8/28/2023 0 Comments Screenplay career![]() There are, broadly speaking, five types of benefits you can gain from screenwriting competitions: Getting Representation Coverfly curates unique profiles on each of its 150 qualifying competitions, including tabs on Prices & Deadlines, Benefits, and how the previous year’s winners fared. So, what exactly should screenwriters expect to get from entering competitions? Competitions vary widely in how they stand to benefit writers. The takeaway is not to somehow already be established before you enter competitions, but to know what you can expect to get when you do, and have plans in place to spin potential wins and placements into gold.ĭestin Daniel Cretton (Credit: Jake Giles Netter) Understand the Reality In reality, by the time he entered the competition he’d already graduated from film school, interned at Nickelodeon, made a short that won the jury prize at Sundance, and signed to a manager, all of which helped him leverage that win into the career he has today. On paper, he went from an "unknown" filmmaker to indie darling overnight by winning the Nicholl Fellowship. The truth is the majority of screenplay competitions simply aren’t designed to launch careers.Ĭretton is a perfect case study. As if making those connections, getting that prize money or materials package, and taking that initial flurry of industry calls will set you up for a hustle-free future. One of the biggest misconceptions about screenplay competitions could be called the “golden ticket delusion.” This is a belief premised on a misunderstanding of the way competitions work: that winning a decent competition is a magic career fix-all. And when a win doesn’t come, repeating the process without adjustment. ![]() For every Destin Daniel Cretton-whose career was launched when his screenplay for Short Term 12 won a prestigious Academy Nicholl Fellowship in 2010-there are hundreds of screenwriters who spend money every year waiting for a win to make it all worth it. There are plenty of reasons to enter screenwriting competitions, and plenty of reasons not to. What follows is a point-by-point breakdown of competitive screenwriting programs-from what you stand to gain from them and how to weed out the competitions that aren’t worth your time or money, to how to leverage wins and placements into career gains. But doubts about what they can do, and misconceptions about what they should do abound. More accessible than festival labs, easier to win than most studio writing programs, and more professionally rewarding than many fellowships, screenwriting competitions have become a must for screenwriters, from novices to mid-career professionals. For screenwriters, one of the best ways to make inroads toward a successful and gratifying career is by participating in screenwriting competitions.
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