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Fall Screenwriting Contest – 1 Week to Deadline!

Fall Screenwriting Contest – 1 Week to Deadline!

2020 has been a tough year for a lot of people, but if there’s one thing that might help, it’s $3500 – which is the Grand Prize for our Fall Screenwriting Contest! With just one week until the final deadline, enter now for your chance to win!

WriteMovies is dedicated to helping writers, which is why we’ve upped the Grand Prize for this contest. But that’s not all that’s on offer. ALL our prizes are designed to help you out in your writing career and get your work out there!

In addition to the Grand Prize for the best script, the top three scripts all receive pitching to industry and script development from us. We want to see you succeed – and that’s exactly what our Fall Screenwriting Contest is here for. The top three receive:

  • A year of free script development worth up to $3200
  • Guaranteed pitching to industry
  • An invitation to a lunch with an industry executive in L.A.
  • Exclusive listing from InkTip
Filming on former WriteMovies winner THE LIST

Filming on former WriteMovies winner THE LIST

Recent winners have received attention from top industry execs such as producers of GET OUT and BLACKKKLANSMAN – if you want to join their ranks, make sure you enter now.

You can also enter by buying one of script reports, getting you the expert feedback you need to take your script to the next level – and then resubmit your new draft, completely FREE of charge, up until October 30th! Click here to see the script reports we offer, with Studio Coverage for $99 and more comprehensive Development Notes for $149.

The final deadline for the Fall Screenwriting Contest is this Sunday, October 11th. Don’t miss out! CLICK HERE to find out more and enter your script!

WriteMovies Oscars Nominees Reaction – Original Screenplay

WriteMovies Oscars Nominees Reaction – Original Screenplay

WriteMovies Oscars Nominees Reaction: Original Screenplay – The Original Screenplay category is where we have a couple of big hitters come into play… GET OUT and THE SHAPE OF WATER will be the big favorites for this category – and rightly so. Both are outstanding pieces that deserve some recognition in this category.

But let’s not forget the other three. THE BIG SICK, LADY BIRD, and THREE BILLBOARDS are all strong in their own right, and LADY BIRD in particular could challenge the big two in this category.

What is particularly interesting in this category is that THE BIG SICK is the only film that does not have its writer(s) also directing, while Jordan Peele, Guillermo del Toro, and Greta Gerwig have all received directorial nominations, respectively. This category is so difficult to call – and that’s just great! John and Jamie will try and call it anyway, though…

Predictions

John: Well, well, well… what a toughie! I don’t think there will be a surprise here, though. I’m going for GET OUT here.

Jamie: As much as I love del Toro, I think GET OUT or LADY BIRD will take this. And because I think del Toro will take Directing, Peele will get this as a “consolation”.

© WriteMovies 2017. Exclusive to WriteMovies – To syndicate this content for your own publication, contact ian (at) writemovies dot-com.

Why scripts with black leads are big right now

Why scripts with black leads are big right now

With the success of MOONLIGHT, GET OUT and many more, just why exactly are black leads in films and script in right now?

We’ve been noticing a trend recently among the leads and protagonists for films – more and more successful flicks have leading black characters. It seems like maybe the current state of the States is why these films are growing so well.

As well as Oscar winner MOONLIGHT, this year has seen the likes of GET OUT, which became the highest-grossing debut film of all time. Directed by Jordan Peele, and starring Daniel Kaluuya. A black director and black lead – this film shows the appetite for movies that tackle the issues of black identity in America in new and distinctive ways.

Halle Berry and Sam Jackson have both been driving forces this summer, but they’re already well-established black actors. The big one, for me, is Idris Elba in THE DARK TOWER. Originally in Stephen King’s books, Elba’s character, the Gunslinger, was white. Now people may complain about this being PC, but this shows the pull and power of black actors such as Elba that a studio is willing to alter a character’s race to positively benefit the film.

The new black led superhero film, BLACK PANTHER, is also coming soon and this represents how strong commercially black actors and black led scripts and films are becoming. Samuel L. Jackson, Morgan Freeman, and Denzel Washington have all been big names for years now. You can even go back to the 70s when Pam Grier was a mainstay in Blaxploitation cinema – this was hugely popular back in the day. But now more than ever, black actors are headlining huge Hollywood films.

Read more on black actors heating up the Summer scene here: http://www.eurweb.com/2017/08/stay-cool-this-summer-as-these-black-actors-heat-up-the-scene/

Based on the quality of the scripts and their commercial potential, our last two Grand Prize winners have coincidentally been black-led scripts – but then, maybe the extra edge of having a black lead helped dynamize these scripts in our eyes. For example, let’s look at our Spring 2017 and Winter 2016 Contest Grand Prize winners, RINGMASTER by Tory Williams and BLACKOUT.COM by Ruben Bush III.

Here’s their loglines…

RINGMASTER: “An African-American student enters an underground MMA tournament to pay his way through college.”
https://writemovies.com/meet-our-summer-2016-screenwriting-contest-winner-ringmaster-by-tory-williams/

BLACKOUT.COM: “Two young African-American men find a unique and dangerous way to handle white supremacists and help their community.”
https://writemovies.com/meet-winter-2016-screenwriting-contest-grand-prize-winner-blackout-com-ruben-bush-iii/

We believe these are particularly prescient scripts and concepts. And as our Elite Script Mentors Bobby Lee Darby and Nathan Brookes say “scripts with black leads are big right now”. Considering the current social, cultural, and political climate, we’d like to think that with the right script development support paying off, these scripts are right on the money.

If you have a black protagonist in your script – now is the time to get it out there – and with just over a week to go in our Summer Contest you can trust that we’d give it the attention it deserves.

https://writemovies.com/summer-2017-screenwriting-competition/

 

Exclusive to WriteMovies – To syndicate this content for your own publication, contact ian (at) writemovies dot-com.

© WriteMovies 2017

Our pick of the web for April-May 2017 – From the @WriteMovies Twitter Feed!

Our pick of the web for April-May 2017 – From the @WriteMovies Twitter Feed!

Our pick of the web for April and May 2017 – From the @WriteMovies Twitter Feed!

Our @WriteMovies Twitter feed has been sharing lots of exciting things giving our tips of the best new articles, insights and offers for screenwriters and producers on the web. And in case you’ve missed anything there, here is our pick for April and May 2017…

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