2024 New York Times names Screamfest as one of the top 5 Halloween Film Festivals Worth Traveling For!

The 25th annual Screamfest® Horror Film Festival will take place at the TCL Chinese Theatres in Hollywood.

Some of the largest horror online publications have called it the "Sundance of Horror."
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Screamfest® Horror Film Festival is the largest and longest running horror film festival in the United States. Paranormal Activity was discovered and premiered at the festival in 2007.

The festival showcases new genre films from around the world. Other premieres have included Steven Soderbergh Presents Divinity, world premiere of Hulu's Carved and Mr. Crocket, ICK, Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension, Paranormal Activity, Dead Ant, Trick 'r' Treat, 30 Days of Night, The Human Centipede, American Mary, Diary of the Dead

To view past Screamfest® short films visit our YouTube channel - www.youtube.com/screamfestla

Stan Winston designed 24 carat gold plated Skull Award

Thank you for your interest in submitting your film to the 2025 SCREAMFEST® Horror Film Festival. The 2025 film competition is open for all new features and short films from around the world. We will accept submissions until August 19, 2025 on FilmFreeway.

Films must have been completed after January 1, 2024. Competing short films must be no more than a year old at the time of the festival in October 2025. Short films older than this time frame can still screen out of competition during the festival.

-Premiere status will be one of the factors considered when determining a film’s (shorts & features) inclusion in the Festival. Feature-length films including international features should have a World, North American, US, West Coast or LA premiere. Short films must be an LA premiere, meaning first LA County screening of your film.

-Feature films must not have had any public or festival screenings in the Southern California regional area.

-Feature films and short films must not have had any commercial theatrical, television, or internet / online play in the US.

-Feature films and short films in a language other than English must be subtitled in English for festival presentation.

NOTE: If you are accepted to another film festival in Los Angeles Country, please email us with the subject heading “EARLY ACCEPTANCE NOTICE NEEDED.” Let us know what festival you have been accepted to and we will inform you of your judging status.

The following are the film length that should determine your film submission type:

Feature-length fiction and documentary films — 40 minutes or more
Super Short films — Less than 10 minutes
Short films — between 10-25 minutes
Extended-length short films — between 26 and 39 minutes

Films that have been submitted for consideration in previous years are eligible for re-submission only if significant changes have been made to the film. A detailed list of the changes must be included in the submission packet.

Please do not email us links to new versions of your film after you have completed your submission. We are only able to judge ONE version of each film.

For submission purposes, online screeners may be works-in-progress, films with temporary soundtracks or digital outputs. Rough cuts and works-in-progress can ONLY be submitted in the FINAL deadline and if the completed film will be available by September 15th, 2025.

SUBMISSION INFORMATION:

We will accept films completed after January 2025. If your film has been released it is not eligible for this competition.

You will be notified of acceptance via phone or email.

Complete press kits for films will be requested only after acceptance.

If accepted, a feature film trailer for promotion is mandatory.

Acceptable screening formats are: DCP.

All entries selected into Screamfest® grant Screamfest® the right to use any footage from the preview screener and all submitted publicity photos and any other materials sent to us pertaining to this entry for Screamfest's® promotional purposes, without limitations.

SCREENPLAY SUBMISSION GUIDELINES: (Submit on festival website
https://screamfestla.com/submissions/submit-screenplay OR
other FilmFreeway profile https://filmfreeway.com/ScreamfestHorrorScreenplayCompetition

Early deadline 4/15/25
Regular deadline 7/15/25
Final deadline 8/2/25
Extended deadline 8/15/25

**Due to the varying deadline date differences compared to the film deadline dates, screenplay submissions are not accepted on this FilmFreeway festival profile. FilmFreeway is unable host different final deadlines on their site.**

Screenplay file names should be saved in this format: Title_Lastname.pdf
Feature film screenplay length should be at least 75 pages and not over 130.
Short screenplays are not accepted.
Writers who submit screenplays to Screamfest will have the option to receive feedback from our readers. The feedback is very brief, generally three to five sentences outlining the strengths and weaknesses of your screenplay.
Please include a title/cover page with your screenplay title, author name, WGA registration number and/or copyright information. The title page will not count towards the overall script page count.
Screenplays can be submitted online by clicking the link above.

We will notify screenplay finalists in October. The winning screenplay will be announced at the festival closing night awards ceremony.

The screenplay finalists will be announced in an email sent to you from Screamfest and posted on the front page of the Screamfest website in October.

Please add our email address to your email safe senders list, address book or contact list so that any correspondence with Screamfest will not be blocked or filtered into your bulk folder.

Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Screamfest is iconic, and we had such a blast premiering our film at the 2024 festival. It was so special to spend the week in and out of the Chinese Theater. Rachel and Karen were both great and super communicative. The films freakin' ruled, and we really dug how the blocks were curated. The parties were also so much fun, and we met a lot of great people. Hope to be there again!!

    November 2024
  • Wow! TCL Theatres! Screamfest was incredible. The communication from Rachel and team was second to none. They made us feel so welcome and like we belonged. That is incredible given the caliber of film they screened at this fest. It was greating seeing so much incredible content then getting to know and become friends with so many filmmakers. Being in this festival is going to propel my career just striving me to be better. I want to make a film every frickin year just to try to come back to this fest. LOVE IT!

    November 2024
  • Virginia Hendry

    We had such a blast at Screamfest this year. Rachel and her team made us feel like royalty; and the programming, the venue, the staff- everything- top notch. Can’t wait to do it again!

    November 2024
  • Screamfest is amazing! The programming is interesting, the project quality is staggering, and the folks who run it are very experiences and champions of truly unique projects. Can't wait to submit again!

    November 2024
  • Serena Chloe Gardner

    Brilliant festival with great communication before and during. We are so glad we made the trip across the pond to attend in person - we couldn't have had a better time if we tried! Thank you so much for having us!!

    November 2024