Originally posted by Pasquali56
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Now, what this means is that sometimes even our winning scripts are really not viable for the market place at that time. This can be due to several factors. Sometimes the budgets are huge and they are just not going to be optioned from a first time writer. Other times they are just not marketable, no matter how interesting or well done they might be. Regardless, what ends up happening is that we don't get as many outright sales from the competition. There are some, but certainly placing or even winning does not mean that you will have producers knocking down your door (if you find the competition that can deliver that, let me know). We do have a LOT of writers walk away from the experience with new representation and/or new industry contacts to work with.
We do promotion for our writers during and after the festival, but the best way to make these contacts is to be in Austin for the Conference and Festival no matter what level you made it to in the competition. We get a good number of success stories from 2nd Rounders and Semifinalists as well as Finalists and Winners, but if you don't come to Austin and you don't live in LA it is tough. Most of these people aren't going to pick up the phone and call you so it's up to you to meet them.
This is by no means an attack on any other competitions. From everything I know, TrackingB runs a good, fair competition and I encourage you to submit there as well as Austin. I just wanted to be clear about where we stand.
Let me know if you have any questions.
Take care,
Alex McPhail
Screenplay Competition Director
AFF
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