New substack just posted. It's my response to a question posted on social media that I felt others could benefit from: Why contests, fellowships, grants, etc. charge an entry fee!
https://travisseppala.substack.com/p/why-contestsfellowshipsgrants-charge
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Must-read article, Travis Seppala! I picked the early deadlines back when I was entering paid contests so it would be cheaper. I've been thinking about entering paid contests again. I didn't know entry fees are tax deductible. Thanks. And thanks for sharing the article.
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Maurice Vaughan I may need to do an article about doing taxes as a screenwriter. There's a LOT that's tax deductible as business expenses: contest fees, membership fees (even Stage 32 writers' room cost), meals where you take someone out to discuss projects with, screenwriting software, etc.
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That's a great idea, Travis Seppala!
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Good article. Interestingly enough, after years of screenwriters throwing money at anything and everything, many seem to have gone completely the other way, and are now calling anything that costs money a scam. I don't understand why we can't find the middle ground.
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Many writers get the "pay me 2000$ and I'll 'fix' your script and get it packaged" line on here, and elsewhere. Or 3000$. Or more. Ghost writing one for pay can be a fair deal for both parties.
Line by line consensual editing live is not the same thing. It takes time and should be paid for fairly.
But the 'pay me for a page of notes' is often just a run through through AI.
Just MHOP.
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Fantastic blog, Travis Seppala! Love it and couldn't have said it better myself. Readers always deserve to be paid. A good script takes 1.5 - 2 hours to read. A bad script takes much longer. Especially when you have to drum up notes/thoughts after. And good readers aren't handing away their time for free usually. It's a market like anything else.