Video Contests, Film Festivals, and Awards

The Screenplay Showdown Award

By staff
posted May 6, 2004, 00:10

After 6 years of presenting the best writers and filmmakers in the entertainment industry at the Nashville Screenwriters Conference, we are teaming up with Ed Rugoff from the prestigious Chesterfield Writers� Film Project competition to present the first annual Screenplay Showdown.

The Screenplay Showdown was created to honor the work of the best new screenwriters from around the country, and to serve as a bridge between those writers and the Hollywood film industry. The Screenplay Showdown evaluates screenplays solely on the basis of storytelling ability- all genres have the same chance of winning.

The competition will be judged in two categories. Each category will have three finalists. The first category includes all genres. The second category was created to celebrate the union of the creative communities of music and film. For this category, we will accept only music-themed scripts: those with a primary music element (biographies, musicals, stories set against a music world background). Some examples would be the scripts for School of Rock, Sid and Nancy, 8 Mile, Almost Famous, Moulin Rouge, Save the Last Dance, Lizzie McGuire, That Thing You Do, The Pianist, Cotton Club, Mr. Holland�s Opus, and Chicago.

Writers should specify in which category (general or music-related) they are submitting their work.

The top three finalists in each category will have their screenplays read and considered for representation by people from the following literary agencies and management companies:

* Creative Artists Agency
* The William Morris Agency
* United Talent Agency
* Paradigm Literary Agency
* Industry Entertainment
* Bender-Spink Literary Management
* Blue Train Entertainment


In addition, the winning screenplays will be read for possible optioning and development by the following production companies and producers:

* HBO Films (�The Sopranos,� �Six Feet Under,� �Deadwood� )
* Tapestry Films (�The Wedding Planner,� �Pay It Forward�)
* Plan B (Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston�s production company)
* Fusion FilmWorks (United Artists)
* William Teitler Prods. (�Jumanji,� �Mr. Holland�s Opus�)

The top three finalists in each category will receive the following:
1st Place A free trip to the 2005 Nashville Screenwriters Conference. In addition to airfare from anywhere in the United States and two nights at a Nashville hotel, the winner will receive $250 in spending money and enjoy the perks of the Conference�s Silver Screen Pass, which includes admittance to the VIP Party, a great opportunity to meet and mingle with top industry professionals. Valued at a total of $1400.
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2nd Place � $500
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3rd Place � $250

The Screenplay Showdown competition is open to all residents of the United States, 18 and over, who have not earned more than $20,000 as writers in the film and/or television industry.

1. All applications must be postmarked on or before July 15, 2004. Screenplays will not be considered unless they are accompanied by an entry form and an entry fee of $35. A check, money order, or cashier�s check should be made payable to SCREENPLAY SHOWDOWN. Entry fees will not be returned or adjusted.
2. Entry checks which are returned by your bank will incur a $15 fee.
3. Revisions and missing pages will not be considered after the screenplay is received, so please be sure you are submitting the correct and complete draft of your work.
4. Applicants must send materials via regular mail (which includes UPS, FedEx, etc.); materials sent via the Internet or fax will not be considered. The Screenplay Showdown is not responsible for lost or stolen materials.
5. One screenplay per entry form and entry fee will be accepted. You may submit more than one screenplay, but an entry form and entry fee must be included with each additional screenplay.
6. The title page should contain your title and the author�s name(s). Author�s name(s) should not appear anywhere else on the screenplay.
7. Materials will not be returned under any circumstance. We recommend that you register all of your written material with the Writers Guild of America.
8. Please include a business-sized SASE for your notification letter. Applicants who wish to be notified of the receipt of their screenplay may include a self-addressed stamped postcard.
9. If a collaborative work is submitted, the writers must designate one writer as the primary contact on the entry form.
10. In the event that a collaborative work wins 1st Place, the award will still consist of paid travel expenses for one writer. In the event that a collaborative work wins one of the cash prizes, the money will be split among the authors.

FORMAT: US Motion Picture Industry Standard
12 point Courier or New Courier font
Up to 130 pages (Double-sided copies are acceptable)
Bound with two brads
3-4 sentence synopsis attached to cover

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