Message Board

A question for clarification purposes. On the original message, it says enter more than three features and be eligible for the random drawing of a seat in the Lab, but in the blog post on the Champion site, it says three or more gets you into the drawing.

As someone who submitted three scripts yesterday, I'm hopeful it's the latter and not the former.

Is anyone else still waiting on feedback from their June entry?

I emailed them yesterday, and haven't heard anything back since.

Regarding Austin, I received the following in an email from Matt Dy, the Competition Director:

"We will be announcing advancements soon. Notification letters will go out to First Round and Second Round contestants by September 2. Semi-finalists will also be notified by this date. The feedback included in this year's entry fee will be sent out shortly after this. Finalists will be announced by September 23 and then, of course, the winners will be announced on Saturday, October 23, 2010 at the Austin Film Festival's Awards Luncheon held at the historic Austin Club."

Haven't received anything from Slamdance. Withoutabox says "approximately September 30th" for notification.

Collision Course - Leno and Pat Morita (Mr. Miyagi). Horrible movie, but Leno got off a few hilarious lines. Good decision for him to never act again.

Very excited to have made it this far in the competition.

I've got two in the quarterfinals. This has truly been a great week...

Very, very nice. Congratulations to all. For me, it's going to feel like forever until they announce the top 30 November 12th.

This first year has been extremely satisfying, I've got to admit...

Thrilled to have advanced, but I wish I knew which script made it.

Nice, thanks very much. Not sure how I missed that, but I guess it confirms that my meager ability of observation did not advance.

Congrats to you, as well.

I'm waiting on feedback from my August entry. Donna sent out the email on the 30th of December saying she'd get to it as soon as she could, and also said we'd get one free entry in 2011.

It's beat that I have to wait so long for the feedback, especially since I'm holding off on using my scriptdelivery.net prize from my Honorable Mention finish until the synopsis comes back.

That said, Script Savvy is incredible value for money, so how much can I complain? If it was one of the other contests that provides feedback which pales in comparison to what Donna delivers, I'd be pretty bent up about the delay.

I received my feedback last week, and it was insightful and pretty much outstanding overall, as always.

This is hilarious. The person who said Donna White should suck it up and "get over it" because she was having difficulty dealing with a gravely ill parent is now taking the whambulance for a spin around the MovieBytes town square.

I'd suggest getting a dog to cheer you up, but your post says you already have one. Maybe Zoloft instead?

Received my feedback on the script I entered for the April contest. The fact that I didn't place in the top 10 certainly disappointed me, but I've realized that it obviously depends on the reader with these contests, like anything else in this business.

However, now that I've gotten my feedback, I'm missing Script Savvy a lot. With STA, for $65, I received about two-thirds of a page worth of feedback, and whoever wrote it couldn't even get my main antagonist's name right. $59 with Script Savvy got approximately three times as much of a review and breakdown that was truly aimed at improving my script. The $99 Script Savvy option blew STA out of the water.

If you're entering the contest to win money, I understand. I can't speak to STA's ability to market your script for you, although their website does claim past success in the past when they had a different name.

For me, I'm gonna wait on Script Savvy to get back into their groove and get real value for money with the incredible feedback they provide. I'll pass on STA going forward.

Thanks for the personalized response, but I have no interest in a refund. I was just giving other MovieByters a review of my experience compared to other contests.

I can get a little more detailed. The info that I consider relevant in feedback is what is specific to my script. For example, the following, included in my "3-4 page" feedback, I do not consider helpful:

ABOUT THE JUDGING CRITERIA Your script was judged based on the criteria specified in the FAQ and in the disclosure on the registration page. Here is a very basic and general breakdown (Note: this is not set in stone, but simply a guide): CHARACTERIZATION Were your characters simply expressions of attitude or fully and richly developed with their own unique voice. Character development is crucial as well as character arc. Did you have a well developed protagonist and antagonist?

Regarding the name issue, my antagonist's name was referred to as Jamal throughout the 367-word feedback, which is not correct. Perhaps I'm nitpicking, but if you were giving feedback to the author of "Shawshank Redemption" and you kept referring to the main characters as Randy and Fred, how much confidence would that give the author that the reader really took the time to analyze the script? It would make it seem more as though the reader flew through the pages.

I think the idea of posting a sample of what feedback looks like is a good one. I've got an even better one. You have my email address from my entry. Email me, and I'll send you a copy of the $59 feedback I got on an earlier version of the same script from Script Savvy.

I'm not saying STA has to be Script Savvy, but if they really are out of the game, then your contest has the chance to become the best monthly around. If your feedback really could pinpoint exactly what a writer like myself needs to do to improve their script, maybe that #1 spot for STA can become a reality.

Similar to an article from the Times a few months ago (which the author credits), but so few write as well as Chuck Klosterman:

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/6581741/are-spoilers-flipping-script