Has a contest winner ever placed in one and not another?

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  • Has a contest winner ever placed in one and not another?

    For those of you who have entered many screenplay contests, I was just curious if any of you have placed in one contest and not another. I am just curious if these contests uniformly pick the same scripts or if it's quite a different results between contests. And out of curiosity, what types of scripts did you find to do well in one and not the other....as in, does some of these contests have specific tastes towards a certain type of script.

  • #2
    Re: Has a contest winner ever placed in one and not another?

    Of course! If you look over the winners of biggish contests in any given year, you'll seldom see the same names.

    Taste is subjective. The competitions will let you know if they have a particular things they want, otherwise glean what you can from loglines. But don't get caught up trying to write to please a contest. Write a good script, that's all.

    Selling a script is more important than winning a contest.
    Last edited by carcar; 06-20-2017, 12:44 PM.

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    • #3
      Re: Has a contest winner ever placed in one and not another?

      Originally posted by carcar View Post
      Of course! If you look over the winners of biggish contests in any given year, you'll seldom see the same names.

      Taste is subjective. The competitions will let you know if they have a particular things they want, otherwise glean what you can from loglines. But don't get caught up trying to write to please a contest. Write a good script, that's all.

      Selling a script is more important than winning a contest.
      Cool. Thanks. I was just curious how much the fluctuation was from contest to contest. I fully expect one writer to be a semi-finalist in one and a winner in another.... as that's still fairly uniform in that the contests' evaluations are at least are within the ball park of each other. Just curious, if the tastes are so different sometimes that you have one that is a finalist in one and not even place in another.

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      • #4
        Re: Has a contest winner ever placed in one and not another?

        Yep.
        Came top 10 in Table Read My Screenplay.
        The same script didn't make the QF of Screencraft Horror contest.
        It's all pretty subjective. I definitely didn't take it personally.
        I've also had a TV spec win or place in a dozen contests and then didn't make QF in one or two. Again, it just happens.
        I used to fixate on contests a lot but recently been focused much more on getting stuff directly to producers and it's been much more effective.
        Best of luck to you

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        • #5
          Re: Has a contest winner ever placed in one and not another?

          Originally posted by Paracellsus View Post
          Yep.
          Came top 10 in Table Read My Screenplay.
          The same script didn't make the QF of Screencraft Horror contest.
          It's all pretty subjective. I definitely didn't take it personally.
          I've also had a TV spec win or place in a dozen contests and then didn't make QF in one or two. Again, it just happens.
          I used to fixate on contests a lot but recently been focused much more on getting stuff directly to producers and it's been much more effective.
          Best of luck to you
          Cool. Thanks for sharing your experience. I'm not really familiar with contests, but they look very intriguing with the names they list as some of the judges or companies affiliated with them. I guess someday I will find out for myself.

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          • #6
            Re: Has a contest winner ever placed in one and not another?

            The script that kickstarted my career was an honourable mention in Tracking B. A PAGE Awards Winner, a Final Draft finalist and yet didn't even make it past the first cut of the Nicholl.

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            • #7
              Re: Has a contest winner ever placed in one and not another?

              Originally posted by Mintclub View Post
              The script that kickstarted my career was an honourable mention in Tracking B. A PAGE Awards Winner, a Final Draft finalist and yet didn't even make it past the first cut of the Nicholl.
              Just out of curiosity, was that script more indie with a heart or more studio fare? I am wondering if the different contests have different tastes when looking at material.

              Which contests do you think were the most helpful to you?

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              • #8
                Re: Has a contest winner ever placed in one and not another?

                Oh it was very much a genre piece. A contained action thriller. I entered 3 of them based on reactions and reviews from other writers. The only one I did on a whim was final draft. Tracking B were great and really hustled to get my script out there but by the time the contest results were announced I'd already had some attention from the PAGE Awards. Nothing major but a low level exec looking to make a name for himself at a major prod co had stumbled across the logline from the press release and asked to read the script. It kinda went from there. He passed it onto the head of development. We reworked it over 3 or 4 months, then the big time producers who ran the prod co came in with notes. I hustled and banged on doors and signed with my first agents and managers and then the script finally went out to the market in the April. We'd started our initial convo in early November. Script didn't sell but helped get my foot on the ladder and it's been a gradual progression since then. I must have sent 250 emails to managers and agents when we were working on the new draft. Most didn't even respond. It's tough but tenacity pays off.

                That said, even though I've been lucky enough to make a living at this for a few years now I still keep writing specs at every chance. I've written two this year alone. Certain contests (and there are only a few) are a great way to get noticed in the mayhem. Not the only way. There's plenty of routes in these days. Ultimately though whether it's from a contest win, a query, a contact etc you've gotta have another top script ready when you're out there hustling or you could end up in one of those god awful manager/writer relationships where they're asking you for loglines for that next script, writing a script they think the market wants. Never a good thing.
                Last edited by Mintclub; 06-25-2017, 03:59 AM.

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                • #9
                  Re: Has a contest winner ever placed in one and not another?

                  Originally posted by Mintclub View Post
                  Oh it was very much a genre piece. A contained action thriller. I entered 3 of them based on reactions and reviews from other writers. The only one I did on a whim was final draft. Tracking B were great and really hustled to get my script out there but by the time the contest results were announced I'd already had some attention from the PAGE Awards. Nothing major but a low level exec looking to make a name for himself at a major prod co had stumbled across the logline from the press release and asked to read the script. It kinda went from there. He passed it onto the head of development. We reworked it over 3 or 4 months, then the big time producers who ran the prod co came in with notes. I hustled and banged on doors and signed with my first agents and managers and then the script finally went out to the market in the April. We'd started our initial convo in early November. Script didn't sell but helped get my foot on the ladder and it's been a gradual progression since then. I must have sent 250 emails to mangers and agents when we were working on the new draft. Most didn't even respond. It's tough but tenacity pays off.

                  That said, even though I've been lucky enough to make a living at this for a few years now I still keep writing specs at every chance. I've written two this year alone. Certain contests (and there are only a few) are a great way to get noticed in the mayhem. Not the only way. There's plenty of routes in these days. Ultimately though whether it's from a contest win, a query, a contact etc you've gotta have another top script ready when you're out there hustling or you could end up in one of those god awful manager/writer relationships where they're asking you for loglines for that next script, writing a script they think the market wants. Never a good thing.
                  Hey, thanks Mintclub. I really enjoyed reading about your experiences, especially the part about how hard you hustled to get the ball rolling. In fact, I ended up re-reading it a second time.

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                  • #10
                    Re: Has a contest winner ever placed in one and not another?

                    Early on, I had one script that was either a finalist or winner in a number of contests. Except for one competition, where it didn't even place. Just chalked it up to, "You can't please all the people all the time"...
                    (Or should it have been, "you can't fool all the people...")

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                    • #11
                      Re: Has a contest winner ever placed in one and not another?

                      Originally posted by DangoForth View Post
                      Early on, I had one script that was either a finalist or winner in a number of contests. Except for one competition, where it didn't even place. Just chalked it up to, "You can't please all the people all the time"...
                      (Or should it have been, "you can't fool all the people...")
                      Oh, that was just an isolated incident of a reader who doesn't know anything about screenwriting. The other readers that advanced you, on the other hand, have great taste and a keen eye.

                      I don't know if you submitted more commercial fare or more indie with a heart, but did you notice any difference between the contests in terms of what they gravitate towards? I was reading the log lines of the finalists for a few of the big contests and they seem to be more low budget dramas that are less commercial.

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                      • #12
                        Re: Has a contest winner ever placed in one and not another?

                        Dramas do seem to do better. But there's plenty of statistics that can disprove that.
                        I decided to enter a couple of competitions this year (free festival passes for finalists). Had a comedy go 2 for 2. I honestly was surprised, but it just goes to show that, in the end, genre is not as important as execution.

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                        • #13
                          Re: Has a contest winner ever placed in one and not another?

                          I went to a writer's conference a while back where a Nicholl finalist spoke about submitting the exact same script to Austin, and not placing at all.

                          I've had finalist scripts that didn't place at all in other contests. Readers are people with personal likes/dislikes, and writing is subjective.

                          I would say historical stuff and/or "based-on-a-true story" gives you more of an edge because at least the reader can justify high marks with the lure of IP - but who knows.

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                          • #14
                            Re: Has a contest winner ever placed in one and not another?

                            Originally posted by BKDodger View Post
                            I went to a writer's conference a while back where a Nicholl finalist spoke about submitting the exact same script to Austin, and not placing at all.

                            I've had finalist scripts that didn't place at all in other contests. Readers are people with personal likes/dislikes, and writing is subjective.

                            I would say historical stuff and/or "based-on-a-true story" gives you more of an edge because at least the reader can justify high marks with the lure of IP - but who knows.
                            If it's not too personal, which contests did you finalist in and which contests did you not place in....what kind of script was it (commercial genre...or more indie). Just curious about the tastes of the different contests.

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                            • #15
                              Re: Has a contest winner ever placed in one and not another?

                              Originally posted by Friday View Post
                              If it's not too personal, which contests did you finalist in and which contests did you not place in....what kind of script was it (commercial genre...or more indie). Just curious about the tastes of the different contests.
                              It's not too personal, but I don't think it would be helpful. Here's my take on the various contests...and it's probably worth about as much as you paid for it.

                              Nicholl/Austin/Screencraft = Best story/original voice wins (genre isn't so important, just tell a great and unique story)

                              The Tracking Board/Tracking B/Final Draft = Writing Quality + Commercial Viability (High concept)

                              Script Pipleline = Commercial Viability or a great hook trumps story (tentpoles, broad scripts)

                              No clue about Page, Slamdance, or the nine million other contests out there. Also, I guarantee every single one of those contests has a script, or two, that placed high and defied everything I wrote above.

                              The only thing that matters is to write a story you care about, and to tell it well.

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