[cinestory]

Moondance International Film Festival

Moondance

Contact

Boulder, CO 80302
303-818-5771 (voice)

Web:
http://www.moondancefilmfestival.com
Email:
mermaid7seas@gmail.com

Contact: Elizabeth English, Founder & Executive Director, Artistic Director

Report Card

Overall: 2.5 stars2.5 stars2.5 stars (2.5/5.0)
Professionalism: 3.5 stars3.5 stars3.5 stars3.5 stars (3.4/5.0)
Feedback: 4 stars4 stars4 stars4 stars (4.0/5.0)
Signficance: 2 stars2 stars (2.2/5.0)
Report Cards: 19    
Have you entered?
Submit a Report card

Objective

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. Moondance also promotes & rewards work which depicts women & girls in a positive light, &/or has lead roles for women actors over 40. We strongly encourage films, TV movies & pilots & written works which show viable alternatives to gratuitous violence & that depict non-violent conflict resolution, which we actively promote within the international film community.

  • The Moondance International Film Festival is much more than an annual film festival! It is a unique community, a supportive, productive, and creative year-round collaboration between independent filmmakers and movie audiences, between writers, composers and the world of filmed entertainment. Show More

Deadline/Entry Fees

Contact contest for this year's deadline.

WinningScripts Pro $5 Off Coupon

Rules

Submission categories:
  • ANIMATION FILM
  • FEATURE DOCUMENTARY FILM
  • FEATURE FILM
  • FEATURE FILM FOR KIDS
  • FEATURE MUTI-MEDIA FILM
  • SHORT DRONE FILM
  • TRAILERS
  • FEATURE SCREENPLAY
  • FEATURE SCREENPLAY FOR KIDS
  • FILM SCORE
  • LIBRETTO
  • MUSIC VIDEO
  • MUSICAL FEATURE SCREENPLAY
  • MUSICAL SHORT SCREENPLAY
  • ORIGINAL TV MINI-SERIES (1 HR)
  • SHORT DOCUMENTARY FILM
  • SHORT FILM
  • SHORT FILM BY KIDS 18 & UNDER
  • SHORT FILM FOR KIDS
  • SHORT MULTI-MEDIA FILM
  • SHORT SCREENPLAY
  • SHORT SCREENPLAY BY 18 & UNDER
  • SHORT SCREENPLAY FOR KIDS
  • SHORT STORY BY KIDS*
  • SHORT STORY FOR KIDS*
  • SHORT STORY*
  • STAGEPLAY
  • STAGEPLAY FOR KIDS
  • TV MOVIE OF THE WEEK (MOW)
  • TV EPISODIC (1/2 HOUR)
  • TV EPISODIC (1 HOUR)
  • TV FEATURE FILM
  • TV PILOT SCRIPT
  • RADIO PLAYS (drama & comedy)
  • RADIO DOCUMENTARIES
  • TREATMENTS
  • DRONE FILMS

* up to 3 stories for single fee

COMPETITION GUIDELINES: Please go to: http://moondancefilmfestival.com

Awards

SPIRIT OF MOONDANCE AWARD
This award category is for women writers, filmmakers and film score composers. Men may be co-writers or co-filmmakers, but the entry must be submitted by a woman.

MOONDANCE SEAHORSE AWARD
This award category is for men writers, filmmakers and film score composers. Women may be co-writers or co-filmmakers, but the entry must be submitted by a man.

MOONDANCE SANDCASTLE AWARD
This award is for male and female writing or filmmaking teams where both men and women or a man and woman work as a team on the project.

MOONDANCE SEASHELL AWARD
For men and women radio play writers. Comedy and drama, fiction and non-fiction, half-hour and hour long.

MOONDANCE COLUMBINE AWARD
Films and writings may be submitted by either a man, a woman, a male/female team or a young person 18 and under. The work must reflect non-violent conflict resolution, alternatives to violence, or show why violent resolution to conflict is counter-productive. The submitted material should not contain gratuitous violence.

MOONDANCE DOLPHIN AWARD
This award is for young people 18 years of age or younger, male or female. Moondance accepts submissions for this award in the genres of short narrative, documentary or animation video film, as well as short screenplays, short stories or short stageplays.

MOONDANCE CALYPSO AWARD
This award is to encourage a spirit of enterprise in saving the environment, habitats and wildlife by creative individuals from around the world. The award is presented to the person who expands knowledge of our world, seeks to improve our quality of all life on the planet.

MOONDANCE GAIA AWARD
This award is to encourage and inspire contemplative, meditative, spiritual and inspirational films and scripts. The award is presented to the person who seeks to elucidate and improve the spiritual quality of all life on the planet, and contributes to the betterment of the world spirit.

MOONDANCE ATLANTIS AWARD
This award is for writers and filmmakers who have submitted projects from a foreign country outside the US.

MOONDANCE STARFISH AWARD
This is an award for comedy projects submitted by writers and filmmakers.

MOONDANCE NEPTUNE AWARD
This unique award is presented to a male or female writer or filmmaker, over the age of 75, who has created either a single work of the highest quality or a body of quality work, and who continues to strive for excellence in his or her career in the entertainment industry, and who inspires and encourages others by his or her example.

THE MOONDANCE ABYSS AWARD
This new Moondance award was created for very well-made and meaningful thriller, horror or supernatural films, written works & film scores. An abyss, usually in the ocean, is a chasm that is so deep and vast that its extent is not readily visible, without further exploration. The winning works in this awards category also have a deeper, and often hidden, message, lesson, moral, or important idea that bears further thought.

MOONDANCE MERMAID’S PEARL AWARD
The award is presented to honor and recognize women in the film industry who have contributed most to insuring that women’s work is recognized and appreciated for its worth, who help women achieve success in film, writing & music, and who have themselves contributed a vital body of work, and who continue to contribute to this vital effort. The pearl in the award is a symbol of women’s efforts to make something meaningful and valuable from our struggles to overcome that “grain of sand” women often encounter, when trying to express themselves and succeed within the international film and entertainment industry. The resulting lovely pearl is a reminder of what beautiful things women can accomplish.

MOONDANCE SEVEN SEAS AWARD
A new award category has been created: the MOONDANCE SEVEN SEAS AWARD. This is an award for a winning project created by writers, filmmakers & composers, who enlighten others, help change perceptions about another culture and/or place, and promote cross-cultural knowledge and awareness, through the art of film, writing or music, and, thus, encourage a better understanding of the world’s people.

Moondance

Contact

Boulder, CO 80302
303-818-5771 (voice)

Web:
http://www.moondancefilmfestival.com
Email:
mermaid7seas@gmail.com

Contact: Elizabeth English, Founder & Executive Director, Artistic Director

Report Card

Overall: 2.5 stars2.5 stars2.5 stars (2.5/5.0)
Professionalism: 3.5 stars3.5 stars3.5 stars3.5 stars (3.4/5.0)
Feedback: 4 stars4 stars4 stars4 stars (4.0/5.0)
Signficance: 2 stars2 stars (2.2/5.0)
Report Cards: 19    
Have you entered?
Submit a Report card

Contest Comments

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Moondance International Film Festival

Contact

Boulder, CO 80302
303-818-5771 (voice)

Web:
http://www.moondancefilmfestival.com
Email:
mermaid7seas@gmail.com

Contact: Elizabeth English, Founder & Executive Director, Artistic Director

Report Card

Overall: 2.5 stars2.5 stars2.5 stars (2.5/5.0)
Professionalism: 3.5 stars3.5 stars3.5 stars3.5 stars (3.4/5.0)
Feedback: 4 stars4 stars4 stars4 stars (4.0/5.0)
Signficance: 2 stars2 stars (2.2/5.0)
Report Cards: 19    
Have you entered?
Submit a Report card

Contest News

A Year After the Win, Part 2: One Option Down, One to Go

by Heath Davis Havlick

Five months into my year after winning the Spirit of Moondance Award, what's going on? In my first installment, I said that I'd optioned a script and had another option deal looming. Well, I took that second option deal, too, and wondered how I would juggle two sets of notes and rewrites while working full-time.

No need to worry, though, as I immediately started rewrites on the crop circle comedy while waiting for the legal issues to get sorted out with the second script-a traveling angel comedy set in Spain. My producer, the great lady I met at Moondance, gave specific notes based on the wonderful screenwriting book "Save the Cat!", which I had just read. I ended up with a better second act climax, better characters and a better ending. I felt pretty satisfied sending it off and expected a good response.

"Free or cheap options can be dangerous, though; the optioning entity hasn't invested anything meaningful (that is, money) into the deal, so they may not be as personally invested in the project, and the writer ends up doing a bunch of work for free."
Alas, no. The response I got was, "Well, let's do THIS instead" -"THIS" being an idea so completely different from my original story that it led me to wonder why she had ever optioned my script in the first place. So I asked her. I got a response about why she thought the new idea was great, but not about why she had optioned the script initially. So I asked again. I truly wanted to know. Then she responded that she just couldn't figure out a way to make my original story relevant to what's happening in Britain right now, so she would regretfully terminate the option. I was in total agreement.

This is one of those situations in which having a $1 option really comes in handy. I know, I know, everyone tells you not to do it, but I'm glad I did in this instance. It freed me from continuing working with someone whom I just couldn't find a common vision, without having to return any money. Free or cheap options can be dangerous, though; the optioning entity hasn't invested anything meaningful (that is, money) into the deal, so they may not be as personally invested in the project, and the writer ends up doing a bunch of work for free. In addition, there's no legal requirement to terminate an option if it's not working out, which means my script could have been tied up another six months until the option expired.

Why would I take a $1 option? In this case, I'd already made money off this script from the previous time I'd optioned it, and I really just wanted to try to get it made. This story is very specific to the U.K. and here was a British producer who liked it. I took a chance. It didn't work out. Would I take a free option again? Well, probably not.

So, if anyone knows someone who could use a comedy set in Wales about a guy who fakes crops circles, give me a holler.

The other option, however, is going well so far. This one I did get good money for, from a director/producer in New York. He really gets the heart of the story and has a vision for taking it to a higher level. I've done extensive character profiles of all the major players (about 10- it's an ensemble piece!) and am awaiting his feedback. I'd hoped to have the script rewritten by now so that we could then raise the money, cast and shoot this puppy by September. That seems unlikely now, but it just means that I'll have more time to create a script that I can be really proud of.

Part of the delay is my own fault. I could have optioned the script back in August, before Moondance, but I wanted to see what would go down in Boulder. Once I saw the lack of "money and power walking around," I took the option. However, at that point, the director's finance partner was jetting all over Europe to raise finances for another project. And I decided that I wanted back end, which the initial contract did not offer. I ended up taking half of the original purchase price in exchange for a tiny percentage of back end, which I was fine with. It's a calculated risk, and it's a matter of principal. I think that writers should be entitled to a share of the profits from what began in their own heads. Of course film is a collaborative process, as everyone else involved in the film industry will be quick to point out-until it comes time to share the proceeds. I wouldn't have gotten rich from the initial purchase price anyway, though it was good. I'm not a starry-eyed screenwriter looking for the big payday. I want to get a movie made and share in its success and even in its failure. Back end is actually an incentive for working even harder, and I'm up for it. That's just my stance; everybody has to do what's right for them.

As for the agent I met in Boulder, we keep in touch. He's asked if I have any other scripts he can look at. Now that the first option's been nixed, I'll send the script to him. I don't know that it's saleable in the U.S., but sending it to him is a sure-fire way of finding out. He's a genuinely good guy who'll give me the straight dope.

At this point, I've got a script that's better than it was before, another script in development, and a new friend who happens to be an agent. Two of those three items are a direct result of my Moondance win, for which I continue to be grateful. 2011 is a good year so far.

Heath Davis Havlick is an award-winning comedy screenwriter with three screenplay options. A former freelance journalist and MovieBytes contributor, she currently works in PR and marketing. She can be reached at irelandfiend@yahoo.com.


Updated: 03/17/2011

Moondance International Film Festival

Contact

Boulder, CO 80302
303-818-5771 (voice)

Web:
http://www.moondancefilmfestival.com
Email:
mermaid7seas@gmail.com

Contact: Elizabeth English, Founder & Executive Director, Artistic Director

Report Card

Overall: 2.5 stars2.5 stars2.5 stars (2.5/5.0)
Professionalism: 3.5 stars3.5 stars3.5 stars3.5 stars (3.4/5.0)
Feedback: 4 stars4 stars4 stars4 stars (4.0/5.0)
Signficance: 2 stars2 stars (2.2/5.0)
Report Cards: 19    
Have you entered?
Submit a Report card

Submit Report Card

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