Spring Contest extended to June 6th!
Missed the deadline for the WriteMovies Spring Contest? Don’t worry! We’ve extended the contest for another two weeks, giving you until June 6th to enter!
Spring Contest – Deadline on May 23rd!
The deadline for the WriteMovies Spring Contest is in just one week on May 23rd! Don’t forget to enter for your chance to win the Grand Prize of $3500 and more!
As the industry slowly gets back to normal, the demand for spec scripts and the potential opportunities for screenwriters in 2021 could be huge. The pandemic has changed the world and the movie industry along with it.
Back in the ‘90s, the spec script had a golden age. As reported by gointothestory.com, there were 173 spec scripts sold in 1995, a staggering number compared to modern-day figures. We think there’s potential for these numbers to increase again because of the pandemic and the way film distribution has worked during this unstable time.
Streaming services are vital in the present day and are the most popular way that people consume films and TV shows, with services like Netflix producing their own films and releasing them exclusively on their own platforms. At the same time, major production companies were unable to put their films into cinemas during the pandemic.
As a result, these companies started releasing their movies on VoD and streaming services instead, sometimes for a higher fee. What does this mean for screenwriters? Well, with people able to easily consume new films at home without even needing to get up off the couch, there will be a constant demand for new films and scripts.
This, in turn, means that a film’s opening weekend and box-office numbers won’t be the only thing producers look at, and they’re far more likely to take risks on spec scripts because of the constant demand from streaming and VoD.
Here at WriteMovies, we make sure all our winners are in the best position possible when pitching to the industry. Click here to enter before the deadline and have a chance of winning our 2021 Spring Contest!
Sci-Fi and Fantasy Award – Final Deadline in 1 Week!
The final deadline for the WriteMovies Sci-Fi and Fantasy Award is in just one week on May 9th! Don’t forget to enter for your chance to win great prizes – as well as getting FREE, automatic entry to our Spring Contest and the chance to win the Grand Prize of $3500!
As tomorrow is May 4th – also known as Star Wars Day! – we look to celebrate the most successful sci-fi franchise of all time (sorry Trekkies!).
Since the release of STAR WARS: A NEW HOPE in 1977, the Star Wars universe has expanded across every medium of storytelling. With games, books, TV shows, spin-offs and sequels, even the most dedicated fan struggles to keep up with the vast number of stories.
For writers, the STAR WARS universe represents the potential of your IP. The sci-fi and fantasy genres are arguably the most successful for building large franchises and extended universes, probably because of the freedom the writer has in creating the setting and sheer level of imagination involved; the lore of these worlds gives the writer extra tools to tell their story, which can itself end up captivating audiences.
However, this can also pose risks to the structure of the story. Imagine if A NEW HOPE had opened by introducing us to all the complex politics, history, and technology of a galaxy far, far away. It would a total snooze-fest, right? Instead, it uses its lore to enhance the story, focusing instead on the Hero’s Journey of Luke Skywalker and only explaining the minimum we need to know.
The key to a great sci-fi and fantasy script is creating a fascinating world for the characters to inhabit without losing focus on the story at heart.
Have you written the next STAR WARS? Have you come up with a fantastical world for audiences to fall in love with? Enter the Sci-Fi and Fantasy Award by the deadline on May 9th before it’s too late!
Spring Contest and Genre Award – Standard Deadline in 1 week!
The standard deadline for both the WriteMovies Spring Contest and our Sci-Fi and Fantasy Award is in just one week on Sunday April 11th! As the world tries to get back to normal, producers are looking for scripts that could tempt audiences back into movie theatres. Could one of those script be yours?
There’s been plenty of positive news for the movie industry over the last couple of weeks. GODZILLA VS. KONG has set a pandemic record, taking $48.5 million at the box office – a clear sign that people are eager to get back to the cinema and that sci-fi and fantasy will continue to be strong performers.
Other genres are seeing investment too. There’s been recent news that Netflix are making a $400 million deal for two sequels to Rian Johnson’s KNIVES OUT, with the first due to start shooting as soon as June. This shows that original IPs are still sought after by producers, and that successful franchises don’t have to be built around aliens and magic!
All the news coming out of industry indicates that it’s getting back on its feet. Audiences are eager for content and producers are investing in new projects and scripts for future productions.
We’ll be pitching all of our winners – of both the Spring Contest and the Sci-Fi and Fantasy Award – to industry. This is the right time to be getting your script out there, and submitting to our competitions is the perfect way to do it! We also provide Development Notes to all our winners, making sure that it’s pitch perfect and giving it the best chance of success.
Enter by the standard deadline on Sunday and you’ll save $10 on your submission. What are you waiting for? Submit your script to be in with a chance of winning some great prizes, including our $3500 Grand Prize – click HERE to see the full list of prizes and enter the Spring Contest, or click HERE for the Sci-Fi and Fantasy Award!
Winter 2021 Screenwriting Contest – Semi-Finalists Announced!
Another round of judging is down, and we’re getting closer and closer to deciding our winners – it’s time to announce the Winter 2021 Screenwriting Contest Semi-Finalists!
Sci-Fi and Fantasy Award 2021 now open!
The last eighteen months have seen people become confined in their homes across the globe. Unable to travel, many of them are looking for new worlds to discover.
That’s why the WriteMovies Sci-Fi and Fantasy Award 2021 is now open! We’re looking for writers to submit scripts that take audiences to strange new locations and introduce them to otherworldly characters.
Spring 2021 Screenwriting Contest now open!
Spring is upon us, and the start of a new season means a new contest from WriteMovies. The Spring 2021 Screenwriting Contest is now open!