I’m a writer who started out as a screenwriter. I wrote my first script in Cascade, Maryland. Which was as close to New York or Los Angeles as the dark side of the moon. But location didn’t matter to me. I wrote a screenplay because I wanted to. I never took any classes, I just learned through trial and error, buying and downloading stacks of screenplays and reading whatever I could on the subject.
I liked the format; I liked the style. The three act structure. Writing for people who don’t read. Saying the most with the least amount of words. Working with dialogue and action stanzas. When to start the scene, when to leave and how to keep the pages turning as the story unfolds. Spec scripts or screenplays written as speculation that someone might be interested in the material fascinated me. It still does. I cared about crafting an engaging feature-length story.
When I would go out on studio meetings, the most common question I heard was: What else do you have? I learned from my agent that they weren’t dismissing the work that got me in the door. They asked because they wanted to see if I could do it again.
My agent told me once, if she was looking at two writers. One was a competition Semi-Finalist with a few additional spec scripts under their belt. And the other was a Finalist but it took them years to craft their solitary script. Then she would pick the Semi-Finalist to represent, every time.
Hollywood wants you to write. And write some more. Consistency is the key.
I have about a dozen solid spec scripts that are ready for show. Behind that are so many drafts and re-writes and abandoned projects, I’ve lost count. And I found my way to Hollywood through screenplay festivals. Not all are created equal. Some are bullet-point notations in my portfolio and that’s as far as they go. But there are a few that can change your life.
I’ve had scripts place in the Austin Film Festival, PAGE International, Table Read My Script-Chicago. Sundance Producers Conference, Fade In Awards, Scriptapalooza, Cynosure, Alchemy Works, SAFILM. I’ve been a panelist and screenplay judge for the Austin Film Festival and The San Antonio Film Festival. And I’ve been lucky enough to win some awards.
But the Nicholl Fellowship sent me to LA. It’s sponsored by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Better known as the home for the Academy Awards. My time travel / adventure screenplay that was a nod to Rod Serling and The Twilight Zone beat out thousands of other entries. The prestige of that festival enabled me to connect with an agent and a manager and cracked the gates of Hollywood for me.
If you don’t have industry connections, screenplay competitions are a great way to equal the playing field. You need to do your homework on which ones are worth your time and effort. Capitalize on the early entry fees most of them offer. And don’t treat it like a lottery. As a script reader for competitions over the years, I’m still amazed at what people send in, thinking they might get picked out of the pile. I’ve found at a bare minimum, you’ll have three different readers looking at your submission, so it is in your interest to present the best work you can.
Judges in a screenwriting competition think you know what you’re doing. They give you the benefit of the doubt when they sit back with your script. A writer can be their own worst enemy by proving them wrong in the first few pages. Or even on the first page.
Some writers tackle it like a novel. Seeing pages full of dense paragraphs of description immediately make your eyes drift up to the page count. And when that count is, one. You know you’re in for a long slog and immediately think the writer doesn’t have the tools necessary to craft a proper screenplay. It’s primarily a dialogue driven medium.
Some writers blow it by not following the submission guidelines. You’re not special, none of us are and you have to follow the rules like everyone else. Taking the time to simply verify the submission rules for the competition already put you head and shoulders above any number of entries.
The most important rule you can follow. Take the necessary time and steps to edit and clean up your manuscript. Writing a first draft is commendable, but that doesn’t mean it’s ready for show. Leave it alone for a bit, and then go back through the pages.
My advice is, usually tackle your edit in a different format. Print out your material. Even change the font or page layout. It’s an easy trick and very effective. When you see your words in a different light, spelling mistakes and sentence flow jumps right out at you.
Edit your draft. Don’t let sloppy work pull the reader right out of your pages. Tell me a story. But it’s up to you to tell it the best way you can.
Spec scripts and screenplay competition are a great way to elevate your material and see how it performs in front of a professional audience. And not everyone is a winner. I’ve had my material rejected from a number of competitions. But every now and then I get one into the goal.
Even this year, I took an abandoned manuscript and re-worked the concept. I sent it off to completion and lost one out-right. But I won awards for that same script at the 2024 SAFILM San Antonio Film Festival and The Austin Film Festival. Those hits generate heat and producers are taking notice. I have writing festivals to thank for that. And we’ll see what happens.
In the meantime, I’ve got another idea for a new spec script. Keep writing. I don’t know any other way to do it.
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Article published in The Relatable Voice Magazine - November 2024. Downolad the full magazine at:
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