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!LAST FLAG ON OAK ISLAND
When a museum curator and his female assistant translate clues in an American Revolution-era journal describing a British payroll buried on Oak Island, they must go undercover to unearth the treasure before two rival treasure hunters discover it.
NOT ANOTHER VAMPIRE STORY
An embarrassment-prone middle school girl's life gets risky when she suspects her pretty older sister's good-looking boyfriend is really a vampire, and sets out to prove it.
Storm Dragons
In a mystical land where champions fight to the death to keep the peace, the revenge of a chosen warrior against the killer of his family risks starting the bloody war he was bound to prevent.
Curbside Service
A recently separated couple finds themselves stranded in the desert on their way to a family holiday function.
Perfect Beau
A Plain Jane clones her ideal boyfriend out of her girlfriends' boyfriends' DNA for her college senior class project.
Cold Pepper
A law-abiding, church-going court stenographer becomes a one-woman vigilante assassinating violent domestic abusers (and other twisted souls) after their third offense.
Psychotic USA
A dramedy. A twisted view of the ineptness of modern day psychiatric treatment as seen through the lens of four patients in an asylum.
Psycho-Hearts
A world renowned heart transplant surgeon is an absolute magician at finding compatible hearts for wealthy clients.
Nina and Flossie
Three European sisters, in their 70's, scheme to dump a dead body that the eldest killed in the middle of the night as a result of a break-in.
CIRQUE D' ETOILES
*** Russian astronaut, thrown out of the space program, hijacks a space taxi going to the International Space Station.