1st Annual Screenplay Competition
Enter now for a chance to
win the Grand Prize valued at over $2,700 in cash and prizes,
and your screenplay read by top industry insiders!
So you’re a screenwriter and you’ve written a screenplay... Great! So now what do you do? Over 50,000 scripts are registered with the WGA every year — yet the hard part is only 600 to 800 scripts are produced each year. FilmStream is looking to help you - and we’re hosting this contest in real world style – using the exact same process produced Hollywood screenwriters experience step by step.
ROUND 1
In Hollywood, it all starts with the Pitch. And so does this contest.
Logline: A brief description of your screenplay.
What’s the first thing a producer, agent or director wants to know ... what’s your story about?
“Pitch me, 25 words or less.” — Steven Spielberg
Pitch us your story. Who’s it about, what’s the conflict, and what’s the arc? If it’s
important to the story, where does it take place? It doesn’t have to be limited to 25
words but should not be more than two or thee sentences.
Hint at the ending but don’t give it away. And please avoid simply stating
“It’s like Tootsie meets The Road Warrior.”
Examples: A headstrong farm-boy must learn to become a warrior in order to join a
galactic rebellion against an evil empire.
— Star Wars
The aging patriarch of an organized crime dynasty transfers control of his clandestine
empire to his reluctant son.
— The Godfather
Each logline will be seen and voted on by at least 5 of our judges. They will each assign a value on a scale from 1 to 10, and the top 100 loglines with the highest scores will move on to round 2 - the semifinals.
ROUND 2
Here’s where you get to flush out your story — the one-page synopsis.
A one-page synopsis is essential when you send out query letters. If an agent or producer is interested in your script, often times you’ll be asked to provide a one-page synopsis so they can get a feel for your story without having to read the whole screenplay. Don’t give away your ending. You want to lure the reader into reading your entire screenplay.
The logline along with your one-page synopsis will be a very important part of the package of tools that we’ll be using when we pitch the winning screenplays to our network of agents, directors, producers and production companies. So make them amazing!
“A good log line conveys the basic plotline, the hook, tone and genre of a script, which is perniciously tough to do in one sentence. It's an essential tool to sell a screenplay, and the sharper it is, the better your project comes across. A brief synopsis expands on the hook and fills in the blanks; it also illuminates the strengths and weaknesses of your plot. Both are vital skills to have.” — Mary Brown, Story Analyst, Sony Pictures, DreamWorks SKG, Castle Rock, HBO and many more.
Each one-page synopsis will be read and voted on by at least 5 of our judges. They will each assign a value on a scale from 1 to 10, and the top 10 scripts with the highest scores will be in competition for the final round.
ROUND 3
Each script will be read and voted on by at least 3 of our judges. They will each assign a value on a scale from 1 to 10 in four different categories. Dialogue, Characters, Story Arc and Marketability (this includes overall story strength).
Judges will have the option to comment on your screenplay package (logline, synopsis and script) during each phase of the competition. Available feedback will be sent to contestants at the end of each round.
And Here are the Prizes!
Winner — Congratulations! You have a great script. Now we want to take it to the next level. Your screenplay will be sent to Mike Cheda for his professional script analysis. This service is valued at $1,000. Mike taught script analysis at the American Film Institute and has worked as a development executive at numerous production companies, including HBO and Walt Disney Studios.
Mike will give your script a rigorous examination
and e-mail you a detailed analysis of your work page by page, scene by scene with specific suggestions about how
to improve story, structure, action, characterization, dialogue, formatting and anything else he thinks needs to
be done ... He won’t just critique your material — he’ll also give you step-by-step directions on how to
bring it up to professional standards.
“...the best resource out there for making scripts that sell.” ~ Blake Snyder, author of SAVE THE CAT! The Last Book on Screenwriting You’ll Ever Need!, speaking about Mike Cheda.
Once you complete Mike’s program and turn in your new draft, you’ll be awarded $1,000! Using our network of established professionals, FilmStream will then take your logline, one-page synopsis and revised screenplay and spend the next year looking to find your story a home.*
PLUS
The Winner will receive Write Brothers professional screenplay software — Screenplay Studio valued at over $700.00.
2nd Place — Your screenplay will be analyzed by Matt Stevens.
Matt has sold both fiction and documentary projects and worked as a script analyst for many companies, including Creative Artists Agency. He’s the co-author of Script Partners: What Makes Film and TV Writing Teams Work, about the art of collaborative scriptwriting. For five years, Matt taught graduate and undergraduate screenwriting classes at the Florida State Film School and has since conducted workshops across the country, including the L.A. Creative Screenwriting Expo (where he was named “Star Speaker”). He is a film critic and writes articles for E! Online, plus contributes to numerous new-media outlets. Matt’s screenwriting analysis service is valued at $500.00.
Once you’ve completed your new draft, we’ll work with our professional network and use your logline and one-page synopsis to shop your screenplay around town.*
PLUS
The 2nd Place Winner will receive Write Brothers professional screenplay software Screenwriter 6 and Dramatica Pro valued at over $500.00.
3rd Place — You’ll be awarded the story creation software of Write Brothers Dramatica Pro valued at over $250.00.
“The software takes you to a story-development environment, where you’ll solve the plot and character problems that prevent many good stories from becoming good enough to sell. Dramatica’s StoryGuide assists you from the initial idea all the way through to completed narrative treatment, inspiring you and supporting you along the way.”
Prizes for all Final Round Contestants
Each Final Round Contestant will receive a signed copy of How to Adapt Anything into a Screenplay by Richard Krevolin.
“Aspiring and established screenwriters everywhere, take note! This down-to-earth guide is the first to clearly articulate the craft of adaptation. Drawing on his own experience and on fourteen years of teaching, screenwriter Richard Krevolin presents his proven five-step process for adapting anything-from novels and short stories to newspaper articles and poems-into a screenplay.”
PLUS
Each Final Round Contestant will receive a signed copy of Script Partners: What Makes Film and TV Writing Teams Work by Claudia Johnson and Matt Stevens.
“When I saw some of the people in SCRIPT PARTNERS, I said, ‘I’ve got to go out and buy this book!’”
— Carl Reiner, Writer, Director, Actor, Producer, and Father.
And your choice of two of the following “must have” books on screenwriting.
Submit your screenplay package. (You must be a FilmStream member to apply. Click here to join. Membership is free.) Competition ends October 31st.
Fee: $25 to pitch your story to 5 industry professionals.
All entries will receive an official badge on their FilmStream script details page.
Official Entry in the FilmStream 2009 Screenplay Competition
Prize ribbons will be added if your screenplay moves into the higher rounds. So even if you’re not the top script this time around, your screenplay will still catch the interest of the many directors, producers and production companies that are FilmStream members.
Contest judges:
Kevin Alber: Screenwriter, Director, Producer — upcoming reality series Race to Space
Elizabeth Allen: Screenwriter, Director — Aquamarine, Ramona and Beezus
Mike Cheda: Producer, Screenwriter — Chill Factor, Script Analyst
Terry Cunningham: Screenwriter, Director — Con Express, El Dorado
Pamela Douglas: Screenwriter, Author — Writing the TV Drama Series, Professor at USC School of Cinematic Arts.
Jeff Freeman, A.C.E.: Film Editor — Cruel Intentions, Paul Blart: Mall Cop
Richard Gabai: Screenwriter, Director — Call of the Wild, Popstar, Producer — Deal, Supercross
Glenn Garland: Film Editor — The Devil’s Rejects, Halloween 1 & 2
John Gilbert, A.C.E.: Film Editor — Scorpion King: Rise of a Warrior, Road Trip: Beer Pong
Brett Hedlund: Film Editor — Supercross, Blast
Lew Hunter: Author — Lew Hunter’s Screenwriting 434, UCLA Department of Film and Television — Chairman Emeritus and Professor of Screenwriting
Ashley Kruythoff: Paradigm Talent Agency
Lawrence A. Maddox: Editor — From Dusk Till Dawn 3: The Hangman’s Daughter, ABC’s Life on Mars
Lisa Medwid: Vice President of John Calley Productions — Closer, DiVinci Code, Jane Austin Book Club
Tom and Tim Mullen: Screenwriters — One of the Guys with Sandra Bullock attached to star and recently adapted the British novel The Swap for Columbia Pictures.
Chevonne O’Shaughnessy: Producer — Phase IV, Jack Hunter and the Treasure of Ugarit,
Women in Film — Board of Directors
Michael Palmieri: — Screenwriter, Producer — Six Days Seven Nights, Playback, Producers Guild of America — Founding Board Member
Dave Payne: Screenwriter, Director, Producer — Addams Family Reunion, Reeker
Jeff Probst: Director, Producer, Host of CBS’s Survivor
Tripp Reed: Screenwriter, Director, Producer — Rapid Exchange, Walking Tall: The Payback
Sandy Schklair: Screenwriter, Script Supervisor — The Devil’s Rejects, The Code
Jeffrey Schwarz: President & CEO Automat Pictures
Tracee Stanley: Producer — The Whole Nine Yards, 3000 Miles to Graceland
Matt Stevens: Screenwriter, Script Analyst, Author — Script Partners: What Makes Film and TV Writing Teams Work
Kristoffer Tabori: Actor — Avatar: The Last Airbender, Director, Producer — Pursued
Kevin Tenney: Screenwriter, Director, Producer — Witchboard, Night of the Demons
* We can’t guarantee to sell your script, but we’ll do our best to put it in the right hands of top Industry professionals.
Official Rules: