Do you have the next great short film screenplay?

The Cine Circle Screenplay Contest is an opportunity to help aspiring screenwriters to get their screenplays turned into films. We welcome unproduced short film screenplays with a maximum of 30 pages in length.

Over the last three years Cine Circle has run over 40 live and online filmmaker events including film festivals, pitching competitions, filmmakers fairs, workshops and networking events. Through this competition we want to give writers an opportunity to showcase their work and win a variety of amazing prizes to help bring their screenplays to life.

How’s it going to work?
We have put together a group of experienced writers, directors, and producers who will be reading the screenplays and scoring them from a variety criteria. The 4 screenplays with the most points will move on to the second and final round. A second panel of judges will read those scripts and mark them based on the same grading criteria. The screenplay with the most points will then be announced the winner.

What are the grading criteria?
Each professional reader will fill out a Script Assessment Form for each screenplay that they read. Each screenplay will be graded based on the following criteria:
- Concept Originality
- Story
- Characters
- Structure
- Tone

Awards & Prizes

Winner: (£700 worth of prizes)
- Comprehensive Online Crowdfunding Course (£300 Value)
- 1 year free access to all our live and online events (£400 Value)

Runner up: (£400 worth of prizes)
- 1 year free access to all our live and online events (£400 Value)

Semi-finalists: (£400 worth of prizes)
- 1 year free access to all our live and online events (£400 Value)

Quarter-finalists: (£300 worth of prizes)
- Comprehensive Online Crowdfunding Course (£300 Value)

Rules & Terms

- All material must be submitted electronically as a PDF.
- All material must be submitted in the industry standard screenplay format.
- Only screenplays that are 30 pages or less are eligible.
- International entries are allowed but the script must be written in English.
- The title page should contain the title of the screenplay and names of all writers. It’s okay but not mandatory if it also contains the writer’s contact information.
- The decisions of the judges are final and shall not be disputed. The contest and its coordinators may not be held responsible for any errors or omissions by the judges.
- There is no limit to the number of different scripts you may submit. Duplicate entries of the same project, however, will be automatically disqualified.
- The script must be unproduced at the time of submission
3 Reviews
Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Bob Eckhard

    Really good festival. Will enter again next year

    December 2022
    Helpful
  • Rob Lancey

    I had one of my favourite scripts rejected but another elevated to runner up. This, to me, gives validation that the team carefully consider each script individually. This is so important to a writer. We are used to taking the knocks but it is so much sweeter when professionals in the business give praise to one of our 'babies'. Many thanks.

    December 2021
    Helpful
  • Matthew Malowany Forbes

    An excellent festival, really enjoyed the webcast. Can't be easy to run a film festival in the middle of a pandemic, but they pulled it off!

    December 2021
    Helpful