Space Dream Productions Short Film Screenwriting Competition

TOO LONG/DIDN'T READ OVERVIEW:

Submit your script, win, and the Grand Prize includes the production of your screenplay into a short film!

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FULL INFORMATION
(which has some important bits so you should probably read it):

As an Independent Production Company having produced over 40 film projects since our first festival premiere in 2016, we know that moving from writing to production can be a challenging roadblock for writers. This can be especially true for writers from underrepresented communities, and writers who live in geographic locations far from major cities with large film communities.

For that reason, we decided to launch an annual short film screenplay competition. The Grand Prize? Space Dream Productions will fully produce the winning script and submit it to select festivals!

Will your screenplay become the next "Best Picture"?

With 19 Space Dream Productions Films garnering nominations or wins for "Best Picture" categories at festivals around the world, along with over 200 award nominations and special mentions, plus over 70 awards so far, we love working with talented writers to bring their stories to the big screen - will the next writer be you?

The winner of this competition will also receive on-screen and IMDb credit for the produced film.

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WHAT TYPE OF SCREENPLAY ARE WE LIKELY TO SELECT?

That is a great question with a LONG answer! If you want to deep dive, we will link some resources. If you want the general overview, you can skip down to the Cliff's Notes version below.

Best way to know what we're looking for is to check out our podcast, "Filmmaking (Actually)" - https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/filmmaking-actually - especially the episodes on writing! Auto-generated transcripts are available on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4ktnr944tUmRDnxiUnf0qI

The Cliff's Notes version is we're open to all genres, except unfortunately fan films due to copyright reasons. Not because we don't love great fan fic!

We tend to gravitate towards authentic stories without trite trope or stereotypes.

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HERE ARE SOME WRITING TIPS TO HELP WITH YOUR SUBMISSION:

If your characters are diverse, that is awesome! But if their whole character experience and dialogue and the point of their existence on the page is to be focused on that one element of who they are, and nothing more than that, that is not so awesome. We would prefer to see a script featuring character descriptions only as they are relevant to the story, or casually and naturally mentioned in passing.

No singular element of a character should be the whole, singular focus of who they are as a person without that element having irrevocable and intrinsic relevance to the plot.

People are complex with thoughts, feelings, dreams, flaws - we're looking for human characters (or anthropomorphized characters if they are not human).

For your dialogue, is it natural? Real? Does it sound like an actual conversation or does it unintentionally read like a 1950's children's book or a stiff 1980's TV show? Do your characters naturally have different voices? Or do they all sound the same? Are the conversations stereotypical or organic? Do people trail off, interrupt each other, speak in specific tones in different social situations?

Is every single plot point just constantly talked about (even the emotions people are feeling), or are things shown through behavior, actions, etc?

Is the story interesting? Unexpected? Fit the genre? Does your drama have actual drama with dynamic emotion moving through the scenes?

Are you using language to convey emotion, location, story, character? Or just utilizing "F*k" in an unstated challenge against Roy Kent's average use per minute?

Are your scene descriptions enough to give context and leave room for collaboration with actors and the director and DP without being blocks of text that reads like a novel? Does each scene start and end with "they enter" "they exit" instead of a descriptive action, or the character mid a task?

Is the script easy to put down in the middle of reading it, or are we deeply invested in the characters and have to find out what happens next?

That's a good overview of what we're looking for!

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ELIGIBILITY

All submissions agree to the rules listed below at the time of submitting.

Submitted scripts may NOT already be optioned, purchased, or produced.

Should the script become otherwise optioned, purchased, produced (or moving into production) after submitting, the script will no longer be eligible for the competition.

Additionally, writers who earn more than $25,000 annually from screenwriting of any kind are not eligible.

For copyright reasons, all submitted work must be entirely original and not an adaptation of other work or content based off existing IP (unless the submitter owns the rights to the original material, or the original material is in the Public Domain).

Multiple authorship is acceptable, provided all authors and/or rights holders agree to the rules and submission guidelines herein.

Anyone currently employed by or under an active Internship contract with Space Dream Productions, or who has been employed by or under an Internship contract with Space Dream Productions in the last 12 months, along with their immediate family and those living in their household are not eligible to submit.

Previous winners of the Space Dream Productions Screenplay Competition are not eligible for re-entry, unless as part of a writing team where they are not the first-credited writer on the screenplay.

Previous entries placing 2nd place or below may be re-submitted in the form of a revised draft. Previous writers placing 2nd place or below may submit any other eligible screenplays at any time.

Screenplays eligible for Judges feedback either through purchase (detailed feedback), or contest ranking (general feedback), will receive their feedback via PDF emailed to the email associated with their submission within 4 weeks of the public announcement of the winner.

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SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

All scripts must in English, and a total of 21 pages or less (including cover page). If your script is translated, we recommend having someone advanced in English proofread the translation so you do not risk getting a low score due to a poor translation. Google Translate and ChatGPT can be very poor translators. (Also, AI usage is not allowed).

If a script includes dialogue in another language, a translation must be provided within the script. If no translation is provided, this may prevent complete judging, and judges will score based on what they can understand.

To maintain anonymity of submissions, scripts must have a cover page that ONLY lists the script's title, and non-generally identifying information such as a WGA registration number, phone number, or other such information which does not directly identify the writer. Please ensure there are no names or other direct identifying information on the cover page.

Space Dream Productions may reach out to request an updated submission draft with a properly formatted cover page should the cover page include identifying information which tells the judge who the writer is. Space Dream Productions reserves the right to disqualify any screenplays including names or other personally identifying information, no matter if a corrected draft is requested or not. It is preferred for the screenplay to be uploaded correctly at the time of entry.

The scripts may be watermarked designating that they are a Film Freeway copy, or even a copy submitted specifically to this contest. The cover page does not count towards the total page count.

All entries must be uploaded by the final most extended deadline and cannot otherwise be updated with new drafts after they have been submitted.

Space Dream Productions will utilize a team of experienced and accoladed industry professionals for the main judging panel, and all judgements are final.

There are no refund options once a submission has been completed.

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JUDGING

All screenplays will be read by at least 2 industry judges.

Official Selections may be further reviewed by the same number of judges each. Final score totals will decide the Top 10.

Again, all Space Dream Productions judging scores and decisions are final.