WriteMovies’ Writing Contest 80 winners…

It’s been an exciting few months reviewing the submissions for WriteMovies’ Writing Contest 80. Now that the journey has reached its conclusion, it’s time to announce our Winners and Honorable Mentions!

Throughout this contest season we’ve received entries across a wide range of genres and tones, from laugh-out-loud comedies to tense thrillers and atmospheric horror, all in a variety of formats, from features to pilots (and shorts too). It’s been a tough decision, but we’ve narrowed it down to our three prize winners!

WMC80 Prize Winners

1st Place Winner

SERIOUSLY, THESE GUYS? Paul Bayford

2nd Place Winner

WHEN WILL I SEE YOU AGAIN? Michael A Elliott

3rd Place Winner

CONSUMED Don Stroud

Honorable Mentions

COLLATERAL DAMAGE

James Patrick Owen

MOVIEOKE

John Mazzullo

PRECURSOR

Steve Brown

SHEPHERDS GONE WILD

Joey Maranto

UP NORTH

Melanie Broder

The top three entries and all award winners have secured fantastic prizes, including a year of script development, guaranteed representation from TalentScout International Management, and pitching to the international industry by a management team with decades of experience and contacts at the heart of the industry!

With the high volume of submissions, competition has been tough – so if you didn’t place this time, don’t be disheartened. Here are a few valuable lessons we saw come up again and again across the contest season:

1) Hook early and make the premise crystal clear.
Strong opening pages don’t just create mood; they quickly orient us in the world, establish tone/genre expectations, and give us a clear inciting incident (or teaser) that makes us lean in. If readers feel lost, or the “real story” arrives too late, even great writing can struggle to gain momentum.

2) Build your story around a protagonist we can track and invest in.
Your lead doesn’t need to be perfect, they can be flawed, messy, even unlikeable, but we do need to understand what they want, what they’re afraid of, and what’s at stake if they fail. Make us care about them. The most memorable scripts paired a clear goal with an emotional anchor that made the conflict matter.

3) Tighten pacing by trimming repetition and trusting subtext.
A common difference between “good” and “great” entries was economy: avoiding overwritten action lines, reducing repeated beats, and cutting dialogue that explains what the audience can already see. Let visuals do more work, keep exposition lean, have conflict on every page and make sure every scene pushes the story forward with a clear purpose.

4) Keep tone and rules consistent – especially in genre work.
Comedy, horror, thriller, sci-fi – whatever you’re writing, audiences will follow you if you set the rules and play fair. Tonal whiplash, unclear world logic, or a third-act pivot that doesn’t feel earned can undercut an otherwise strong concept and dilute the final payoff.

For additional support, explore our Script Consultancy Services or the Elite Mentoring service to tap into the expertise of script analysts and seasoned industry professionals. Click here to learn more!

Or if you’re looking to level up your craft with ongoing guidance, try WriteMovies Academy Lite for daily mentoring for under $5 a day!  Click here to learn more!

Congratulations again to all of our WriteMovies Writing Contest 80 Winners and Honorable Mentions – and thank you to everyone who entered and trusted us with your work.