Winter 2018 Screenwriting Contest – Quarter Finalists

Winter 2018 Screenwriting Contest – Quarter Finalists

We are delighted to announce the Quarter-Finalists for our Winter 2018 Screenwriting Contest.

 

Since that Bonus Extension in January, we have had a lot of interesting and high-quality scripts to get through – but it’s been another great judging period!

Congratulations to the 51 Winter 2018 Quarter-Finalists! All of them had some special spark that caught our eye and we’re looking forward to giving them new eyes as we consider our Semi-Finalists and winners…

Those who didn’t make it this time were an equally fascinating set of submissions too, and showed a lot of promising qualities. We hope that you will stay in touch with us: we’re currently confirming details for our next contest and will keep you informed.

If you want to know why your script didn’t make it, or where to take it next? Has a revised edition of your script come out short yet again? We recommend that you consider getting a mentoring service or consultancy, too. That way you can find out what we currently feel is holding your script back. And as a sweet bonus, you’ll get free entry into our next main contest!

See the full list of Quarter-Finalists below…

Congratulate the Quarter-Finalists on our Facebook page and our Twitter feed.

Quarter-Finalists
STRANDED, Christopher Andre STEVE DEUCE, Justin Andreas BUSHIDO BASEBALL, Charles R. Astone
MEGABALL$, Marc Baron THE DAWN OF EVE, James Bingham TO DIE IN TAJOUTE, Virginia Bola
INSURRECTION, Simon Bowler THE OUTSKIRTS OF PARADISE, Montgomery Burt WHEN THE WHITE DOVE SPEAKS, Al Case
ADIONA, Ian Causer DEAD MAN’S HEAD, Ronald Ecker ICE CREAM DON’T MELT IN ENGLEWOOD, Richard Ehrenreich
VALENTYNE, Dashiell Finley ENDANGERED SPECIES, Mark Flood THE OATH, Axel Gerand
SHAKESPEARE OF AVON, James Hanson MAGIC MAN, Norma Hickox BLACK SHEEP, John Hunter
WHEN WE FALL BEHIND, Dan Hutchinson BOMMY!, Boim Hwang A SECOND CHANCE, Manny Jimenez Sr.
MATANZAS, Piotr Kaszuba NEW REALITY, Carolyn Kras CHARMER, David Kurtz
TALK THERAPY, Thomas Moore THE LOCKSMITH, Jeffrey Morales PROJECT ΩMEGA, P. James Norris
BAD DOG, Phil Olsen TREE HOUSE, Chris Ossman FINDING ATLANTIS, Katherine Panzella
AMERICAN REBEL, Sydney Parran THE CRAWL UP, Gabriell DeBear Paye GATEKEEPERS TO THE STARS, Thelma Pickett
A SHADOW IN SPACE, Bryan Reilly 2020AD, Mike Rogers SAVIOR, Jerome Sanders
STAR BLUE SOLDIER, Donahue Silvia THE FOURTH COURIER, Timothy Jay Smith THE FIRSTBORN, William Smith
TIMBER, Patricia Stevens, Marian Mathews Clark CUL DE SAC, Charles Stock SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES, Charles Stock
SLAVE SHIP, Tyler True THE VENUS SYNDROME, Lynee Vincentnathan LAST PRINCE OF WALES, Ethan Westgate
COLD FOOTED, Tanya M. Wheeler THE REALM, Tanya M. Wheeler ISOLATION, Brian Whiteman
LEGACY OF THE GODS, Tim Wong DISRUPTED, Meredith Wood AMERICAN MYTHS OF BLACK & WHITE, Aaron Yarber
How we’re pitching our winners…

How we’re pitching our winners…

How we’re pitching our screenwriting contest winners to the industry…

Since our relaunch in February 2016, we’ve gained a wonderful, varied slate of award-winning scripts and writers, many of which have now completed their year of free script development as we prepare them and their writers for the pitching process. As our campaign to pitch them gathers momentum, I thought now would be a great time to show you what we’ve been doing for our winners and the great responses we’ve been getting. We can’t reveal the confidential details of course, but there’s plenty we can show you as this gains pace. (more…)

Our Wall of Fame 2017: Grand Prize winners!

Our Wall of Fame 2017: Grand Prize winners!

Our Wall of Fame 2017: Grand Prize winners!

We look back at our Grand Prize winners from 2017 today and reveal the full Wall of Fame infographic. If you enter the Winter 2018 Contest and come out on top, you could see your name up on next year’s Wall of Fame – as well as winning $2000 in cash!

Here’s all you need to know about our Grand Prize winners from 2017… The scripts are improving every day, and we’re closing in on pitching them to our industry contacts soon…

  • BLACKOUT.CON by Ruben Bush III: “Two young African-American men find a unique and dangerous way to handle white supremacists and help their community.” Read more here
  • CHOKE JOB by David Dell Johnson: “A slick defense attorney with a penchant for getting guilty clients acquitted has his life methodically destroyed by a mysterious stranger and must embark on a desperate race to clear his name of murder.” Learn more
  • SPOON FED by Scott LaFortune: “A feisty feminist with a sweet-tooth is hired to curb the obesity crisis, then battles USDA corruption as she brings down a chauvinistic sugar lobby.” Read more

Check out the full 2017 Wall of Fame below – click on it to see it in all its might! Then, with the inspiration juices flowing, finish off that script you have sitting on the shelf and take a chance with the Winter 2018 Contest before Sunday’s deadline…

Our 2017 Wall of Fame: Third Placed winners

Our 2017 Wall of Fame: Third Placed winners

It’s the final week of our Winter 2018 contest, and a great chance to celebrate our 2017 Wall of Fame. Today we honor our Third Placed Winners and their fine scripts!

Coming in third is a big win with our contests as each of the below winners is currently receiving a full year of free script and pitching development and the guarantee that we will pitch their project to industry – as the Third Placed winner for our current Winter Contest will do too.

You can see your face up in 2018’s Wall of Fame if you come in third in any of our main contests (Winter 2018 closes this Sunday!)

Here’s all you need to know about our Third Placed winners from 2017… These scripts are progressing fast and already getting attention from the industry!

  • IN THE SHADOW OF FREEDOM by Elliott Riebman and Michael Gozzard: “Inspired by the extraordinary true story of a boy soldier who escaped the Congo to become a decorated U.S. Marine, but he is still haunted by his past demons.” Read more here
  • BURNER by Bob Canning: “A Palm Springs police detective must put aside her health and marital problems to solve a brutal homicide, while the hitman responsible is now experiencing uncharacteristic bouts of guilt and anger after killing the wrong person.” Learn more
  • CHARMER by David Kurtz: “A burned-out middle-aged accountant and a young daredevil woman put their polar opposite lifestyles aside when they team up on dangerous hostage-rescue mission.” Read more

Stay tuned, as we release a special one-off Wednesday newsletter celebrating our Second Placed winners. Then we conclude our celebrations on Friday with our Grand Prize winners – as we also reveal the full Wall of Fame infographic…

Free Writing Contest – Featured Script of the Month for October/November – DEAD MAN’S HAND by Ronald L. Ecker

Free Writing Contest – Featured Script of the Month for October/November – DEAD MAN’S HAND by Ronald L. Ecker

Featured Script of the Month for October/November – DEAD MAN’S HAND by Ronald L. Ecker

We chose Ronald’s script from a host of October and November submissions for its intriguing concept – which is what this free contest is all about! We combined the Script of the Month to include both October and November entries because of the off-period between our Summer Contest and current Winter 2018 Contest (enter here!) to give everyone the best opportunity possible.

 For winning the Featured Script of the Month, Ronald now receives free Judging Feedback and publicity on our website, Twitter feed, and Facebook page. Ronald will also get the chance for a free resubmission of his script to our current main screenwriting contest! A great set of prizes for a free writing contest!

Here’s Ronald’s summary of this interesting script…

When the hypnotist dies during a past life regression, it leaves a present-day schoolteacher and an Old West gunfighter trapped in each other’s body and times.

Check out a short biography on Ronald, too!

Born and raised in Florida, Ronald L. Ecker received a B.A. in English at the University of Florida, and spent two years as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Arequipa, Peru. He earned a Master of Library Science degree at Florida State University, and worked as a librarian at Barry University in Miami and with the state of Florida until his retirement in 2000.

He is the author of five published books, including the Dictionary of Science and Creationism, selected by the review journal Choice as one of the Outstanding Academic Books of 1990. His complete modern-English translation of The Canterbury Tales (with Chaucer scholar Eugene J. Crook) was a widely adopted text in college and university literature courses, and is now available free in an online edition.

He also writes screenplays and songs. His scripts have been in the Winners category in four screenplay contests (e.g., 2nd Place Winner in the 2014/15 Comedy Screenplay Contest, and a Winner in the 2016 True Story Screenplay Competition) and finalists in 14 others.

Enter our Featured Script of the Month Contest with any contest entry or by purchasing any one of our top, studio-quality mentoring services.

Meet Our Summer 2017 Screenwriting Contest Grand Prize Winner: SPOON FED by Scott LaFortune

Meet Our Summer 2017 Screenwriting Contest Grand Prize Winner: SPOON FED by Scott LaFortune

Meet Our Summer 2017 Screenwriting Contest Grand Prize Winner: SPOON FED by Scott LaFortune

Scott did anything but spoon feed our judges and readers with his winning script, and as our Grand Prize Winner, he wins a year of free script development, guaranteed pitching to industry and exclusive script and logline listings via InkTip’s script directory and increasingly popular magazine – oh, and the Grand Prize of $2000!

It’s always heart-warming to see a winner so happy after a win, and boy was Scott happy. Check out his initial reactions here…

“I’m too nervous and excited to even type right now!
I’ll respond more after I run around in circles, yelling hooray hooray…”
Later that day…
“Many thanks again for this opportunity!  First Place is still sinking in…
I first entered a WriteMovies competition in August, 2008.  Seriously, a humbling journey-
And what a wonderful life experience, that screenwriting has been!
Thanks John, you guys are the best.”

Here’s a short bio on Scott LaFortune, our Summer 2017 Contest Grand Prize Winner:

“Originally from Minneapolis, Scott currently lives and writes on historic Main Street in Park City, Utah.

He also changes lots of diapers, searches incessantly for stray sippy-cups, and can’t believe how many Lego’s can fit into a standard garbage disposal.

In his spare time Scott’s a research chemist and microbiologist, with a devoted passion for story, cynicism, science, and social commentary.”

Here’s Scott’s logline for SPOON FED:

“A feisty feminist with a sweet-tooth is hired to curb the obesity crisis, then battles USDA corruption as she brings down a chauvinistic sugar lobby. 

Based on true 1980’s events that led to the global diabesity epidemic.”

Read up on our Second (HERE) and Third Placed (HERE) Winners too, or take your chance to become our next winner with our current screenwriting contest… Will you be our next Screenwriting Contest Grand Prize Winner?

 

Meet Our Summer 2017 Screenwriting Competition Second Placed Winners – FOR LOVE OF COUNTRY by Ron and Tony Basso.

Meet Our Summer 2017 Screenwriting Competition Second Placed Winners – FOR LOVE OF COUNTRY by Ron and Tony Basso.

Let us introduce our Summer 2017 Screenwriting Competition Second Placed Winners – FOR LOVE OF COUNTRY by Ron and Tony Basso.

Ron and Tony are the second collaborative winners since our 2016 relaunch, and the first father-son writing team! They showed the love for screenwriting in FOR LOVE OF COUNTRY which earned them second place in our Summer 2017 Contest. For coming in second Ron and Tony receive a year of free script development, guaranteed pitching to industry and exclusive prizes from InkTip.

Here’s a little background on Ron and Tony…

Ron Basso: Ron is bit of a renaissance man. Among his many pursuits is screenwriter. He specializes in historical dramas; he looks specifically for unknown or minor characters and their backstories to historical events.

Born and raised in Richmond, Virginia, he has spent all but three years in the Commonwealth surrounded by historical sites that established this nation. He is currently working on a new full-length feature, and looks forward to more opportunities to share untold stories of our past.



Tony Basso: Tony is a soccer coach and EMT currently residing in Portland, Oregon. He has served on the coaching staffs of national, collegiate and local programs. His passion for screenwriting began while editing his father’s screenplays. Now, fully bitten by the screenwriting bug, Tony is working on various projects in his spare time.

In addition to For Love of Country, Tony is writing a 10-part mini-series on the lives of these spies and how their bravery and courage helped save the nation.

And here’s their logline to FOR LOVE OF COUNTRY…

70 years after an extraordinary true story of freed slaves volunteering to return to the South to spy on Confederate military forces, one spy questions if it was worth it.

For coming second in our Summer 2017 contest, they receive a year of free script consultancy, InkTip publicity bonuses, intensive pitch coaching and GUARANTEED pitching of their script to industry.

Will you follow in Ron and Tony’s footsteps in our latest contest? Click here to get your chance!