Screenwriting : Competition evaluations by Matthew Kelcourse

How much did experiment cost$$ you? And what you do with laurels?

I don't discuss money with anyone but my wife and have yet to do anything with laurels other than list mid to top tier placements at the end of a synopsis on a rare pitch.

My sentiments exactly. All awards are good awards. It means someone out there likes your work. But if you don't get anything in the competition, no big deal. Because each script is assigned first to one individual to evaluate. If that individual doesn't get what you're trying to do, you'll fall at the first fence. But it's as much on them as on you. If you enjoy writing keep going. Someone somewhere at some time is going to like it too.

Dan MaxXx I put them on the title page, and on pitch decks, any place where you're talking about the script.

I didn't enter contests and never will but I can see how they might help a screenwriter without representation or a track record get a few more reads.

Matthew Kelcourse - Are screenwriting pitches totally different than pitching music to Music Sups ? I know it’s two different subject areas in the Film Industry, though pitching should be somewhat similar. ;-) I learned from a top music producer/ sync lady the beginning paragraph is to say something nice and relatable before going into more details. Yes, people’s backgrounds and moods will determine a lot at competitions. ! I did a competition w Spitfire and there were over 1000+ entries the composing team had to listen to for this under 1:30 minute video clip.

I entered my sci-fi pilot to two screenplay contests --- a big name film festival and a smaller sci-fi festival. With the big film festival, I didn't make it. No laurels. The reader commented incessantly on my use of ellipses and couldn't see how that would translate into the finished product. With the smaller festival, I won and the reader praised the script. I agree with you, Matthew Kelcourse, that the "mood" of the reader is very much in play.

I have only one script, a Pilot. Have re-read it over 100 times. lately I have played a game with it. I will purposefully read it when I don't feel like reading it... maybe I am busy or my anticipations pull my attention elsewhere... or I am in a fowl mood. To much sugar, not enough sleep...frazzled from traffic or would rather do the dishes and deep clean the washroom then read another page... For the most part in these states of harmonic dissonance the story is less compelling. The dialogue makes me cringe and don't get me started on the formatting faux pas....What this means to me is that Objectivity like common sense is not guaranteed in our communication transactions with other individuals, other groups or even with ourselves...At this moment I have a lot more respect for nepotism, bribery and coercion as a method for getting a script into rightful hands. LOL!

Writing is an art. Every person will interpret a piece differently. And depending on what they are feeling on a particular day, at a particular hour, at that particular moment, will judge it differently. Like in quantum physics. The same particle can be in several different states of flux depending on how its viewed all at the same time. Thus the writer must be ready for inconsistent results, even from two different readers in the same contest at the same time. What one reader will love, another will hate. Thus is the game.

Dan, why negative on contests?

Jed Power I am not negative about contests. It is just something I was never interested in doing.