Happy Endings in Screenwriting Contests?

By EMILY DWASS

June 12, 1998 12 AM PT

SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

Forget pitch meetings, networking, taking courses or having the same dentist as Steven Spielberg. The best shortcut to making it as a screenwriter in Hollywood may be as close as your mailbox.

At least that’s what contest participants are betting on. We’re not talking Publisher’s Clearinghouse. These contests are known as Nicholl, Disney, CineStory, Austin, Kingman, to name just a few. They are screenwriting competitions, dangling in front of writers the ultimate prize--being discovered.

Established contests, as well as new ones, are being deluged with scripts, sent by writers who hope winning will provide the break they need. Some competitions have been around for a long time and are considered to be proven career-boosters. Others are newer, smaller and quirkier, without a track record.

With entry fees ranging from around $30 to $100, “most people can’t afford to enter all of them,” says Terry Frazier, editor and publisher of the Writer’s Aide Screenplay Contest Newsletter, which tries to list all existing competitions. Frazier says that if a writer enters 20 competitions a year, he could easily spend $1,000 on entry fees, copying scripts and postage. (Disney is the only contest listed above that does not charge an entry fee.)

Now, $1,000 could buy some nice writing time in, say, Hawaii, and you never know who you’ll sit next to on the plane. On the other hand, waiting for the mailman to bring a letter saying “Congratulations!” is kind of fun. And as any aspiring writer will tell you, waiting is as much a part of the game as is writing.

So, the question is: Are screenplay competitions worth a writer’s money, time and energy?

“They’re one of the best ways for an aspiring writer to get noticed,” says Frazier, adding that winning a major competition, such as the Walt Disney Fellowship Program or the Nicholl Fellowship in Screenwriting Competition “is the biggest plume you can put in your hat.”

Does a big feather in your headgear really open doors? For graduates of the Nicholl program, the answer appears to be at least a tentative yes. As many as five $25,000 fellowships are awarded annually, with the understanding that the recipient will complete a screenplay during the fellowship year. Some past winners do sport nice feathers. They include Allison Anders (“Gas Food Lodging”); Randall McCormick (“Speed 2”); Radha Bharadwaj (“Closet Land”); and Andrew W. Marlowe (“Air Force One”).

With more than 4,000 entries each year, even being named one of the 200 finalists is something to include on a resume. When writer George Ferris entered four scripts in the Nicholl competition, he made contest history by having all four make the cut to the quarterfinals. One of these went on to become a semifinalist. Ferris jokes that “it’s given me bragging rights. I can go into bars and bore strangers now.” Two of his scripts, including the Nicholl semifinalist, were recently purchased by independent producers and are now in pre-production.

And even if winning a competition doesn’t make your name as well known as Joe “Basic Instinct” Eszterhas, it can still change your life. Writer Dorothy Spangler, one of 13 Disney Fellows in 1994 (chosen from 2,700 entries), was able to leave an insurance company job. The fellowship gave her a one-year spot at the Disney Studios, receiving a $30,000 stipend.

“It really was a big leap forward in validation and self-confidence,” says Spangler, who now works as a story consultant for Samson Entertainment, a small independent production company in Woodland Hills.

Plus, winning anything can make you feel like Cinderella at the ball. Spangler remembers the moment she heard she had won: “I jumped up and down and screamed ‘whoopee’ a couple of times. Then I went out and bought a ‘Lion King’ cake and took it to work the next day.”

Winning a small contest also can produce temporary elation, but it’s not likely to put a writer into the fast lane. After completing her first screenplay, public relations executive and writer Marlane McGarry entered it in a California Writers Club competition. She won first prize, a weekend at the group’s conference in Pacific Grove, Calif.

“I was particularly pleased, because it was my first effort, and I actually won a contest. Then reality came crashing in,” says McGarry, explaining that winning the contest didn’t change the challenges facing every aspiring screenwriter, such as getting material read and finding an agent.

Some contests try to connect the winners with mentors and career guidance. The CineStory Screenwriting Awards, located in Chicago, link the winning writers with executives in major production companies.

“We try to deal with writers’ career aspirations. That’s what sets us apart,” says Mark Hartigan, CineStory’s director of Awards. “We’re one of the most writer-friendly organizations.”

CineStory--which recently completed its second competition, offered in conjunction with a screenwriting conference--has received kudos from writers and members of the film industry. Meg LeFauve, vice president of Egg Pictures, became involved with CineStory, because “their heart is in the right place.”

“I like CineStory because the emphasis is not on screenwriting as a product, but as storytelling,” she says, adding that in evaluating scripts the focus is on “the depth of character and theme, rather than ‘can this sell for $1 million?’ ”

LeFauve serves as a mentor to contest winners, advising them on their writing and in finding work and agents. “I have been in their shoes, on the outside looking in,” she says, explaining her motivation in helping new writers.

Another new, struggling competition wants to help more than just writers. The Focus Institute of Film is now judging scripts from its first screenwriting contest. The twist is that the point of the competition is ultimately to help needy children.

“We’re a nonprofit film institute that produces films, and all proceeds from the films go to scholarships for foster children,” explains Cheryl DuBois, president of Focus. “We’re trying to promote socially responsible material, films that will uplift the human spirit.”

The prize offered by Focus will no doubt lift the writer’s spirits, too--the winning script will be produced and the writer will be paid according to Writers Guild scale. In addition, the writer will have industry mentors during the development and production process.

One of the most frustrating aspects of being a screenwriter is getting material read. That point is not lost on the Scriptwriters Network, a support group that sponsors the annual Carl Sautter Memorial Screenwriters Competition, now in its eighth year.

The contest offers members a unique feature: Every writer who submits a script receives a written evaluation of his work. Winners receive “prize reads” of their scripts by principals in the film business.

“It’s a way of opening the doors for our members to production companies and agents that they might not otherwise have access to,” says Bill Lundy, chairman of the Scriptwriters Network. “Our twin goals are helping people become better writers and helping them get scripts out to the industry.”

Writers interested in winning big bucks are flocking to one of the flashiest new contests, the second King Arthur Screenwriting Awards, sponsored by Kingman Films and Script magazine, which anticipates 7,000 entries this year. The odds and the prize make this the ultimate literary lottery. Win $1 million! (Actually, you have to share the money with up to 10 winners.) See your script on the big screen! (Well, maybe.) When the contest was posted in a recent Writers Guild newsletter, the editor put in the following note: “Don’t call me about this. The WGA neither monitors nor endorses screenwriting contests, but hey, that’s a lot of money and I thought you might like to know about it.”

And it appears that Kingman is able to deliver the goods, according to Frazier, who investigates every competition listed in his newsletter.

“We try to check everything out,” Frazier says, cautioning writers to do the same. He warns: “Some contests have no connection to anything.”

Frazier recalls one competition where the winner turned out to be one of the contest organizers. So, guess who got to keep the prize money? “No one ever heard from him again,” says Frazier.

In addition to researching the legitimacy of a contest, Frazier also advises writers to “look at the prizes. Some people might not be interested in winning a trip to Breckenridge, Colo. On the other hand, if you’re a skier, that might be a pretty nice prize.”

Or maybe you’d like to win five acres of land in New Mexico. That’s the prize offered in a contest out of Taos, N.M. Other smaller contests offer as prizes computer software, magazine subscriptions, screenwriting books and plaques.

Not all writers are enthusiastic about contests. One writer, who didn’t want her name used, entered scripts in several contests and found the process frustrating because of high entry fees and the long wait for results.

“I have mixed feelings about the competitions,” says Dennis Palumbo, a former screenwriter and licensed psychotherapist who writes a monthly column for Written By, the Writers Guild magazine.

“Writing growth doesn’t happen in competition with other writers. . . . The only true competition a writer has is with himself or herself,” says Palumbo.

“It’s really hard to be a good writer, and Hollywood makes it even harder with competitions,” he says. “You’re always feeling as if there’s millions of other fish trying to nibble at the same hook.”

On the other hand, writing contests “reflect the reality of the marketplace. . . . We’re competing in every arena of life.”

And, Palumbo points out, you never know what could happen: “It’s like the lottery. You may get lucky and win one.”

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Where to Submit Your Story

Feeling lucky? Here is a small sampling from the dozens of current screenplay competitions. For a more complete list, check out the Writer’s Aide Screenplay Contest Newsletter, published quarterly; information: (843) 853-0510.

* CineStory Screenwriting Awards

Screenplays due--Aug. 1 and Oct. 1

Entry fee--$35 for early entries, $45 for later entries

Information: (800) 678-6796

* Kasa Kingman Films

Screenplays due--June 30

Entry fee--$55

Information: (410) 592-3466

* Scriptwriters Network/Carl Sautter Memorial Contest

Screenplays due--call to find out next year’s dates

Entry fee--$60 for yearly membership, $30 contest entry fee

Information: (310) 305-1130