Manchester Film Festival Screenplay Competition
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Manchester Film Festival
Manchester Film Festival Screenplay Competition
2025
Active Since 2017
Manchester Film Festival Screenplay Competition allows emerging writers to showcase their talent, gain exposure and connect with industry insiders.
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About
After a successful 2024 edition, Manchester Film Festival is excited to join forces once again with ScriptUp for its 2025 Screenplay Competition.
Now in its eleventh year, the Manchester Film Festival is proud to champion independent work and provide screenwriters with a chance to see their scripts read and appraised by industry experts.
ScriptUp is a script consultancy that works to bring out the best in your screenplay. Their script services give you industry-informed insights and unbiased feedback on your work, helping you take it to the next level.
SELECTION PROCESS
At Manchester Film Festival 2025, all Screenplay Competition submissions will be read by a team of industry readers with a strong background in screenwriting appraisal.
The top third of these screenplays will progress into the Quarter Finals and will receive Manchester Film Festival laurels. From these, ten will be selected for the Semi Finals, receiving semifinalist laurels.
Our top ten writers (semifinals and above) will be invited to the Manchester Film Festival in March 2025 and provided with a free full festival pass allowing them to network with film professionals, take in all screenings and attend after-parties.
From the ten Semifinalists, five screenplays will be selected as Finalists and will be read by a jury of industry professionals. This selection will include at least one short script, one TV script and one feature script.
Each of the jury members will then give scores and written feedback on the screenplays, which will be compiled into an overall Finalist's Report.
The script with the highest aggregate score will be crowned the overall winner at the final awards event on the evening of Sunday 16th March, 2025 at the Odeon Great Northern. The top-scoring short, TV and feature scripts will be individual format winners, earning the opportunity to have their screenplay introduced to independent producers and filmmakers.
IN-DEPTH SCRIPT REPORTS
In response to writer feedback from previous editions, we're once again offering writers the chance to receive a detailed script report from their first-round reader. The report will assess the strengths and weaknesses of a submission, making recommendations for improvement in future drafts. It should also provide valuable context as to why a script has/hasn't been selected for the next round - a feedback system lacking from other competitions.
Our script reports include:
- • 1,200-1,500 words of concise commentary.
- • A short bio of your industry reader (accountability matters to us).
- • Written analysis of: Premise, Story Structure, Characters, Setting, Final Thoughts.
- • Prompting Questions to guide a re-write of your next draft.
- • A comprehensive scoring grid.
- • All neatly formatted in a PDF.
A link to a sample report is here.
Reports will be returned on the date of Quarterfinal announcement.
CONTACT
Feel free to contact the ScriptUp team to ask any further questions: https://www.scriptupstudio.com/contact
INDUSTRY JURY
The jury for this year's competition will be made up of executives, writers and agents from leading companies with the industry. Juries from the past three years have included the following:
- • Lare Oyefusi, Commercial Planning, Disney+
- • Rupert Stonehill, Film & TV Agent, Independent Talent
- • Charlotte LeMaire, Film Advisory, Endeavor Content
- • Henry Holmes, Script Development, Gaumont & PBJ
- • Shanika Hyslop, Editor, Bloomsbury Publishing
- • Camila Legaspi, Chief Content Officer, Latina Media Ventures
- • Beatriz Menéndez, Film & TV Department, Curtis Brown
- • Archie Thomson, Screenwriter & Winner of C21 Drama Prize
- • Ella Troup, Producer, iGeneration Studios
Benefits
Quarterfinalists (top third) will receive:
• Manchester Film Festival quarterfinalist laurels.
Semifinalists (top 10) will receive:
• Manchester Film Festival semifinalist laurels.
• Invitation to Manchester Film Festival 2025 with full festival pass.
Finalists (top 5) will receive:
• Manchester Film Festival finalist laurels.
• Full reads from industry jury.
• Comprehensive creative and commercial notes from all judges.
• Invitation to Manchester Film Festival 2025 with full festival pass.
Announcements
Feb 4th
Finalists
Feb 4th
Quarterfinalists
Feb 4th
Semifinalists
Mar 16th
Winners
Rules
1. Scripts submitted to the competition must NOT have been previously optioned, purchased or produced at the time of entry.
2. Screenwriters from all countries are welcome to enter. Submissions must be in English.
3. To enter the Manchester Film Festival Screenplay Competition, you must agree to its Terms and Conditions.
4. The Manchester Film Festival Screenplay Competition readers’ decisions are final.
5. Manchester Film Festival is not responsible for screenplays or coverage stolen or lost in transit.
