Subscribe
Currently Closed. Subscribe to receive a notification when the next season opens.
ScreenCraft
ScreenCraft Virtual Pitch
Fall 2022
Coverfly-exclusive
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!
Subscribe
Currently Closed. Subscribe to receive a notification when the next season opens.

About

The ScreenCraft Virtual Pitch Competition gives writers the chance to pitch to industry professionals, a network of writers, and a live audience! 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 live and online, 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 finalists of the ScreenCraft Virtual Pitch Competition will have the exclusive opportunity to pitch live, over Zoom, to a panel of entertainment industry leaders (Literary Agents, Screenwriters, TV Showrunners, etc). 

The overall Grand Prize winner will receive a $500 prize, and will  be welcomed into the ScreenCraft Development Program and receive personal introductions and phone calls with one or more top Hollywood literary managers 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.

ScreenCraft has a proven track record for getting writers signed with representation, and staffed in writing rooms. Past ScreenCraft winners have signed with reps at CAA, WME, 3 Arts, Anonymous Content, Brillstein Entertainment Partners and UTA.

JURY
JENNIFER KATZ
Manager, TV Development, Searchlight Pictures

Jennifer Katz is a Manager working in television development for Searchlight Pictures, the prestigious division of 20th Century Studios behind iconic titles 12 Years A Slave, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Wild, Birdman, Slumdog Millionaire and responsible for the new hit TV series, THE DROPOUT on Hulu. 

DAVINA HEFFLIN
Literary Agent, Verve

Davina is a TV Literary Agent at Verve and previously worked in the lit department at Gersh. Davina has dedicated herself to identifying Black/diverse, Female, and LGBTQ+ voices, building creatives up and helping them tell new stories that will have a positive and lasting impact on the audience. 

KYRA JONES
TV writer, former ScreenCraft Virtual Pitch Winner

Kyra Jones was a previous 2020 Virtual Pitch winner and was most recently a staff writer on the ABC series, Queens. She is a Black queer feminist artist, educator, and advocate whose work focuses on Black women's experiences with intimate relationships, sex, and liberation. 

SEAN COLLINS-SMITH
TV writer, former ScreenCraft Finalist

Sean won a national award for in-depth reporting from the Society of Professional Journalists, and soon after, he started working for the NBC affiliate, WWBT. In 2018, he moved to Los Angeles after signing with a literary manager. His first writing job came in 2021, when he was staffed on the limited series reboot Field of Dreams.

KYLIE EATON 
Writer, former ScreenCraft Virtual Pitch Finalist

Kylie Eaton is an award-winning writer-director whose work has been featured on Gunpowder + Sky's DUST. She has separately collaborated with major brands such as Capitol Records, Republic Records, and Shakeology, and was previously a finalist in the 2021 ScreenCraft Sci-Fi Competition.

KEVIN BACHAR
Writer, ScreenCraft Competition Winner

Kevin's an EMMY winning WGA documentary director/writer. If you’ve watched Nat Geo or The Discovery Channel you’ve seen his work. He's the guy in the water filming sharks for Shark Week. His screenplay for the horror film “The Inhabitant” starring Dermot Mulroney and Leslie Bibb was just produced and will be released this Spring.

Writer Success

Fall 2024 Winner on Coverfly

See Other Placements

Announcements

Oct 19th
Finalists
Nov 16th
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.

competition logo
Website Contact
Fall 2022