A list of contests offered as part of a workshop or script reading program. Make your screenplay better!
Subscribe to the MovieBytes Screenwriting Contest Newsletter for weekly screenplay contest deadline alerts!
Final Deadline: 07/15/2017
The objective of the Moondance International Film Festival is to inspire, motivate, promote and encourage the best writers & independent filmmakers, from every country in the world, and to inspire a greater understanding about the vital role of the arts in enhancing creativity, community spirit, and the preservation of our cultural heritage.
Overall rating: 
Final Deadline: 07/16/2017
This four-day intensive will set the groundwork for the Spring Writers' Retreat, ongoing mentoring and coaching, and, at the end of the process, participation in a major film market, high-level pitch meetings, being prepared to go into production independently and / or starting a meaningful crowd-funding campaign. You will learn skills and be exposed to opportunities to get your work made and seen.
Overall rating:
Final Deadline: 11/06/2017
The CineStory Foundation has always believed in helping writers find their voice. We’re entering a world in which the ways to tell stories are limitless. Those stories always begin with a blank page. Our goal with the TV/Digital Series Retreat is to assist writers, whether they long for the collaborative nature of Television or they dream of going out on their own to create their own web series.
Overall rating:
Final Deadline: 01/17/2018
The Sundance Institute is interested in supporting original, compelling, human stories that reflect the independent vision of the writer and/or writer/director.
Overall rating:
Final Deadline: Contact contest for deadline info.
Praxis Centre for Screenwriters is a non-profit organization devoted to the professional development of Canadian screenwriters and filmmakers. Located in Vancouver, Canada, we serve to support and stimulate the production of innovative Canadian feature films though screenplay and screenwriter development. We run the compeition twice a year, with deadlines of June 30th and Dec.
Overall rating:
Final Deadline: 06/02/2017 (expired)
To seek out and employ culturally and ethnically diverse new writers. The annual submission period for the Writing Program opens during the month of May. Specific dates vary year to year.
Overall rating:
Final Deadline: 05/31/2017 (expired)
For over 30 years, the Warner Bros. Television Writers’ Workshop has been the premier writing program for new writers looking to start and further their career in the world of television. The list of graduates who have gone on to do great things is long: Terrance Winter (Boardwalk Empire), Marc Cherry (Desperate Housewives), Greg Garcia (My Name Is Earl) and Felicia Henderson (Soul Food) to name a few.
Overall rating:
Final Deadline: 04/15/2017 (expired)
CineStory is a national non-profit dedicated to nurturing emerging screenwriters through mentorship programs. Winners of our competition have gone on to pen films such as IRON MAN, CAKE, THE CHILDREN OF MEN, BALLAST, KING OF CALIFORNIA and 11:14. One of the main goals of the CineStory Feature Retreat is to select up-and-coming screenwriters for our four-day intensive program held in the Fall.
Overall rating:
Final Deadline: 02/28/2017 (expired)
Nickelodeon's Writing Program offers aspiring television writers from around the globe, with diverse backgrounds and experiences, the opportunity to hone their skills while writing for our live action and animated shows. Participants will have hands-on interaction with executives writing spec scripts and pitching story ideas. The Program, developed to broaden Nickelodeon’s outreach efforts, provides a salaried position for up to one year (for Domestic writers) and up to six months (for International writers).
Overall rating:
Final Deadline: Contact contest for deadline info.
The TSA is a professionally oriented organization, striving to develop more avenues to help our members and community prepare for the real world of the entertainment business.
Overall rating:
Final Deadline: 05/08/2017 (expired)
To recognize excellence in script writing of shorts and features in a wide variety of genres.
Overall rating:
Final Deadline: 11/06/2015 (expired)
The Call for Entries for the 2016 Atlanta Film Festival Screenplay Competition is now open! From April 1 to April 10, 2016, we will be celebrating our 40th anniversary, and we’re looking to you to help us make it our best festival yet. We are looking for innovative and compelling storytelling, for characters that surprise and challenge you, for words that pop off the page, and for narratives that twist and turn like a country back road.
Overall rating:
Final Deadline: 03/13/2017 (expired)
Film Independent's Screenwriters Lab is an intensive five-week program running two evenings a week in Los Angeles in July and August. The Lab is designed to help screenwriters improve their craft, develop their voice as writers, and take their current scripts to the next level. During the Lab, Fellows receive feedback on their scripts from the Lab instructor, outside advisors, and the other writers in the program.
Overall rating:
Final Deadline: Contact contest for deadline info.
Sponsored by the the Djerassi Resident Artists Program , the Djerassi Residency Award/SFFS Screenwriting Fellowship will provide a one-month residency at the Djerassi Resident Artists Program for an emerging or established screenwriter in 2012. Located in a spectacular setting in the Santa Cruz Mountains, forty miles south of San Francisco, the Djerassi Resident Artists Program provides artists with uninterrupted time for work, reflection and collegial interaction in a professionally supportive and inspirational environment.
Overall rating:
Final Deadline: 06/30/2015 (expired)
To foster excellence in screenwriting that features gay characters, history, or themes important to the gay community, and relevant to our world. Up to four full length finalists and up to six shorts finalists will be named by September 1 annually, and those scripts will be performed as enhanced staged readings at the Hoover-Leppen Theater of the Center on Halsted in Chicago.
Overall rating:
Final Deadline: 04/30/2016 (expired)
Working from this A-list logline, you’re challenged to create up to the first 15 pages of an original script based on the given concept. Make it your own - drama, action, comedy... anywhere your imagination takes you. Break out your scriptwriting software and get to work, because the Industry Insider Screenwriting Contest gives you the unique opportunity to turn one of these three loglines into a solid spec screenplay that could be your ticket to Hollywood success.
Overall rating:
Final Deadline: Contact contest for deadline info.
The Astana International Action Film Festival Screenplay and Short Film Competition is a holiday of fun-filled movies. Every summer famous actors, director and producers making dynamic action films gather in the capital city of Kazakhstan.
Overall rating:
Final Deadline: Contact contest for deadline info.
The festival, presented in a university setting and around the beautiful Shoals area, provides attendees with an exceptional lineup of quality workshops, panels, screenings, networking opportunities and informal interaction among filmmakers and all guests. Our priority is to discover emerging talent and promote their work by reaching, educating, inspiring, and entertaining audiences with the best in cinematic art.
Overall rating:
Final Deadline: Contact contest for deadline info.
This independent film lab will provide a five-day long intensive in an idyllic setting in Chatham, New York, to refine and perfect your screenplay. Room and board will be included. The influence of a new generation of filmmaking, the web, the change in platform viewing, the difficulty in finding finance and the need for succinct and powerful storytellers is forcing the industry to take notice of the short film.
Overall rating:
Final Deadline: 03/01/2017 (expired)
Recognition for bloody good scripts and writers.
Overall rating:
Final Deadline: Contact contest for deadline info.
From page to production, from production to profession, the Brownfish Short Film Festival NYC (BSFFNYC) is dedicated to helping filmmakers get their films seen, distributed and grow their career paths by showcasing short films under 20 minutes competing for cash awards in the categories: Comedy, Drama, Documentary and Animation. The BSFFNYC presents a Short Screenplay Competition where short screenplays 15 pages and under have staged reading and compete for cash awards in the categories of Comedy and Drama.
Overall rating:
Final Deadline: 06/30/2016 (expired)
Some of today’s most exciting storytelling happens on the small screen. From dramas like Empire, Mr. Robot and The Leftovers to comedies like Black-ish and Transparent, television has evolved to become the writer’s realm, where the most talented scribes rule season after season. Sound like a dream job? Then get ready for your chance to break in to the dynamic world of writing for TV! The Industry Insider Television Writing Contest is a one-of-a-kind competition that offers every entrant the unique chance to learn about the Industry, while also creating and writing a television pilot script.
Overall rating:
Final Deadline: 02/28/2017 (expired)
It's been hailed by L.A. Weekly as the festival with "THE WORLD'S SEXIEST DARKEST CRIME SHORT FILMS." Saturday, May 27th, Dave and Buster's hosts THE L.A. NEO NOIR, NOVEL, FILM, AND SCRIPT FEST V (LANNEFF). This festival is brought to you by Carey Westbrook and Associates, whose students include the Academy Award nominated producers of Blue Valentine, A Place Beyond The Pines, Men of Honor, and Soul Food.
Overall rating:
Final Deadline: 08/15/2016 (expired)
Media images represents the most recognizable commodity in the world. The implied messages of media form the world views of millions. In the United States and globally, African, Asians, Blacks, Hispanics and Latinos are severely underrepresented in mass media, and are most often shown in marginal roles when featured. As independent content creators, we can the talents and creativity to change the narrative of the diaspora stories.
Overall rating:
Final Deadline: 08/03/2015 (expired)
The NHMC Television Writers Program focuses on the writing of an original TV pilot or a spec episode of a series currently on TV, conducted in an environment that simulates a TV Writers Room. The five-week, total immersion workshop is guided by former NBC V.P. of Script Development, Geoff Harris and is conducted in Studio City, California. A total of 10 writers are accepted nationwide from an established network of non-profit agencies, schools, universities, guilds and media organizations.
Overall rating:
Final Deadline: 03/30/2017 (expired)
The Writers Lab, produced by IRIS and New York Women in Film & Television and funded by Meryl Streep, is open for submissions of screenplays by women over the age of 40 ABOUT THE LAB The Writers Lab brings 12 women screenwriters over the age of 40 with promising scripts together with outstanding professional female filmmakers for an intensive four-day screenwriting retreat of one-on-one meetings, panel discussions and other activities designed to inspire the artists; to prompt rigorous creative exploration; and, through revision, to cultivate first-rate cinematic stories.
Overall rating:
Final Deadline: 12/15/2016 (expired)
ScriptFest and the Great American PitchFest were created by writers, for writers – just like you. The event started in Canada with the first Great Canadian PitchFest in 2003. Thirteen years later, the event has expanded to Los Angeles, California and London, England. The event has helped thousands of writers from around the globe to connect with industry decision makers.
Overall rating:
Final Deadline: 01/23/2017 (expired)
The Writers Assistant Network is teaming up with Roadmap Writers for the second annual WAN Writers' Workshop to reward ten amazing up-and-coming writers to workshop their material with top showrunners and other well-established creatives, then get read and very possibly REPPED by of agents and managers at dozens of major companies.
Overall rating:
Final Deadline: Contact contest for deadline info.
The Emerging Writers Fellowship is an exciting program at Universal Pictures that is designed to identify and cultivate new and unique voices with a passion for storytelling. We are looking for talented screenwriters who have the potential to thrive, but don’t have access to or visibility within the industry.
Overall rating:
Final Deadline: 03/04/2017 (expired)
The HBO Access Writing Fellowship provides mentorship for up to eight diverse, emerging storytellers. Following a one-week intensive of Master Classes, participants are immersed in eight months of mentoring by HBO Creative Executives, as each participant develops a script suitable for HBO or Cinemax.
Overall rating:
Final Deadline: 05/31/2017 (expired)
An Italian Don. A Young Wizard. A High School Vampire Slayer. An Underdog Boxer. A Debonair MI-6 Agent. A Competitive Bridesmaid. You know these classic characters just by their brief descriptions. Iconic movies and TV series come from iconic characters that we never forget. Whether they haunt us, inspire us, excite us or help us see things in a different light, a stand out script needs a compelling protagonist.
Overall rating:
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.
Overall rating:
Final Deadline: Monthly. Please visit website.
Each month, three $5000 full scholarships to the Writers Bootcamp Online Professional Membership (OPM) are awarded, including an opportunity to compete for an annual writing/development deal with Writers Boot Camp Productions and/or a studio, network or independent producer. The Writers Boot Camp Fellowship is unlike any other. Aside from having three winners a month, Creative Categories change each month, reflecting viable genres and project parameters for both features and original TV series.
Overall rating:
