Previous Season Announcements
Jan 20
Quarterfinalist
Feb 10
Semifinalist
Mar 3
Finalist
Mar 31
Winner
Throughout Hollywood history, broad family-friendly storytelling has been at the forefront of box office and television success. Whether you have a faith-friendly movie or an adventurous TV series, we want to read your script if it’s appropriate for an audience of all ages. We’re not just seeking stories for kids – we’re seeking stories that transcend age groups and appeal to the whole family. Our judges are looking for TV pilots, short scripts, and feature screenplays.
ScreenCraft’s past winners have gone on to sell their scripts to major studios and have been hired by companies like Universal, Netflix, Amazon, Millennium, CBS, and many more. ScreenCraft’s winners are also highly sought after by literary managers and agents who are open to signing to new writer clients. Over 100 ScreenCraft writers have signed with top management companies and agencies like 3 Arts, Anonymous Content, CAA, WME, UTA, Paradigm, Lit Entertainment, and many more.
Entries must be received on or before the deadline dates by 11:59PM Pacific Time. The final deadline is December 31, 2020.
Previous Season Judges
Julia Friley
At Walden Media Julia Friley works to create and develop film and TV projects, including the recently-released THE BABY-SITTERS CLUB on Netflix. Prior to Walden she worked at Sony and Columbia Pictures on such projects as SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING and VENOM. With a passion for literature and a passion for four-quadrant stories, she is always looking for new ways to tell classic stories.
Claire Curley
At Hello Sunshine, Curley heads the Kids & Animation division, to create stories for the next generation of women... girls of today. Prior to that, she was the senior vice president of franchise animation at Nickelodeon and spearheaded the development on THE JOJO AND BOWBOW SHOWSHOW, MIDDLE SCHOOL MOGULS and more. As a producer at Sesame Workshop, her contributions to THE ELECTRIC COMPANY led to a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Children’s Series in 2012.
Joshua Nadler
Director of Development at Sony’s Affirm Films, the studio behind SOUL SURFER, COURAGEOUS, MIRACLES FROM HEAVEN and more successful and acclaimed faith-friendly films. Affirm Films is a film studio and label of Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions, which produces, markets, and acquires faith-based films.
Jessica Yingling
Emmy Award-winning producer, director and writer Jessica Yingling launched Mischief Productions in 2014. Her projects include LOVE UNDER THE OLIVE TREE and ANYTHING FOR LOVE for the Hallmark Channel. She previously worked as an executive with film/TV producer Arnold Rifkin and was actively involved with acquiring, developing and packaging projects for the company’s production slate, including LIVE FREE OR DIE HARD, DECEPTION, and NIGHT TRAIN.
Jeff Pinkner
Redefining the genre of Family content, Jeff Pinkner is the Writer and Producer of the wildly successful JUMANJI and JUMANJI: THE NEXT LEVEL, co-written with Scott Rosenberg. He also wrote for J.J Abrams’ hit ABC spy series ALIAS, helped create the Emmy and Golden Globe winning ABC series LOST, and served as a showrunner for FOX’s science fiction series FRINGE. Pinkner remains active in television under his Midnight Radio banner, responsible for HIGH FIDELITY on Hulu starring Zoe Kravitz and the upcoming series for the company include CITADEL for Amazon, and COWBOY BEBOP for Netflix.
Prizes
Grand Prize Winner
The overall grand prize winner in either feature, TV or short category will be welcomed to the ScreenCraft Writer Development Program and receive personal introductions and phone calls with one or more top Hollywood literary managers who are looking for talented emerging Film & TV screenwriters.
The top 3 winners’ project info and log lines will be circulated and recommended to our network of over 60 Hollywood managers, agents, producers and development executives.
ScreenCraft has a proven track record for getting writers signed with managers, agents, and staffed in writing rooms.
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Personal Introduction to top literary managers
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Accepted into the ScreenCraft Development Program
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$1,000 Cash
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Complimentary Badge for the 2021 ScreenCraft Summit + Travel Stipend
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License to either of your choice: Final Draft or WriterDuet Pro screenwriting software
Runner-Up Prizes
Feature Winner
$500 cash award
Accepted into ScreenCraft Development Program
50% off 2021 ScreenCraft Summit
Pilot Winner
$500 cash award
Accepted into ScreenCraft Development Program
50% off 2021 ScreenCraft Summit
Short
$500 cash award
50% off 2021 ScreenCraft Summit
Previous Successes
Shiwani Srivastava
Signed with Manager & Agent
2018 ScreenCraft Comedy Runner-Up, Shiwani Srivastava, signed with literary manager Nicholas Bogner of Affirmative Entertainment and Paradigm Talent Agency after ScreenCraft introduced them.
Davia Carter
Signed with Manager & Agent Staffed on a Show
Davia Carter won the 2018 ScreenCraft Screenwriting Fellowship and just weeks later she was hired as a staffed writer on USA’s TV show QUEEN OF THE SOUTH! She is repped by Fourthwall Management and Rothman Brecher Ehrich Livingston Agency.
"The week of Fellowship meetings was invaluable; I’m fairly certain I wouldn’t have a career without it. I met with executives at Netflix, Universal, and Bad Robot (naming a few). The dozen-plus meetings I took taught me something that would have taken years to learn without ScreenCraft: meeting etiquette. I’m in awe of how comfortable I am in meetings now. I have ScreenCraft to thank for that."
Joanna Pickering
Adapting play under HBO mentor Signed with 3 Arts
Joanna Pickering placed in the ScreenCraft Cinematic Stage Play Competition, and signed with 3 Arts Entertainment. She was recently awarded a scholarship to adapt her play to screen with support from HBO’s Vice President of talent development assigned as a mentor for the project.
"My play is in development. I am gearing up to start my collaborations with 3 Arts. I am headed to LA as a Robert Mckee screenwriting fellow. I am also on an intensive directing course granted to me by TV director Rachel Feldman (Blue Bloods). Rachel is a true force. Meryl Streep is backing her latest movie on Lily Ledbetter. She’s also a past ScreenCraft TV pilot finalist-see, we all love ScreenCraft!"
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Rules and More
- Rules
- Eligibility
- Selection Criteria
- Additional Legal
- Submissions are accepted via electronic submission only, between October 1, 2020 and December 31, 2020.
- Entry fee for each submission (whether feature, short or TV) is $49 until the early deadline on October 31, 2020, then $69 until the regular deadline on November 30, 2020, and then $79 until the final deadline on December 31, 2020.
- Optional feedback from a professional reader may be requested at the time of entry. Requests for feedback after an entry is submitted will not be accepted.
- Feature screenplays must be a minimum of 75 pages and a maximum of 150 pages. TV pilots must be between 25 and 75 pages. Shorts must be between 1 and 40 pages. Any screenplay submission longer than 120 pages will incur a $1 per page overage fee for each page over 120.
- There is no limit to the number of projects you may submit.
- Entries must be received on or before the deadline dates by 11:59PM Pacific Time, and submission fee payment must be made in full at time of the submission. All entry fees are non-refundable.
- All submitted material must be original, and all rights must be wholly owned by the writer(s).
- Material must be submitted by the writer. Material written by writing teams must be submitted by one of the writers, with consent of the other(s). All writers must be credited on title page.
- If a writing team is chosen as a winner, prizes will be given to the person who submits the project. Each team is responsible for dividing or sharing the prize money.
- Substitutions of either corrected pages or new drafts of the entered material will be allowed for free within the first 12 hours, and for a $5 re-entry fee through our submission management platform Coverfly at any time until the finalists are announced. Please proofread your script carefully before submitting.
- It is recommended that original material be registered with the WGA or The Library of Congress US Copyright Office before submitting to any competition, however we do not require WGA or Copyright registration.
- Contact info may be included on the cover page of the screenplay, however it is not required.
- ScreenCraft claims no ownership nor option on your work. All ownership and rights to the scripts submitted to this contest remain with the original rights holder(s).
- All writers at least 18 years of age are eligible. However, a writer who has earned more than $50,000 (or equivalent currency) from professional writing services for film or TV in the preceding year is not. (Contest winnings not included.)
- All persons from anywhere in the world are eligible; however the material submitted must be in English (occasional dialogue in other languages is acceptable, if subtitle translation is provided).
- All material submitted to other competitions or contests are eligible for this contest.
- There are no requirements as to when the material was written.
- Screenplay and intellectual property must be wholly owned and submitted by the writer(s).
- Material should be submitted in standard screenplay format, font, spacing and margin.
- We have no preferences regarding title page content. Title and name of writer would suffice.
- Entries for this competition are managed on the submission platform Coverfly.
- Adaptations are ineligible unless the underlying rights are owned by the writer or the work is in the public domain.
- Feature screenplays longer than 150 pages will not be eligible.
- All material must be submitted electronically as a PDF or it will not be eligible.
- Entries for this competition are managed on the submission platform Coverfly.
The winners will be chosen based on the following criteria:
- Voice
- Concept
- Story
- Structure
- Characters
- Dialogues
- Genre Conventions
Criteria for Winners and Finalists:
- The winners and top finalists may be contacted by interested industry representatives, such as managers, agents or producers.
- Entrants may be required to submit further information to assist in the judges’ verification of eligibility.
- Any entrant may be deemed ineligible as a Finalist or Winner at the sole discretion of ScreenCraft.
- Finalists may be required to sign and return within seven (7) business days of receipt a notarized Affidavit of Eligibility and a Release and Indemnification and proof of valid passport and any other documents that ScreenCraft or any other partner may require before receiving prize payment. Failure to respond to the initial notification within ten (10) days or return of notification will result in disqualification.
- We reserve the right to amend these rules at any time.
- COPYRIGHT AND OWNERSHIP: ScreenCraft or any other partner, employee or agent associated with this contest claims no ownership nor first right of option to any original screenplay submitted to this contest. All ownership and rights to the scripts submitted to this contest remains with the original rights holders until and unless other agreements are made.
- PUBLICITY: Except where prohibited by law, participation in the contest constitutes each entrant’s consent to ScreenCraft and its agents’ and contest sponsor’s use of entrants’ names, likenesses, photographs, and/or personal information for promotional purposes in any media, worldwide, without further payment or consideration. All uses of a entrants’ information are in accordance with our Privacy Policy.
- REFUND POLICY: All entries are non-refundable.
- ENTRY CONDITIONS AND RELEASE: BY ENTERING THE CONTEST YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THAT YOU HAVE READ AND AGREE TO THESE CONDITIONS. You agree to release and hold harmless ScreenCraft, ScreenCraft.org, its subsidiary, parent and affiliated companies, Prize contributors, judges, screenplay readers, Sponsors, and any other organizations responsible for administering, advertising or promoting the Contest, and every one of their respective members, directors, employees, agents and representatives (collectively, the “Released Parties”) past and present from and against any and all claims, expenses, and liability, including but not limited to damages and negligence to property and persons, including but not limited to invasion of privacy, defamation, slander, libel, violation of right of publicity, copyright, infringement of trademark or other intellectual property rights relating to a participant’s Entry, participation in the Contest and/or acceptance or use or misuse of Prize; provided however, that such release will not apply to any commercial exploitation of the script by a Released Party in violation of your rights under applicable copyright law; and (c) indemnify, defend and hold harmless the ScreenCraft.org and its Sponsor, agents and employees from and against any and all claims, expenses, and liabilities (including reasonable attorneys fees) relating to an entrant’s participation in the Contest and/or entrant’s use or misuse of Prize. Employees of ScreenCraft and their immediate families are ineligible to participate in this contest. Any such submission will be immediately disqualified. ENTRY TO THIS CONTEST IS VOID WHERE PROHIBITED or restricted by any Federal, State or Local law. Voided entries will be refunded. Recipients’ eligibility will be verified before the grant is awarded and the winner may be required to sign an affidavit of eligibility. By entering the contest, you authorize us to use any trusted third-party online and cloud-based services and databases for hosting, managing and/or transmitting your submission file(s).