by John | Oct 23, 2017 | Highlights, WMC, WriteMovies News
Welcome everybody to the latest WriteMovies main contest – the Winter 2018 Screenwriting Competition!
We’re really enjoying the progress of our contests and winners, and all you writers out there, so it brings us great joy whenever a new contest starts!
After a satisfying response to the Summer Contest we decided to keep on our new special awards – the “Book with the Best Screen Potential” and “Best teleplay or Pilot” will remain a part of the Winter contest! (By the way, the Summer winners of these cool prizes will be announced this Friday. Exciting times!)
You might be familiar with our fabulous prizes: $2000 in cash for our grand prize winner, one free year of script development for our top three winners as well as guaranteed pitching to industry, and exclusive script and logline listings in InkTip’s script Directory and in their very popular magazine (sent to 1000s of producers and executives!).
Get involved with one of the few screenwriting contests that gets writers produced! And give yourself the best chance of success by checking our Writing Tips and Submissions Tips (CLICK HERE) before you submit…
UK and EU customers need to use the form on the page at THIS link (CLICK HERE) in order for us to continue to contact you after May 2018. Submitting to the form on this page may result in a subsequent loss of service for UK/EU customers.
Contest now open!
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Reasons to enter, and details…
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| There’s $2000 available in prize money, plus over $3000 in script development for the 3 winners, and bonuses and promotion through InkTip (see below!) – we promise to develop and promote the winners to the top of the international film industry. Hundreds of writers have found representation or had their scripts produced through our competitions since 1999.
Why not enter for free by buying one of our other services:
Or, complete the form below! An alternative submission method is also available further down if the form isn’t working for you, and UK/EU customers need to CLICK HERE.
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Take your Chance to be the next Academy Award winner discovered by WriteMovies founder Alex Ross. The WriteMovies International Writing Contest for screenwriters, TV Writers, Playwrights, Novelists and Short Story writers. Like 1000’s of other successful writers, you can find out if you have the right project for the studios and if you do, we will go to bat for you! Alex Ross (founder of WriteMovies), has discovered two Academy Award nominees. Will you be the third? Let us show you how to make your script fly. When it does, we will personally submit it to several top agencies, production companies and studios for you. Only 1000 entries will be accepted. Enter early and save! Out of close to three hundred “contest sites”, WriteMovies is one of only a handful that has produced movies from winning projects. THE LIST was written by WriteMovies winner Marcus Folmar and distributed by Warner Bros. Several novels have also been published and plays produced. Production companies, studios and agencies contact us all the time about our winners. The founder of the company discovered Andrew Niccol who wrote & produced THE TRUMAN SHOW (Academy Nominated) as well as Iris Yamashita, Academy Nominated for LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA amongst others. We succeed when you succeed.
- Note: We no longer accept checks due to issues with fraud. Please use the Paypal options when participating. Please ensure you can send AND receive payments via PayPal.
- There are no physical items deliverable under our services – all reports will be provided by email in standard document formats.
- Refunds or cancellations must be requested within 14 days and/or before any public announcement of winning entries and/or before receipt of any completed Consulting report (which will typically be within 7-14 days). Disagreement with the opinion and suggestions of the Analyst is not accepted as valid grounds for a refund, however we are happy to receive other feedback and enquiries.
Here’s the breakdown for the entry periods and fees:
- Early Bird Entry (October 23rd – November 12th): $29
- Standard Entry (November 13th – December 3rd): $39
- Late Entry (December 4th – December 24th): $49
- Extended Late Entry limited availability (December 25th – January 14th): $59
- Flat Fee for Books: $69
The results dates will be:
- Quarter-Finalists: February 16th
- Semi-Finalists: March 2nd
- Book and Teleplay Winners: March 9th
- Final Results and Winners: March 16th
Entry terms and prizes:
- Entries must have cover sheet with contact info in order to be considered.
- Grand Prize: $2,000 in cash and guaranteed representation. 1 Full year of script mentoring for the winners, including development notes on all re-writes of winning scripts. Worth $3,200
- Up to $1 million in option monies from the A-List producers we work with. If an established studio/production company with theatrical credits wishes to option the script, we will fly the winner to Los Angeles and pay (up to $4,000) for their accommodation. We will pitch the top three projects to relevant production companies (such as Neal Moritz Productions, Bruckheimer Films, Scott Rudin Prods.) and studios (Paramount, Warner Bros, Universal, etc.). You keep ALL the option/sales money up to $1m. The Grand Prize winner is also pitched to several literary agencies and management companies as well as non-US companies to increase the chances of a sale. We will pitch your script to companies such as CAA, ICM, William Morris Endeavor, ACME, The Gage Group, etc. The names of the top three winners and their projects are mentioned in press releases and on the web.
- The second-place winner will receive our free Platinum consulting package.
- The third-place winner will receive our free Gold consulting package. Intensive pitch coaching to help you get immediate attention and stand out as a pro amongst the hordes of wannabes.
- InkTip: Where producers go for scripts and writers.
Winners will receive an InkTip Script Listing and have their logline featured in InkTip Magazine so they can promote themselves and their scripts to InkTip’s entire network of producers, managers, and agents. InkTip Magazine is sent to over 15,000 producers and representatives.
Companies who are InkTip members include: ABC, Anonymous Content, APA, CBS Films, HBO Films, ICM, Paradigm, Paramount Pictures, Hallmark Channel, FX, Universal, WME, Echo Lake, Zero Gravity, Bad Robot, 20th Century Fox, and many more.
Producers have made more than 315 films from scripts and writers found through InkTip.s sent to over 15,000 producers and representatives.
- Note: We no longer accept checks due to issues with fraud. Please use the Paypal options when participating.
- There are no physical items deliverable under our services – all reports will be provided by email in standard document formats.
- Refunds or cancellations must be requested within 14 days and/or before any public announcement of winning entries and/or before receipt of any completed Consulting report (which will typically be within 7-14 days). Disagreement with the opinion and suggestions of the Analyst is not accepted as valid grounds for a refund, however we are happy to receive other feedback and enquiries.
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Alternative Submission Method…
If you need another way of submitting, use these options:
Make your purchase here (depending on the submission date, further payment may be needed):
To simply enter the main Contest (PayPal & cards accepted): [nicepaypallite name=”WriteMovies Summer 2017 Competition – Initial Payment Button (may require further payment depending upon submission date)” amount=”29.00″]
Then:
TO EMAIL YOUR SUBMISSION TO US:
What to select, copy and paste (all of the below, until the end of the box!):
Please find attached my submission to WRITEMOVIES. I have made payment via the PayPal options provided on the WriteMovies website on: (DATE OF PAYMENT)
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
(Simply type or paste your answers (in brief) at the end of these questions…)
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- How did you hear about us?:
- *First Name:
- *Last Name:
- *Email address:
- Twitter handle (so we can give you a shout-out if you’re successful!):
- Contact phone number:
- *Mailing address (needed, to help us prove that we are not engaged in a fraudulent or money-laundering activities – we will not send you any direct mail unless you win a contest and consent to receiving items by post):
- Please tell us a little about your writing background:
- *Title of Project:
- *Number of Pages:
- *Entry Type (choose one and delete the others): Screenplay / Pilot / Spec / Book / Play / Short Story
- Additional Authors:
- Brief Synopsis:
- Would you like to receive the WriteMovies newsletter? Yes/No:
- Additional Comments:
By sending this email, I agree:
1. To the accuracy of the information provided.
2. That the material submitted is my sole and original work and that I own all rights to it.
3. To my holding WriteMovies and all those involved in it, harmless from and defends them against all claims demands, losses, costs, damages, judgments, liabilities and expenses (including attorney’s fees) arising out of or in connection with any and all claims of third parties, whether or not groundless, based on any stories submitted to the competition or on any screenplay developed out of such stories.
4. That I recognize that WriteMovies and those involved in the competition to which this submitted entry pertains, may have access to, and/or, may have created, or have commissioned, through some other independent source, or may have otherwise acquired, literary materials and concepts, similar to the material submitted hereunder, in theme, idea, plot, format, or in any other respect. I agree that I will not under such circumstances, be entitled to any compensation, nor consideration of any kind, through the use by WriteMovies of any material so acquired. The ownership of any literary work submitted shall remain vested in the author, until otherwise assigned by contract.
5. That should I be one of the winners, I grant WriteMovies the exclusive right to submit my material to as many studios, production companies and agencies as seen fit, for a period of ninety days. I also grant WriteMovies the right to use my name, as well as the title and synopsis of my submitted material, in all publicity and promotional activities related to the competition. I also grant WriteMovies the right to contact me to provide me with contest updates.
6. That the burden of obtaining copyright or otherwise protecting any proprietary interests in the material rests entirely with me.
Thanks very much!
by John | Oct 16, 2017 | Highlights, Monthly Contest Winners, Our Winners, Updates, WMCm, WriteMovies News
Latest Free Writing Contest Winner – Our September Featured Script of the Month is SEEMINGLY HARMONIOUS by Dengxian Cao.
We chose Cao’s script from a host of September submissions for its unique and interesting concept – which is what this free contest is all about!
For winning the Featured Script of the Month, Cao now receives free Judging Feedback and publicity on our website, Twitter feed, and Facebook page. Cao 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 the logline to this very interesting script…
When terrorists use a Mind Transfer Device to control the bodies of US officials, including the president, a Secret Service agent must battle against his seemingly own people to prevent a nuclear war.
Check out a short biography on Cao, too!
Cao Dengxian: Born in Shandong Province of China, Dengxian Cao has works including several film screenplays and a collection of stories.
Seemingly Harmonious Awards: 2014 Hollywood International Screenplay Contest science fiction finalist; Third in 2015 India International Film Festival; 2016 The 14th Annual FilmMakers International Screenwriting Awards PLATINUM PRIZE WINNER. Another American Writers Festival, the creative world, and any other semifinals.
Props to our Honorable Mentions, too!
- DIAMOND BAR by Andrew Crane and Jay Pickett
- THE HEALER by Ken Floyd
- And PATHS by Anthony Vieira!
Enter our Featured Script of the Month Contest with any contest entry (such as our upcoming Winter Contest, which opens next Monday) or by purchasing any one of our top, studio-quality mentoring services.
by John | Oct 13, 2017 | WriteMovies News, Writing Insights
Is this best screenwriters list write on the money? Screenwriters working right now pick their top 100 screenwriters of all time – who are your top writers? Check out the list right here: http://www.vulture.com/2017/10/100-greatest-screenwriters-of-all-time-ranked.html
This is a very well put together list by a group of currently working screenwriters. Although we’d question how low down Spielberg is (he’s below the likes of Judd Apatow) this got us thinking as to how exactly a top top screenwriter should be defined. Sure, the story needs to be there, the characters engaging and empathetic, but all of the screenwriters in this excellent list have achieved this, so what else is there?
Variety – a top screenwriter should be able to write a wide range of characters, stories and genres. Of course, writers like Hitchcock, Allen, and Wilder all have their set genres they go to, but looking at their slates, they all have variety to their game.
Relationship with the director – Looking at this list, there are a few writers in that top 10 that are writer-directors. They write the script, they make the film. This is a commendable trait that someone can create a concept then bring it to life. Yet, there is also a brilliance in succeeding while never needing to be a director. A director’s knowledge of what to do with a script should be just as commendable as those writer-directors.
We’ll keep adding to this list periodically, so keep coming back for more on what we think makes the best screenwriters the best.
© WriteMovies 2017. Exclusive to WriteMovies – To syndicate this content for your own publication, contact ian (at) writemovies dot-com.
by John | Oct 11, 2017 | Industry News, Movie Reviews and TV Reviews, WriteMovies News
The latest STAR WARS trailer for episode VIII, THE LAST JEDI, has just dropped and it is a master at disguising its true intentions – just like Palpatine…
While the trailer gives away a lot of action that will be happening – round 2 between Kylo and Rey, Luke training Rey – these situations were highly expected even before the trailer released. What the trailer did expertly was to not just hide plot details, but to dress them up as something else and misdirect the audience.
Here’s just a few examples
Raw power…
Both Luke and Snoke mention the massive, raw power of an individual. Luke says “I’ve seen this strength only once before. It didn’t scare me enough then… it does now.” Snoke says something very similar at the start of the trailer. The way the trailer sets these lines up makes the audience immediately think that Kylo Ren is the common factor here. However, this is just jumping to conclusions. They could both be referencing Luke himself – what the trailer does brilliantly is to make us think one way so that our expectations are subverted when we see the actual film.- Family reunion?
There’s a little moment between Kylo and Leia in the trailer… only it doesn’t happen. There’s an intercutting of the shots to make it appear like a “shot-reverse shot” technique, giving the illusion the scene we see are connected. But, of course, they’re almost certainly not. Is it possible those scenes are connected? Possibly, but there’s ambiguity and a lack of certainty that we can’t be sure about. Just like…
- Finding a Rey of hope…
A line uttered to what the trailer makes us believe to be Kylo. This is amplified by Kylo offering a hand to Rey – or so we think. Again, the trailer has been edited to make us believe that Rey is speaking to Kylo and that it Kylo is offering his hand to Rey. How sure are you of both of those things? Rey could be speaking to Luke, Leia, or even Snoke. The hand could be Luke’s or Kylo’s. That hand may have no relation there at all.
What this trailer has done is offer so much to audiences and nothing at the same time. Fans can now theorize on what will happen based on the trailer and based on its misdirects. There are so many doors Episode VIII could go down.
Both Mark Hamill and director Rian Johnson initially urged fans to stay away from promotional material for the film, assumedly because it would give too much away. But having watched the trailer it’s really given us the best of both worlds. It gives us a feeling of what we can expect, it hypes up certain interactions and duels while giving away very little.
Just remember, “This is not going to go the way you think.”
© WriteMovies 2017. Exclusive to WriteMovies – To syndicate this content for your own publication, contact ian (at) writemovies dot-com.
by John | Sep 21, 2017 | Industry News, WriteMovies News
We have an exclusive Habib Zargarpour interview coming soon all about his work on BLADE RUNNER 2049. Habib also reveals how his teams achieved such awesome effects in A PERFECT STORM, TWISTER, STAR TREK: GENERATIONS and many other films!
Our Director of World Wide Development, Ian Kennedy, has been speaking with the VFX expert, Habib Zargarpour. Keep reading to learn about his experience on the BLADE RUNNER sequel, working on the same project as Ridley Scott, his previous work and becoming a writer-director on his next film THE SQUADRON.
Ian and Habib talk about everything BLADE RUNNER – the sequel, Ridley Scott vs Denis Villeneuve, whether this is the most anticipated sequel ever, if Deckard is a replicant, and the art of VFX… and how yogurt holds the key. Habib has also worked on movies for STAR TREK, STAR WARS, BOURNE, A PERFECT STORM, JUMANJI, THE MASK and so many more – you don’t wanna miss this!
We’ll be publishing the interview in stages over the coming days… watch our Twitter and Facebook feeds for the latest releases!
Check out Habib’s IMDb page and learn more about him HERE.
Exclusive to WriteMovies – To syndicate this content for your own publication, contact ian (at) writemovies dot-com.
© WriteMovies 2017
by John | Sep 8, 2017 | Industry News, WriteMovies News, Writing Insights
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
by John | Sep 4, 2017 | Monthly Contest Winners, Our Winners, Updates, WMCm, WriteMovies News
A new winner is revealed for our free writing contest, the Featured Script of the Month Contest…
Our August winner of the Featured Script of the Month is DEAD POSSUM by Jared Wayne Raun.
We chose Jared’s script from a host of August submissions for its unique and interesting concept – which is what this free contest is all about!
Hell, we’ll show you what we’re talking about. Here’s a quick summary on the script by Jared:
“A boy discovers he is dead, but resists leaving his body so he can save his living girlfriend from a gang of zombie bikers, despite protestations from his spirit guide.”
And here’s a short bio on Jared:
Jared is a longtime lover of movies, comics, music, and episodic storytelling. He graduated from USC film school in the late nineties and spent the first decade of his career working in production. Around ten years ago he switched his focus to writing and though he has written over ten feature scripts and a web series, this summer marks the first attempt he has made to get his work out to the public through screenwriting contests. He is honored to receive this award and hopes to see Dead Possum on screen sometime in the near future.
In addition to many more feature scripts queued up to write, Jared has several animated and live action projects he hopes to direct, the first being a horror/fantasy web series pilot set to shoot in early 2018.
For winning the August Featured Script of the Month Jared now receives free Judging Feedback and publicity on our website, Twitter feed, and Facebook page. Jared 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!
Let’s also give a hand to our Honorable Mentions:
EMILY’S STARS by Bill Baber.
WEST DAKOTA by Mark J. Rose,
And TOUGH THE FIRE by Kevin Karp.
You could be our next Script of the Month winner – you enter for free whenever you enter one of our Contests or order a script mentoring service.
We’re really enjoying the progress of our contests and winners, and all you writers out there, so it brings us great joy whenever a new contest starts!
