It was at the bar of the Driskill Hotel in Austin that Randy and I rubbed shoulders with screenwriter Brian Helgeland (LA CONFIDENTIAL) who regaled festival goers at the Austin Film Festival's (AFF) Screenwriting sidebar with tales of working with Hollywood icons like Clint Eastwood. After one memorable panel, we chatted with Hollywood screenwriter and BU alum Scott Rosenberg. It was, in general, a heady experience to meet established screenwriters when we traved to the Austin Film Festival in October of 2003.
But, after attending the AFF, the Script Sages were also a bit disenchanted. There was something dispiriting about the large number of would-be writers in the audience waiting on pearls of wisdom from the lucky few on the dais. Some of the events seemed designed to make breaking into the business seem like a pipe dream. After getting home, I think we resolved that we would return to Austin only if we won the contest or were someday invited to sit on a panel.
Do not misunderstand me: film festivals and screenwriting contests can be terrific places to network and make important contacts. Festivals like Austin that showcase the screenwriter are especially worthwhile for aspiring writers to get the lay of the land. The year the Sages went to Texas, we had not even entered one of our scripts. It was more about being there and soaking up the atmosphere.
As far as the many, many screenwriting contests we have entered our scripts in since taking that trip to Austin, I can say that the discipline of getting a script "contest-ready" is a good dry run for submitting it to agents and producers. However, we learned through hard experience that many screenwriting contests -or conference organizers- will make specious claims about where winning scripts will go. An agency a read might bestowed upon a contest winner, only to find out it's the third assistant (a college intern sometimes) of an agent reading your script.
The Sages have had their scripts place in contests such as the Hollywood Next Success and the Telluride Indie Festival's Screenplay Competition (and even in the Austin competition). Each time one of our scripts was recognized, it felt like a feather in the cap. However, more often than not, the conference organizers would not have the werewithal to follow through on promises of getting a writer's work recognized at the next level... It is therefore not hard to plateau with a solid writing sample that has placed in - or even won - one or more of the top contests.
Then what? If it's not sold or optioned, it doesn't amount to a hill of beans. Therein lies the rub.
The Sages do still enter contests, but with ONE caveat: they are contests where there is a tangible prize for winning- a light at the end of the tunnel. These are professional screenwriting fellowship contests such as the Nicholl Screenwriting Fellowship or the Disney-ABC Writing Fellowship. Winning the Nicholl Screenwriting Fellowship - offered in conjunction with the Academy - equates to an actual industry job for which the screenwriter and/or screenwriting team earn a competitive salary for doing their writing in LA for a year. The Disney Fellowship is a similar prize whereby the successful screenwriter and/or screenwriting team wins a slot in Disney's stable that year (each Disney Program Fellow earns a $50,000 per annum salary and the program has launched the careers of many established, successful writers).
As a strategic matter, I believe that once you've had a screenplay place in one of the many screenwriting contests out there, then the cost-benefit analysis of paying the $30 entrance fee for another small bore screenwriting contest no longer makes sense. In the final analysis, screenwriting contests proliferate like mushrooms... The established screenwriting fellowships are another matter entirely. There's not a screenwriter alive who would not like to earn a weekly paycheck practicing his or her mojo!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
3 comments:
Joe is right. When you are an out of the gates screenwriter it's nice to enter a few contests. It's a good way to measure the quality of your script (if you consistently don't place in any contest, it might be an indication the script is lacking). Winning or placing in smaller contests will set you apart from the pack of other screenwriters out there, so when you query an agent or producer, who get hundreds of read requests, you and your contest win make you stand out.
But those contests are not career launchers, or, more accurately, career pole vaulters- ones that will vault you to the top tiers of the business. After a time, placing in a local or smaller contest will not be worth your while. The Nicholl and Disney Fellowships are always worthwhile for the non-professional screenwriter. There are a few others which are in the first tier of contests, but you are probably better served, after notching a few contest wins or placements, going directly after agents, managers, and producers.
At that point, your 'Nicholl' will be better spent on postage for mailings to agencies and not contest entry fees.
I've been a working LA screenwriter for 15 years running. Out of curiosity, last year I entered one of my more successful scripts that had sold to New Line and came very close to getting produced. As a sample, that script led to many assignments in the years to come.
However, of the five contests I entered it in (it had been ten years since it sold and yes, I lied and changed the title so it couldn't be identified) - it didn't even make the first cut in any of them.
So... from this experiment, my feeling is that it's somewhat of a crapshoot anyway in the lesser festivals.
I had a hand in giving extensive notes on one of the 2004 Nichol's winners and agree with the Sages that this is a worthwhile competition with a potentially career-launching prize.
Contests are so subjective. Write a fantastic horror script and get blocked by the first hired "reader" who hates horror and trashes you after page 5... but, if you had invested that $30 entry fee on stamps and query letters and sent your horror logline out to 30+studios, isn't that a better crapshoot?
Post a Comment