by John | Jun 17, 2019 | Updates
Wanted to enter our Spring 2019 Screenwriting Contest but missed the deadline? You’ll be pleased to hear that we’ve extended the deadline by one week, giving you an extra chance to submit!
We know how easy it can be to miss a competition deadline. Maybe you were trying to make those last minute adjustments to your script that you felt would take it another level, only to find that it’s a bigger task than expected. Or maybe life just got in the way – as it tends to do!
We’ve really enjoyed reading the scripts that have been entered into our contest so far, and we’re eager to see what else you might have on offer. As a result we made the decision to extend the deadline and give you a bit of extra time to enter!
There are major advantages to entering one of our contests. The Grand Prize for the top placed script is $2000, and the top three scripts all receive:
- A year of free script development worth up to $3200
- Guaranteed pitching to industry
- Exclusive previews of WriteMovies Academy, our unique Virtual Film School
- Exclusive prizes from InkTip
And if you need even more info on what’s on the line, click here to take a look at an article from last week in which we discussed how we help our winners develop their scripts and make them even better!
Don’t miss your chance. This is your last opportunity to get involved in our Spring 2019 Screenwriting Contest and take your first steps towards screenwriting success with WriteMovies!
Click here to enter the WriteMovies Spring 2019 Screenwriting Contest!
by John | Jun 9, 2019 | Updates
The WriteMovies Spring 2019 Screenwriting Contest is heating up, with just one week to go until the final deadline on Sunday June 16th!
There’s a host of reasons to submit to this competition – not least of which is the Grand Prize of $2000, which is awarded to the script that comes in first place. Even more valuable, however, is the guaranteed pitching to industry and the year of free script development given to the top three scripts.
Any great writer knows that writing is rewriting. With help and advice from our industry experts, our winners can expect to see their script go from strength to strength. We’ll assess your work on elements such as concept, structure, characters, and more.
WriteMovies is able to add a massive amount of value to any script, no matter how far along it is. Don’t forget that you can get our help on your screenplay by buying one of our Script Reports, starting with Judging Feedback from $89 up to the more comprehensive Development Notes at $149.
And once our winners scripts are in the best possible shape – that’s when we start taking them out into the world and pitching them to the industry! Don’t miss out on your chance to win these great prizes and start your screenwriting journey with WriteMovies.
Make sure you submit to our Spring 2019 Screenwriting Contest by the final deadline this Sunday, June 16th by clicking here!
by John | Jun 7, 2019 | Our Winners, WMC
THE TIME-TRAP: When the most dangerous man in America gets his hands on a time machine, an emotionally fragile FBI agent must go back through time after him, with the full knowledge that he can only return to the present by living his past all over again.
To describe THE TIME-TRAP as a thrilling ride would be an understatement. Partnering a great concept with high-octane action, this is a manhunt like we’ve never seen before. It kept us gripped from the first page to the last, coming through a highly competitive field to take first place. Congratulations to the writer of THE TIME-TRAP and the first ever winner of the WriteMovies Sci-Fi and Fantasy Award, Mark Flood!
As the WriteMovies Sci-Fi and Fantasy Award 2019 winner, Mark has won guaranteed pitching to industry, two sets of Development Note, and further advice on honing his script from our screenwriting experts. He’s also still in contention for our Spring 2019 Screenwriting Contest, which has a Grand Prize of $2000 and is open until June 16th. Click here if you want to enter the competition yourself!
Here’s a summary of THE TIME-TRAP:
Special Agent Sam Miller, a man haunted by the tragedy of his past, is the lead agent in the hunt for the FBI’s most wanted, Michael Barnton. After a dramatic chase across San Francisco Bay, Miller is successful in capturing Barnton, but instead of his mission coming to an end, he discovers it has only just begun.
Barnton escapes custody and stows away in a scientist’s car; a scientist who has succeeded in building a time machine which Barnton steals and uses to leap into the past, planning to change things in his favor. What Barnton doesn’t know is that although he can jump backwards multiple times, the only way to come forward to the present is to live all those days over again.
Realizing that he might be target in the past, Miller agrees to go after Barnton. Armed with a tracker and a second time machine, Miller embarks on an epic chase through time – with not just the chance to catch Barton, but also to right the pain from his past and discover that there might be more to Barnton’s crimes than it first seemed.
If you’re a producer interested in this project, email david.vogel@atalentscout.com today!
And here’s a quick bio of the writer of THE TIME-TRAP, Mark Flood:
Mark grew up in Northern Ireland and moved to Scotland to study at university. Because of his love of film and television, he decided to try his hand at screenwriting after university and even wrote a novel.
In recent years, Mark has continued to write for the screen. He is now writing with a better understanding of the process, a new love of the craft, and an appreciation of what his strengths are.
by John | Jun 3, 2019 | Updates
We first launched the WriteMovies Sci-Fi and Fantasy Award because we wanted to be transported to amazing, fantastical new worlds – and boy, did you guys deliver! Our entrants spanned the deepest reaches of space, magical lands, and all of time: past, present, and future!
The imagination is a writer’s most powerful weapon, and it was on full display here. Well done to everyone who entered; the quality was so consistently high that you made it extremely difficult for us to pick a winner!
Some of the things that helped us make our choice include:
- Originality of concept – giving us something truly unique instead of something we’ve seen before
- Depth and complexity of worldbuilding – making the universe of the story feel like a real, lived in place
- Impressive visual elements – taking full advantage of these genres’ strengths
- Great characters – ensuring that the human element doesn’t get lost!
So here it is… The first ever winner of the inaugural WriteMovies Sci-Fi and Fantasy Award is…
THE TIME-TRAP
By Mark Flood
A big congratulations to Mark, who has won guaranteed pitching to industry, two sets of Development Notes, and continued script development from us! Well done also to all of our Honorable Mentions, who you can find listed below.
HONORABLE MENTIONS
| OMEGA POINT, James Bingham |
ENDANGERED SPECIES, Mark Flood |
GODLESS SKIES, Joshua David Harris |
| FABLE OF THE JADE TIGER, Jason Fisher |
SHIRO, Pascal Kulcsar |
THE LAST PRISON, Richard Geiwitz |
| THE REVOLT OF THE WHALES, Michael Rhodes |
MARS GENESIS, Don Ternyila |
RACE MUSIC, Eric Weber |
by John | May 20, 2019 | WMC
Our inaugural Sci-Fi and Fantasy Award may have closed for submission, but the WriteMovies Spring 2019 Screenwriting Contest goes on – and the final deadline is now just one month away!
Your last chance to enter will be on Sunday June 16th, with a Grand Prize of $2000 plus guaranteed pitching to industry and a year of free script development for the top three scripts. So get to work polishing that dialogue, tweaking your story, and fleshing out those characters, and make sure you give us lots of reasons to get excited!
But what will help you to get our attention? Here are some things we look out for:
- A unique concept. We read a lot of scripts, so show us something we haven’t seen before!
- Fully rounded characters that we love. If we’re invested in the people, we’ll always want to keep reading!
- Strong commercial potential. If the project won’t make money, it has little chance of getting made.
- A great opening. Make sure you grab us with the first ten pages. First impressions matter!
You should also take a look at our Director Ian Kennedy’s article on “What your writing submissions are telling us” for some hints and tips on what mistakes to avoid, and more details on what we’re after.
And then, when you’re finally ready… Click here to submit to the WriteMovies Spring 2019 Screenwriting Contest by June 16th!
by John | Apr 6, 2019 | Our Winners
PROMISE OF TOMORROW: After finding a website devoted to insulting him, a struggling, separated and obsessive Project Manager becomes determined to track down who created it.
A romantic-comedy with heaps of charm, PROMISE OF TOMORROW made us laugh more than any other script in this competition. In the tradition of great British rom-coms, it captured our attention with its quirky characters, heartwarming story, and fantastic audience appeal. This is a script that deserves to go far – a huge congratulations to its writer, the winner of our Winter 2019 Screenwriting Contest, Andrew Pennington!
As the Grand Prize Winner of our Winter 2019 Screenwriting Contest, Andrew has won $2500, guaranteed pitching to industry, and a year of free script development. If you want to follow in his footsteps, then enter our Spring 2019 Screenwriting Contest (click here!)
Here’s a summary of PROMISE OF TOMORROW:
PROMISE OF TOMORROW is a comedy feature following Owen, a slightly OCD Project Manager, who has always taken the easy roads in life.
Owen is horrified as he finds a website devoted purely to mocking him. It sends his obsessive and paranoid tendencies into overdrive, as he struggles to work out who could possibly have set up such a cruel prank. When his wife decides to leave, she becomes the clear number one suspect.
Seemingly more upset about the website than his impending divorce, Owen is guided by his family and friends to deal with his separation. His boss suggests using his considerable professional skills to aid the situation. Project manage his break-up!
Owen struggles through an investigation of clues as to the website author, whilst keeping emotional distance from his personal life. He finds that his coping mechanism can only work for so long before he’s forced to confront his difficult journey.
If you’re a producer interested in this project, email david.vogel@atalentscout.com today!
And here’s a quick bio of the writer of PROMISE OF TOMORROW, Andrew Pennington:
Andrew Pennington is a screenwriter who grew up in the North West of England and is currently based in Merseyside, with his wife and two children. He initially studied social sciences at Lougborough University and developed a career in research within academia and then the National Health Service.
An affinity for visual story-telling, initially starting with comic books as a boy, led to a love of film and T.V. Andrew went on to gain an MA in Screenwriting from Liverpool John Moores University. He writes a variety of film and T.V. screenplays, primarily in comedy and science fiction.
See if you can coax him into more social media than just retweets here: @atpennington
by John | Mar 11, 2019 | Updates
One contest ends, another begins… We’re committed to championing great stories in our 20th anniversary year, and after an incredibly competitive final round of judging for our Winter Contest last week, we’re eager to see what else you’ve got for us. So here we go again: the WriteMovies Spring 2019 Screenwriting Contest!
The Grand Prize Winner will walk away with $2000, and the top three placed scripts will all receive:
- A year of free script development worth up to $3200
- Guaranteed pitching to industry
- Exclusive previews of WriteMovies Academy, our unique Virtual Film School
- Exclusive prizes from InkTip
And as with our last contest, you can get free entry to the contest when you buy a script report from us. Get invaluable feedback from industry experts to help you hone your script and make it the best it can be, with Judging Feedback from just $89 – see our full list of Script Report Services here!
What does it really take to win one of our contests, though? With each round of our last competition, we’ve written an article explaining how we judge scripts, what the criteria are, and the what the most common problems are in the submissions we’re read – a must read for anyone entering the WriteMovies Spring 2019 Screenwriting Contest.
So before you submit, take a look at our article on What Your Submissions are Telling Us and then our Semi-Final results, where we discussed what made these scripts really stand out. Finally – and most importantly – see our Winners Announcement to find out what kind of questions we’re asking when picking between the strongest submissions in the contest.
WriteMovies has been helping writers succeed for twenty years. Enter the WriteMovies Spring 2019 Screenwriting Contest to begin your writing journey with us by clicking here!
