screenandscripts-deactivated201:
Hi L,
It’s actually very simple to enter screenwriting competitions. They can be entered online – 99.9% of the time for a fee – and the screenplay is submitted through their website or through withoutabox.com, or some variation.
Hayley McKenzie posts a list of the most prominent screenwriting competitions on her blog every month. Here’s the June post, for example. It would be worth clicking around and familiarising yourself with the sorts of competitions out there.
All of the big competitions – and just about all of the smaller ones – will have entry fees. Prices vary. Luckily there are usually Early Bird, Regular, and Late fees, so if you are prepared early then you can enter for quite a reasonable amount of money. Additionally, you might want to consider paying for feedback. Some competitions offer it for free, others don’t.
So, that’s the easy part of your question sorted.
It’s completely normal to wonder what your work will be like compared to everyone else, and while you can’t know for certain there are a couple of things you can do to make sure your work is as good as it can be.
1. Don’t enter a competition with a script until you have had feedback on it. You’re not doing yourself any favours if you hide away the script, don’t let anyone but yourself look at it, and then send it off to a competition. The chances of you doing well are very small. Instead, you need to receive feedback on your script. Make you sure have people read it who are actually familiar with screenplays. General family and friends can be great for proofreading, or letting you know what they think of the plot, but you really need to get feedback from someone who knows their stuff. Some people pay for this, others have writing groups they go to. If you’re not in a position to pay for feedback, or don’t know anyone who is familiar with screenplays, then don’t be afraid to reach out online. I have helped with screenplays through my blog and through screenandscripts, and Kat leads the script workshop on this blog. Lots of people are willing to help and I really recommend that you take advantage of this.
2. Proofread. Get other people to proofread. Don’t depend on your own eyes. You will miss things.
3. Don’t be afraid to edit your work. Cut out anything unnecessary. Sometimes that means your favourite scenes have to go, or your favourite lines of dialogue. It can be painful, but you need to do it. Try to gain some distance or time away from your script, and then go through it while trying to be as objective as possible.
I’ve answered a similar question about preparing for competitions over on my personal blog. It’s similar to what I’ve already said, but you might find it useful to check it out.
Experience
I won the Euroscript-Underwire 2013 Screenwriting Competition back in October. I had just graduated from university that summer with an English Literature degree, and the only ‘experience’ I had came from writing in my spare time, and a couple of screenwriting classes I had been able to take. The screenwriting classes themselves were very simplistic – it was the actual going away and writing that produced the experience. (That, and reading screenplays. Read as many professional screenplays as you can – you will pick up lots, I promise.)
There isn’t a specific age you’ll reach that will signify you’re experienced enough to enter a screenwriting competition, but it’s fair to say that most winners or people who place well have been writing for several years – and I don’t mean the ‘I’ve been writing stories for myself since I was a pre-teen’ type of writing for years, I mean the ‘I’ve been writing with the serious intent of becoming a professional for a number of years’. There’s a difference between 9 year old or 14 year old me writing because I wanted to be professional writer and 20+ me writing because I want to be a professional writer. You develop as you age. A lot of competitions require you to be 18+ to enter, but there’s a reason that not many 18 or 19 year olds are winning them (I don’t know how old you are, so this is more of a general bit of advice). There will be some, but the majority of those placing well in competitions are out of their teens and will have had time for their writing to develop, and have already spent a lot of time writing. There really won’t be a magical sign to let you know when you’re ready or have had enough experience, but if you’re only on your first screenplay – even if you’ve been writing in one form or another since you were a kid – then you might want to wait a little before paying those hefty entry fees.
HOWEVER – putting the previous paragraph aside for a moment – if you can afford the entry fees, have written a few screenplays and had feedback/notes, and you feel you’re ready then don’t let me put you off. Worst case scenario: you don’t place and you’ve paid the entrance fee, but on the plus side you got professional feedback. Best case scenario: you win. I wrote my winning screenplay when I was 20, forgot about it, came back to it & edited it two years later and then won the first competition I entered. If it’s something you want to do be sensible, make sure you’ve made your script the best it can be, and then go ahead and enter.
Genre
There are competitions dedicated to horror. There are competitions dedicated to fantasy or science fiction, or drama or comedy. There are competitions that might not be dedicated to a certain genre, but have lots of different categories for lots of different genres. My point is, there will be a competition out there for the genre you want to write. They’ll usually specify on the website the type of scripts they’re looking for, or if there’s a specific genre they’re not accepting. Read the websites and find out. If you think the genre you want to write for is too niche and want to branch out then adapt as necessary.
Don’t worry about it for now too much – the competition I won didn’t specify a genre and I won with a magical realism script. Concentrate on writing the best script you can and then figure out which competition is best for it. You can be crafty about these things and work out what scripts are in hot demand and what will increase your odds, but if it’s your first try then it’s better to focus on writing something you’re really passionate about before you start trying to contort your story into something else.
Extras
Some competitions have different categories for teen writers. There can also be categories for people from specific countries, states, genders, races, sexuality, etc. It’s worth working your way through the different types of competitions and seeing if any of these less general categories are applicable to you.
Don’t worry about being inferior compared to everyone else. You won’t be.
annerocious is a reader for some of the big screenwriting competitions out there, so I’d recommend following her tumblr – she gives excellent advice.
Research
Don’t enter a competition blind. All the information you need can be found online, so research the competitions you want to enter and then double-check you’re eligible for them.
Final Notes
With all of that said, don’t be afraid to enter competitions. I didn’t know if I was ready, but I had a script, I’d received feedback, and I was pretty sure it was as good as I was going to get it. I almost talked myself out of entering because I was worried everyone would be more experienced than me. Luckily I didn’t, and it worked out for me. I hope it works out for you too.
Be prepared for the fact that you might not automatically place when you first start entering competitions. Learn from the feedback you get and remember that rejection is a very, very routine part of the film industry. Everyone gets rejected. Pick yourself up and keep going.
I hope that helped, and if you would like more specific advice or anything elaborated on then don’t be afraid to drop screenandscripts another question.
– Caty