Message Board

For all those Nicholl Quarterfinalists. Semifinalist letters have been sent out. There are 129 semifinalists and, according to the e-mail, a 1 in 2 chance of moving up. Best of Luck to everyone. I hope I'm not the only one waiting for the postman like a complete and total loser!

I'm waiting as well. Living in Tucson the Pony Express delivers a day or two later than the left coast.

Best of luck to all.

Doug

Yeah! I was having a crappy day but now I'm excited to check my mailbox! Good luck to all who made it this far! :)

I'll have my mailbox under 24 hour surveillance, since I'm waiting for the Nicholl and Austin competitions to send me some notifications.

Good luck to everyone.

By the way, keep writing!

Doug

Hey there fellow nail-biters,

Doug makes a good point ("keep writing"). I got absolutely NO work done this morning because I was waiting for the mail.

One good thing about my very very recent move to California is that mail FROM California gets to me much quicker now! It used to take an extra two days to get to Connecticut. Anyway, I got my Nicholl letter today -- it was much thinner than the quarterfinalist letter, so I didn't want to open it. I figured that, as with college acceptance letters, thick envelope equals good, thin envelope equals bad.

Made the cut, though! Whew. So folks, good luck, and don't fear those thin envelopes.

Colleen

Congrats Collen,

May you go all the way!

My screenplay, "sadly", did not advance. However, I am writing my next entrant.

Best wishes to all those in the semifinals.

Keep writing

Doug

Great going everybody!

GO COLLEEN!

Man, I wish I was in your shoes right now. The WAITING is the killer. I just want to KNOW, you know?

So, you're in the top 2.5 of 5500. Feel good. Feel damn good!

Babs

Doug, you made the quarterfinals? How in hell did I miss that?!! Fingers crossed for you, and hello, Nashville!

Colleen,

Looks like we'll both be competing in the semi-finals. Just got my letter Saturday.

The Caddy is a great script and deserves the attention. I hope that we can both advance into the next round.

Thanks for the support Daphne.

I hope that everyone else gets good news.

Please let all of us know, good or bad.

Despite what happens --

Keep writing.

Doug

Hey Doug, congratulations!

Geez, 129...can you believe it?

Personally I am not even hoping that I'll go any farther than this...

Well, maybe just a teeeeny bit...

To all of us who DIDN'T make it only, allow me to help you deal with the pain:

Except for these recent tax checks, nothing good and REAL, ever comes in the mail. At least in this industry.

That is to say over:

If your phone ain't ringing, it ain't happening.

If your phone ain't ringing, it ain't real.

Yet.

Rule of thumb. It's true. Rest easy.

Craig

(and congrats to those of you who made it)

Congrats Doug and Colleen. I am sooo jealous. Let's hope this is the one that leads to the big break.

Thanks Paula. Keep after it.

Doug

My script, Island Games, also managed to wriggle its way into the semis. Good luck to all the moviebytes people.

Watching you (the advancing writers) pass me by, I feel inclined to read your scripts.

So, are any of you inclined to share what has been found worthy to excel?

Congrats to all who advanced to ANY level. It's very impressive.

Susan p.s. I had a dream that I made it to the Nicholl's semi's. Does that count?

Does anyone know of any place to go to check out all these contests? Does anyone check results? How many movies result from winning a competition, how many are actually sold? Also, does any site list judges and tell us about their industry connections or bio? Looks like some of use could use a consumer's guide to these things.

I don't know where that kind of info is available, John, but the next best thing is to check the Report Card for each contest on this site. Have you don't that?

Some contests list judges on their website, which you can link to from here. Of course, these are the judges who read only the finalists. Before that stage, the reads are by nameless volunteers. In most cases. (In some small contests, the head guy reads all scripts)

CORRECTION: Have you DONE that?