Trackingb.com 2010 Feature Contest

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  • #16
    Re: Trackingb.com 2010 Feature Contest

    Originally posted by Jules View Post
    Very expensive entry fees for a contest with no physical prizes. How do they justify that.
    They justify it with their track record. Other contests say they'll get you read; what some of them mean is, "we'll spam your logline to 300 prodcos and agents and see if any of them are interested." Even some well-respected contests that include money prizes have led to zero reads for winners and finalists.

    TrackingB gets people REPPED and well on their way to deals.

    (This is their reputation -- I don't have any personal experience with them.)

    L.
    "People who work in Hollywood are the ones who didn't quit." -- Lawrence Kasdan

    Please visit my website and blog: www.lauridonahue.com.

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    • #17
      Re: Trackingb.com 2010 Feature Contest

      As I posted above, "marketability" is an express criterion here. (Most other contest say they don't care about that and are only looking for "quality.")

      Look at the finalists and hon mentions from last year:

      http://www.trackingb.com/?page_id=4327

      As far as I can tell, these are:

      1. low-budget high school thriller
      2. contemporary cop thriller
      3. comedy thriller?

      4. rom com
      5. rom com
      6. low-budget sf horror?
      7. low budget sf thriller?
      8. comedy

      Nothing period. Limited if any SFX. Nothing big budget on its face.

      Something to keep in mind for people deciding where to invest their contest money....

      L.
      "People who work in Hollywood are the ones who didn't quit." -- Lawrence Kasdan

      Please visit my website and blog: www.lauridonahue.com.

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      • #18
        Re: Trackingb.com 2010 Feature Contest

        No straight drama either. Not that this surprises me, but contests do seem one way to get attention for a drama.

        Maybe not this one, though...

        Nic
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        • #19
          Re: Trackingb.com 2010 Feature Contest

          I'm amazed that after three years of a perfect track record and 100% positive feedback from those who have been promoted by the Insider, that questions still linger. I highly doubt that DDP members spend years writing scripts so they can win prize money.

          I strongly suggest you take advantage of it before word gets out and you're competing against 6,000 other entries like in the Nicholls.

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          • #20
            Re: Trackingb.com 2010 Feature Contest

            I don't think the lack of prize money is the issue.

            It's that prize money goes a long way to justifying high entree fees.

            And this has no prize money. Just VERY high entree fees.

            With the money going in only the one direction.

            So why are the fees so high?

            (I hope the readers are paid well)

            And if you're a writer in a developing country and have to convert to meet U.S. dollars then it begins to get pretty ugly.

            Is that wrong? I don't know. Maybe it isn't.

            Maybe screenwriting contests are a legitimate business. I won't answer that. Just ask the question.

            They can't all be the Nicholl, can they?

            Maybe charging writer's $20 to have your management company (ROAR) read the script is legit too. Maybe.

            I don't want to beat this horse much longer. I've made my point. I'm going to make this post and leave it at that. It is only one point of view.

            No one forces anyone to enter these things. The terms are clear. And the contest's influence cannot be denied.

            Who knows, maybe I will even enter something.

            Seems like a great contest.

            But I'm not a very good writer.

            If it doesn't have a monster list of quarterfinalists then I am ****ed.

            Maybe inktip will start their own contest and let me be a judge.

            And I can enter a script under a guise.

            Must email Jerrol.

            Fin.
            Last edited by Jules; 06-24-2010, 06:19 AM.
            It's the eye of the Tiger, it's the thrill of the fight

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            • #21
              Re: Trackingb.com 2010 Feature Contest

              It takes manpower and lots of time to read hundreds of scripts. Everyone's time is worth something. Plus, the Insider pays for a great dinner for all the judges to discuss the finalists. Plus plus, the Insider then spends countless hours promoting the honorable mentions and finalists though private emails and phone calls. He truly fights for your success, not just cashing your entry fee.

              When you buy a lottery ticket, money only goes one way, as you say. But everyone hopes that they are the one that walks away with the prize.

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              • #22
                Re: Trackingb.com 2010 Feature Contest

                Originally posted by LauriD View Post
                As I posted above, "marketability" is an express criterion here. (Most other contest say they don't care about that and are only looking for "quality.&quot

                Look at the finalists and hon mentions from last year:

                http://www.trackingb.com/?page_id=4327

                As far as I can tell, these are:

                1. low-budget high school thriller
                2. contemporary cop thriller
                3. comedy thriller?

                4. rom com
                5. rom com
                6. low-budget sf horror?
                7. low budget sf thriller?
                8. comedy

                Nothing period. Limited if any SFX. Nothing big budget on its face.

                Something to keep in mind for people deciding where to invest their contest money....

                L.
                Thanks for posting that. I was wondering. I entered the contest last year with a big-budget action/adventure that was at least 50% SFX (and by big budget, I mean at least 100mil). I may stick to a thriller this year if I enter.
                Last edited by Tigre de Oro; 06-24-2010, 11:11 AM.

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                • #23
                  Re: Trackingb.com 2010 Feature Contest

                  And the years before from what I can tell were:

                  1. Dramedy
                  2. Thriller
                  3. Action
                  4. Drama
                  5. Comedy
                  6. Comedy
                  7. Action-thriller
                  8. Action-thriller

                  1. Sports comedy
                  2. Drama - biopic
                  3. Drama
                  4. Comedy
                  5. Drama - post apocalyptic
                  6. Thriller
                  7. Dark comedy
                  8. Crime drama

                  think I'm just more confused now...

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                  • #24
                    Re: Trackingb.com 2010 Feature Contest

                    Knowing The Insider fairly well I don't think they set out looking for certain genres. He truly looks for a good script, doesn't matter the genre.

                    And I'm not sure why people are worried if the prize is money or representation or what, if you don't place you don't get anything, that's how it works in all the contests.

                    I don't think you are paying extra money for Roar to read your script. If you place Top 8 and you happened to pay the extra Roar prize then they will automatically represent you is what it is saying I'm pretty sure.

                    Isn't the Nicholl $55? And Tracking B is what only $10 dollars more? Nicholl gets over 6,000 entries and Tracking B probably will be around 800-900 which I think are a lot better odds.


                    The Insider is a great person, it shows from our interaction. This contest runs almost 6 months so I think $65 a script is not much to ask when you have to pay readers, throw a dinner, gather respectable industry people to take their time to read 3 scripts on top of their jobs, and keep up with the daily changing Tracking Board.

                    Enter or don't enter, it doesn't matter to anyone. But no one should bash something they don't know the details of.
                    Quack.

                    Writer on a cable drama.

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                    • #25
                      Re: Trackingb.com 2010 Feature Contest

                      this blows me away, 80 dollars is expensive? a good dinner and wine will be that or double. if you wrote for a year, trying to get your script into great shape and had nobody to give it to, but somebody handed you a list that originated this post and said for 80 dolllars you get a shot at one of these people liking it and then repping you and then selling that script for you, you wouldn't save 80 dollars?

                      i spent 80 dollars on a bagel, tomato and creamchesse loxs and a cab ride yesterday morning. jesus,h christ thank you tracking board.
                      You only get one chance to rewrite it 100 times.

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                      • #26
                        Re: Trackingb.com 2010 Feature Contest

                        Originally posted by ducky1288 View Post
                        Isn't the Nicholl $55? And Tracking B is what only $10 dollars more? Nicholl gets over 6,000 entries and Tracking B probably will be around 800-900 which I think are a lot better odds.
                        Nicholl entry fees were $30 (by April 1, 2010); $45 (by May 1, 2010).

                        Don't get me wrong, I still dig Trackingb . . . heaps. But in terms of bang for buck versus the risk/reward scenario, it really is hard to beat Nicholl.

                        Hey, someone plot something out on one of those fancy XY axis marketing quadrant-type graphs and will stick all the relevant contests and their fees in it . . . and then we'll . . . hire an independent auditor . . . and then . . .

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                        • #27
                          Re: Trackingb.com 2010 Feature Contest

                          just the sheer numbers alone who enter the contests respectable and the 'people reading it' says tracking board is a much better bargain if you have a 'good enough script'.

                          let's face it 99% of the scripts are dead already. you don't even have to win tracking board, just tickle the fancy of one of the judges then you have the ball rolling.

                          tracking board sounds phenominal, if tony and telly can win it anyone has a shot if your name starts with a t.
                          You only get one chance to rewrite it 100 times.

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                          • #28
                            Re: Trackingb.com 2010 Feature Contest

                            We submitted yesterday. Decided to beat the last minute rush this year.

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                            • #29
                              Re: Trackingb.com 2010 Feature Contest

                              How many scripts can each writer enter? Thanks.

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                              • #30
                                Re: Trackingb.com 2010 Feature Contest

                                We finished in the Top 30 in the Nicholl with a script, page-oned it and landed an Honorable Mention in the trackingb.com contest.

                                The Nicholl placement garned two requests (not a reflection on the Nicholl - it came in pretty handy when querying, for sure).

                                Can't count on my hands how many we got off the trackingb.com placement, including our now manager who got us into the top agencies where we were ultimately signed in the room by one of the judges in this years contest.

                                And the ugly duck is right - you'd drop this much on a decent meal. If you're script's worth a damn, it's worth the money.
                                Last edited by ihavebiglips; 06-25-2010, 09:09 AM.

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