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The Screenwriter's Sourcebook: A Comprehensive Marketing Guide for Screen and Television Writers
Author(s): Michael Haddad (Author)
- Publisher: Chicago Review Press
- Publication Date: 31 Jan. 2005
- Language: English
- Print length: 384 pages
- ISBN-10: 1556525508
- ISBN-13: 9781556525506
Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Review
"An excellent resource for both amateur and professional screenwriters." -- Liz Glotzer, president of feature production, Castle Rock Entertainment
"Helped me win my first screenplay contest and get my script to agents." --Dean Simone, winner of
Scr(I)pt Magazine's Open Door ContestAbout the Author
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
The Screenwriter's Sourcebook
A Comprehensive Marketing Guide for Screen and Television Writers
By Michael Haddad
Chicago Review Press Incorporated
Copyright © 2005 Michael Haddad
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-55652-550-6
Contents
Acknowledgments,
Introduction,
ACT 1 CONTESTS,
Screenplay Contests,
Fellowships and Grants,
Development,
ACT 2 CAREER OPPORTUNITIES,
Agents,
Managers,
Producers,
ACT 3 RESOURCES,
Copyright and Script Registration,
Emergency Funds,
Colonies, Retreats, and Residencies,
Entertainment Industry Resource Guide,
Guilds, Unions, and Professional Associations,
Motion Picture Libraries and Museums,
Networks and Cable Channels,
Studios,
Public Agencies,
State Arts Agencies,
State Film Commissions,
Online Resources,
Advice and Tips,
Copyright Clearance,
Entertainment Business,
Finding an Agent,
Independent Filmmaking,
Job Opportunities,
Legal Resources,
Miscellaneous,
News and Publications,
Online Screenwriting Courses,
Research,
Screenwriting Software,
Script Libraries,
Stores,
Writers Groups,
Glossary of Important Terms,
Suggested Reading,
Contest Submission Calendar,
Index of Contests by Genre,
Alphabetical Index,
About the Author,
CHAPTER 1
SCREENPLAY CONTESTS
Screenplay Contests offer everything from a first-look deal at a studio to more than $5 million in cash prizes. In recent years, more scripts have been found through contests than ever before. Stolen Summer, Finding Forrester, The Laramie Project, Blue Car, Boys Don't Cry, Love & Basketball, Requiem for a Dream, and Bottle Rocket were all made from scripts that won film contests. What is the reason for this trend?
The answer is simple. It takes one and a half to two hours to read a script and from $60 to $100 to critique it. Producers don't have time to read scripts themselves; they hire someone to do it. As a result, many Hollywood producers and entertainment companies simply don't bother with outside scripts. They already have relationships with writers, agents, and managers, so they get scripts through authorized channels. "But my script is better than those!" you cry. It may well be, but they can't afford the time and energy to read the hundred others to get to yours. Hollywood knows it can't afford to ignore new talent, so contests provide a buffer between them and the unknown writer. Contests may be the new writer's best route to getting noticed.
Pay close attention to the major contests marked with These are the most influential. A win or even high placement in any of them will likely get you an agent. Of course these are also the most competitive.
Acclaim Film
Mission Statement: Our affiliated production companies will have the chance to consider the scripts of the winners, runners-up, finalists, and semifinalists for our film and TV contests. The companies already affiliated with us include Good Machine (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon), Recorded Picture Company (Naked Lunch, The Last Emperor), and the Donners' Company (Lethal Weapon series, X-Men).
Deadlines: Early: February 8; Standard: March 19;
Final: April 23
Entry fees: Early: $45; Standard: $55; Final: $60
Categories: All genres
Prizes: First Place: $1,000 cash; Second Place: Up-to-date books on writing and selling scripts. All winners and finalists may receive consideration by established production companies and agencies.
Previous Winners: First Place: Ghost of the Crossroads by Michael Spohr Set in the Mississippi Delta circa 1940, it follows the friendship between a former Negro League ballplayer and a mysterious white wanderer. Second Place: Maybe in My Next Life by Doreen Orion To find the source of her disastrous love life, a young woman uses a forbidden artifact to travel to past lives — only to discover she's been making the same stupid mistake since time began. THIRD PLACE: T & A by Scott F. Butler In the summer of 1979, Billy O'Keefe, a romantic but ineffectual young man of privilege, is compelled to embark upon a bizarre odyssey to prove his manhood to his future father-in-law, an eccentric self-made billionaire.
Contact Information: 300 Central Ave., Ste. 501, St. Petersburg, FL 33701 (727) 502-9049 Phone
Web: http://www.acclaimtv.netfirms.com
E-mail: acclaimtv@go.com
Actors' Choice Awards
Mission Statement: Five talented attendees of the Screenwriting Symposium or Producers Seminar will receive an SCSFe (Screenwriters Conference in Santa Fe) Actors' Choice Award based on the first ten pages of their screenplays. These winning scenes will be presented in live readings by our actor-judges during the Annual Screenwriters Conference in Santa Fe. A brief critique session moderated by Karen Jones Meadows will follow each reading.
Writing scripts is very much like choreographing to music. There are measured scenes that go on for a certain amount of time, with a beginning, middle, and end.
–JOAN TEWKESBURY, screenwriter,Nashville
Deadline: April 28
Entry fee: $25 plus conference attendance
Categories: All genres; first ten pages of each script only
Prizes: Winners will receive Final Draft software and certificates of achievement from SCSFe. In addition, their winning scenes will be forwarded to the producers attending the Producers Seminar, and presented in live readings at the Actors' Choice Awards ceremony.
Previous Winners:
Drumsticks by Lyn Davis, Albuquerque, NM La Llorona by Kristin Goodman, Chicago, IL The Faith Equations by David Hames, Colorado Springs, CO Fast One by Paul Taegel, Los Angeles, CA Dead Alice by Charlie Tramontana, West Pittston, PA
Contact Information: The Screenwriting Conference in Santa Fe, P.O. Box 29762, Santa Fe, NM 87592
(866) 424-1501 Phone
(505) 424-8207 Fax
Web: http://www.scsfe.com
E-mail: writeon@scsfe.com
AFC Storytelling International Screenwriting Competition
Mission Statement: The mission of the African Film Commission (AFC) is to assist in the development of the African film industry. The AFC works with African governments and leaders to establish film commissions in their respective regions or countries, and promotes education, awareness, and collaboration throughout the continent of Africa.
Deadline: March 31
Entry fee: $30
Categories: Scripts with African content
Prizes: First Prize: $5,000 plus an all-expenses-paid one-week trip to Los Angeles to collect the AFC Screenwriting Award and to be officially introduced to the Hollywood international film community; Second Prize: $3,500 along with an AFC Award; Third Prize: $2,000 along with an AFC Award
Contact Information: 8306 Wilshire Boulevard #330, Beverly Hills, CA 90211
(310) 770-6246 Phone
Web: http://www.africanfilmcommission.org
E-mail: info@africanfilmcommission.org
A.K.A Shriekfest Horror/Science Fiction Screewriting Contest
Mission Statement: A.K.A Shriekfest is a festival dedicated to discovering new and overlooked artists. The point of the festival is to help filmmakers by letting as many people see...
