More info coming soon
Dec 18
Quarterfinalist
Jan 22
Semifinalist
Feb 12
Finalist
Mar 5
Winner
The Grand Prize Winner will be mentored by Tony Award-winning, Academy Award-nominated playwright Jeffrey Whitty, receiving a virtual meeting and project development insight.
Whitty is a Tony Award-winning playwright, an actor, and an Oscar-nominated screenwriter. He won the Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical for the stage musical AVENUE Q and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for CAN YOU EVER FORGIVE ME?
The Runner-Up will have mentorship meetings with Minna Lee, a Hmong-Vietnamese American playwright and animator who brings audiences into whimsical worlds full of queer joy and strange magic.
Lee is a co-recipient of the Dramatist Guild's 2024 Lanford Wilson Award, a 2024-2025 MacDowell Fellow, a New Georges Affiliated Artist, a member of TAG at The Tank, and a 2022 Sesame Workshop Writers’ Room Fellow and the creator of an Emily Dickinson-inspired zine called Baller of Amherst.
More info coming soon
Signed with an agent
"I was spending countless hours and so much of my time trying to get through to agents and managers. Once I was a finalist, ScreenCraft really sat down with me and helped me evaluate my goals and the best and next steps for how to achieve those. Even before winning a competition, I had an agent from Paradigm reach out to me for a meeting, who I have since signed with. Woo! After my win, I have had multiple managers reach out and take meetings as well as befriending a lot of other writers."
Signed with a literary agent at CAA and Manager at Anonymous
"The panel of judges drew me to ScreenCraft competitions. [ScreenCraft] has been an absolute game-changer in [the] ability to get my scripts read by “right-fit” industry people. I’ve also been able to connect with some wonderful other finalists who live in LA, so it’s also helped me establish a writing community here. The agent I was targeting read my script in the Screencraft competition, and wanted to represent me! It was truly the dream-outcome. This year, when I completed my screenplay HONEY CRUMBLE, my theatre agent sent out the script to managers, and that’s how I got connected to my current manager!"
Signed with Manager at 3 Arts Entertainment
"Going from a mathematician to the dramatic arts and ending under the umbrella of 3 Arts. I create lots of turning points for myself. The goal of every writer is to create something into existence, to get financed, and produced. And so, the seemingly impossible task of attracting agents and managers. It’s too big a step to think of at once. You need to break it down and stay close to the writing. Focus on its development and needs as a piece. The rest will come. Writing competitions are a great way to make deadlines for yourself. Having a submission deadline helps you focus to finish or move onto the next draft. You also get helpful feedback on the work before sending it to agents and managers. I was delighted to be selected for the ScreenCraft Development Program. "
Signed with a literary agent at A3 Artists
"The competition had a judging panel that included some of my absolute favorite playwrights and artistic directors. The prospect of possibly having artists I’ve long admired and look up to actually read my work? That was incentive enough to apply. To wind up having those individuals select my play as the grand prize winner was beyond my wildest expectations. Through winning the competition, I was able to further develop my work with the IAMA Theatre Company, a company I’ve dreamed of working with. And, most recently, ScreenCraft introduced me and my work to my now-agent, Amy Wagner at A3 Artists Agency. The access and opportunities that ScreenCraft has provided me, since winning, has been beyond anything I could have anticipated."
Optioned her project GENERATION POR QUE? to HBO Max
"My biggest inspiration in creating GENERATION POR QUÉ? is my life. I’m the child of Cuban immigrants and grew up with very strict, conservative parents. I’m also a comedy nerd and adore coming of age comedies like Sex and the City, Insecure, and Broad City. But when I would watch Carrie in bed with Mr. Big, I would literally ask myself, “Where are her parents? Why aren’t they calling her right now and asking if she’s coming home to go to her cousin’s baby shower this weekend?”, because that was my life. Lol! I was shocked by how much freedom and independence these women had in this world because immigrant parents do not roll like that. The idea for A Visitor’s Pass on the Virgin Mary (the play that was a Screenscraft Finalist) came to me before I even attempted screenwriting. It was a story I needed to tell and immediately saw it on a stage. Screenwriting came along when I started writing and producing comedic sketches. But I never set out to write a play, pilot or film. This may sound cliche, but the idea comes to me first and then listen to what it wants to be. Aside from providing great feedback on my work, the team has connected me with some fantastic executives and helped foster relationships which is what a lot of the industry is about. In practical terms, Screencraft is great for giving me deadlines to submit my work."
Signed with an agent at William Morris Endeavor
"It was an honor all its own to be named runner-up for their new stage play contest, but the way they went to bat for me and championed my work following the contest was incredible. ScreenCraft got my play in front of some of my writing heroes who were judges for the contest, and just a few months later I’d signed with my agent at WME. Prior to ScreenCraft, I honestly had no idea how to even approach an agent."
August 10 | by Shanee Edwards
Cuban exile Nilo Cruz is known for creating emotionally powerful LatinX characters who slide in and out of magical realism. In a sense, Cruz is...
September 12 | by Ty Budde
There are a multitude of articles with apparent advice on the differences between movies and plays (cinema is storytelling with pictures, theatre is storytelling with...
May 27 | by ScreenCraft
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...
July 4 | by Christopher Osterndorf
Though he may not be as well-known to modern audiences as peers like Woody Allen and Mel Brooks, Neil Simon is one of America’s preeminent...
More info coming soon
The reading and judging of the submissions will be based on the following criteria:
In addition to the scoring criteria for the project, ScreenCraft may conduct interviews and send questionnaires to learn more about the entrant, their voice, perspective, and goals to help identify the winning projects. Selected Finalist projects are read by the industry jury who votes for their favorite projects at their sole discretion.
Mentorship Selection:
Criteria for Winners and Finalists:
More info coming soon