Winning an Academy Award for Best Screenplay has been one of the highest honors for writers since 1940. For nearly 80 years, the best and brightest screenwriters have been recognized by the Academy for their craft. And with Oscar season coming up, it’s time to recognize the screenplays that have moved (and will move) audiences, critics, and film festival crowds so far.
There’s some fascinating news coming about the August 2019 script sales according to the latest report by Script Pipeline – not least the return to a very famous virtual world.
A terminally ill detective’s partner is brutally murdered and police brass rule against her working the case… With less than two months to live, there’s only LENA’S RULES.
Script Pipeline’s report of July 2019 script sales shows that horror and thriller films are proving popular at the moment, demonstrating a big interest in the genre from the industry right now! Here’s our pick of the report…
When we announced our Quarter-Finalists, we said at the time that the bar had never been higher. The same is certainly true for our Semi-Finalists; what an amazing bunch of scripts! Congratulations to everyone who has made it through to this stage of the competition!
The standard here was so good, we had an incredibly tough time choosing which scripts were going to make it through to the next round. With so many fantastic stories to pick from, you’ve never made our jobs so difficult – or so enjoyable!
When judging scripts, we keep a lot of different things in mind. The uniqueness of the concept, the quality of the writing, the structure and execution of the story. But we’re also looking at potential; with a year of free script development as a prize for our top three, we’re looking for scripts that can go even further and be taken to another level.
If your script didn’t make it through this time, it’s hard not to feel disappointed – but you should remember just how tough the competition has been . Even making the Quarter-Finals of our Spring 2019 Screenwriting Contest was an achievement, so well done!
As ever, if you’re not certain why we haven’t put your script through to the Semi-Finals, we’d recommend that you buy one of our Script Report services. That way you can get professional standard feedback on your work – and get free entry to our next competition, the Fall 2019 Screenwriting Contest which is now open for submissions!
And so, here we announce a group of scripts that we couldn’t be more proud of. Ladies and gentlemen, here are the WriteMovies Spring 2019 Screenwriting Contest Semi-Finalists!
| Semi-Finalists | ||
| BISCAYNE, Adam Hersh | THE ENCHANTED OPAL, Alan Smith | CARAVAGGIO, Alasdair McMullan |
| TORONTO THE GOOD, Andrew Moodie | GLEIS DER VERGELTUNG, Astrid Korten | LADY IN RED, Astrid Korten |
| DIE TRANE, Astrid Korten | MADE IN AMERICA, Rikki Rivera | STARRING… JOHN DILLINGER, Bill Walker & Brian Anthony |
| RACE MUSIC, Eric Weber & Hasan Oracius | ITER APOCALYPSE, Jean-Francois Oviode | A CHANGE OF PLANS, Jeffrey Ward |
| UN CRIME PLUS QUE PARFAIT, Joel Prost | KID SOLDIER, Kelly Karam | LENA’S RULES, Ken Comer |
| PLANET SPARTA, Link Miller | THE TIME-TRAP, Mark Flood | THE REVOLT OF THE WHALES, Michael Rhodes |
| VOYAGE DANS L’HISTOIRE, Nanny Silvestre | CINQUIEME ETAGE, Natacha Astuto | THE SAX, Pascal Kulcsar |
| SHIRO, Pascal Kulcsar | SURGEON HONG, Paul Gross | OUTCAST, Sarah Bellwood |
| FRESH START, INC., Scott Taylor | THE CHEESE DANCE FILM FESTIVAL, Steven Bednar | A TASTE OF PRIVILEGE, Steven Bednar |
| APOCALYPSE, Tyler True | LOVE IS EVERYTHING, Tyler True | DER LETZTE BUS, Urs Aebersold |
Finalists and Winners are due to be announced on August 16th – watch this space!
With just a few days until we announce the Quarter-Finalists for our Spring competition, we’re excited to be opening up submissions for the next one! Ladies and gentlemen, the WriteMovies Fall 2019 Screenwriting Contest is now open!
There are several interesting things to note from the May 2019 Script Sales as reported by Script Pipeline, but what struck us the most was that there are several horror projects here.
This shows that no matter what, there’s always a core audience for this genre, making it a good target for screenwriters looking to get a production credit under their belt. The production costs are also often low for these kind of projects – always seen as a big positive by producers!
On the other end of things, there are also several comedies being sold and set to star various stars including Chris Hemsworth – a welcome bit of news, given how well he plays comedic roles.