Bigfoot Script Challenge
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Bigfoot Script Challenge
Bigfoot Script Challenge
2022
Reads in Coverfly
Active Since 2018
The Bigfoot Script Challenge, in collaboration with Film Studies at Trinity College Dublin, offers grants & industry access to emerging screenwriters.
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About
The Bigfoot Script Challenge, along with Trinity College Dublin, awards over $10,000 and unparalleled industry access to the next generation of successful screenwriters. Submit your feature, pilot, or short screenplay, and have that work read by studio execs, producers, agents, managers, and WGA writers. Winners receive cash prizes, sought-after meetings, and exclusive fellowships to develop your material – all under the internationally recognized SIFF brand. This year’s competition will recognize award-winning scripts on April 21, 2022, as part of SIFF’s 2022 event.
Entries into Bigfoot are automatically eligible for table reads, Works-In-Progress events, and awards recognition at the 2022 Seattle International Film Festival – all of which will deliver high-profile exposure to both Pacific Northwest producers and Hollywood execs that you’ve come to expect from the Bigfoot Script Challenge.
Entrants may submit feature-length screenplays, TV pilots (both hour and half-hour), and short-form scripts for consideration by top industry professionals, including producers, agents, managers, studio execs, and WGA writers.
We also have two new categories this year for screenwriters with projects that meet the following criteria. If your project qualifies for one or more of these tracks, please check the appropriate box on the entry form.
Pacific Northwest: If you're a PNW writer (reside in WA, OR, ID, or AK at time of submission) OR your story is set in one of those states, we encourage you to enter your work in this category.
Thems and Femmes: If you're a writer who identifies as a woman or nonbinary, we encourage you to enter your work in this category to help platform unique stories from and about under-represented groups.
Winning submissions become eligible for cash prizes, fellowships, and exclusive sit-downs with industry professionals who can help bring your script to life.
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Benefits
Bigfoot Script Challenge offers a unique combination of fellowships, cash grants, and industry access to help jump-start your career.
• Fellowships with top LA execs, Pacific Northwest producers, and select production companies to help develop your material and get it in front of industry decision-maker
• Exclusive hour-long Zoom calls to discuss your material and your career with Bigfoot Judges
• Over $10,000 in prize money for category winners
• Travel assistance and accommodations for category winners to attend awards ceremony and table read events at the 2022 Seattle International Film Festival
Judges for the 2022 contest include:
- Erik Andreasen (SVP, Dreamworks; Deepwater Horizon, Beasts of No Nation )
- Kate Becker (Harbor Island Studios; Three Busy Debras)
- Patrick Chu (SVP, Annapurna; Miss Sloane, The Founder)
- Brian Dobbins (Partner, Artists First; Black-ish, The Sea of Trees)
- Megan Herring (Director of Development, Circle of Confusion)
- Aldis Hodge (Actor/Writer/Producer; Black Adam, One Night In Miami, City on a Hill)
- Edwin Hodge (Actor/Writer/Producer; The Tomorrow War, Good Sam, Bumblebee)
- Jonathan Keasey (WGA Writer/Producer, Mind Riot Entertainment; Parallel, K-Sun, Tow)
- Jai Khanna (Oakhurst Entertainment; Black Bear, Four Good Days, One Nation Under Earl)
- Graham Roland (Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan, Dark Winds)
- Brent Stiefel (CEO, Votiv Films; Obvious Child, Super Troopers 2)
Announcements
Apr 15th
Finalists
Apr 22nd
Winners
Rules
Before you enter the Bigfoot Script Challenge, please review these rules and guidelines. Any submission that does not comply with contest rules may be disqualified.
1. All writers of submitted material must be 18 years of age or older on the date of submission, and each writer or writing team may not have earned more than $50,000 or the foreign equivalent (jointly or individually) for work as a screenwriter and/or fictional television writer.
2. Writers who reside in countries other than the United States are welcome to enter the contest; however, all scripts must be submitted in English and entry fees must be paid in U.S. dollars. Entry in the competition is void where prohibited by law.
3. Judges, sponsors, administrators, and independent contractors who work with or for the Bigfoot Script Competition are not eligible to enter the competition, nor are their spouses or other immediate family members.
4. Scripts must be the original work of the author(s) and on the date of submission must be wholly-owned and controlled by the author(s). If a script has been sold, is currently under option, is being produced, or is in any other way encumbered by a third party on the date of submission, the script is not eligible for an award. If a script is optioned, sold, or produced after it has been entered, it will NOT remain eligible for this year’s contest.
5. Only original screenplays and teleplays are eligible for awards. Novels, short stories, stage plays, treatments, synopses, reality show concepts, and spec scripts for existing TV series are not eligible.
6. Adaptations of books, plays, or other source material written by another author are not eligible under any circumstances. A script that has been adapted from your own book, play, or other source material is eligible provided that you have retained all film and television rights to the property.
7. Submissions and entry fees must be transmitted electronically on or before 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time on the Early, Regular, or Late Entry deadlines in order to qualify for those entry rates. Any script submitted after the Late Entry Deadline will be disqualified.
8. The contest and its administrators are not responsible for submissions or entry fees that are lost, stolen, or damaged in transit, and we cannot return scripts once they have been submitted. The administrators reserve the right at their sole discretion to reject or disqualify any ineligible entries without a refund.
9. Once a script has been entered in the competition, under no circumstances will we accept substitutions of new drafts or corrected pages. If you wish to submit a revised draft of your screenplay, you must enter it as a new submission and pay the appropriate entry fee.
10. Decisions of the Judges are final and may not be disputed. Our Judges are instructed and agree to evaluate scripts based on our standard Judging Procedure; however, the Bigfoot Script Challenge and its administrators may not be held responsible for any errors or omissions on the part of the Judges.
11. All entry fees must be paid in U.S. dollars.
12. If a submission involves two or more writers as applicants, the monetary prize and any reimbursements will be divided equally among them.
13. Winners receiving a cash prize are solely responsible for payment of all applicable local, state, and federal taxes.
Indemnity
BY SUBMITTING THE MATERIAL, THE APPLICANT HEREBY AGREES TO INDEMNIFY, HOLD HARMLESS, AND DEFEND THE FESTIVAL, ITS EMPLOYEES, DIRECTORS, REPRESENTATIVES, AND AFFILIATES FROM ANY LIABILITY, CLAIMS, AND DAMAGES IN CONNECTION WITH THE SUBMISSION AND FROM ANY FEES AND EXPENSES, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO REASONABLE ATTORNEYS’ FEES, THAT ANY OF THEM MAY INCUR IN CONNECTION THEREWITH.
Bigfoot Script Challenge has no obligation (other than as stated in these rules or on our website) to disclose any of the following information: i) identities of readers or judges; ii) notes, feedback, or information relating to the submitted material; and/or iii) details regarding the submission review or selection process.
