Short Close-Up (shortcloseup.com) is an international, independent magazine offering a unique perspective on the best, new and established talent across all short film culture: narrative, animation, documentary, music video, experimental, fashion, commercial, mobile or series.

We are publishing weekly articles on Short Close-Up online magazine. More than that, once per year we publish a print magazine (year book).

As you know, Short Close-Up Magazine’s goal is to promote filmmakers. But it doesn’t mean that we focus only on finished products. We want to give a chance to writers as well. Without writers there would be no industry. So this is why we created the screenplay contest. We want to dedicate a significant part from our print magazine to the creators of the short film stories.

Short Close-Up: Screenplay Contest is divided in 3 sections:

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13 MINUTES (OR LESS) SHORT FILM SCRIPT
Are you confident your screenplay would sell if it was given a chance? Would you like to have your screenplay published in our print magazine alongside an interview with the writer? The only thing you have to do is to submit your 13 minutes/pages (or less) screenplay to Short Close-Up: Screenplay Contest.

Up to 10 winners will be selected each season. All awarded scripts will be published in our print magazine. The script will be accompanied by an interview with the writer.

13 minutes (or less) Short Film Screenplays must be the original work of the writer(s). They must be within 1-13 pages in length. Screenplays must be submitted in English. We accept any and all genres.

Short Close-Up: Screenplay Contest accepts both produced and non-produced scripts for the 13 minutes (or less) screenplay category.
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3 MINUTES SHORT FILM SCRIPT
Are you confident your screenplay would become a short film if it was given a chance? Would you like to have your screenplay produced, filmed and sent to short film festivals across the world? The only thing you have to do is to submit your 3 minutes screenplay to Short Close-Up: Screenplay Contest.

Each season we will choose up to 10 finalists in this category. At the end of the season we will award one short film script. The winner screenplay will be produced and filmed by our company at the end of the year. We will fund at least 20 festival submission fees for the short film. The budget of the short film production and distribution will be around 4500$.

3 Minutes Short Film Screenplays must be the original work of the writer(s). They must be within 1-3 pages in length. Screenplays must be submitted in English. We accept any and all genres.

Short Close-Up: Screenplay Contest accepts only non-produced scripts for the 3 minutes screenplay category.

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SHORT FILMS (VIDEO CONTEST)
We are not screening the submitted films. We are watching the films behind the scenes and we are analyzing them as a whole but we focus especially on screenplay. Each season we are choosing up to 5 'best screenplay' winners. All awarded screenplays will be published in our print magazine. The screenplay will be accompanied by an interview with the writer or director.
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Please read all Rules and Terms before submitting. If you have any questions please feel free to contact us by email here: ShortCloseUp@gmail.com.

Awards & Prizes

13 MINUTES (OR LESS) SHORT FILM SCRIPT

Up to 10 winners will be selected each season. Each winner will get:
- One published screenplay in Short Close-Up print magazine
- One published interview with the writer in Short Close-Up print magazine
- One copy of the Short Close-Up print magazine (delivered at your address)

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3 MINUTES SHORT FILM SCRIPT

Each season we will choose up to 10 finalists in this category. At the end of the season we will award one short film script. The winner will get:
- Short Film Production (Professional Crew, Professional equipment, Location rental, Professional Actors, Costumes, Props, Production Design, Professional Make-up artists etc)
- Short Film Post Production (Edit, Color Correction, Music, Sound Design, Sound Mixing, Credits etc)
- Short Film Marketing (Synopsis, Poster, Covers, Facebook+Instagram pages, IMDb page etc)
- Worldwide Festival Distribution (at least 20 festival submissions)

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SHORT FILMS (VIDEO CONTEST)

Up to 5 winners will be selected each season. Each winner will get:
- One published screenplay in Short Close-Up print magazine
- One published interview with the writer in Short Close-Up print magazine
- One copy of the Short Close-Up print magazine (delivered at your address)

Rules & Terms

The Short Close-Up: Screenplay Contest is open to any writer from anywhere in the world. Short Close-Up: Screenplay Contest accepts both produced and unproduced scripts for the 13 minutes (or less) screenplay category. Short Close-Up: Screenplay Contest accepts only unproduced scripts for the 3 minutes screenplay category. By submitting your project, you acknowledge that you have read and agreed to all of the following. Please read our rules and guidelines before submitting:

1. Must be 18 and above to submit into the Short Close-Up: Screenplay Contest.
2. All scripts must be submitted in English. Screenplays should be formatted according to current industry standards. Pages must be numbered and typed in 12 point Courier font with standard margins. Brief dialogue in another language is acceptable so long as an English translation is provided.
3. All entries submitted to Short Close-Up: Screenplay Contest must be applicants’ original work, screenplays and any source material must be the original work of the author or must be given the right to submit.
4. A writer may enter more than one screenplay; however, a separate entry form and fee are required for each script submitted.
5. Entry fees are non-refundable.
6. Short Close-Up: Screenplay Contest team will analyze the screenplays to determine the finalists and winners. Short Close-Up: Screenplay Contest decides who receives the reward.
7. Lengths:
3 minutes Short Screenplay: 1-3 Pages
13 minutes (or less) Screenplay: 1-13 Pages
Short Films: Less than 30 minutes
8. Once a submission has been received and processed, we do not accept updated drafts of that submission or associated screenplays.
9. Duplicate submissions of the same work are not allowed. Any duplicate submissions of the same screenplay will be disqualified without refund.
10. We happily accept screenplays with more than one author or contributor. Please make note of each author’s name in your submission. Should a screenplay with two or more writers be named a winner of the competition, the award will be divided equally among them.
11. We do not have a rule regarding title pages. But it is recommended that include the title, author(s) and any relevant registration or copyright information.
12. Screenplays should be submitted only as a PDF. We WILL NOT accept Word .docs, Final Draft, Celtix or any other file formats.
13. Screenplays MUST be submitted to the correct category. Any screenplay submitted to the wrong category (based on both genre and page count) is subject to disqualification without refund of submission fees.
14. All screenplays will be reviewed by festival staff, but due to the high volume of submissions we will not be able to provide feedback on entries.
15. Film Genres: All types of short films are accepted. Here are some examples: Absurdist, Action, Adaptation, Adventure, Advertising, Art-house, Biographical, Black Comedy, Classic, Children, Comedy, Crime, Dance, Detective, Drama, Cult, Epic, Family, Fantasy, Gangster, Horror, Independent, Indie, Noir, Historical, Kids, LGBT, Magical realism, Musical, Mystery, Melodrama, Road Movie, Philosophical, Political, Romance, Satire, Science Fiction, Silent Films, Slice of Life, Social, Sports, Superhero, Supernatural, Surreal, Suspense, Thriller, Urban, War (Anti-War), Western, Zombie etc
3 Reviews
Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Michael Hogan

    The Short Close-Up team are knowledgeable and passionate about the film industry. They run a very organized and fun festival and competition; and their communications with and support for participants is top notch. They definitely earn and deserve five stars across the board. I expect them to grow their international presence and prominence significantly in the years to come.

    December 2020
    Helpful
  • Martin Richmond

    Excellent communication and very honoured to be chosen best short screenplay plus given an in depth interview with their top class magazine.

    August 2020
    Helpful
  • Ricardo Gomez

    Very nicely done... Great communication with their team who will be keeping you posted along the process. highly recommended. Looking forward to participate every year with new projects.

    August 2020
    Helpful