A list of contests that accept or specialize in short screenplays, or any scripts that are less than feature-length.
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Final Deadline: 09/01/2019 (expired)
New York City's longest running horror film festival. Established by MooDude Films CEO / Producer / Director / Michael J. Hein in 2001. The NYCHFF is a four-day event that takes place each November in New York City. The NYCHFF has grown to be a world recognized event, with industry, filmmakers, and press attention from around the globe.The Hein Family is committed to keeping the festival alive in memory of the truly missed and loved founder Michael J Hein.
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Final Deadline: 03/31/2019 (expired)
The Cary Theater is pleased to present BEYOND: The Film Festival, a celebration of the many facets of the art of storytelling through film. BEYOND: The Film Festival will highlight all aspects of filmmaking, featuring a short film competition and screenplay writing competition (length – 30 minutes or less). Each year, the festival will explore a new theme and focus on some of the behind-the-scenes aspects of the filmmaking process.
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Final Deadline: 09/30/2019 (expired)
The Portland Comedy Film Festival, ranked in the Top 100 on FilmFreeway, is a unique forum for international independent comedy filmmakers to showcase their comedy films in Portland, Oregon. The Portland Comedy Film Festival is a bi-annual event, searching for funny and engaging films and screenplays to entertain a comedy loving audience.
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Final Deadline: 06/29/2018 (expired)
For the first time this year, the New Orleans Film Festival is launching a screenplay competition to take place in conjunction with the festival October 17-25, 2018, and is seeking to discover bold, passionate writers telling the stories of our time. The Academy-qualifying festival has been named by MovieMaker Magazine as one of the “50 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee” for seven years in a row and was named one of the “Top 25 Coolest Film Festivals in the World” last year.
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Final Deadline: 08/07/2019 (expired)
Enter now for a chance to have your script read by professional actors! Every script submitted is in the running to be one of 2 scripts chosen to be read in front of our audience and an Industry Insider at a West Hollywood Theatre. Our event can also be Live Streamed. So if a writer is selected from outside LA they will be able to watch online and receive feedback live from the Insider, the audience, and the online viewers - as if they are sitting in the theatre.
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Final Deadline: 12/21/2018 (expired)
The Boomtown Film and Music Festival accepts Short (44 or less pages) and Feature (45+ pages) screenplays in any genre! Submit on Film Freeway!
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Final Deadline: 09/21/2019 (expired)
Welcome to the WRPN Women's International Film Festival, where distribution and feedback opportunities abound for films made by women, or films that carry subject matter relating to concerns particular to women's issues. WWIFF is a sister festival to the Depth of Field International Film Festival, a FilmFreeway “Top 100 Reviewed” festival alumni.
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Final Deadline: 05/31/2019 (expired)
The objective of the Screenwriting Master Contest is to award writers for outstanding achievement in screenwriting in both Feature and Short screenplay categories based on six sections: Dialogue, Plot, Characters, Premise, Tone, and Structure. Marketability of a screenplay is not something we take into consideration. We understand that writing is a process, which is why we allow our contestants the ability to submit an updated draft of their screenplay in the event their work is selected to move onto the next round.
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Final Deadline: 07/17/2019 (expired)
The Scriptation Showcase is officially open for submissions! Emerging writers can now enter their best screenplay, teleplay, or short. The Scriptation Showcase is the screenwriting competition that circulates winners’ scripts to the directors, showrunners, and producers behind your favorite movies and TV shows. Why submit to the Scriptation Showcase? UNPRECENDENTED EXPOSURE Never before has a screenwriting competition made your script so accessible to working industry professionals.
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Final Deadline: 09/29/2019 (expired)
WriteMovies has been helping writers succeed since 1999! The WriteMovies Horror Award 2019 is now closed for submissions. Thanks very much to everyone who entered! Following on from our highly successful Sci-Fi and Fantasy Award, we are continuing our series of genre prizes with an award for the Horror genre! The WriteMovies Horror Award is all about celebrating scripts that chill and scare us, tapping into our darkest and most primal fears… Whether your script features monsters and serial killers or just toys with our minds, we’d love to read it – and be terrified while doing so!
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Final Deadline: 08/20/2019 (expired)
New York New Stories Screenplay Contest is an exciting new script competition seeking submissions in the following categories: Short Film, TV/Web Pilot. New York New Stories is dedicated to discovering and celebrating the work of screenwriters from all backgrounds and all levels of experience. Our mission is to elevate unique and creative stories that are ready to be told.
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Final Deadline: Contact contest for deadline info.
Genre colors all film, and we're here to celebrate that whether you create sci-fi works, horror, noir, westerns, etc. We love them all. Indie filmmakers are encouraged to submit. We don't have a premiere requirement or any made by dates so don't hesitate to submit. We're looking for the best genre films and scripts regardless of budget. Our jury consists of industry veterans and professionals around the world.
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Final Deadline: 09/20/2019 (expired)
The Filmmatic TV Pilot Awards were created to locate and expose up-and-coming TV and web-series writers, as well as to empower and educate passionate and talented screenwriters still waiting for their invitation into the mainstream industry. Competition is open to TV pilots, webisodes and inventive TV-series scripts of all genres. Season 4 results will post by November 15, 2019.
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Final Deadline: 09/15/2019 (expired)
The Script Lab and Coverfly are offering this FREE screenplay competition to help open talent-discovery to anyone and everyone, regardless of financial ability. This contest is open to feature, TV and short screenplays. Scripts must be in English and formatted with industry-standard screenwriting software. Only one entry per writer. Multiple submissions will be automatically eliminated.
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Final Deadline: 10/18/2019 (expired)
GET IT MADE [GIM] IS A SHORT FILM PROGRAM THAT PRODUCES 3 TO 5 PAGE SCRIPTS, HELPING FOSTER THE NEXT GENERATION OF SCREENWRITERS & STORYTELLERS BY OFFERING A PROFESSIONAL FILM PRODUCTION EXPERIENCE WITH INDUSTRY PROS AND TOP BRANDS. Final Deadline to submit is Friday, October 18th. Use exclusive MovieBytes promo code GIMxMB for $20 off submission fee.
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Final Deadline: Monthly.
WILDsound Monthly Screenplay Festival offers screenwriters at all levels the fantastic opportunity of hearing their scripts read out loud using Top Professional Actors and seen by 10000s of people online, including producers and agents. At least 5 winning readings done every single month. Click the website info and watch the winning videos.
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Final Deadline: Monthly.
FULL FEEDBACK on the first moments of your screenplay from our committee of Professional Screenwriters, Production Heads and Script Consultants. Are you just starting off your screenplay and want immediate feedback on your first scenes/first moments of your script?
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Final Deadline: Monthly.
Komedy Ink Script Battle provides a platform dedicated to comedic screenwriters to not only win cash, but to have their scripts seen by people that matter... Hollywood Producers.
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Final Deadline: Monthly.
The short film traces its roots to the very beginning of movie history, long before the concept of a feature films existed. Almost a century later, short films continue to strive as a new filmmaker's calling card in Hollywood. Short films serve as a quick, efficient medium to demonstrate a filmmaker's talent. And it all begins with a great script.
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Final Deadline: Monthly.
Our mission is to help promote the criminally overlooked but creatively fertile field of indie horror by singling out top notch work with a wide variety of awards. Movies, scripts, and web series are all welcome! We give special attention to low budget films especially no budget entries! We're sick to death of the endless barrage of remakes and sequels that so clearly signaled the demise of originality in mainstream horror.
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Final Deadline: Monthly.
Feel The Reel is a monthly international film festival founded in Glasgow, United Kingdom. FTR is not only an online film festival, but also a festival with live screenings, our friends from Bucharest ShortCut Cinefest making this possible.
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Final Deadline: Monthly.
The script is the core of any project. We want to enlight the raw talent of writing. Not everyone knows how to write. We reward ideas, talent, and structure. If in the wrong hands, a good script may end up as a flat movie, but a bad script never, ever is going to make a groundbreaking film. The Script and Storyboard Showcase is the one contest of Talent Factory 100% focused on scripts, and scriptwriting.
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Final Deadline: Monthly.
We are a monthly and annual IMDb qualifying competition based in Los Angeles. We want the best worldwide film stories to promote filmmakers’ works for distributors. The GFFA is an open door for independent filmmakers. It's a special jury formed by Hollywood producers, European and international distributors to promote films and new media.
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Final Deadline: Monthly.
The SOMEDAY… Screenwriting Competition is an exciting, international, multi-genre screenwriting contest with the goal to identify the best new voices in screenwriting for film and television! From the start of our working relationship, we at Someday Productions always dreamed of having our "someday" and that is what has propelled us forward as screenwriters, filmmakers, playwrights, and authors.
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Final Deadline: Monthly.
Story Data announces a screenwriting contest awarding $1K in prizes each month, for the next 12 months. From March 2019 through March 2020, writers are eligible to win prizes valued up to $1,000 (USD), sponsored in part by Final Draft, the number-one selling screenwriting application in the world. Aspiring screenwriters whose scripts are hosted on Story Data’s cloud-based platform will automatically be eligible.
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Final Deadline: Monthly.
To create a short screenplay based on an image or quote. This is meant to inspire and help create new stories for screenwriters. The low entry fee is also used to donate to the International Child Art Foundation, a charity to help keep art alive for future generations.
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Final Deadline: Monthly.
Located in the heart of the Big Apple, the NYC International Screenplay Awards is the most prestigious screenplay contest on the East coast with a team committed to supporting screenwriters and creating opportunities for the best up-and-coming screenwriting talent. We are dedicated to providing value for all screenwriters, that's why EVERY script entered into the contest receives feedback as part of the entry fee.
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Final Deadline: Monthly.
WELCOME TO THE MIAMI SCREENPLAY AWARDS! We are an international screenwriting contest committed to discovering, cultivating, and endorsing talented new screenwriters from around the world. Our mission is to champion the best unknown screenwriters and help them reach their maximum potential on their way to a thriving career in the film industry.
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