Keeping your finger on the industry’s pulse is important for any screenwriter, and there’s no better way to know what producers are looking for than to look at recent script sales from the last few months in 2020. Here’s our pick of recent script sales as reported by Script Pipeline.
Submit now! There’s only one week to go until the final deadline of the WriteMovies Horror Award 2020, with great prizes on offer including guaranteed pitching to industry and script development from our industry experts.
Given the current effects of the pandemic on the world, this is the perfect time to be writing horror, which can actually thrive under Covid-19 restrictions in a way that other genres can’t, making use of limited locations, small casts, and unusual concepts – and still deliver something emotionally powerful.
The winner will receive:
All submissions for the WriteMovies Horror Award 2020 also receive free, automatic entry to our Fall 2020 Screenwriting Contest, with the opportunity to win the Grand Prize of $3500 and many other bonuses (click here)! The winner of last year’s Horror Award, David Axe, was also our Grand Prize winner – enter now to find out if you can follow in his footsteps!
And you can also get free entry to both contests when you buy script feedback from us:
So don’t wait – with just 1 week until the deadline of the WriteMovies Horror Award 2020, there’s not long to go! Click HERE to visit the main contest page and submit!
The standard deadline for our Horror Award is on Sunday! We’re celebrating the contest with articles about our favorite films and TV shows in the genre. Find out what scares us the most… and what we’re looking for from a horror script! Next up: THE CABIN IN THE WOODS… (more…)
As we did last year, we’re celebrating our Horror Award with articles about our favorite films and TV shows in horror. Find out what scares us the most… and what we’re looking for from a horror script! First up: A QUIET PLACE… (more…)
The WriteMovies Horror Award 2020 is now OPEN – enter today for your chance to win great prizes!
Welcome to the twenty-fifth of our Creative Challenges. WriteMovies’ 100-Day Creative Challenge 25 is about how our hopes and fears can be turned into compelling stories.
The winner of our Horror Award 2019 was also the Grand Prize Winner of our Fall 2019 Screenwriting Contest: MONGER by David Axe!
Having already introduced it here, we thought we’d get a more in-depth look at the project with a Q&A with David…
To find out what inspired the project, how he went about writing it, and his advice for writers, take a look below. And if you’d like to give yourself a chance to follow in his footsteps and win our Grand Prize of $2000, enter our Winter 2020 Screenwriting Contest by March 1st!
What was your inspiration for writing MONGER?
I borrowed from my own experiences. I was a war correspondent for many years and spent time with combat troops in several war zones. In 2011 I was riding in a U.S. Army vehicle in Logar province in Afghanistan when a bomb exploded underneath it. I was fine but many of the soldiers in the vehicle were not. More generally, I’m no stranger to trauma, guilt and alcoholism. I wanted to write about these things while also giving them substance. As in, a monster.
Why did you choose to write a horror movie?
Horror stretches the rules of everyday life, allowing a writer to play in a much wider space than, say, a strictly naturalistic drama would do. I wanted to give form to guilt. I wanted my characters to literally fight a monster that embodies their worst trauma. Hence horror.
What was the writing process, and how long did it take?
I write steadily, from beginning to end, over a period of a couple of months. Once I’ve got a solid first draft, I get some notes from readers I trust. In the case of MONGER, I hosted a table read that was very helpful. Then revisions lasting a few weeks. The whole process of writing MONGER took maybe four months.
How have your own experiences as a filmmaker informed your writing?
I’ve made a few indie features, most recently LECTION. The more I direct, the more I simplify my writing. As a director, I want a very clean script with clear conflict and strong characters. The texture and nuance come from performance, photography and production design. The writing should be a robust, strong framework. In other words, the director in me wants the writer in me to not overthink it.
What would be your advice to other screenwriters?
Write like it’s your job and you’re going to die soon, which you are. Get used to rejection and being ignored. Don’t be shy about showing your work. Be humble when people offer notes but also learn to smile and nod and ignore bad notes. Try everything you can think of to con someone, anyone, into producing your script. And if no one will shoot your script, consider doing it yourself. At the very least, you’ll learn a lot. Then sit down and write another one. And another. And another.
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