ScreenCraft Cinematic Short Story Competition
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If you think your short story has cinematic adaptation potential, we’d love to consider it for this year’s competition, which features a jury of professionals from across the entertainment and publishing industries.
Don't have a short story yet? Develop a new skill and adapt your screenplay idea or script into prose!
Iconic short stories like THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON, MINORITY REPORT, ARRIVAL, THE MIST have been adapted for the big screen.
ScreenCraft’s past winners have gone on to sell projects to major studios and have been hired by companies like Universal, Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, CBS and many more. Winners are highly sought after by literary managers and agents who are open to signing to new writer clients. ScreenCraft has helped hundreds of writers have sign with top management companies and agencies like 3 Arts, Anonymous Content, CAA, WME, UTA, Paradigm, Lit Entertainment, and many more.
VIP JUROR
We welcome producer, Scott Glassgold of Ground Control as our special VIP Juror! Scott will meet virtually with our finalists for an interactive Q&A session.
Scott Glassgold is the founder of management and production company Ground Control. Scott, in partnership with Verve Talent Agency, have sold a number of high-profile short story projects to Amazon, Netflix, Universal, Paramount and more. Among those projects are THE DWELLING which also has Michael B. Jordan producing, I AM NOT ALONE with Jessica Chastain set to star, and CARETAKER with Sydney Sweeney starring and Michael Bay producing.
Benefits
EMILY FEHER
Creative Executive, 21 Laps
Emily is a creative exec at 21 Laps with a demonstrated history of working in the entertainment industry. 21 Laps Entertainment is an American film and television production company founded and run by director-producer Shawn Levy. The company is best known as the producers of Stranger Things and Shadow and Bone.
JOSH KAHN
Creative Executive, Red Hour
Josh Kahn is a creative executive at Red Hour Films. Red Hour is a film/television production company founded by actor, writer, and director Ben Stiller. The company most recently produced the award-winning series SEVERANCE and ESCAPE AT DANNEMORA.
JUDY COPPAGE
President, The Coppage Company
Judy Coppage is the president of THE COPPAGE COMPANY, a Literary Agency/Management Company, which sold the DIE HARD novel to 20th Century Fox. Other prominent sales have included DEATH SENTENCE, a novel written by Brian Garfield, which was released by 20th Century Fox and HELL RIDE, which was released by Dimension Films and presented by Quentin Tarantino and was written, directed, produced, and stars her client, Larry Bishop. More recently, she sold a series of books to Viacom/101 Studios written by Sidney Thompson for LAWMEN: BASS REEVES, (directed by Taylor Sheridan) which premieres on Paramount + in the fall.
ZOE HOWARD
Literary Agent, Howland Literary
Zoe Aline Howard is a literary agent and literary publicist. Zoe is currently an agent acquiring adult fiction and nonfiction at Howland Literary, and as a literary publicist at Pine State Publicity. Through each of these and her own writing, Zoe has garnered an eye for those interdisciplinary, lyrical, quiet books that demand more space in publishing.
ALLIE WATSON
Manager of Development, Rooster Teeth
Allie Watson is the Manager of Development at Rooster Teeth Studios where she develops new creative partnerships by fielding pitches from talent, agents, and managers to find content aligned with RT’s brand as well as identifying available IP including books, games, graphic novels, articles, and international formats. Rooster Teeth is a fan-driven, community-built entertainment company working on projects like TRANSFORMERS, BENEATH, AND JUSTICE LEAGUE.
Winners can expect:
- Personal Introduction to top literary managers and producers
- Accepted into the ScreenCraft Development Program
- $1,000 Cash
- An exclusive invitation to a Finalist+ workshop to position yourself and your writing to the industry
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.
- Entry fees are as listed on the site and checkout form. No coupon or discount is applicable on a previous entry.
- Short Stories should be 20,000 words or less. Files should be in PDF format when submitted and should be double spaced.
- 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 owned by the writer(s), however the material may be based on other works not owned by the writers.
- 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).
- 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 any prizes awarded as they deem fair (whether there is a cash value or not).
- Substitutions of either corrected pages or new drafts of the entered material will be allowed for a limited time with a $6 reentry fee through Coverfly. Please proofread your short story carefully before submitting.
- Contact info may be included on the cover page of the short story, however it is not required. ScreenCraft uses Coverfly to manage submissions and automatically removes cover pages before short stories are read by the judges.
- ScreenCraft claims no ownership nor option on your work. All ownership and rights to the short stories submitted to this contest remains with the original rights holders.
- The decision of the judges will be final and cannot be contested in any manner. There is no score on a scorecard that guarantees advancement to the next level as advancement will be based on all scores in the competition.
- ScreenCraft reserves the right to change deadline and announcement dates at any time.
- ScreenCraft reserves the right to amend these rules at any time.
For a full list of rules and eligibility please visit ScreenCraft.
