Late - as in the last several days. Usually about half the entries arrive in the last week or so.
I had the feeling there were more late-comers than early birds.
I'd read that April through July was the most intense reading period.... I'm sure I'm over-thinking this, but are the lovely and wonderful Nicholl readers kinda overwhelmed being buried under that avalanche of scripts?
Do you think it might be better to enter earlier when the readers are more fresh, and not so overwhelmed?
"Do just once what others say you can't do, and you will never pay attention to their limitations again." -[/SIZE] James R. Cook
i love this time of year... when Nicholl talk heats up...
Will visions of being a finalist dancing in all our pretty, little heads.... at this stage, hope springs eternal and anything is possible... I'm stoked!
"Do just once what others say you can't do, and you will never pay attention to their limitations again." -[/SIZE] James R. Cook
Yeah, it's like Christmas when you're 8. You know exactly what you wanted, and you did your damnedest to be good all year, AND you told yourself this is the last year you were going to believe in Santa Claus if he didn't come through...and you race downstairs (always downstairs; these things never happen in a ranch), past the uneaten cookies, past the wrapped presents 'cause Santa doesn't wrap, dammit! and straight to the tree hoping hoping...
And if it's the big bike with a cool name like Predator or Trailblazer to replace the one you've outgrown that has the rusty spokes...maybe there is a Santa Claus.
Or maybe it's the three piece suit with matching tie and socks that you remembered your mom giggling with glee and saying you'd look so cute in it when you were in Sears two weeks prior...
Greg -- do you send out scripts to readers as they come in or wait until the deadline to sort and send?
I'm thinking if you send them out as they come in then the readers can read more at their leisure and the crowd of scripts coming in the last 3 days may get in the "rushed" pile. Please don't give the politically correct answer. Tell the truth so people can decide whether to send their scripts in early... or tweak it until the last day because it doesn't matter.
Starting from that point scroll down a tiny bit -- it states that the scripts get read as they come in. Readers are given a "stack" of scripts according to their own personal reading preferences -- no one's getting a thriller or a Rom-com if they've stated they hate them. When they're done with those, they get another stack.
During peak reading times 600 or so scripts are read in a week. I imagine they just have a ton more readers at those times, not that one reader is suddenly forced to read twenty scripts a day.
During peak reading times 600 or so scripts are read in a week. I imagine they just have a ton more readers at those times, not that one reader is suddenly forced to read twenty scripts a day.
But do we know that for sure? That they add more readers during the peak? I read somewhere April through July was the busiest reading period, which is why I'm planning a mid-Feb entry. Given it might even take a couple of weeks to process (I doubt it will take that long) I'm hoping for an early March read before the big deluge.
I have the feeling there will be a big spike on March 15 for those wanting to save some dough... my goal is to be read before things get crazy for those valiant readers.
And don't forget each script gets reads twice this year (yay!) so the readers' work load had now doubled... but the time frame has not.
JoJo: you were right the first time -- you're overthinking it :-) For all you know, your script might benefit more from a "peak time" read than a "slow time" read. There's no reason to assume that scripts submitted closer to the deadline will do worse; or, more specifically, that readers under greater time pressure tend to give lower scores than readers who have longer to reflect. Just get your script into the best possible shape, submit it, and hope for the best. That's all you can do.
Please don't give the politically correct answer. Tell the truth so people can decide whether to send their scripts in early... or tweak it until the last day because it doesn't matter.
I think there is an unfair implication in your question. I don't think Greg has been anything other than totally honest in his responses and, as has been pointed out, the answer to your question is in the Nicholl Fellowship FAQs.
I think there is an unfair implication in your question. I don't think Greg has been anything other than totally honest in his responses and, as has been pointed out, the answer to your question is in the Nicholl Fellowship FAQs.
I agree with this. Obviously, Nicholl, like any screenwriting contest, wants to try to space out submissions as much as possible, for logistical and administrative reasons, which is why they encourage early entries and provide discounts for same. And, just as obviously, many writers, due to procrastination or perfectionism, ignore those pleas and inducements and wait until the last week, day, hour, or minute to submit their scripts. But a reputable contest like Nicholl would never say that scripts submitted early have an advantage, or that scripts submitted during the last-minute "crush" will be given short shrift, because they endeavor to judge all scripts fairly, regardless of when they're submitted. To suggest otherwise is to question the integrity of the contest.
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