How high up do you have to place on a contest for a manager to take notice?

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  • How high up do you have to place on a contest for a manager to take notice?

    I noticed that the contests like Nicholl have many finalists, semi-fiinalists, top 3% and top 5%. What's the cut off to where a manager would take notice? Also, which contests will they most likely pay attention to? There are a bunch that I've never heard of. But, I think I mostly have only heard of Nicholl and maybe 3 others. Also, for coverage services, would a manager care if you receive a consider or double consider? Or do you need a Recommend?

  • #2
    Re: How high up do you have to place on a contest for a manager to take notice?

    Originally posted by Friday View Post
    I noticed that the contests like Nicholl have many finalists, semi-fiinalists, top 3% and top 5%. What's the cut off to where a manager would take notice? Also, which contests will they most likely pay attention to? There are a bunch that I've never heard of. But, I think I mostly have only heard of Nicholl and maybe 3 others. Also, for coverage services, would a manager care if you receive a consider or double consider? Or do you need a Recommend?
    You would have to rank highly (I'd say semis) AND have a logline which intrigues a producer, agent, or manager and whets their appetite.

    If I was going to enter one contest, it would be the Nicholl.

    Great coverage won't mean much to a producer, agent, or manager unless they know the specific reader and trust/respect their opinion.
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    • #3
      Re: How high up do you have to place on a contest for a manager to take notice?

      Originally posted by Friday View Post
      I noticed that the contests like Nicholl have many finalists, semi-fiinalists, top 3% and top 5%. What's the cut off to where a manager would take notice? Also, which contests will they most likely pay attention to? There are a bunch that I've never heard of. But, I think I mostly have only heard of Nicholl and maybe 3 others. Also, for coverage services, would a manager care if you receive a consider or double consider? Or do you need a Recommend?
      The Nicholl is the only contest the counts these days, maybe if you win Austin since it's a writer's festival. All the other contests, since there are now too many to count, are all pretty worthless to agents and managers as bait to read. I know a couple of managers who'll read any Nicholl semi-finalist. But mostly it's the top ten that's gets all the attention... So all you need to do is finish in the top ten out of 9000 entries.

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      • #4
        Re: How high up do you have to place on a contest for a manager to take notice?

        Back when I was contest-eligible you'd get maybe 20 read requests off a Nicholl quarterfinal.

        Two years ago a friend of mine quartered and got one.

        I think you need to at least semi to make any noise.

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        • #5
          Re: How high up do you have to place on a contest for a manager to take notice?

          Originally posted by EvilRbt View Post
          You would have to rank highly (I'd say semis) AND have a logline which intrigues a producer, agent, or manager and whets their appetite.
          I would say the logline is key.

          I recently won category in Final Draft Big Break contest and have ZERO managers reach out to me because of the contest placement.

          I attribute the lack of interest to fact I won the period/historical category.

          And the screenwriting gods hate me.

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          • #6
            Re: How high up do you have to place on a contest for a manager to take notice?

            Thanks for giving your input guys. Is there a difference between those that enter the regular deadline and the late deadline?

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            • #7
              Re: How high up do you have to place on a contest for a manager to take notice?

              Off the competition alone (without lifting a finger), finalist. But... you can query with semifinalist or above. I queried with second rounder (AFF) last year, because there was 9100 scripts (a few thousand more than Nicholl).

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              • #8
                Re: How high up do you have to place on a contest for a manager to take notice?

                P.S. - And yeah, I *put* that in my query (top %13 of 9100 scripts).

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                • #9
                  Re: How high up do you have to place on a contest for a manager to take notice?

                  Have any of you tried those network or studio fellowships? What was that like? It seems like you need references from people in the industry and an application essay - it's not just about the strength of your script alone.

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