ScreenCraft Family Screenplay Competition
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About
We’d love to read your family-friendly film or TV script. Throughout Hollywood history, broad family-friendly storytelling has been at the forefront of box office and television success. ScreenCraft is excited to help launch new screenwriters’ careers with this annual competition specializing in family-friendly film and TV screenplays. Whether you have a faith-friendly movie, or an adventurous TV series, we want to read your script if it’s appropriate for an audience of all ages. We’re not just seeking stories for kids - we’re seeking stories that transcend age groups and appeal to the whole family. Our judges are looking for TV pilots, short scripts and feature screenplays.
ScreenCraft’s past winners have gone on to sell their scripts to major studios and have been hired by companies like Universal, Netflix, Amazon, Millennium, CBS and many more. ScreenCraft’s winners are also highly sought after by literary managers and agents who are open to signing to new writer clients. Over 100 ScreenCraft writers have signed with top management companies and agencies like 3 Arts, Anonymous Content, CAA, WME, UTA, Paradigm, Lit Entertainment, and many more.
Benefits
This year's judges include:
Julia Friley -- Creative Executive, Walden Media -- At Walden Media Julia Friley works to create and develop film and TV projects, including the recently-released THE BABY-SITTERS CLUB on Netflix. Prior to Walden she worked at Sony and Columbia Pictures on such projects as SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING and VENOM. With a passion for literature and a passion for four-quadrant stories, she is always looking for new ways to tell classic stories.
Claire Curley -- Head of Children’s Programming, Hello Sunshine -- At Reese Witherspoon's Hello Sunshine, Claire Curley heads the Kids & Animation division, to create stories for the next generation of women... girls of today. Prior to that, she was the senior vice president of franchise animation at Nickelodeon and spearheaded the development on THE JOJO AND BOWBOW SHOWSHOW, MIDDLE SCHOOL MOGULS and more. As a producer at Sesame Workshop, her contributions to THE ELECTRIC COMPANY led to a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Children’s Series in 2012.
Josh Nadler -- Director of Development, Sony’s Affirm Films -- Director of Development at Sony’s Affirm Films, the studio behind SOUL SURFER, COURAGEOUS, MIRACLES FROM HEAVEN and more successful and acclaimed faith-friendly films! Affirm Films is a film studio and label of Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions, which produces, markets, and acquires faith-based films.
Jessica Yingling -- Emmy-winner and Hallmark movie producer -- Producer, director and writer Jessica Yingling launched Mischief Productions in 2014. Her projects include LOVE UNDER THE OLIVE TREE and ANYTHING FOR LOVE for the Hallmark Channel. She previously worked as an executive with film/TV producer Arnold Rifkin and was actively involved with acquiring, developing and packaging projects for the company’s production slate, including LIVE FREE OR DIE HARD, DECEPTION, and NIGHT TRAIN.
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 October 1, 2020 and December 31, 2020.
Entry fee for each submission (whether feature, short or TV) is $49 until the early deadline on October 31, 2020, then $69 until the regular deadline on November 30, 2020, and then $79 until the final deadline on December 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).
