OK, blog-land, some important news. No, I’m not quitting the screenwriting game yet, in fact I just entered my script–code name MFTA–in my first contest. I don’t know if I’ll ever hear from the contest organizers, but it felt good to press submit tonight (of course the entry fee was a bit steep).
The script is not completely finished, but I have been spending September revising it all in anticipation of finally sending it out. In a way, this contest was my incentive. Although I feel with another month or so of work, the script could be even better, I knew that I had to keep this promise to myself for all of the hard work I put into the script. It is not my nature to simply write for writing’s sake. Maybe as a performer, I need to find an audience to share that work.
More posts to come this week–I feel that my schedule has suddenly cleared. Now all I need is to find a way to pay for the entry fee.
Questions for the comments:
1) What other contests should I apply to?
2) Have you submitted your scripts yet, and did you hear back?
3) How did you cope with the waiting process?
Definitely apply to the Nicholl’s Fellowship, I think the deadline is in May. Some other great ones are the Slamdance Feature and Teleplay contests, the Austin Film Festival Screenplay contest and Scriptapalooza. ( I have urls for all these somewhere…)
The best thing to do is just not think about it. It drives me nuts when I apply for stuff – jobs, contests, credit cards. If you think about it, you will go crazy. Set a reminder on your calender for when to check it again and then just forget about it. If you are selected as a finalist you will be notified.
Other really great things to apply for are the fellowships – Disney, Warner Brothers, Fox, I think Nickelodeon has one. The best way to get into those is to write a dramatic or comedic television spec.
Good luck with the contest! I’m rooting for you (let us know what happens).
I’ll apply to Nicholl Fellowship + Big Break next year. This year I applied to the Omaha Film Fest. Where did you submit your screenplay to?
My first submission was to Big Break 2008… I paid the early bird fee which included 4 free issues of Script Magazine. I never got a single issue!!! *argh*
Agreed that the best way to cope with waiting for answers is to not think about it and move on. Especially with often too long time-frames!
I can’t speak to screenwriting contests, but good luck!
I have to admit, I’ve started to stop (??) applying to contests, unless there’s no fee or a really low fee. I just can’t afford to keep PAYING for my rejections, you know? (Isn’t my emotional suffering payment enough?! :P)