by Edward | May 3, 2021 | Sci-Fi and Fantasy Award
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!
by Edward | Apr 22, 2021 | Writing Insights
With the WriteMovies Sci-Fi and Fantasy Award well underway, we know many of you will be working to get your scripts finished by the final deadline on May 9th. So, to help you on your way, here’s our advice for writing sci-fi and fantasy dialogue…
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by Edward | Apr 16, 2021 | Our Winners
The winner of our Winter Contest is an action-packed cyberpunk epic, chronicling William Shakespeare’s interpretation of the rise and fall of ancient Rome: WHEN IN ROHM by Vanisha Renée Pierce!
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by Edward | Apr 8, 2021 | Our Winners
Second place in our Winter Contest went to a gripping sci-fi TV pilot in which mysterious events put the International Space Station in danger and change the very face of reality: REVELATIONS by Johnny Gilligan!
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by Edward | Apr 5, 2021 | WMC
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!
by Edward | Apr 2, 2021 | Our Winners
Want to find out what it takes to be one of our winners? Check out this Q&A with Paul Howard Hunt, who took 3rd place in our Winter Contest and won our Romance and Comedy Award, for insights into how he writes, where his inspiration comes from, and his tips for writers!
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by Edward | Mar 29, 2021 | Industry Diary, Industry News, Pitching
A year ago, we gave you a sneak peek at the industry diary of our director, Ian Kennedy, as he pitched our winners projects in Los Angeles. Now, as we start a new pitching push, we look back at a year like no other and how it’s shaped our plans for the future.
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