All entrants receive complimentary admission to our networking conferences.

Big Apple Film Festival takes place in the heart of the greatest city in the world. BAFF, named one of MovieMaker Magazine's top "25 Film Festivals Worth The Entry Fee,” top "25 Coolest Film Festivals", CBS New York's "5 Best Events in New York" and Film Freeway's "Top 100 Best Reviewed Film Festivals", is dedicated to showcasing, highlighting, and promoting the highest quality films and writers from the New York City independent film community, as well as additional specially selected films from across the country and around the world. Our goal is to celebrate the great city of New York through the exhibition of innovative and purposeful filmmaking.

The festival offers a variety of film screenings and special New York City film premieres, a film and screenwriting conference, and a screenplay competition with live script readings of screenplay competition winner scripts.

ALUMNI FILMS include filmmakers and cast that are Academy Award and Golden Globe nominees, SAG Award winners and nominees, as well as films released by HBO, Showtime, IFC, Netflix, Amazon, Itunes and more...

PREVIOUS HONORARY GUESTS AND AWARD RECIPIENTS INCLUDE: 

• Jesse Eisenberg(Academy Award, Golden Globe and SAG Award nominee) 
• Cuba Gooding Jr.(Academy Award winner) 
• Morgan Spurlock(Academy Award nominee, WGA Award winner) 
• Alan Cumming(Tony Award and Independent Spirit Award winner) 
• Jackie Martling (The Howard Stern Show) 
• Jerry Stiller, Karen Allen, Olympia Dukakis(Academy Award and Golden Globe Award winner) 
• Kevin Corrigan 
• Katherine Waterston 
• Ernie Hudson 
• Mario Cantone 
• Zoe Lister Jones 
• Roger Sherman(Academy Award nominee and Emmy Award winner) 
• Haley Joel Osment(Academy Award nominee), and more...

ABOUT OUR FILM AND SCREENWRITING CONFERENCE:

All submitters to the festival, whether their project is selected or not selected, will receive COMPLIMENTARY admission to the Big Apple Film Festival networking conferences.

The purpose of the conference is to provide an opportunity for filmmakers and screenwriters to receive valuable information from industry professionals through a series of panel discussions, as well as an opportunity for attendees to participate in Q and A’s, networking sessions and nightly receptions.

Past speakers include representatives from HBO, Academy Award winning Killer Films, Emmy Award winning Gigantic Productions, FilmRise(distributor of numerous Oscar Award winning and Emmy Award winning films),  StoneStreet Studios, Endeavor Content, Academy Award nominated and Emmy Award winning filmmaker, Emmy Award winning screenwriter, Sundance, Tribeca, SXSW alumni and more…

Winners in each of the Screenplay Competition categories will: 

• Be announced and promoted through VARIETY, one of the industries leading trade publications, subscribed to by leading producers, production companies and studios, including Universal, Fox, Warner Brothers and more.
• Screenplay competition winners will receive the opportunity to pitch their script to production companies, agents and other industry representatives through Virtual PitchFest, including NBC Universal, Warner Bros., UTA, The Gersh Agency, and many more.
• Feature length screenplay winners will also receive an InkTip Script Listing to promote themselves and their scripts to InkTip’s entire network of producers, managers, and agents. 
• Companies who are InkTip members include: ABC, Anonymous Content, APA, CBS Films, HBO Films, and many more.
• Screenplay winners will receive a live reading of excerpts from their screenplays at the festival from professional New York City actors.

1. Big Apple Film Festival Screenplay Competition accepts Feature Length Screenplays, Short Scripts and TV/Web Series Pilot Scripts in the following categories: Drama, Comedy, Action/Adventure, Women Screenwriters, Science Fiction, LGBTQ, Historical, Horror/Thriller.

2. Feature length scripts must be a minimum of 60 pages and no longer than 150 pages. Short script submissions and TV/web series pilot scripts must under 60 pages.

3. Submitted screenplays can not have been optioned, purchased, or otherwise produced at the time of submission.

4. Writers can submit as many screenplays as they’d like to the competition, however each script requires a separate application and payment.

5. All entries must be submitted in English.

6. Submissions must include the title, author(s) and any relevant registration or copyright information.

7. Screenplays must be submitted in PDF or MS WORD.

8. All screenplays are considered complete once they are received by the Big Apple Film Festival. No revisions or updated copies will be accepted.

9. Submission fees are non-refundable.