Top Ten Screenwriting Contests

As a screenwriter, it is important to get your work seen. For a screenwriter this can be challenging because you can't make a movie every time you write something. Contests are the perfect ways to get your work seen, AND make new connections or friends. Here is a list of my top ten screenwriting competitions.


1.)Academy Nicholl Fellowship

2.)  The New York Screenplay Contest

3.)  Sundance Screenwriters' Lab

4.) Tracking B

5.) Scriptapalooza Screenplay Competition

6.) Script Pipeline

7.) Hollywood Screenplay Contest

8.) BlueCat Screenplay Competition

9.) Big Break Contest 

10.) The Write Start Contest


Honestly, you can't go wrong entering any of these awesome competitions. At least your work is getting out there.

Show 'em what you got!

Listen to the Experts

Sure I have experience in screenwriting. But not nearly as much as other working professionals. I am most definitely still learning, but the professionals who have "been around the block" know what is going on in the industry, and they can tell you what to expect.

It is also incredibly interesting to listen to a professional talk about their craft because they have internalized it. They can think about it conceptually, and they start to gain insight from the craft of screenwriting from a metaphysical standpoint.

Hearing writers talk about their writing this way is fascinating because it puts my own writing in perspective for me. It is not just about getting technical advice from these professionals, it is more about learning from them, who they are, and what they think about writing as a craft.

Check out legendary screenwriter William Goldman talk about the craft of screenwriting, and all of the joys that it has brought him. There is so much to learn from him.

Find What Inspires You

Let's be honest for a second. Writing is a lot of work, and even though I love it, I even find times that I really just don't want to do it. I know I have to, but it becomes very tiring.

For a while I had not been able to figure out how to make writing less work (not lazy, just efficient). But now I think I have it figured out.

INSPIRATION!

Yea I know, it sounds really corny and even obvious at first, but I'm not talking about inspiration for a specific story; I'm talking about inspiration to write at all. Its so easy to forget why we write. It becomes work, and then we start thinking of ways to avoid it, and its a slippery slope from there to not wanting to write at all anymore.

Personally I have found some of this inspiration in my younger cousin Elizabeth. She just turned 5 last month, and I can't believe how much she loves books and writing. She is a talented, smart, caring and wonderful little girl. There is so much enthusiasm in her that it over-flows. Her smile and laugh are contagious, and she knows just what to do to make you feel special.

Here she is enjoying my closet of books, or as she calls it, her library.

 She is so curious and innocent that she reminds me to write because I want to; not because I have to. She gets such a pure joy from looking through a book, even though she can't read the words, the mere thought of the words is exciting to her. 

I try to embody this attitude about my writing. Joy should come from the act of putting those words on the page.

Here is Elizabeth explaining to my why she loves the scary books that I like. She is one brave girl.

She is so happy to be among those books that it is contagious. Elizabeth inspires me to write what I want to write. Not what other people want you to write. I write for me (it kind of looks like that's what she's saying in that picture). She forces me to remember to write for the fun of it. It doesn't always have to be work. 

Find What Works Best For You

 Now that you have a general understanding about the key structure of a screenplay its time to find your own unique writing process. This is your own process. It is different for everyone, including award-winning screenwriter Dustin Lance Black. Check out Black explain exactly what he does, and the ways he creates his final product.

Now just because that works for him, that doesn't mean it has to work for you. Its important to find your own process, one that makes you feel completely comfortable. I have a process similar to his. I always try to "watch my movie in my head" before I write it. But I also have a friend who can't do that. She writes as she goes. She says she likes going on the adventure with her characters, and that works for her. No process is better than the other.

Sometimes its helpful to hear about other writers' strategies as a source of inspiration, or even trading thoughts about what works and what doesn't.

Once you have your own specific process, your scripts will start to become your own, and your style will shine through.

So You Wanna Write a Screenplay

Now that you remember a little bit of your own history, or at least respect that the art/craft of writing has been around for millennia. And you've seen and thought about who your favorite screenwriters are

Now go write!

.......

If only it were that easy. I think that the first important thing to understand is the basic structure of a screenplay. In each feature film there are three identifiable acts that the film is broken up into. From there the action is divided into smaller, more manageable pieces.

I. ACT ONE (25 - 30 pages)

1. Opening Image/Scene
2. Set-up
3. Inciting Incident/Catalyst
4. Protagonist’s Debate/Reluctancy - The protagonist does not want to answer this call to arms. The protagonist has his or her reservations.
5. First Turning Point - The protagonist decides to answer the call to action

II.ACT TWO (60 pages)

1. Promise of the premise - This is what the movie is going to be about.
          A.Goal
          B.Stakes
          C.Urgency
2. B-story/Sub-plot(s)

B.MID-POINT

1. Antagonist Rallies - The bad guy is starting to win.
2. All is Lost
3. Protagonist Laments (whiff of death) - Something dramatic happens to the protagonist that makes him questions his choice to answer the call to action.
4. Second Turning point

III.ACT THREE (25 - 30 pages)

1. Protagonist Rallies
2. Climax
3. Closing Image


This simple outline fits almost any modern movie. The parts are clearly identifiable. Once you start to see this structure in the movies that you watch for fun, you will never be able to see movies the same way again. Sorry!

Top 10 Screenwriters of All Time

Here is a list of the top 10 legendary screenwriters.


This list belongs to IMdB, one of the top resources in all things film:

          10. Charlie Kaufman
            9. Paul Haggis
            8. David Mamet
            7. Paul Thomas Anderson
            6. Aaron Sorkin
            5. Brian Helgeland
            4. Christopher Nolan
            3. Quentin Tarantino
            2. Paul Schrader
            1. Oliver Stone


Sure it's nice to share your list of favorite screenwriters (which I will certainly do later), but I do think it's good to look at what writers the industry respects. IMdB has become a great litmus test to see what and who is successful in the industry. In a way it gives up and coming screenwriters something to strive for.  It also creates a respect for these writers and the legacy they have created with their art.

So do you agree with IMdB?

Here is their complete list with explanations: http://www.imdb.com/list/ls053504212/
 

Remember the Past to Write Your Story

Using Hemingway's typewriter at the Hemingway Museum.

With all of the new software for writing or editing it is hard to remember the days when people wrote with those things! I completely agree that technology has improved writing and screenwriting in monumental ways, but it is important to remember our roots as writers.

Vising this Hemingway museum opened my eyes to the reality that he wrote the scripts to his movies on a typewriter. He did not have Final Draft completing his sentences, predicting his dialogue patterns or automatically formatting his scene structure. Even though it would be difficult and time consuming to write a work without some of this great technology it is still important to acknowledge how writing as evolved.

This does not directly improve your writing. Comma splices will not suddenly disappear if you remember where writers came from, but your writing would still improve.

Remembering where we came from offers a respect for the craft. This respect then is carried over into the time we spend on a particular work. It would be easy to give up and write the first thing that pops into your head. However I found it so rewarding to remember all of the trouble that previous writers had to go through just to get their messages across.

I do not want to disappoint them, so I would step up my game. Those other writers didn't give up when writing on a typewriter was too tiring, so there is no excuse to give up with all of the technology that modern writers have at their fingertips.

Remembering the past forces us to respect the present and hope for the future.