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ScreenCraft
ScreenCraft Virtual Pitch
Spring 2024
Reads in Coverfly
Active Since 2020
Take advantage of a unique opportunity to pitch directly to an A-list jury of industry insiders online. Open to writers worldwide!
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About

The ScreenCraft Virtual Pitch Competition gives writers the chance to pitch to industry professionals! Here’s how it works:

  1. 1. Submit your best elevator pitch - a written, typed pitch of no more than 350 words.

  2. 2. Semifinalists will be asked to submit a 2-minute video pitch.

  3. 3. The selected finalists will pitch virtually to a panel of A-list industry professionals.

Previous finalists have signed ON THE SPOT during the pitch competition with a Hollywood Lit Manager. Past winners and finalists have also landed meetings with companies like Verve, Page Boy Productions (Elliot Page's production company), and more. 

Benefits

THE JURY

The finalists of the ScreenCraft Virtual Pitch Competition will have the exclusive opportunity to pitch live, over Zoom, to a panel of entertainment industry leaders (Managers, Screenwriters, TV writers & Producers, etc).


WENDY CALHOUN

Writer, Producer

Peabody-award-winning Wendy Calhoun's unique career spans one-hour dramas, unscripted series, VR, and gaming. Known as a champion for diversity and inclusion, Calhoun's developed and sold over ten series pitches with bold leading roles for women and people of color. She’s currently developing with Realm, FX, Universal UK, and Starz. Her scripted drama credits include writing and producing the historic blockbuster first season of Fox's Empire and debut seasons of The Rookie Feds, Prodigal Son, Station 19, Nashville, Revenge, and Justified. Calhoun serves on the Board of Directors for the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media and is an honored alumnus of New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts.

DAVID RABINOWITZ

Academy Award Winning Screenwriter

Originally from NJ, David has been working as a full-time professional screenwriter since 2017. Along with Spike Lee and Kevin Willmott, he and his writing partner Charlie Wachtel co-wrote the 2018 film BlacKkKlansman, and they currently have multiple projects in development as both writers and producers.

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CHRISTIAN TAYLOR

Producer, TAYLOR LANE PRODUCTIONS

As an accomplished independent producer and founder of Taylor Lane Productions, Christian Taylor has spent over a decade bringing compelling stories to life on the screen. Christian honed his skills in talent and literary management at Industry Entertainment and Lighthouse Entertainment, identifying and nurturing up-and-coming artists and working closely with writers and directors to develop captivating stories in a variety of genres. Since founding Taylor Lane in 2011, he has produced a slate of award-winning films, including HICK (based on the novel by Andrea Portes), starring Chloe Grace Moretz, Academy Award Winner Eddie Redmayne and Blake Lively, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, and Jim Loach's MEASURE OF A MAN (based on the novel ONE FAT SUMMER), written by David Scearce (A SINGLE MAN) and starring Donald Sutherland, Blake Cooper, Luke Wilson, and Judy Greer. He currently has projects in development with Village Roadshow and Brillstein Entertainment Partners and actively packages projects with major agencies and international sales companies. 

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YICHEN MA

Literary Manager / Producer Assistant, LIT ENTERTAINMENT GROUP

Yichen Ma is a Literary Manager / Producer Assistant at Lit Entertainment Group working on true-event-inspired narratives. Founded by veteran manager and producer and Madhouse co-founder Adam Kolbrenner (Prisoners, Free Guy)

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ANNA RANDAL

Scripted Literary, INDEPENDENT ARTIST GROUP

Anna is in the Scripted Literary department at Independent Artist Group, the newly formed full-service agency that is a union between the Hollywood agency APA and AGI, one of the biggest music touring agencies. She works with a focus in television writing and content development. Anna is a proud alum of the USC School of Cinematic Arts with a Bachelor’s degree in Cinema and Media Studies.


PRIZES
Finalists will pitch to our jury of top writers and industry professionals.

The overall Grand Prize winner will receive a $500 prize, and receive personal introductions and phone calls with one or more top Hollywood industry professionals who are looking for talented emerging TV screenwriters.

We will also recognize a first and second runner-up. These projects along with the Grand Prize winner will have their project info and log lines circulated and recommended to our network of over 150 Hollywood managers, agents, producers, and development executives.

Past ScreenCraft winners have signed with reps at CAA, WME, 3 Arts, Anonymous Content, Brillstein Entertainment Partners and UTA.

Writer Success

Spring 2024 Semifinalists on Coverfly

See Other Placements

Announcements

Apr 10th
Finalists
May 1st
Winners

Rules

  •  350-word pitch 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.

•There is no optional feedback option from a professional reader applicable to this competition. 

•All participants must first submit a written, typed pitch of no more than 350 words.  Your written pitch can include a brief description of characters, plot, themes, tone, writer background, comparable projects, etc. Any submission of more than 350 words will be disqualified from the competition. 

•Pitches should be for feature films and episodic series only.  Please do not pitch a short film. 

•There is no limit to the number of projects you may submit.

•All semi-finalists will be required to submit a filmed video pitch of themselves, via a private link.

•Instructions for submission of video pitch will be sent only to Semifinalists. Only submissions with a filmed video pitch will be eligible to advance to the finals.

•Semifinalists will be selected from the written submissions. 

•Video submission guidelines for Semifinalists:
a) Video can be hosted on YouTube, Vimeo, or any public-access video hosting platform.
b) Video must be 3 minutes or less in total, including stop/start time and a brief introduction. We ask that the pitch itself be no more than 2 minutes, but if you go over by a few seconds you will not be automatically disqualified.
c) There is no judging criteria based on video quality other than the clear ability to see/hear the writer(s).  Self-filmed pitches via your smartphone are fine. 
d) No additional props, guests or support materials may be in the video, only the writer(s).
e) Writers should - and the judges will - consider this video pitch a rehearsal for pitching live. 

•The finalists will be invited to pitch live to the Panel of Judges, over Zoom.

•Finalists must be available for the Pitch Finals online event. Finalists who are not available for the event will be disqualified.  

•Winners will be selected and announced at the Finals Event .

•Pitch 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). 

•If a writing team is chosen as a winner, both members of the writing team must be available to live-pitch at the Finals event. 

•It is recommended (but not required) that original material be registered with the WGA or The Library of Congress US Copyright Office before submitting to any competition.

•Contact info may be included on the pitch, 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).

•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 detailed terms and conditions, please visit ScreenCraft's Virtual Pitch Competition Page.

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Website Contact
Spring 2024