With contest results looming - interesting post...

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  • With contest results looming - interesting post...

    ... by Deus over at 2A.

    You mailed your entry and the contest deadline has passed.

    Now what?

    You have done all you can do, now you just sit back and wait for the fame and fortune to come to you, right?

    Wrong.

    Now is the time to prepare to make the best out of every opportunity a contest may give you.

    All too often someone will do well in a contest, maybe even win it, and get exactly no benefit to their career. Why is that? In most cases it was because they were completely unprepared to take advantage of their opportunities.

    Now is the time you should be researching and targeting talent, directors, managers, agents, producers, lawyers, etc.

    Now is the time you should be honing your pitch and polishing the perfect logline and query letter.

    Now is when you should be carefully selecting and polishing your second and third and fourth ideas so they align with the "brand" of your entry script and are ready to be pitched at the drop of a hat to demonstrate how prolific you are at generating great ideas.

    Success doesn't end with entering a script into a contest, it begins there.

    Your success or failure at exploiting your opportunities to create a career has very little to do with the contest you enter or how well your script does in it. Your ability to turn opportunity into success is primarily a direct result of what you do AFTER you have written the script.

    Now is the time to be blanketing Hollywood with your queries, cold calls and pitches. When the contest announces the scripts that have advanced to the next level you do it all over again, emphasizing how exceptional your advancement is.

    With each step you remind TPTB in Hollywood how your script is generating heat and will soon be taking the market by storm.

    The idea is to have your network of fans and supporters in place BEFORE the contest results are known. Ideally, you want to use the opportunities created by the contest advancements to sell your script BEFORE the results are known.

    The very last thing you want to happen is to win a contest and have no agent, no interest and no idea how to create it.

    A lot of people on this board enter contests. Why isn't it full of people asking for feedback on their queries and pitches? Why aren't they honing loglines for their backup ideas? Why aren't people asking questions about Manager X or Producer Y?

    The answer is simple.

    People are not preparing themselves to take advantage of the very opportunities they are seeking by entering a contest.

    Don't be one of the unprepared.

    Don't become another cautionary tale of someone who let opportunity slip through your fingers.

    THE TIME IS NOW!
    EJ

  • #2
    Re: With contest results looming - interesting post...

    I definitely see his point but at the same time it seems like kind of a waste of time unless you get some indication you made it past the initial rounds.

    But definitely good advice in there for the lucky few it applies to.

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: With contest results looming - interesting post...

      I think it's also worthy of mention that this applies when sending out material on your own.

      If something bites and people get excited, it obviously pays to have projects lined up already.

      EJ

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      • #4
        Re: With contest results looming - interesting post...

        Making it to round 1 means nothing to me, I want to win, I want to be a finalist. So I have to work to get my script to be nearly perfect. I think contests like Nicholls, Disney, etc are perhaps the only chances that good scriptwriters will get noticed without agents and such. So keep entering don't give up.

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        • #5
          Re: With contest results looming - interesting post...

          Wow, that was a kick in the guts, but a well deserved one.

          Interesting read.
          @TerranceMulloy

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          • #6
            Re: With contest results looming - interesting post...

            Worthy of another bump as contest season is underway.

            EJ

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            • #7
              Re: With contest results looming - interesting post...

              Good luck to everybody who has entered contests!

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: With contest results looming - interesting post...

                I have to say the two managers and agent I've been in touch with lately have said the don't really care about contest placements unless it's the Nicholl. So if you're doing well in the Nicholl let the world know. Otherwise, I guess just keep on querying.

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                • #9
                  Re: With contest results looming - interesting post...

                  This bump is for Lee/XL!

                  EJ

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                  • #10
                    Re: With contest results looming - interesting post...

                    Thanks EJ
                    twitter.com/leespatterson

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