There’s been a lot of chatter on the screenwriting blogs about the value of competitions. Most recently there was some scandal about the Fade In competition here, which prompted a response from them here, and then it got uglier here. Threatening lawsuits, harassment, accusations, lame rhetoric–exciting!
I’ve entered a few competitions: TVWriter.com Spec Scriptacular (Finalist), Script PIMP (Grand Prize, TV), Austin Film Festival (Winner, Sitcom), and ScriptapaloozaTV (absolute loser).
Yeah, that last one pissed me off. Here’s the story, I first entered the Spec Scriptacular, made it to the final round so I made a bunch of revisions. Then I sent that revised script to the other three competitions. I was ecstatic when I won the first two, but I didn’t even make the quarterfinals of Scriptapalooza.
I felt betrayed. Surely they had made a mistake. I emailed just about all the other writers I knew. Okay, I sounded like a big baby. And they all replied with something like, “Contests are subjective.” But to this day I believe my script was just thrown in the trash and never scored. Wah wah wah!
So am I going to enter Scriptapalooza this year? Yep. I’m a sucker.
This post will be continued with more about my good experiences with competitions.
November 3rd, 2009 at 1:32 pm
Hey There,
I am just running across your entry here. I do some of the social media for Scriptapalooza. I am sorry about last year…I am glad you are entering again!