Screenplay Contests that accept screenplays adapted from other source material.
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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.
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Final Deadline: 04/13/2020
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.
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Final Deadline: 04/14/2020
We Seek Romantic Comedy Screenplays And Stage Plays, From 80-120 Pages In Length. GOAL: We Hope To Discover Amazing Stories, Have A Great Time With Cool People, Improving Movie Development Along The Way. We’re Creating A Slate Of Romantic Comedy Stories That We Can Stage And Shortly Thereafter – Shoot As Movies. YOU: You Write, And Have A Fresh, Fun Romantic Comedy With Great Structure, Juicy Plot And Vivid Characters – And You’d Like To Share It With Us! Your Piece May Be A Feature Length Movie Screenplay, Or A Play That Would Adapt Well To A Movie.
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Final Deadline: 04/18/2020
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.
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Final Deadline: 04/20/2020
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.
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Final Deadline: 04/22/2020
The Writers Lab, produced by IRIS and New York Women in Film & Television and supported by Meryl Streep and Nicole Kidman, is open for submissions of screenplays by women over the age of 40 ABOUT THE LAB The Writers Lab brings 12 women screenwriters over the age of 40 with promising scripts together with outstanding professional female filmmakers for an intensive four-day screenwriting development retreat of one-on-one meetings, panel discussions and other activities designed to inspire the artists; to prompt rigorous creative exploration; and, through revision, to cultivate first-rate cinematic stories.
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Final Deadline: 04/30/2020
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.
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Final Deadline: 04/30/2020
Whether you have a romantic comedy or an action-comedy blockbuster, we want to read your script. Big or small, our jury is looking for smart scripts with strong command of the craft, lots of heart and unique comedic voices. All entries are eligible for optional feedback from a studio-trained professional reader.
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Final Deadline: 04/30/2020
Lets hear it for the screenwriters people! The backbone, yet often overlooked, of the film industry. Screenwriters are a group of people who would love to have their work recognized but seldom do. The Florida Short Script Challenge is aiming to change that. We ourselves are screenwriters and have been for four years now. We know the struggle for screenwriters and the inability to find someone to read your work.
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Final Deadline: 05/13/2020
The fellowship program was developed to honor dedicated writers and to help further their creative process and skills. Writing in itself is a journey and we would like to facilitate the process by giving the fellows the opportunity to be surrounded by like-minded professionals and individuals. Application Requirements: Completed application and fee.
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Final Deadline: 05/15/2020
The Ultimate Runway Now in our 27th 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.
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Final Deadline: 05/15/2020
To recognize excellence in screenwriting of shorts and features in a wide variety of genres.
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Final Deadline: 05/15/2020
As Austin Film Festival continues to grow and expand, our vision also widens with the addition of new avenues for storytellers. In 2017 we introduced the inaugural Playwriting Competition. It is open to full-length stage plays and gives playwrights a chance to explore our film and television conference. It will also allow film professionals to discover storytellers who have mastered the art and craft of stage drama.
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Final Deadline: 05/15/2020
The Holly Weird Film Festival (HWFF), founded by Festival Director Jack Truman, celebrates independent films of all genres that feature a distinct vision, a unique voice, or an avant-garde challenge to what is expected or accepted. HWFF provides a venue for narrative, documentary, experimental and avant-garde film and video. Holly Weird is dedicated to celebrating all types of creativity from the worldwide independent film community.
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Final Deadline: 05/25/2020
Currently, one of the most sought after genres in Hollywood! Most of our writers launched their careers with genre scripts and hopefully you can too. This is brand new competition for Page Turner which means that this is a great opportunity for writers to test their material, compete at a more intimate level where you will have a more thorough read as opposed to other competitions where you are competing against thousands and thousands of others across multiple genres.
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Final Deadline: 05/30/2020
To help launch the careers of undiscovered screenwriters and give unprecedented access to studio-level executives.
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Final Deadline: 05/31/2020
Whether you have a simple screenplay or a film that’s already in production, we want to consider it for our grant program. We consider a range of projects, from standalone screenplays, to fully packaged projects seeking finishing funds. If your aspirations are solely to become a produced screenwriter, you can rely on ScreenCraft and BondIt to package the winning script with a talented director and in-house production resources with up to $30,000 in cash financing, judged on a case-by-case basis, depending on each project’s budget and needs as determined by our internal jury of industry professionals.
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Final Deadline: 05/31/2020
While it’s no secret that Hollywood loves remakes, sequels and spinoffs, it’s perhaps lesser known that Hollywood loves movies based on free intellectual property in the public domain, such as folk tales, fairy tales, mythology and books and plays published before 1923. For example, folk tales, mythology, Shakespeare, Jane Austen, Sherlock Holmes, Charles Dickens, famous historical figures – and the list goes on.
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Final Deadline: 05/31/2020
Celebrating great writing across all genres… The second edition of the WriteMovies Sci-Fi and Fantasy Award is open for submissions! Take us to brave new worlds full of the strange and fantastical, with ideas that will blow our minds and stretch the limits of our imaginations. Last year, Mark Flood won the first ever WriteMovies Sci-Fi and Fantasy Award with his script THE TIME-TRAP.
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Final Deadline: 06/14/2020
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 Studio Coverage from just $99 Since 1999, WriteMovies’ screenwriting contests guarantee to develop our winners’ projects at our own expense and pitch them to producers with the power to make them happen.
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Final Deadline: 06/15/2020
The Capital Fund Screenplay Competition, now in its fifth year of successes, where your scripts are read direct by investors that buy projects and fund films at the studio level domestically and abroad. Our entrants have been optioned and sold at AFM, Cannes, Berlin, Toronto and Shanghai Film Markets. A Different Screenplay Contest Congratulations to the 2018 Winners at Universal 2019 Competition opens September 30, 2018.
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Final Deadline: 06/15/2020
**A Moviebytes Top Screenplay Contest for 2020** Now in our third season, Write LA gives a writer the opportunity to fly to LA, stay at The Standard Hollywood, meet with helpful Industry Insiders, hear their entire script read on stage by professional actors in a Los Angeles theater, and be considered for representation. The winner and finalists have their scripts considered for circulation to managers and agents by our sponsor, Roadmap Writers.
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Final Deadline: 06/23/2020
The ONLY screenplay competition focused exclusively on adapted material. The Adapted Screenplay Competition recognizes and showcases adapted feature and television scripts in ALL genres.
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Final Deadline: 06/26/2020
The Nashville Film Festival Screenwriting Competition leverages one of the oldest and largest film festivals in the U.S. Each year, NashFilm draws hundreds of filmmakers, musicians and industry to ten days of films, panels, red carpet events, live music showcases and parties. NashFilm is an Academy® Award Qualifying Festival in three short film categories.
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Final Deadline: 06/26/2020
GenreBlast is an international independent genre film festival coming to you from the awesome Alamo Drafthouse Winchester in beautiful Winchester, VA! GB5 will happen LABOR DAY WEEKEND - 9/3-9/6 2020 and will feature the best of truly independent films from around the world - specializing in action, horror, sci-fi, fantasy, martial arts, grindhouse, exploitation, Korean thrillers, Japanese gangster flicks, Chinese action movies, French horror, midnight movies, shoestring budget weird cinema, and everything under the sun! We really welcome all genres of interesting, original, exciting and daring moviemaking! All countries and walks of life are welcome here! We also have a fantastic screenplay contest that is growing larger every year! Our discussion panels at GenreBlast have been a big hit and we're bringing them back for GB5! Raw, uncensored real talk about indie filmmaking, gender bias, distribution, criticism, and much more will come your way from the mouths of some of the best indie talent out there! After-parties, lively conversation, networking galore, TONS of movies, informative Q&A's and the chance to make new lifelong industry friends - all nestled in the beautiful Shenandoah Valley hamlet of Winchester, VA! Your movie will be shown in front of a lively, enthusiastic crowd of cinephiles and industry peers that don't walk around with their heads up their asses 24/7! What a refreshing way to attend a film fest! Come Labor Day Weekend, you'll wish you were at GenreBlast!
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Final Deadline: 06/30/2020
Our Hollywood judges love good horror movies – and they’re looking for the next fresh voices in horror screenwriting.
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Final Deadline: 06/30/2020
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.
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Final Deadline: 07/10/2020
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 20th year, Shriekfest takes place at the legendary Raleigh Studios, which is the largest independent studio operator in the country.
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Final Deadline: 07/15/2020
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.
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Final Deadline: 07/27/2020
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.
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Final Deadline: 07/31/2020
Feature film dramas drive deep into the heart of what it means to be human, expressing universal themes with nuanced complexity. Our judges are looking for great stories with original voices and honest emotion. This competition celebrates great dramatic film writing. Whether you’re writing a sweeping period drama or a contained relationship movie, we want to read your script! All entries are eligible for optional feedback from a studio-trained professional reader (highly recommended).
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Final Deadline: 08/15/2020
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.
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Final Deadline: 08/15/2020
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.
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Final Deadline: 08/31/2020
ScreenCraft is dedicated to discovering and promoting writing talent, and our play competition is searching for emerging playwrights. Hollywood has a long history of adapting plays and embracing playwriting talent. We’re seeking to celebrate the craft of writing for the theater, and connect winning writers with career opportunities and participation in ScreenCraft’s thriving community of talented writers and mentors around the world.
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Final Deadline: 08/31/2020
Introducing Season 2 / 2020 of “Your Script Produced!” International Film / TV / Short Film Screenwriting Competition sponsored by Doval Bacall Films. The sponsor will fully finance, develop, package and produce the Grand Prize Winning Feature Script for $250,000.00. We've raised the stakes! Season 2 will accept Features, TV Scripts, AND SHORT FILM SCRIPTS! Winners will be promoted in the Variety Magazine and/or THR! Grand Prize winners can direct their own script! (Feature grand prize winner must have valid experience and approved by our sponsor.
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Final Deadline: 09/30/2020
Our panel of Hollywood industry professionals is looking for the next great drama and comedy TV pilots with Series Bibles for network, cable and online platforms! Accepting web series, short-form, and non-traditional series pilots as well. 3 winners will receive cash awards and introductions to industry professionals!
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Final Deadline: 10/31/2020
The action genre is the one genre that producers and literary managers have recently requested the most, and which we have the least. So this could be one of our most successful competitions! Our jury is looking for emerging voices in the action movie genre. Whether you have a big-budget, tentpole family adventure movie, or a taut, low-budget action film, we want to read your script.
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Final Deadline: 11/30/2020
Our jury is looking for short stories (not scripts) with special cinematic potential. Whether you’re writing flash fiction or a novella, we want to read your story! The grand prize winner will receive $1,000 and personal introductions to literary agents, managers, producers and publishers. The top 5 finalists will be shared with our network of over 60 literary and entertainment industry professionals.
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Final Deadline: 11/30/2020
In early rounds of the competition, judges will be reading up to the first 20,000 words to determine the voice, style, characters, and themes of the author. Unless requested, the reader will start with the first page. If you believe the reader should start else where for the best sample, please include that in notes to the reader when you fill out your submission form.
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Final Deadline: 12/18/2020
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 scripts that are life-affirming stories of faith, courage, hope and love. Whether you have a family drama, comedy, animation, or action-adventure film – we have producers and executives who are hungry for high-quality “four-quadrant” projects to package and produce.
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Final Deadline: 02/28/2021
Past ScreenCraft-winning writers have been hired by producers, optioned their projects to major studios, and signed with top representatives at CAA, WME, 3 Arts Entertainment, United Talent Agency, Anonymous Content, Paradigm Talent Agency, Untitled, ICM, Writ Large, Bellevue Productions, Romark Entertainment, Lit Entertainment and many others. The chosen Fellowship recipients will receive ongoing professional support and a special trip to Los Angeles for meetings, mentorship and personal introductions to key entertainment studio executives, producers, literary managers and agents.
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Final Deadline: 12/15/2019 (expired)
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.
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Final Deadline: 07/31/2019 (expired)
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.
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Final Deadline: 08/30/2019 (expired)
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.
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Final Deadline: 07/30/2019 (expired)
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.
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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.
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Final Deadline: 11/01/2019 (expired)
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.
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Final Deadline: 07/01/2019 (expired)
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.
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Final Deadline: 10/31/2019 (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.
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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.
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