Breaking In - Win your way in
So, how else might a writer get their work kickstarted? Well, look no further than script competitions! There are loads of screenwriting competitions out there, and if you've got a great script on your hands, who's to say you won't be the next winner?
It goes without saying, you'll probably want to do a little research on any competition you're thinking of entering, as there are some considerations to make when choosing which competition you're going to go for. Firstly, you'll want to know if there's a submission fee, and how affordable that might be. But you'll also want to read around the competition, and find out what kind of reputation it has. Will it give you good results? Will it give you the boost you hope it will? And what do you actually get if you do win? Helpfully, both ScreenCraft and Bang2Write have compiled lists of recommended competitions to look at for reference.
Another competition (which doesn't quite make it onto either of these lists) is the Red Planet Prize, which promises the winner script development with Red Planet Pictures and one-on-one masterclasses with some of the UK's most esteemed writers. I spoke to Danny Stack, one of the minds behind the competition about how it all works...
What was your involvement in creating the Red Planet Prize?
I had the idea for a screenwriting opportunity that helped the writers AFTER they won the competition. I was a script reader at the time, and just won that new BBC writing competition myself, but I was surprised that a lot of people in the BBC didn't know about the new writing competition, and I probably didn't make the most out of it. So I thought there should be a competition that does better than that. I didn't know Tony Jordan [the other co-founder of Red Planet], but I contacted him, giving him the pitch for the competition. He immediately said, 'Yes, let's do that.'
What have Red Planet Prize winners gone on to do?
Quite a few have gone on to write professionally, or get some work, because of the competition. That's what great about the Prize; they encourage and mentor you afterwards, it's not just about winning the competition (or being a runner up) and never seeing or hearing from you again. The competition's been a great success and I'm very proud to have helped new writers with their careers, especially as BBC's Death In Paradise came from the Red Planet scheme, which has now done 6 seasons.
Do you think that screenwriting competitions are a viable route into the industry?
Absolutely. There are great competitions out there that provide genuine opportunity and exposure (like the Writers Room & Red Planet Prize) and there's a few good American competitions too like the Nicholl Fellowship or Blue Cat etc. As with anything like this, your mileage may vary, but it's well worth weighing up the pros and cons of entering (is there an entry fee? do you get feedback? etc), and give it your best shot!
So, you're tempted. You're thinking that script competitions might be a good route to take. Especially because you've got that killer script on your hands, which of course you've proofread half a hundred times. Well, maybe just give it one more look over, before you send it off.
I spoke to Jude Lister, a project manager at Creative England, who works with new writers to develop their short film scripts as part of her work with shortFLIX, an initiative aimed at 18-25 year old emerging filmmakers. Jude gave me a list of 5 top tips for new writers, featuring the most common sins new writers fall foul of in their scripts.
It goes without saying, you'll probably want to do a little research on any competition you're thinking of entering, as there are some considerations to make when choosing which competition you're going to go for. Firstly, you'll want to know if there's a submission fee, and how affordable that might be. But you'll also want to read around the competition, and find out what kind of reputation it has. Will it give you good results? Will it give you the boost you hope it will? And what do you actually get if you do win? Helpfully, both ScreenCraft and Bang2Write have compiled lists of recommended competitions to look at for reference.
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| Red Planet Pictures promise development for the winning script |
Another competition (which doesn't quite make it onto either of these lists) is the Red Planet Prize, which promises the winner script development with Red Planet Pictures and one-on-one masterclasses with some of the UK's most esteemed writers. I spoke to Danny Stack, one of the minds behind the competition about how it all works...
What was your involvement in creating the Red Planet Prize?
I had the idea for a screenwriting opportunity that helped the writers AFTER they won the competition. I was a script reader at the time, and just won that new BBC writing competition myself, but I was surprised that a lot of people in the BBC didn't know about the new writing competition, and I probably didn't make the most out of it. So I thought there should be a competition that does better than that. I didn't know Tony Jordan [the other co-founder of Red Planet], but I contacted him, giving him the pitch for the competition. He immediately said, 'Yes, let's do that.'
What have Red Planet Prize winners gone on to do?
Quite a few have gone on to write professionally, or get some work, because of the competition. That's what great about the Prize; they encourage and mentor you afterwards, it's not just about winning the competition (or being a runner up) and never seeing or hearing from you again. The competition's been a great success and I'm very proud to have helped new writers with their careers, especially as BBC's Death In Paradise came from the Red Planet scheme, which has now done 6 seasons.
Do you think that screenwriting competitions are a viable route into the industry?
Absolutely. There are great competitions out there that provide genuine opportunity and exposure (like the Writers Room & Red Planet Prize) and there's a few good American competitions too like the Nicholl Fellowship or Blue Cat etc. As with anything like this, your mileage may vary, but it's well worth weighing up the pros and cons of entering (is there an entry fee? do you get feedback? etc), and give it your best shot!
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| Danny Stack, Writer and Director |
So, you're tempted. You're thinking that script competitions might be a good route to take. Especially because you've got that killer script on your hands, which of course you've proofread half a hundred times. Well, maybe just give it one more look over, before you send it off.
I spoke to Jude Lister, a project manager at Creative England, who works with new writers to develop their short film scripts as part of her work with shortFLIX, an initiative aimed at 18-25 year old emerging filmmakers. Jude gave me a list of 5 top tips for new writers, featuring the most common sins new writers fall foul of in their scripts.
- Writing overly generic/clichéd settings, characters, and plotlines (though this can be hard to define sometimes, it's one of the things that can kill a good script).
- Telling rather than showing: film is a visual medium.
- Writing their narrative in the wrong format (so, trying to squeeze a big narrative into a short film, or indeed lingering too long on a story that could be told far more economically).
- Writing a script they think funders want to see rather than something authentic to their voice.
- But allow yourself to play around, experiment, and explore with your writing, especially within the short format where there's some freedom to do that.
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| Jude Lister (right) pictured here with Isabelle Favez (left) |
And remember what we said last time with BBC Writersroom - have confidence in your ideas! You'll never win any competition if you don't enter your script, and who's to say it won't give you a leg-up into the industry? Just look at Death in Paradise: that came from the Red Planet Prize and it's done 6 seasons with the BBC. New writers should be looking for ways to shoehorn themselves into the industry wherever they can, and script competitions are certainly a viable route to consider. Go ahead, enter one. What have you got to lose? And good luck!
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