This is a major contest and festival for screenwriters and playwrights worldwide, sponsored by FINAL DRAFT and POSTERITY ENTERTAINMENT.
We encourage you to visit our website for full information.
The 2023 awards ceremony will take place from 11am-6pm (UK-time) on Sunday 11 June 2023 at THE RONDO THEATRE in Bath, UK. Known for its Roman Baths and Georgian architecture,
Bath is one of handful of entire cities to be inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site on two counts (in 1987 for its hot springs, Roman archaeology, Georgian buildings and natural landscape setting; and in 2021 as one of the Great Spa Towns of Europe). We're very proud to be based here.
Our first guest speaker will be Lucy V Hay of Bang2Write. Lucy is a script editor/reader, consultant, novelist (publishing as L V Hay) and speaker, renowned for sweary, no-nonsense writing and networking tips well as her excellent blog for screenwriters, novelists and freelance writers. Her non-fiction books include 'Writing & Selling Thriller Screenplays', 'Writing & Selling Drama Screenplays' and 'Writing Diverse Characters for Fiction, TV and Film'. Her debut novel, 'The Other Twin', was featured in The Sun and Sunday Express as well as Heatworld and Closer magazines, and Lucy is currently adapting it for Emmy-nominated producers Free@Last TV.
In 2022, our speakers were:
JOHN HODGE, BAFTA-award-winning screenwriter of films including Trainspotting; T2 Trainspotting; A Life Less Ordinary; The Beach and Shallow Grave, and a playwright whose first piece for the stage, Collaborators, won the Olivier Award for Best New Play.
DOMINIC MORGAN (aka SCRIPTFELLA) and WGA screenwriter, who taught us us 'How to break into Hollywood and land paid writing gigs', sharing knowledge picked up in London and LA. He's been optioned or commissioned by over thirty US and UK studios and production companies, including Universal, Working Title, Bold Films, Scott Free, the BBC and ITV.
There are categories for screen, stage and audio scripts of all shapes and sizes, with laurels for Quarter-Finalists, Semi-Finalists and Finalists, and trophies for winners of all categories.
Thanks to renewed sponsorship from FINAL DRAFT, the winners and runners-up in all categories with more than 27 pages will also receive a copy of FD12. And we're proud to confirm that, once again, we offer non-guaranteed but potentially industry-cracking 'route-to-production' prizes for the winners of our two S&CO/POSTERITY AWARDS.
WHO ARE WE?
SCRIPTWRITERS & CO (aka S&Co) is run by script consultants who have been writers all their working lives. We have thousands of subscribers, a vibrant Facebook presence and have judged thousands of script entries. We know what we're doing.
Evidence? The quality of work we select for our legendary S&Co Scratch Nights; the script notes we've offered winners in front of hundreds of audience members; and the client feedback you'll find below and on our website.
We've been knocked out by the high-quality pieces submitted, and by the overwhelming support we've had from established, emerging and new writers.
Jonathan Willis, the film and theatre producer who heads up POSTERITY ENTERTAINMENT, watched our progess with interest, and approached us to offer two exceptional categories - and prizes.
THIS ISN'T A FUR COAT AND NO KNICKERS CONTEST, OFFERING NOTHING BUT ANNOUNCEMENTS.
Being SCRIPTWRITERS & CO, we offer live entertainment, too! At the festival, professional S&CO ACTORS will perform excerpts from finalists' work, from micros to pilots to features.
We also offer opportunities for networking and chatting scripts with people who study or work in the performing arts, from all over the world.
A MAIN FESTIVAL + TWO EXCEPTIONAL ROUTE-TO-PRODUCTION PRIZES
Our main competition offers categories for screenwriters and playwrights.
Additionally, we offer recorded ZOOM PERFORMANCES by S&CO ACTORS, which can take place at any time of year. You may also order a recorded performance or script coverage here OR (better for us!) via our main website at http://scriptwritersandco.com/.
S&CO/POSTERITY AWARDS
These are the jewels in our Festival's crown. SCRIPTWRITERS & CO and POSTERITY ENTERTAINMENT are collaborating to search for TWO outstanding scripts - one feature film, one full-length theatre play - whose winners may enjoy career-changing opportunities and international publicity.
While production isn't guaranteed, S&Co's Zanna Cardash (Artistic Director) and Alex Hollister (Lead Script Consultant) will talk with POSTERITY and winning writers to help them develop their scripts, with the possibility of producing:
- One feature film with professional distribution
- One immersive theatre play with an A-list cast, to be staged in Bath, England.
CRITERIA: S&CO/POSTERITY FEATURE AWARD - SCREEN
We're looking for original, commercial, marketable concepts, so arthouse, idiosyncratic or 'worthy' stuff is unlikely to cut it here (though is welcomed in the main competition). American accents and vernacular are welcomed, since the US is Posterity's biggest audience. Realistically, we're unlikely to select anything too 'parochial', or that requires strong UK accents, and if it's British comedy you'll have to work extra-hard to impress. Keep a keen eye on the budget - aim for £100,000. The likely winner: the writer of a movie with a universal theme that harnesses the Zeitgeist and will sell all over the world.
CRITERIA: S&CO/POSTERITY AWARD - STAGE
The play that wins will be full-length, innovative, immersive, designed for the round, and must include an interval. We're anticipating a cast of 3 to 8 players and mix of genders, in a stage production that's likely to utilise multi-media and will definitely be original, distinctive, inventive and challenging. Explore, imagine and think outside the box to create an extraordinary and ground-breaking piece of theatre. Although aimed at a primarily adult audience, your cast may include children. Magic, illusions, projections, audio-scapes, aroma-scapes, more? Bring them on - inspire and excite us!
GENERAL ENTRY INFORMATION
We will publish lists of Quarter-Finalists, Semi-Finalists and Finalists on our website and in social and other media. All Finalists will be invited to attend the Festival free of charge, where winners will be announced.
S&CO/POSTERITY entries (including those that fail to meet Posterity criteria, or are not selected as Finalists) are also judged in the Main competition, so writers have two chances to win. However, no play or feature can win both categories, so while the two winners will remain listed as Finalists in the 'main' festival, they will be excluded from judging in this category if Posterity has selected them.
All winners will be announced at the Festival on 11 June 2023.