Breakthrough with
ScreenCraft’s Prestigious
Writing Competitions

Breaking in as a writer should be about how well you can write—not how well you can network. That’s why our competitions set out to uncover the best writers out there and help them launch their screenwriting careers.

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ScreenCraft Writers Discovered by:

Open Competitions

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Horror Competition

“The industry’s #1 horror screenplay contest.” – IndieWire. Our jury is scary good, featuring talent reps from Zero Gravity, Gersh, Energy Entertainment, and more!

Final Deadline - October 31

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Stage Play Competition

Past Stage Play competition winners and finalists have signed with representation with CAA, WME, A3 Artists, 3 Arts Entertainment and more.

Final Deadline - October 31

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Cinematic Prose Competition

Hollywood loves adapting novels and short stories into feature scripts and TV shows - is yours next? This year’s jury includes literary managers, book agents and producers.

Regular Deadline - October 31

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Film Fund Competition

Offering up to $30,000 in funding for a range of projects from treatments to standalone screenplays to fully-packaged projects seeking finishing funds.

Early Deadline - October 31

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Fellowship Competition

5 days of intensive professional meetings. 3 months of career consultation. A once in a lifetime opportunity.

Early Deadline - October 31

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ScreenCraft’s Writer Success Stories

Meet the writers who used ScreenCraft competitions to break into the film and TV industry.

Devin Fearn
Signed with a manager at Sandstone Artists
"The ScreenCraft team helped me formulate a solid query letter template for my script submissions, while also preparing me for the right mentality to be a working writer. The single biggest benefit though, has to be ScreenCraft pairing me with my mentor, producer Jim Klock. Jim read my Horror/Western Pilot STRANGE FLESH and took me under his wing, which resulted in invaluable notes, critical professional feedback, paid writing assignments, and an introduction to my current management team at Sandstone Artists."
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Sanyee Yuan
Signed with a literary manager at Romark Entertainment
"Even just being able to speak the greatest dreams that I harbored out loud in a meeting... really made all the difference with upholding accountability to myself. The way in which the ScreenCraft team worked with me, to gently—and very steadily—push me to articulate my goals and hone in on my intentions really set the tone for how my year unfolded. "

"Furthermore, ScreenCraft reminded me that I was in charge of my journey, and at the same time—that I was not alone."
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Antoine Perry
Signed with a literary manager at Gramercy Park
"The fantasy and sci-fi genre allows me to express my experiences as a marginalized person without having to be so overt in displaying the cruelty and beauty of life. ScreenCraft having a contest dedicated solely to fantasy & sci-fi meant the work I put into crafting a narrative steeped in both character and world building would be valued and seen, which is something marginalized writers often struggle with."

"ScreenCraft set a general with one of the producers who read my script, and once he learned I was not repped, they offered to send my script to his contacts. I had a manager a few months later."
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Shiwani Srivastava
Signed with Manager (Affirmative Entertainment) & Agent (Paradigm Talent Agency)
After winning the ScreenCraft Comedy Competition, the ScreenCraft team introduced her to an executive at Netflix, as well as her literary manager at Affirmative Entertainment.

"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. Eventually, everybody has some opportunity, some luck and you have to be ready, and I think ScreenCraft really helped me be ready."
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Matthew McLachlan
Signed with a literary agent at Paradigm
"ScreenCraft understands that the work is the thing and that you've already put all of this effort into the art and lets the art speak for itself. ScreenCraft also cares about writers. Throughout the whole process I feel taken care of and can feel their passion to help writers succeed."

"ScreenCraft really sat down with me and helped me evaluate my goals and the best and next steps for how to achieve those. After my win, I have had multiple managers reach out and take meetings as well as befriending a lot of other writers."
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Maria Wilson
Signed with a literary manager at Affirmative Entertainment
"[ScreenCraft has] this wonderfully hands-on approach that helps clarify how to take actual steps towards your goals. From strategizing on game plans, to answering questions and concerns, to connecting me with other finalists, I’ve just felt super supported throughout. They even got my script read by a number of reps, and facilitated a meeting with the manager that I’m now repped by."

"It’s been such a whirlwind experience, and ScreenCraft has really gone above and beyond in advancing my career. I can’t thank them enough."
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Opening Later

TV Pilot Competition

Winners and finalists have signed with 3Arts, Management 360, CAA, Verve, Zero Gravity, and more. Plus, ScreenCraft winners have been staffed for shows at Netflix, Amazon, Apple TV+, The CW, ABC, Paramount+ and many more.

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Feature Competition

Jury includes literary reps from Bellevue, Buchwald, and others. This year's Grand Prize Mentors include Oscar-winner David Rabinowitz (BLACKKKLANSMAN), Hugh Welchman (LOVING VINCENT), Rose Gilroy (PROJECT ARTEMIS) and Lauren Hynek & Elizabeth Martin (MULAN).

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Comedy Competition

Open to pilots and features, opportunities for our comedy competition include mentorship with Funny or Die, a Q&A with Tze Chun, project development with established screenwriters, and a jury behind great comedies like PEN15 and NO HARD FEELINGS.

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True Story Competition

The demand for films and television series based on existing IP has never been higher, and our prestigious industry jury is ready to read the next hit true stories, biographies and public domain adaptations. Oscar-winning screenwriter Akiva Goldsman joins as this year's VIP Mentor!

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Drama Competition

Writers from this competition have signed with CAA, Brillstein, Circle of Confusion, and have gone on to be nominated for Emmys and staff on TV shows. The results speak for themselves: this is Hollywood’s best Drama Screenwriting Competition.

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Action & Adventure Competition

Joe Robert Cole, co-writer of BLACK PANTHER and BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER, joins as our VIP Mentor alongside jurors from Zero Gravity, Thunder Road, Buchwald and more...

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Sci-Fi & Fantasy Competition

Our prestigious jury includes execs from Zero Gravity Management, ACE Content, and industry pros behind great franchises like STAR WARS and X-MEN. SEVERANCE writer Kari Stringham-Drake joins as Grand Prize Mentor!

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Virtual Pitch Competition

Take advantage of a unique opportunity to pitch directly to an A-list jury of industry insiders online and open to writers worldwide!

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Short Film Competition

What do George Lucas, Neill Blomkamp, and Lynne Ramsay all have in common? They started their careers off of a short script. We want to help build new great careers for amazing short script writers.

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Animation & Family Competition

Whether it's a heartwarming tale that brings families together or an innovative animation that pushes the boundaries of creativity, we're looking for original stories with new voices.

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Who you know matters

Mentorship Matters is an intensive, year-long mentorship program that pairs diverse emerging writers with working TV showrunners.

We are a group of committed television showrunners with series on air and/or in development at major networks and studios. Our goal is to leverage our connections to advocate for and help create real opportunities for undiscovered diverse writers.

Learn More & Apply