First Draft Contest Announces Winner
(Edinburg, TX) "Texarkana," an original screenplay by Christopher Lucas of Seattle, Wash., is the winner of the inaugural First Draft Script Writing Contest conducted by The University of Texas-Pan American in conjunction with SCNRWRiT, an Internet e-mail discussion list for screenwriters. Lucas' script was chosen from a field of five finalists by Lou Grant, Los Angeles script consultant and editor of The Hollywood Scriptwriter, a respected industry newsletter.
The other finalists were "Behind The Badge," by Dave Eisenstark of Venice, Calif.; "The Judas Horse," by Blacky Bokich of Berkeley, Calif.; "Holy Land," by Ray Chatelin of Point Roberts, Wash.; and "The Fall In Budapest," by Aniko' J. Bartos of Budapest, Hungary, and Alan C. Baird of Glendale, Calif.
Lucas' "Texarkana" is his first script and, according to script consultant and editor Grant, it is a "very cast-able, character-driven piece."
The competition at the finalist level included thrillers and dramas. Grant was looking for the script among the five which best demonstrated professional writing and a story telling ability which set it apart. This she found in "Texarkana."
The First Draft Script Writing Contest is not actually for first draft scripts, said contest director Dr. Jack R. Stanley.
"One of the realities of the film and television business is that when a producer, studio or network purchases a script, no matter how many rewrites it may have been through to get it to the stage where it is worth buying, the very first thing that happens to that script is that it is stamped, `First Draft,'" Stanley said.
The SCRNWRiT contest, according to Stanley, is an attempt to address that reality. The First Draft Script Writing Contest was open to members of SCRNWRiT (pronounced "screenwrite"), a worldwide e-mail based discussion list for and about the arts and crafts of writing for feature films and television. The list is owned by Dr. Jack R. Stanley, chair of The University of Texas-Pan American's Communication Department, and it is operated from the U.T.P.A. campus in Edinburg, Texas. SCRNWRiT has subscribers from Australia to Israel, Sweden to South Africa, as well from every state in the Union.
Fifty original scripts from the 1,486 members of SCRNWRiT advanced to the quarterfinals in October. Ten of the quarter-finalists made it to the semi-final stage and that group was cut in half with the selection of the final five.
SCRNWRiT is a much-cited source for Internet basics about screen writing. The list's home page, http://www.panam.edu/scrnwrit/, contains the F.A.Q. (frequently asked questions) file which has earned Internet awards for its ease and access to the beginning scripters.
Plans are under way for the 2nd Annual First Draft Script Writing Contest. List owner Dr. Stanley says interested writers should watch the web and professional script writing publications for details.
Updated: 12/15/1998
Additional Contest Info:
ScriptLinks
Post Your Script Here!Happy New Year, Mr. Kates! (Hoilday/Dramedy/Magical Realism)
A contemporary holiday tale about a grumpy old man who resides in the memory unit of nursing home, and is presented with a gripping bargain by a mystical stranger: the chance to swap his inconsequential life for that of a lost child’s, one snowy New Year's Eve.
The Confession (Elevated Horror/Drama/Thriller)
A shy eight-year-old Catholic girl commits a petty crime to have a
Radioland! (Coming of Age/Psychological/Comedy/Drama/Memoir
A naïve 12-year-old boy, falls in love with a fantasy, learns the truth about his fatally flawed hero -- a 1960s Top 40 radio deejay -- and discovers the bittersweet
Bewitching Hitler: The Coven that Beat the Nazis and Saved the Wolrd! (Historical Fiction/Dramedy/Romance - based on actual events.)
A plucky UK/New Forest Witch Coven conjure an ancient magic spell to prevent Hitler from winning World War II.
One, Second Summer (Young Adult/Romance/Sci-Fi/Dramedy)
Second Summer on Cape Cod is usually a quiet time, until a spaceship of wacky extraterrestrials come to visit, and two fearless tween-agers, determined to meet them, find out why.
BOOM!Town (Parody of Crime/Mob Story/Dramedy)
After a bloody car bombing, a blown-off human foot lands on the roof of a retired, cash-poor mob cleaner who schemes to extort the Mafia Don that ordered the hit, unaware his wacky plan may help the FBI catch the cut-throat gangster.
The Tortured Journey of Wounded Souls
In antebellum Virginia, after a white woman is raped and her husband is killed while fleeing to Philadelphia, she has to depend on a proud young slave she considers inferior to protect her on the perilous trek north while hotly pursued by bandits and slave catchers.
ARCHIVAL
When a down-on-his-luck reporter is hired to ghostwrite the memoirs of a legendary statesman, he gains access to the presidential library of a disgraced politician— only to find himself trapped in a violent hostage siege.
LINCOLN PLACE
In 2001, a struggling stand-up comic relocates to Brooklyn, where a rundown brownstone full of misfits and a haunted past force him to confront his demons — onstage and off.
Misguided Illusions
In the world of Drag Queens, there's a fine line between fantasy and reality.