It’s Quarter-Finals day for our Winter 2021 Screenwriting Contest! There have been many great submissions to this competition, and we’ve become deeply invested in some of the incredible scripts we’ve read.
Congratulations to all of our Quarter-Finalists – each of these scripts was very deserving of a place in this stage of the contest. And don’t forget to keep an eye out for Semi-Finalists, which will be announced in two weeks time on March 12th.
This has been an interesting period for everyone, and the team at WriteMovies were interested to see how the writers have dealt with the pandemic in their scripts and stories. We were surprised to see a lot of writers haven’t touched the pandemic at all in their work, and those who did usually mentioned it subtly instead of making it a major factor in the story.
It’s a fascinating question: whether to include the pandemic in your writing. On the one hand, there’s no doubt that audiences will want escapism from the real-life struggles of the pandemic, especially when audiences will be able to return to cinemas around the world.
On the other hand, the pandemic can provide writers with interesting material and prompts to revolutionize their concepts, giving otherwise generic ideas a fresh twist. We’ll certainly be keeping an eye out for more pandemic-based screenplays in the future!
In the short term, you can find out more about how we evaluated your script by purchasing one of our script reports or checking out our Elite Mentoring service, where you can seek mentoring from top writers, producers, and execs. When you buy a report, you’ll also get FREE entry to our Spring 2021 Screenwriting Contest, which opens on March 1st!
Thanks for all of your submissions. Here are the scripts that made it to the Winter 2021 Screenwriting Contest Quarter-Finals!
| Quarter-Finalists | ||
| THE WALK-OFFS, Will Berry | THE SECRET OF THE BLACK KATANA, Christian Bourgeois | GHOSTED, WITH LOVE, Bob Canning |
| BLESSE (WOUNDED), Bob Canning | CASTING CHRISTMAS, Thomas J. Chavez | INHERITANCE, Kurt T. Choate |
| FRED PERRY, Julian Chomet | YOUNG BLOOD, Kermit Davidson | FLAMING BARRELS OF LOVE, Alan Devey |
| GUNTHER’S CAVERN, Edward Etzkorn | JOHN, Patrick Feeney | NEVER TOO LATE, Alisha Louise Garza & Jason Grant |
| REVELATIONS, Johnny Gilligan | SIMONE’S DEAD END RELATIONSHIP, Katie Gilligan | AUNT JEANNIE, David Gray |
| MAX HOPPER BATTLES THE LOCUST STORM, Adam Stuart Hersh | THE FITTEST MAN ON EARTH, Nicholas Horwood | THE LONG TRIP HOME, James Hsiao |
| END OF LINE, Paul Howard Hunt | MIND BLOWN, Paul Jarnagin | SECRET SANTA CINDERELLA, Jake Jarvi |
| THE 24-HOUR HOWL, Joanna Louise Johnson | CAROLINE BUXTON’S LIPSTICK POSSEE, Kelly Karam | INSIDE OUT, Jack Kearney |
| THE LORD CHAMBERLAIN’S MEN, Matt Kelsey | MILITIA BABE, John Kestner | DUMMIES, Oliver Kindeberg & Matt Zeqiri |
| HEALING THE WOUNDED MASCULINE, Narcisa Kovacevic | LIBERTY, C.R. Lawing | SEVEN WASHINGTON PLACE, Larry Leinoff |
| PUBLISH OR PERISH, David Liban | STREET CLEANING, Michael Mack | THE LOVE HEX OR NICEST FLINGS IN MEXICO, Mike Meier |
| TIMBER!, Peter Murphy | UNCLE SAVAGE, Rick Omi | COOPER ADLER’S ROMANTIC COMEDY, Jeff D. Opdyke |
| QUICK SHOT, Jason Peralta | WHEN IN ROHM, Vanessa Renee Pierce | THE NIGHT WITCHES, Steven Prowse |
| PEDAL POWER, Nubia aht Rahim | THE STRANGE AFFAIR OF THE ELEVATOR, Katy Regnery | THE CARRIER, Todd Restler |
| KEEPERS OF THE FLAME, Julian Rosado-Machain | DESPERATE MEASURES, Ruby Asante Smith | DEFUNDED, Ruby Asante Smith |
| COYOTE, Agah Smith | RUNAWAY SHIP, Theodore Carl Soderberg | ARGIE BERGMAN, Suzy Stein & Fernando Perez |
| CATCHING OUT, Elizabeth Savage Sullivan | CHEREMERE, Paolo Taddei | APOCALYPSE, Tyler True |
| ALL-IN QUINN, Tyler True | THE SHROUD, Marie Vandelannoote | HYSTERESIS, Lynn Vincentnathan |
Semi-Finalists will be announced on March 12th and Winners and Honorable Mentions on March 26th.