Enter Now
Final Deadline is 3 days and 16 hours from now
Sep 16th
Early
Oct 15th
Regular
Nov 15th
Final
WeScreenplay
WeScreenplay Diverse Voices Lab
Spring 2025
Reads in Coverfly
Active Since 2016
WeScreenplay is looking for stories from writers with underrepresented backgrounds. 6 writers will be selected to participate in a career-changing lab!
Accepting Features and TV Pilots
Enter Now
Final Deadline is 3 days and 16 hours from now

About

Diverse Voices is a dynamic virtual screenwriting lab focused on helping writers deepen their skills and connecting them with Hollywood insiders. Whether you’re a writer of color, have a disability, are over 40, part of the LGBTQ+ community, or any other voice often unheard, this is your opportunity to shine. 


6 writers will be selected to participate in this career-changing experience! Diverse Voices gives writers the opportunity to network with agents, managers and producers, plus you’ll learn how to effectively pitch your project, get live feedback about your script, and more. Past finalists and winners have even signed with companies including Heroes & Villains Entertainment, 3Arts, Zero Gravity, APA, ColorCreative, and more.


Diverse Voices isn’t just a lab; it’s a springboard to success, providing the guidance and mentorship you need to bring your screenwriting career to life.

Prices & Deadlines

Nov 15th
Final
Standard Entry
$74.99
Standard Entry with Feedback
$129.98

Benefits

VIRTUAL WRITING LAB

The top 6 writers will be invited to WeScreenplay’s Diverse Voices Virtual Writing Lab! This multi-day lab will be PACKED with workshops to hone craft, mentorship calls with working writers, and general meetings with studio execs, literary reps, and more.

Winners will also receive Guidance for drafting query letters, research methods for finding the right representation, and insights for career next steps.

Color Farm Impact Partnership

In addition to the virtual lab, this year WeScreenplay is excited to partner with Color Farm Impact, who will select one writer to work with on developing their project. They will also meet with all selected writers in a virtual group session. Color Farm Impact, co-founded by Erika Alexander and Ben Arnon, is a 21st century innovation and social impact non-profit that seeks to better society through the transformative power of images and storytelling. Recognizing the urgent need for diverse representation in media, Color Farm Impact seeks not only to bolster scripted and non-scripted content with impact campaigns that inspire social action, but also to mentor, train, and support a pipeline of next generation, diverse creators to advance the stories of those whose voices have been ignored because they are not seen as valuable in society. Color Farm is bringing greater equity, inclusion, and diverse representation to media, creating sustainable, long-term, systemic change by shifting narratives. Color Farm Impact's sister entity is Color Farm Media, an award-winning, multi-platform media company.
Color Farm Impact

Erika Alexander

Actress and Producer

Color Farm Impact

Award-winning actress Erika Alexander, starred in the Oscar-nominated film AMERICAN FICTION and was nominated for Best Supporting Actress from the Independent Spirit Awards and the NAACP Image Awards. Erika also starred as Maxine Shaw in LIVING SINGLE, which garnered her two NAACP Image Awards for Outstanding Actress/Comedy Series, and she was featured in the critically acclaimed Apple+ series starring Elisabeth Moss, “SHINING GIRLS.” As a director, her debut film, “THE BIG PAYBACK,” co-directed with Whitney Dow, debuted at the Tribeca Festival and premiered on PBS in 2023.

Industry Guests

Industry guests will participate in the 2025 Spring Diverse Voices Lab in either group sessions or one-on-one meetings with the Fellows.
Good Fear

David Baggelaar

Literary Manager

Good Fear

David has worked in some capacity on New Line’s WE’RE THE MILLERS, HORRIBLE BOSSES 2 and VACATION, Disney’s MULAN, and A24’s UNDER THE SILVER LAKE. As a manager, he has built a portfolio of film/tv writers, filmmakers, and IP creators. His clients have worked at most of the streaming platforms, networks, and film studios.

Christina Sibul

Producer

Christina Sibul is an independent producer as well as being a highly regarded Development and Production Consultant within the film industry. Recent releases include MONICA, released by IFC Films in 2023, and BUTTER, released by Blue Fox Entertainment in 2022. MONICA premiered in competition to rave reviews at 2022’s Venice International Film Festival, was nominated for 2 Spirit Awards and won a GLAAD Media Award in 2024.

STARZ / Lionsgate

Tara Roy

Director of Original Programming

STARZ / Lionsgate

Tara Roy is a Director of Original Programming at STARZ/ Lionsgate, where she oversees the acquisition and creative development of original scripted television series. Prior to STARZ, she worked at Endeavor Content, overseeing series (Normal People, Nine Perfect Strangers) and scripted podcasts ( Blackout, Ghostwriter), and at AGBO, Joe and Anthony Russo’s television studio. Originally from India, Tara has lived in South Africa and the UK, and diverse, global storytelling is her priority. She is a 2020 alumni of the CAPE (Coalition of Asian Pacific Executives in Entertainment) Leaders Program and at STARZ, is a jury member of the STARZ #TakeTheLead director’s program, which is designed to create more directing opportunities for women and people. She is an industry panelist at various conferences and her 2024 speaking engagements include the Canadian Media Producers’ Association’s Primetime event and the Pacific Screenwriting Scripted Summit in Vancouver. She is on LA TV WEEK’s 2024 “40 under 40 list,” which showcases the pioneering people that are pushing the boundaries of innovation in the Media and Entertainment Industry. Tara is also a playwright and novelist and has a novel set in Calcutta and Brooklyn titled The Magnificent Ruins, to be published by Hachette in the fall of 2024. She lives in Los Angeles with too many plants.

Anthony Hemingway Productions

Whitney Davis

VP, Development & Production

Anthony Hemingway Productions

Whitney Davis joins AHP after working in Network television for 13 years. She began her career at CBS News where she covered national news stories as an associate field producer. Having a passion for gripping storytelling, Davis transitioned to a career in entertainment in 2011. At AHP, Davis will continue to champion the voices of creatives from marginalized communities, creating content that will radically impact society. Davis is a proud wife and mother of identical twin boys and a baby girl.

Writer Success

Fall 2024 Winners on Coverfly

See Other Placements

Announcements

Jan 31st
Semifinalists
Feb 28th
Finalists
Mar 28th
Winners

Rules

At the program's request, Coverfly will automatically remove your title page for you if you include one when submitting to this program.

  • Screenplays entered must:
    • Be submitted in PDF form and must fit all standard screenplay format guidelines. Personal formatting conventions will be accepted but must not intentionally or accidentally alter the page count of the project as determined by the judges. Anything over 120 pages will cost $1 extra per page.
    • Be owned solely by the writer or writing team listed. It may be an adaptation or reimagining of true events or fictional stories. Projects submitted should not infringe on the rights of any work not available in the public domain.
    • All persons from anywhere in the world are eligible; however the material submitted must be in English (occasional dialogue in other languages is acceptable, if subtitle translation is provided).
    • Have pages numbered. Scripts of any length will be accepted for an additional fee, but we’d advise that scripts over 150 pages should be edited down before being submitted.
    • NOTE: WeScreenplay automatically removes the cover page before assigning scripts to readers, so writers may include any typical information on their cover page. Scripts are accepted with or without cover pages.
  • Writer must be 18 years of age or older at the time of the winner’s announcement.
  • By entering this screenplay into the competition, you must have full permission from all co-writers and any attachments to the project.
  • WeScreenplay 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).
  • Screenplays entered may be in any genre or combination of genres. All will be treated equally and read by an unbiased panel of readers and jury members.
  • The following formats will be accepted: Feature screenplay, TV pilot screenplay
  • Entrant’s total earnings for screenwriting for either film or tv, produced or unproduced, must not exceed $50,000 in the previous 18 months from submission or $250,000 lifetime earnings. This excludes any prize money from competitions or fellowships and only applies to fund or money transferred in exchange for an option or sale of a script, treatment, idea, intellectual property, or other writing for filming. Money earned from acting, directing, producing, or any other film work outside of writing is not included.
  • Scripts submitted must not have been previously sold or produced unless said sale or production was completed with no financial gain to the writer.
  • Purchasing Additional feedback throughout the competition will in no way impact your standing or odds of advancement.
  • For a submission to be valid it must be accompanied with the appropriate payment based on the submission deadlines.
  • All deadlines are at 11:59pm PST on the date listed. Any deadline alteration or promotion of any kind does not make any entry valid for a refund of any kind.
  • RESUBMISSIONS will be accepted. Alterations can be re-uploaded via our submissions management platform at coverfly.com for $6. New drafts of an entry will be accepted at any time during the contest.
  • There are no refunds for any submitted scripts. Coupons may not be applied to previously submitted scripts. Coupons deemed for WeScreenplay coverage may not be used for submission to the contest or addition of coverage to any submission unless explicitly stated or exempted on the coupon or by a WeScreenplay representative via e-mail communication only.
  • There is no limit on the number of scripts a writer or writing team may submit.
  • Prizes are awarded per script and teams of writers are expected to divide prizes on their own accord. WeScreenplay will send prizes to the writer who submits the project and will in no way be responsible for how the prizes are distributed among the writing teams.
  • 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.
  • Scorecards can be accessed on the writer’s dashboard. Feedback will be delivered before the next announcement but usually sooner. Feedback for each round of the competition will be returned before the next competition announcement.
  • WeScreenplay reserves the right to delay announcements for any reason. While we never anticipate any delays, such delays will not alter the standing of any screenplay entry and will not qualify an entry for a refund under any circumstance.
  • By entering a WeScreenplay competition every entrant is agreeing to all WeScreenplay Terms of Service listed on the website and additional terms agreed upon at checkout. If you disagree with any terms you may not submit to the contest.
  • By submitting to the contest you are releasing your script (but not it’s underlying rights) to WeScreenplay and holding harmless WeScreenplay or any affiliates from any claims, expenses, and liabilities, including but not limited to invasion of privacy, defamation, copyright, libel, trademark infringement, slander, personal property infringement, etc.
  • Any prize winners will be required to sign an affidavit validating their entry into the contest.
  • Any writer winning a cash prize will be required to file the appropriate tax and legal documentation before the cash prize is distributed.
  • All prizes provided by sponsors or mentors are subject to said sponsor or mentor providing the prize. In the event a juror, partner organization, or prize partner is no longer able to serve in their specified capacity, WeScreenplay will make its best effort to secure a replacement if possible. WeScreenplay is not responsible for the failed delivery of any prize package by a juror, sponsor, or partner organization.
  • Former Grand Prize, Second Prize, and Third Prize Winners of the contest may enter so long as it is NOT the same script that won in a previous year. Any other placement in former years does not disqualify the script from being entered this year.
  • By entering the competition, entrants are acknowledging their eligibility for the competition. We may check eligibility at the finalist stage before picking winners or distributing any prizes. We also advance a few additional scripts to ensure no one is missed by someone entering who is not eligible.
  • Void where prohibited.
  • See full rules and eligibility at WeScreenplay
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Spring 2025