Feb 29
Early
Mar 31
Regular
Apr 30
Final
May 29
Quarterfinalist
Jun 26
Semifinalist
Jul 24
Finalist
Aug 14
Winner
Whether your comedy is romantic, dark, slapstick, animated, broad or dry, we want to read your film or TV script!
Our past winners have gone on to sell their scripts to major studios like Shiwani Srivastava who's script WEDDING SEASON was produced by Netflix and debuted as the 4th most-watched movie globally upon its release.
This year's Grand Prize Winner will be invited to mentorship meetings with top-level execs at Funny or Die. Funny Or Die (FOD) is a premier entertainment brand and independent comedy studio that creates award-winning, premium comedy with today’s biggest stars and tomorrow’s freshest voices. Funny Or Die reaches a global audience of more than 40 million people across all our social platforms. The company has produced the critically-acclaimed Brockmire for IFC, Emmy-nominated Billy on the Street, the Peabody award-winning American Vandal for Netflix, the Emmy-nominated Sarah Silverman series I Love You, America for Hulu, and the feature films, Between Two Ferns: The Movie for Netflix, and Impractical Jokers: The Movie for Warner Media.
We welcome award-winning film and TV writer, director, producer and showrunner Tze Chun as our Industry Expert. Tze will host an exclusive Q&A conversation with this year's semi-finalists.
Tze (pronounced “Z”) Chun is Executive Producer and Showrunner of the Gremlins animated prequel GREMLINS: SECRETS OF THE MOGWAI on Max and served as Showrunner and Executive Producer of the critically acclaimed I’M A VIRGO on Amazon Prime. Previously, he wrote and directed an episode of Apple’s BAFTA-nominated anthology show LITTLE AMERICA based on his mother’s life. He was Supervising Producer and writer on Fox’s GOTHAM and wrote on ABC’s hit primetime drama ONCE UPON A TIME.
Signed an option agreement
"I placed in ScreenCraft with one of my earlier screenplays in the Family Screenplay Competition. ScreenCraft was always on my radar after that competition. I really like how ScreenCraft focuses on specific genres in each contest. I was so excited when Derby Queen was a finalist in the Comedy Competition. It was a huge milestone. I worked with ScreenCraft and [they were] definitely inspirational and extremely helpful. After my script placed as a finalist, the pandemic hit. I went from having lots of managers read it to everything pretty much coming to a halt. It was disappointing to say the least and Derby Queen lost momentum. ScreenCraft helped me strategize about how to create a target list of managers but also try to focus on optioning/selling a script rather than finding a manager right away. I think that put my focus back on the creative process of honing my voice and creating more projects as unique writing samples. "
Signed with a Manager at MAKE GOOD Content
"The team is constantly checking in, asking how they can lift me up, showcasing my work, inviting me to amazing networking events, facilitating pitches and being overall excellent cheerleaders. Now I’m working on a grindhouse feature with Endeavor Content and Flames Ventures. And I sold a short-form series to FX’s show Cake, co-created with artist Jibz Cameron."
Signed with Manager (Affirmative Entertainment) & Agent (Paradigm Talent Agency)
"I am not based in Los Angeles. I am in San Francisco and I thought the only way to get out there is to start entering contests and see what happens. And because of ScreenCraft, an opportunity did knock. They put me in touch with a manager, like he really understood what I was trying to do with my stories. ScreenCraft put me in touch with a producer and we ended up taking it to a major studio, who expressed interest in my script, which is beyond my wildest imagination. I was so glad that I just kept writing, kept writing, kept writing stories that I believed in. Eventually, everybody has some opportunity, some luck and you have to be ready, and I think ScreenCraft really helped me be ready."
Signed with a Literary Manager at Inclusion Management
"Failure and rejection are a part of the process, a lesson I was lucky enough to learn at a young age albeit from a different context. However, mental exhaust and fatigue are very real deterrents. I learned to take calculated breaks from my work to replenish my soul. Last year, I decided to submit my work to as many competitions as I could afford. Screencraft in particular, was held in high regard. And I wanted to compete with the best. Have discipline as a writer and in your writing. As a writer: Do something everyday that pushes your skill forward. If you have writer's block, read books, screenplays, watch instructional videos, talk to other writers. Also heal. Take breaks from your writing to allow the lessons and stories in your head to rise from your subconscious. In your writing: Find a structure that works for you. Trust me, the older the better. Aristotle's Poetics or Asia's Kishotenketsu. Newer structures have too many steps and produce cookie cutter stories. Focus on the fundamentals: And, But, Therefore; Setup & Payoff, Conflict, Momentum, Crucible. "
Signed with a Literary Manager at Underground Entertainment after working with the ScreenCraft team.
"I think one of the biggest hurdles to writing is just carving out the time and mental space to do it regularly and well while still enjoying the process. If you find yourself writing all the time and never doing anything else, your writing (and mental health) are going to suffer and you might grow to hate the project you're working on (which in turn will make it worse). Conversely, if you only talk about writing but are constantly busy with work, and social events, and other commitments, you're a writer in theory not in practice, and you'll never get anything done. So finding that balance, especially early on when I was broke and had no time, was really important for me. When I started applying for script competitions, ScreenCraft's panels of judges really stood out to me. They were filled with big names and people who had major roles at well-known companies, so knowing that the competition wasn't just a random dude in a basement stealing my money made me more interested in applying. Since placing in the Top 10 finals, ScreenCraft has helped a ton in getting meetings set-up and in general championing me and my work (like with this right now)."
Attached producer John Shepherd to his feature script 'How the Yellow Mellow.'
"I was about to give up screenwriting about two years ago. I just wasn’t seeing any markers of success, and I wasn’t loving what I was writing or doing at the moment. I didn’t have a clear identity at that time. My breakthrough moment was somehow landing a spot as a finalist for the 2019 Screencraft Comedy Competition. Around that time, I started realizing that my niche was writing diverse genre comedies. I discovered which aspects of my writing voice worked best and committed to parts of myself. I recently got a producer attached to a funny teen comedy script inspired by my days as my high school’s Asian American club president. We’re sending it out and trying to find it a home, and that’s so exciting! I was drawn to Screencraft after seeing the judge panels. They’re really legit and have some of the most remarkable people in the industry reading your stuff. The competition gave me some confidence about my writing, but the team behind the competitions really check in with you after and help you, too. "
February 2 | by Destiny Macon
As a reclusive person who could go days without talking, I try my best not to be the pretty brown wallflower whose name no one...
October 26 | by Chris Courtney Martin
Multihyphenate trailblazer Jordan Peele asserts, “The difference between comedy and horror is the music.” Perhaps this is a rhetorical simplification, but coming from a creator who...
January 9 | by Paula Finn
What would comedy be without drama? For my book Sitcom Writers Talk Shop: Behind the Scenes with Carl Reiner, Norman Lear, and Other Geniuses of TV...
April 2 | by Ken Miyamoto
What are the different styles of comedies that screenwriters can develop for their feature film scripts and series pilots? Comedies have plots that are often light-hearted...
The winners will be chosen based on the following criteria:
In addition to the scoring criteria for the script, ScreenCraft may conduct interviews and send questionnaires to learn more about the entrant, their voice, perspective, and goals to help identify the winning projects. Top scripts are read by the industry jury who votes for their favorite scripts at their sole discretion.
ScreenCraft Add-on Prize Selection:
Criteria for Winners and Finalists:
Regular Deadline in 3 days