ScreenCraft Drama Competition
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About
Drama is at the heart of great Hollywood storytelling. The genre of drama is broad, and allows storytellers to dive deep into the heart of the human condition, expressing universal themes with nuanced complexity and characterization. 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 film or TV script!
Benefits
The overall grand prize winner in either film, TV or short category will receive personal introductions and phone calls with one or more top Hollywood literary managers who are looking for talented emerging drama screenwriters.
The top 3 winners’ project info and log lines will be circulated and recommended to our network of over 60 Hollywood managers, agents, producers and development executives.
ScreenCraft has a proven track record for getting writers signed with representation, and staffed in writing rooms.
This Year's Judges
Zara Randera is a Drama Coordinator for NBC Universal Television, the iconic network behind such historical hits as THE WEST WING, FRIENDS, and SEINFELD, and such current hit shows as BLINDSPOT, BROOKLYN NINE-NINE, CHICAGO MED, THE BLACKLIST, THE GOOD PLACE, and THIS IS US.
Richard Ruiz is a Creative Executive at Fox Searchlight, the production company synonymous with prestige dramas including THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE OF EBBING, MISSOURI, THE WRESTLER, THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL, and Best Picture winners BIRDMAN, 12 YEARS A SLAVE, SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE and THE SHAPE OF WATER.
David Rabinowitz is the Academy Award-winning screenwriter of BLACKKKLANSMAN directed by Spike Lee.
Jonathan Wu is a Creative Executive at Hello Sunshine, the production company of Academy Award-winning actress, Reese Witherspoon, behind such series as BIG LITTLE LIES and THE MORNING SHOW.
Natalie Sellers is a Creative Executive at Annapurna Pictures, the production company behind award-winning features such as ZERO DARK THIRTY, FOXCATCHER, HER, HUSTLERS, VICE, and THE MASTER.
Writer Success
Announcements
Rules
At the program's request, Coverfly will automatically remove your title page for you if you include one when submitting to this program.
- Submissions are accepted via electronic submission only, between May 1, 2020 and July 31, 2020.
- Entry fee for each submission (whether feature, short or TV) is $49 until the early deadline on May 31, 2020, then $69 until the regular deadline on June 30, 2020, and then $79 until the final deadline on July 31, 2020.
- Optional feedback from a professional reader may be requested at the time of entry. Requests for feedback after an entry is submitted will not be accepted.
- Feature screenplays must be a minimum of 75 pages and a maximum of 150 pages. TV pilots must be between 25 and 75 pages. Shorts must be between 1 and 40 pages. Any screenplay submission longer than 120 pages will incur a $1 per page overage fee for each page over 120.
- There is no limit to the number of projects you may submit.
- Entries must be received on or before the deadline dates by 11:59PM Pacific Time, and submission fee payment must be made in full at time of the submission. All entry fees are non-refundable.
- All submitted material must be original, and all rights must be wholly owned by the writer(s).
- Material must be submitted by the writer. Material written by writing teams must be submitted by one of the writers, with consent of the other(s). All writers must be credited on title page.
- If a writing team is chosen as a winner, prizes will be given to the person who submits the project. Each team is responsible for dividing or sharing the prize money.
- Substitutions of either corrected pages or new drafts of the entered material will be allowed for free within the first 24 hours, and for a $5 re-entry fee through our submission management platform Coverfly at any time until the finalists are announced. Please proofread your script carefully before submitting.
- It is recommended that original material be registered with the WGA or The Library of Congress US Copyright Office before submitting to any competition, however we do not require WGA or Copyright registration.
- Contact info may be included on the cover page of the screenplay, however it is not required.
- ScreenCraft claims no ownership nor option on your work. All ownership and rights to the scripts submitted to this contest remain with the original rights holder(s).