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Screenplay Contests: Are They A Waste of Time?
As we mentioned last month, in the article "Facing Rejection", a total of 7,102 screenplays were entered into the Nicholl Fellowship in 2017. Faced with those odds, it’s understandable that screenwriters are loathe to bother with contests.
And the truth is for most screenwriters, contests ARE a waste of time. But that’s not necessarily a reflection of the contests or the screenplays entered into those contests. Here’s why:
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- Combining genres
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- Darth Vader
- David Sedaris
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- Denouement
- density
- Depth
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- Detective genre
- development
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- discipline
- Disney
- Disney+
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- drama
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- dramedy
- dreams
- Each other
- EASY A
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- Edge of Tomorrow
- efficient storytelling
- ego
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- elevated story telling
- ELF
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- emotion
- emotionally satisfying
- engagement
- epic
- episode
- Erin Brockovich
- establish the problem
- EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE
- Everything Must Go
- EVIL DEAD II
- Ex Machina
- execution-driven
- exposition
- Extant
- familiar
- Family
- fantasy
- FARGO
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- FATAL ATTRACTION
- feature
- feature film
- FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING
- FERRIS BUELLER'S DAY OFF
- film industry
- filmmaking
- Final Draft
- Final Draft Big Break
- financial
- first 10
- First Act
- first ten pages
- flashback
- flawed protagonist
- FLEABAG
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- Forest Gump
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- fortitude
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- FROM HELL
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- genre
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- great actors
- great ending
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- great movies
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- great scenes
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- Greta Gerwig
- Grit
- Ground Hog's Day
- grounded scifi
- Groundhog's Day
- Guy Ritchie
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- Hallmark
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- Happy Death Day
- Harry Potter
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- HBO
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- HELLRAISER
- Hero's Journey
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- high concept
- high-concept
- higher ideals
- holiday movies
- Hollywood
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- hook
- horror
- horror film
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- HOT FUZZ
- house
- How to Elevate Your Writing
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- human experience
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- idea
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- ideas
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- IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT
- INCEPTION
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- intellectual property
- intelligent characters
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- Introducing the lead
- IP
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- Isaac Asimov
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- Kickstarter
- KNIVES OUT
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- LEGALLY BLONDE
- length
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- LOOPER
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- make it great
- Man Weepie
- manager
- Mark Wahlberg
- market ready
- marketing
- Martin Scorsese
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- melodrama
- memorable
- MICHAEL CLAYTON
- Michael Keaton
- Michelle Rodriguez
- micro details
- MID 90s
- mid-budget
- mid-point turn
- midpoint turn
- MILE 22
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- MISSOURI
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- Monologues
- motivation
- movie making
- moving image
- multi-dimensional set of skills
- mystery
- mythology
- NARNIA
- narrative construction
- narrative focus
- Neo
- Netflix
- new energy
- New Year
- Nicholl Fellowship
- Nicole Kidman
- NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET
- NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET PART VIII
- nirvana
- NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN
- NOMADLAND
- non-verbal communication
- North by Northwest
- not boring
- notes
- novel
- obstacle
- obtuse
- off-the-shelf choices
- on set
- on-the-nose
- on-the-nose dialogue
- On-the-Run thrillers
- One Great Scene
- one sheet
- opening scenes
- Opening/Closing Image
- opportunity cost
- option
- optioning script
- ordinary world
- originality
- Orlando Bloom
- Oscars
- Our Favorite Screenwriters
- Ourselves
- page one
- PANIC IN THE STREETS
- Paradigm
- PARANORMAL ACTIVITY
- Passion
- passionate
- patience
- Patriot's Day
- Paul Guilfoyle
- Paul Tamasy
- pay-off
- PEPPERMINT
- Perfect a screenplay
- Period pieces
- personal worldviews
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- Peter Shaffer
- Pierce Brosnan
- pilot
- pilot scripts
- pitch
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- Planning
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- podcasting
- POETICS
- polish
- pre-existing IP
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- risky
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- SPARTACUS
- spec script
- specifics
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- star power
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- statement of intention
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- storytelling
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- THE 40-YEAR-OLD VIRGIN
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- The Buddhism of Screenwriting
- The Coen Brothers
- THE CONJURING
- THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO
- THE CROW
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- THE DEPARTED
- THE DEVIL’S ADVOCATE
- THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK
- THE EXORCIST
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- The Fighter
- The Finest Hour
- THE FLORIDA PROJECT
- The Fugitive
- THE GODFATHER
- THE GODFATHER PART 2
- THE GREAT
- THE GRUDGE
- THE HANGOVER
- THE HOBBIT
- THE HUDSUCKER PROXY
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- The importance of casting
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- THE MANDALORIAN Star Wars Disney + Jon Favrau Spaghetti Western simplicity universal themes anti-hero baby Yoda
- THE MATADOR
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- THE THING
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- thematic
- Thematic Depth
- thematic statement
- theme
- things to avoid
- THREE BILLBOARD OUTSIDE EBBINGS
- Three Pillars
- three-act structure
- thriller
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- ticking clock
- tightening
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- Titanic
- title
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- Tracking B Feature Competition
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- trailer
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- true stories
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- TV writing
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- undeserved misfortune
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- unity
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- Universal Thematic Depth
- Unorthodox
- unusual
- UTOPIA
- visual medium
- VOD
- voice
- Walter White
- want/need
- waste of time
- WATCHMEN
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- Western movies
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- world building
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- Writing for the market
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