Every great film owes its success to the quality of its story. The NFFTY Screenplay Competition: Story Starts Here is an opportunity for tomorrow’s best storytellers to get constructive critique on their script before entering production. This is a unique chance to be sure you are delivering the most resounding story to your audience!
All submissions will receive individual feedback upon request. Three scripts from both the screenplay and pilot categories will be chosen as Finalists and will be eligible for awards and cash prizes. Each finalist will also receive one complimentary All-Access Filmmaker Pass to NFFTY 2024.
There will be one grand prize winner and two runner-up scripts from each category.
The Screenplay Competition will culminate at NFFTY 2024, where finalists will be featured and awards and cash prizes announced. NFFTY 2024 will be held April 25th - 28th, 2024 in Seattle, WA. NFFTY Story Starts Here is a program of the National Film Festival for Talented Youth.
NFFTY seeks to provide unique programming specific to screenwriters and our Story Starts Here finalists in attendance. For NFFTY 2020 we produced a live virtual table read of all finalist scripts, and for NFFTY 2022 we hosted a script feedback session with Will Akers, author of the bestselling "Your Screenplay Sucks". Plans for NFFTY 2024 will be announced closer to the festival.
To help address systemic inequity and underrepresentation in film, we’re offering a 50% discount to all screenplays and pilots submitted to this edition of Story Starts Here by Black, Indigenous, Asian American & Pacific Islanders and Latinx writers, as well as to submissions written by individuals with disabilities using the following codes:
SSHBLACKSTORIES2024
SSHINDIGENOUSSTORIES2024
SSHLATINSTORIES2024
SSHAAPISTORIES2024
SSHDISABILITYSTORIES2024
We also consider additional discount and waiver requests on a case-by-case basis. To make a request, please fill out this short form: bit.ly/NFFTYSubmissionAssistance