Now in its 30th year, Raindance Film Festival is Europe’s leading independent Film Festival showcasing feature films, shorts and docs, virtual reality, web series and music videos from around the world and specialising in independent films and directorial debuts. The festival has a strong legacy of showing alternative, edgy films. Since 1993 Raindance Film Festival has uncovered the hottest new filmmakers to hit the cinematic scene.

Raindance-premiered hits include Pulp Fiction, Memento and the Blair Witch Project, to name a few. Listed by Variety as one of the world’s top 50 ‘unmissable film festivals’, Raindance aims to nurture, support and promote independent films and filmmakers from the UK and around the world.

Raindance is dedicated to fostering and promoting independent film in the UK and around the world. Based in the heart of London, Raindance’s ecosystem includes Raindance Film Festival, Raindance Open Courses, the higher education institute Raindance Film School, and the prestigious British Independent Film Awards. 

At Raindance, we believe in championing independents in every way. As such, our new script competition is designed to develop upon Raindance’s network and community, and offer greater opportunities to emerging screenwriters. 

Similarly, Raindance Film Festival has always been proud to offer a fantastic opportunity to network amongst both established and emerging talent, for those looking to develop their network of collaborators and peers. 

Raindance is proud to have supported an array of successful artists in their pursuit of creative goals. Much of this stems from the success of Raindance Film courses, available to independent artists. Such success stories include, but are not limited to: Christopher Nolan, Guy Ritchie,  Andrea Arnold, Matthew Vaughn, David Yates, Gavin Hood, Tom Hooper, Edgar Wright, Sacha Baron Cohen, Julian Fellowes and Nick Hornby.

For further enquiries, please email scriptcompetition@raindance.co.uk

Our goal, through the Raindance Film Festival Script Competition, is to grant new opportunities and champion emerging screenwriters. Offering a culmination of support and prizes, Raindance hopes to  champion true independence - a core principal of the film festival itself. 

With this in mind, every single entry will receive a monetary credit for online Raindance classes - $55 for Features/Pilots and $35 for Shorts. 

This means, above anything else, you instantly receive value back on your submission - in the hope of learning and further developing your craft. 

The path to a career in writing is a long and arduous task, which is why we have chosen to partner with some fantastic brands which have helped to support the careers of so many writers previously. Celtx, InkTip and ScriptUp - to name a few - are proud to work with us in championing new, emerging writers.

Our worth is in your success, which is why it is crucial to us that we support, nurture and help to develop true talent.  As a result, we have put together what we believe is a great lineup of prizes, aimed at achieving this task.

After introducing a brand new category at the Raindance Film Festival last year, the overall winner of our feature competition will receive the 'Best Unproduced Screenplay' award at the Festival. This will be decided from each of the winners of the genre feature categories - where one writer will receive the overall award. 

Each contest winner (Feature, Short, TV 30-min, TV 60-min) will additionally receive:

• Professional script coverage

Our friends at ScriptUp, will provide each of the winners a copy of their 'exceptional coverage', allowing the writers to benefit from their notes and further improve material - prior to sharing with industry reps.

• An limited subscription to InkTip (Features only)

The InkTip listing allows users to promote their scripts to InkTip’s entire network of producers, managers, and agents. InkTip Magazine is sent to over 15,000 producers and representatives. Companies who are InkTip members include: ABC, Anonymous Content, APA, CBS Films, HBO Films, ICM, Paradigm, Paramount Pictures, FX, Universal, WME, Echo Lake, Bad Robot, 20th Century Fox, and many more. Producers have made more than 315 films from scripts and writers found through InkTip.

• A place on our newly-developed 10-week fellowship programme (Winners Only)

The Raindance Fellowship programme is a 10-week, online programme designed to afford writers the opportunity to develop their craft, interact with peers and receive constructive criticism from an industry tutor.

Additionally, all Finalists will be offered the opportunity to connect with collaborators at the festival, through a dedicated networking event, a year of Raindance membership and complimentary accreditation to our festival.

All Semi-Finalists will receive a year of Raindance membership and a 50% discount to festival accreditation.

Ensuring opportunities are created across the board, Raindance is also proud to offer discounts (25%) on membership and festival accreditation to those placing Quarter-Finalist in the competition.

For a more detailed breakdown, please visit our competition page at Raindance.

For any more information, please email our team at scriptcompetition@raindance.co.uk.