Screenplay Contests that accept screenplays adapted from other source material.
Subscribe to the MovieBytes Screenwriting Contest Newsletter for weekly screenplay contest deadline alerts!
Final Deadline: 06/27/2019
Emerging Screenwriter Award Winner (Selected from 7 Genre Award Winners) ISA Development Slate Invitation 1 Year ISAConnect with access to Writing Gigs and Industry Pros Accepted Genres: Action/Adventure, Comedy, Drama, Historical/Bio, Horror/Thriller, Mystery/Crime, Sci Fi/Fantasy Our goal is to help you, the emerging screenwriter develop as a storyteller, show off your talents to the industry, and provide you with a cash prize to propel you along in your screenwriting career.
Overall rating: 
Final Deadline: 06/29/2019
Introducing the first annual 2019 inaugural for “Your Script Produced!” Worldwide Screenwriting Competition sponsored by Doval Bacall Films. The sponsor will fully fund, develop, package and produce the Grand Prize Winning Film script for $250,000.00 USD. Open to anyone 18 years old or older. Anyone 16 or 17 years of age can submit, must have a parental consent form.
Overall rating:
Final Deadline: 06/30/2019
Horror is one of the most beloved genres in filmmaking. Many screenwriters and filmmakers have broken into the industry through horror filmmaking. If you have a great horror feature film screenplay, we'd love to consider it for this year's grand prize. Meet the 2019 jury: Ryan Turek, VP of Development at Blumhouse Productions (company credits include PARANORMAL ACTIVITY, INSIDIOUS, SINISTER, OCULUS, THE PURGE, OUIJA, THE GREEN INFERNO, Academy-award nominee WHIPLASH and UNFRIENDED).
Overall rating:
Final Deadline: 06/30/2019
Breaking Walls is a contest for thriller screenplays with contacts at established Hollywood literary representation and production companies who have agreed to consider the full winning script and the top finalists' loglines. Well-written thrillers are always an excellent way for writers to show Hollywood pros a combination of commerciality, unique voice, and a clear understanding of effective feature film narrative.
Overall rating: 
Final Deadline: 06/30/2019
Now accepting Features, Shorts, Pilots and Docs! Every 6 months, at least one filmmaker will be awarded this production grant of up to $30,000 in production funds. We announce the winner(s) 6 weeks after each final deadline. We are accepting applications from around the world (in English). Whether you have a simple screenplay or a film, pilot or documentary that’s already in production, we want to consider your short screenplay or in-production short film project.
Overall rating:
Final Deadline: 06/30/2019
Script Summit is a festival dedicated to supporting screenwriters. You will have the opportunity to connect with directors, producers, and other writers at the Script Summit Networking Event. The Summit also hosts Q&A panels, seminars, table reads of selected scripts, an awards dinner, and over $1,500 in cash prizes! We are very excited to announce that we have partnered with the famous Action on Film MEGAfest! This allows all of our writers with officially selected scripts, the chance to attend the AoF.
Overall rating:
Final Deadline: 07/01/2019
The Action on Film 15th Annual Film Festival celebrates and honors WRITERS of all genres and formats like no other festival does. $2000 in CASH PRIZES for TOP Winners. Now in our 15th year, our Film Festival has garnered a solid reputation as being one of the premier Writing competitions. The AOF MegaFest has created a solid community of Filmmakers and Writers from around the globe.
Overall rating:
Final Deadline: 07/10/2019
CALL FOR ENTRIES! Shriekfest, the Los Angeles Horror/SciFi Film Festival continues its tradition as Los Angeles' Premier horror film event, presenting an exciting program of films each fall with beautiful Los Angeles as its backdrop. Now, in its 19th year, Shriekfest takes place at the legendary Raleigh Studios, which is the largest independent studio operator in the country.
Overall rating:
Final Deadline: 07/11/2019
It’s a fact that rewriting your screenplay or television pilot is an absolutely essential part of the successful process of perfecting story, character, structure, tone and theme. It’s from that reality that The Finish Line Script Competition was created. The Finish Line redefines the screenwriting competition, embracing the rewrite as an essential component in any successful screenplay, and incentivizing every entrant to dig deeper, find their best draft, and win.
Overall rating:
Final Deadline: 07/15/2019
The WeScreenplay Shorts Competition is dedicated to connecting talented short film writers with Oscar-nominated short film directors and creators for advice on how to create emotionally impactful storytelling in short-form content. EVERY ENTRY GETS WRITTEN FEEDBACK WeScreenplay believes that every entrant of a contest should benefit from entering – whether the writer wins or not.
Overall rating:
Final Deadline: 07/15/2019
Write/LA is dedicated to helping writers improve their craft so they can find success in the ultra-competitive world of screenwriting. We award three writers of either feature or television projects the opportunity to come to Los Angeles to improve their craft, experience the industry (which means meeting people currently working in it), and have their work celebrated at an exclusive live read.
Overall rating:
Final Deadline: 07/29/2019
The Slamdance Screenplay Competition is dedicated to discovering and supporting emerging writing talent. We welcome screenplays in every genre, on any topic, from anywhere in the world. A unique feature of the competition is providing constructive feedback for every entrant. In addition to this, we also offer a more intensive coverage service for a supplementary fee.
Overall rating:
Final Deadline: 07/30/2019
To promote and support new talent by creating real and original opportunities. To make Hollywood more accessible than ever before to more aspiring screenwriters, American Gem Short Script Writing Contest: presented by Filmmakers Magazine and Write Brothers, is forming strategic alliances with the powers that be in Film, TV and Literary Publishing.
Overall rating:
Final Deadline: 07/31/2019
To make Hollywood more accessible than ever before to more aspiring global screenwriters, Filmmakers is forming strategic alliances with the powers that be in Film and TV Script Writing; who are in search of top Screenplays & Writers... Filmmakers Championing Emerging Artists. FilmMakers International Screenwriting Awards has been in existence since 2000 (formerly known as The Radmin Company / FilmMakers.
Overall rating:
Final Deadline: 07/31/2019
To make Hollywood more accessible than ever before to more aspiring screenwriters, 1st TV Script Writing Competition is forming strategic alliances with the powers that be in Film & TV, who are on the lookout for exceptional talent and TV scripts. The 1st TV Script Writing Competition is presented by FilmMakers Magazine. It wasn't that long ago that for a writer to get discovered he or she had to reside in or around Hollywood.
Overall rating:
Final Deadline: 07/31/2019
The Filmmatic Comedy Screenplay Awards were created to locate and expose up-and-coming comedic screenwriters, as well as to empower and educate those talented writers still waiting for their invitation into the mainstream film and television industries. Competition is open to comedic feature-length and short works, screenplays and teleplays.
Overall rating:
Final Deadline: 08/07/2019
Enter now for a chance to have your script read by professional actors! Every script submitted is in the running to be one of 2 scripts chosen to be read in front of our audience and an Industry Insider at a West Hollywood Theatre. Our event can also be Live Streamed. So if a writer is selected from outside LA they will be able to watch online and receive feedback live from the Insider, the audience, and the online viewers - as if they are sitting in the theatre.
Overall rating:
Final Deadline: 08/15/2019
Do you have a great script but don't have the access to the industry to move it forward? That's what we're here for. This is the 10th season of the ISA Fast Track Fellowship. With each passing year we continue to find fresh and original voices to pair up with eight veteran industry mentors for an intense, career-launching week in Los Angeles.
Overall rating:
Final Deadline: 08/15/2019
Founded by longtime residents and movie veterans alike, the Sherman Oaks Film Festival looks to showcase the best undiscovered movies in the heart of Los Angeles. The neighborhood that was home the mall in Fast Times At Ridgemont High deserves a world class film festival! The Sherman Oaks Film Festival has a category for unproduced screenplays of any length, feature or short or in between.
Overall rating:
Final Deadline: 08/18/2019
Our Director of the Screenplay Competition is a working writer himself. We carefully select our Judges and try to assist the screenplay winners in their journey to sell their manuscripts. Exposure is half the battle. Our priority has always been the writer. Read our reviews on FilmFreeway and you'll see what past writers and filmmakers think of our competition.
Overall rating:
Final Deadline: 08/30/2019
The objective of the Moondance International Film Festival is to inspire, motivate, promote and encourage the best writers & independent filmmakers, from every country in the world, and to inspire a greater understanding about the vital role of the arts in enhancing creativity, community spirit, and the preservation of our cultural heritage.
Overall rating:
Final Deadline: 09/20/2019
The Filmmatic TV Pilot Awards were created to locate and expose up-and-coming TV and web-series writers, as well as to empower and educate passionate and talented screenwriters still waiting for their invitation into the mainstream industry. Competition is open to TV pilots, webisodes and inventive TV-series scripts of all genres. Season 4 results will post by November 15, 2019.
Overall rating:
Final Deadline: 09/30/2019
Our panel of Hollywood industry professionals is looking for the next great drama and comedy TV pilots for network, cable and online platforms! Accepting web series and non-traditional series pilots as well. Three winners will receive cash awards and introductions to industry professionals. The Industry Jury: This year's jury is our best one yet! Our industry judges are looking for fresh voices in comedy and drama writing for television and web series! Our mission is to connect great TV writers with great TV producers, managers and development executives.
Overall rating:
Final Deadline: 10/15/2019
Our intention is to help open doors for the aspiring television writer. There are four categories you can submit to, which include 1 hour existing spec scripts, 1/2 hour existing sitcom spec scripts, original pilots, and reality programs. This competition is designed with the TV writer and crossover screenwriter in mind. The participants we have chosen to read the winning scripts are individuals from established production companies.
Overall rating:
Final Deadline: 10/30/2019
To discover innovative, marketable, high-concept projects for studio-level development, including feature screenplays, TV material, and media content.
Overall rating:
Final Deadline: 10/31/2019
Top scripts will be considered by our industry jury of executives, writers, and managers who focus on the action and thriller genres: Jenny Wood, Elevate Entertainment Manager of Taylor Sheridan, writer of Hell or High Water, Sicario and Sicario: Day of the Soledado. Belle Avery, Appelles Entertainment Producer of The Meg, a big budget action adventure starring Jason Statham in theaters August 10th.
Overall rating:
Final Deadline: 10/31/2019
Filmmatic coined a slogan, "Hidden screenplays never get produced". As writers, we spend a lot of our precious time crafting unique scripts, yet we hardly ever employ an equal level of passion when attempting to get our work into the "right hands". The exposure and prestige one can gain from placing or winning a screenplay competition is invaluable, but what do you say this time around we also get you PITCHING! Let's get proactive, let's pick a production company that makes sense for our project, tell them we were a Pitch Now Finalist or Winner, and get them to review our work, now not later ;) All 100 finalists will be able to pitch to a studio or production company of their choice via Virtual Pitch Fest! The competition is open to feature-length and short works, screenplays and teleplays.
Overall rating:
Final Deadline: 11/01/2019
Cinequest voted Best Film Festival by USA Today Readers. Cinequest voted Best Film Festival by USA Today Readers. The Cinequest Screenplay Competition empowers global screenwriters through discovery, recognition, and opportunity. Cinequest loves writers, and we welcome you to submit your screenplay or teleplay to our renowned competition.
Overall rating:
Final Deadline: 11/03/2019
Our Manager Panel. Your Script. Coverage Ink's Get Repped Now is not actually a contest - it's a promotion. From Sept. 3 through Oct. 20, 2019, all scripts submitted to www.coverageink.com or www.getreppednow.com for coverage which score a 'consider' (or better) for script are elevated to our manager panel (appx. the top 5%.) We work with the top literary managers in town, and they are looking for the best writers around.
Overall rating:
Final Deadline: 11/11/2019
In 2019, the Omaha Film Festival was recognized as one of the 50 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee by MovieMaker Magazine. The Omaha Film Festival celebrates the artistic, educational, and historical importance of motion pictures. It gives independent film artists a platform for sharing their work and creating a dialogue with the community.
Overall rating:
Final Deadline: 11/30/2019
SUCCESS! We say we are looking for a film to produce and we mean it. Our 2017 winner completed principal photography in May 2018 and is in post-production! "Becoming" by Omar Naim won our Grand Prize and is going to hit the screens with Omar himself directing! We will keep sharing updates on "Becoming" as it progresses.. Circus Road wants to find a great project to produce.
Overall rating:
Final Deadline: 12/15/2019
The BlueCat Screenplay Competition, now in its 22nd year, is accepting submissions for its 2020 competition. Founded in 1998 by award-winning writer Gordy Hoffman, BlueCat has supported thousands of screenwriters through written analysis provided to all entrants, many of whom have gone on to successful careers in the film and television industry.
Overall rating:
Final Deadline: 12/31/2019
Calling all family-friendly feature film screenplays! Families are the most influential moviegoing audience, yet there’s a surprising lack of high-quality films that appeal to the WHOLE family. This contest avoids the genre-bias of some other contests by seeking exclusively screenplays that are life-affirming stories of faith, courage, hope and love.
Overall rating:
Final Deadline: 01/22/2020
The First 10 Pages Script Competition recognizes and showcases exceptional feature and television writing in all genres.
Overall rating:
Final Deadline: 03/19/2020
Mission: Faith in Film is dedicated to forging a screenwriting competition that will launch the careers of filmmakers focused on adding the element of faith to their films and facilitate established filmmakers in transitioning into making more faith films. Our aim is to build a festival that will introduce faith based films to mass audiences, ultimately, giving them the same multi platform release schedules and revenue streams that traditional studio films and high end independent films enjoy; and to inspire, showcase, support, and develop filmmakers of all faith’s to make great faith based films that leave others touched, moved and inspired; and filmmakers and distributors empowered to make and distribute more faith and family films.
Overall rating:
Final Deadline: 03/19/2020
We are a team of artists that want nothing more than to support the next generation of filmmakers and screenwriters from around the world. Specifically, those storytellers that passionate about telling stories about our communities in the U.S. and abroad, from inner city Atlanta, LA, New York, Oakland, Detroit, Chicago, and Milwaukee to Africa, Brazil, and the Caribbean, to Wall Street and the streets of London to the NBA.
Overall rating:
Final Deadline: 04/10/2020
New York International Screenplay Awards is an international screenplay competition for screenwriters who aspire to connect with the USA industry workers and explore the US markets. NYISA winners will be connected to the US film industry by InkTip Magazine, iPitch. tv, and Script Mailer. They’ll be registered for free at CreatersVault, and will receive free screenwriting courses from Script Reader Pro, plus, detailed analysis and free consultations by Coverage Ink… And much more! NYISA’s valued jury members are industry professionals such as Producers, Script Doctors, Directors, Actors and Screenwriters.
Overall rating:
Final Deadline: 04/29/2019 (expired)
Scriptapalooza was founded in 1998 with the goal of helping as many writers as possible through the competition. We have over 90 production companies, agents and managers reading all the entered scripts. (A complete list of participants is on Scriptapalooza's website.) We actively push the Semifinalists, Finalists, Runners-Up and Winners for a full year with the intention of creating opportunities for the writers.
Overall rating:
Final Deadline: 05/15/2019 (expired)
The Ultimate Runway Now in our 25th year, the Austin Film Festival has been catapulting writers into life-changing careers for over two decades. Whether your dream is to sign a contract, land an agent, learn from an industry icon, or take home the coveted Bronze Typewriter Award, it’s simple: you can’t win if you don’t enter.
Overall rating:
Final Deadline: 06/23/2019 (expired)
WriteMovies has been helping writers succeed since 1999! Now in our 20th anniversary year, we are currently accepting entries to our Spring 2019 Screenwriting Contest! One Week Extension: Final Deadline now Sunday June 23rd! Grand Prize: $2000 A year of free script development worth up to $3200 Guaranteed pitching to industry Exclusive prizes from InkTip Get free entry to the contest when you commission a script report, with Judging Feedback from just $89 Through our exclusive arrangement with TALENTSCOUT INTERNATIONAL MANAGEMENT (TSIM) we can guarantee the contest winner representation.
Overall rating:
Final Deadline: 05/30/2019 (expired)
To help launch the careers of undiscovered screenwriters and give unprecedented access to studio-level executives.
Overall rating:
Final Deadline: Contact contest for deadline info.
To assist the aspiring screenwriter in realizing his/her dream of becoming a professional screenwriter. To eliminate industry chokepoints that stifle creativity and impede screenplay access to managers,agents & producers.
Overall rating:
Final Deadline: 05/08/2019 (expired)
To recognize excellence in screenwriting of shorts and features in a wide variety of genres.
Overall rating:
Final Deadline: 11/11/2018 (expired)
Open to writers of all levels and backgrounds, the StoryPros International's objective is to recognize, support and promote your work with financial rewards, software and services -- as well as providing an open door to industry professionals with guaranteed reads and promotion to our network of contacts. Past entrants and winners have gone on to representation, options, assignments and sales.
Overall rating:
Final Deadline: Contact contest for deadline info.
The GOTHAM SCREEN Film Festival and Screenplay Contest will take place Oct 7-10, 2010, in New York City. An opportunity for filmmakers to have their work shown and critically judged in New York, Gotham Screen is looking for fresh voices and perspectives from local, national and international filmmakers. The mission of the festival is to create a positive industry and audience exposure for works that would otherwise not easily get seen.
Overall rating:
Final Deadline: 04/30/2019 (expired)
To find the best GENRE scripts. Genre scripts are bought and produced more than 10 to 1 over the serious drama, tentpole or quirky scripts that usually win screenplay contests. This contest pits genre scripts only against scripts within their genre, and seeks to identify and promote to the industry the very best in each genre -- in other words, the scripts with the very best chances in the marketplace.
Overall rating:
Final Deadline: Contact contest for deadline info.
The Garden State Film Festival was founded in 2008 to promote the art of filmmaking on all levels by showcasing a wide variety of film, video and animated works, as well as to provide educational programs in the creative arts to the public by industry leaders. Our goal is to present films of the highest quality in both production value and content.
Overall rating:
Final Deadline: Contact contest for deadline info.
BE SCENE - For 4 years now, ACEFEST has been one of the most anticipated annual events on the industry calendar. The American Cinematic Experience goes far beyond film exhibition and into the very most primitive stages of production - writing. The Great American Screenplay Competition is seeking the best writers from coast to coast and it could be you! With an always impressive roster of judges, a growing bundle of rewards and nearly 55,000+ industry players waiting eagerly to see the winner's work, this is your chance to get your script seen!
Overall rating:
Final Deadline: Contact contest for deadline info.
Have you ever asked yourself "How will anyone know how good my screenplay is, if it never made into a film?" Here is your chance to see your screenplay brought to life. The winner in each category will receive a custom certificate or festival plaque. Also, winners are eligible for IMDB credit as this competition is an IMDB qualified event.
Overall rating:
Final Deadline: 05/02/2019 (expired)
The Table Read My Screenplay – Screenplay Contest will help you to propel your screenwriting career forward with a transformative Table Read showcase experience, an opportunity to confidently pitch to a range of over 200 industry professionals with the title of “Grand Prize Winner” at the 23rd Annual Hollywood Pitch Festival, and a support mechanism for layering a long-term career with an invitation to be a part of the elite ISA Development Slate.
Overall rating:
