl and got a letter saying I made the top 15 per cent of entries. A couple of years later, I entered and won a couple of second-tier competitions. I recently re-read those scripts, and I'm still in total body spasm from cringing so much. But they are still good stories, and maybe that's what was being rewarded. I hope so.

Did I get anything material out of any of those contests? No. What I got was encouragement and affirmation. At the time, that was enough. If a deal or career advancement had come as a result of those early 'accomplishments,' I might still be a promising but amateurish writer.

there was a time when Nicholls & Final Draft & maybe Austin FF put in a contest eligibility rule that you couldn't make over $25,000 total income from filmmaking/writing. That rule sorta leveled the playing field; the contests were for new writers trying to "break in". (Nicholls bumped up income to $100,000).

I see writers on social media with legit track records & legit reps and they're still doing contests... or they haven't made much income to be disqualify. I don't think contest gatekeepers enforce or check writer's track record/show biz income. (lol someone explain to me how actor/celebrity Shia LaBeouf keeps winning contests!... tho his screenplays are really good).

After reading everyone's comments (so far), I did a google search and found an interesting website to share. Thank you. https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/best-screenwriting-contests/

As far as I know, the Nicholl eligibility earnings max for writing work is still $25K. That doesn't include contest winnings (unless they include an option or sale). Maybe there's an amateur writer out there who wins twenty $5K contests a year.