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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!Wounds of Love and Conspiracy
After an accident cripples the woman he loves, a guilt-ridden, obsessive man takes on America's scars as his own, risking everything to change the course of history and earn the love she freely gives.
Henry, Henry
A deadly act of violence he committed twenty years ago fractured Henry into two personalities — one driven by guilt and confession, the other by denial and survival; the audience is aware of the division, while other characters see only one eccentric person struggling to keep the future from repeating the past.
Rebecca Saves the Human Web
Afraid of her growing anger, a teenage girl in a violent future inhabits the spirit of her dead grandmother and fights to keep a vast web of hate and violence from triggering civilization's collapse.
Virgin, Warrior, Priest, Hero
Over three decades, Lucy passes through innocence, violent delusion, tenderness, and ultimately grace - fractured versions of a soul struggling to survive a world that continually misreads her.
Six Hundred Years of Love
Across six centuries, a man loses the same woman twice — first to God in Renaissance Italy, then to a post-human future — forcing him to choose between eternal love and the survival of humanity.
Healed
A bitter non-believer holds Jesus responsible for losing her daughter.
Laura's List
After years spent being the perfect wife, mother, and grandmother, a 55-year-old widow decides to reclaim herself by writing a list of forbidden desires.
Bubbling Under the Surface
After an elderly Holocaust survivor is nearly murdered in her nursing home bed, her family and the Muslim carer who saved her are pulled into a widening chain of antisemitic attacks, domestic violence, and police investigation that threatens both communities before the hatred spreads further.
The Cajun
When a notorious pirate, made immortal by the curse of a Voodoo Queen, is invited to a mysterious poker game in modern day New Orleans, he discovers a clue to find the treasure that can set him free.
THE ANIMAL LOVER
Elevated Sci-Fi/Horror/Black Comedy (Based on the PD novel “The Camel” by Lord Berners) After a series of uncharted meteor showers, voracious wild animals begin to hatch and kill their prey throughout the British Isles, the timid wife of a starchy country vicar finds the company of a malevolent albino camel more appealing than her husband's! Comps: THE BIRDS meets THE INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS)
