Every entry receives detailed, written feedback from one of our professional readers.

WeScreenplay’s TV Pilot Competition delivers a one-of-a-kind virtual writing lab hosted by top managers, agents, writers, and more. Winners take part in an interactive 4 day virtual lab with hands-on workshops, industry meetings, and will learn from working TV writers.

At least 4 winners will be selected to participate in this career-changing lab.

FEEDBACK: We believe that writers need feedback to improve, which is why every entrant receives written feedback included for free with their submission.

JUDGING: Our judges are all industry experienced gatekeepers. The final round of judging will be completed by the industry jurors that include Literary Managers and Producers looking for TV Scripts and writers. Judging will be based on all aspects that make stories great.

TV WRITING LAB

The top 4 winning scripts will be invited to WeScreenplay’s Virtual TV Writing Lab! This is a once-in-a-career opportunity to network, get exposure for your writing, and learn from working TV writers.

Winners will take meetings with development executives, TV writers, and learn how to make the most of a client/rep relationship from managers and agents. It’s an exciting schedule of events that will help you further your career — all from the comfort of your own home.

Additionally, our top scripts are read by our incredible industry jury and the winners get access to ongoing mentorship from WeScreenplay including an initial phone call, guidance for drafting query letters, research methods for finding the right representation, prep before big meetings, and strategic planning for next steps in their careers — all based on the writer’s specific goals.

JURY

Derek Martin
VP, TV Development Bad Robot

Derek joined Bad Robot in 2017 as an assistant in the Television department and has steadily climbed the ranks since, most recently being named VP of Television. During his tenure, he’s worked on shows like Castle Rock, Lovecraft Country, Lisey’s Story and Little Voice. Next up will be Presumed Innocent for Apple TV+, with David E. Kelley writing and Jake Gyllenhaal starring. Before Bad Robot, he worked in the TV Lit Department at CAA, and at ICM Partners and Marvel Television in Business Affairs. He earned his JD from George Mason School of Law.

Elise Brown
Staff Writer, Candy, Yellowjackets, former WS Winner

Elise Brown is a television writer based in Los Angeles. Most recently she’s written for Yellowjackets on Showtime and Candy on Hulu, as well as done development with Fifth Season, Joy Coalition and Automatik Entertainment. She typically writes stories that foreground black women and explore hierarchies of power and how they’re reinforced by the realities of race, gender and class.

Lyra Tan
TV Lit Coordinator, Gersh

Lyra Tan is currently the TV Literary Coordinator at the Gersh Agency and based in Los Angeles. Before joining Gersh in 2021, Lyra interned at Topic Studios and FilmNation Entertainment in New York City. Lyra’s dream is to have the opportunity to champion diverse writers from all walks of life and discover stories for the screen that are both diverse and universal. While diversity is incredibly important, universality is even more so (and everything needs a little sprinkle of magic). She’s the proud daughter of immigrants from the Philippines and has lived in Hong Kong, New York, and California.

Nick Harris
Literary Manager, Avalon Management

Nick Harris started his career as a doorman at a comedy club in Portland. Rose to a management position and eventually the GM. During this time, along with all the other responsibilities of running a supremely successful and lauded institution, he helped operate and produce the most popular local shows in Portland along with assisting comics to advance and develop. After a decade of cherishing and nurturing his relationships in comedy, running a business, along with his stand-up expertise, Nick transitioned to talent management Avalon.

Jack Taylor Cox
Creative Executive, Merman

Jack is a Creative Executive and Producer with over ten years of experience across scripted TV, feature film, documentary, and broadcast journalism. Having worked in the US, UK, and Australia, Jack currently serves as Creative Executive at Merman, the US/UK production company behind recent shows such as Bad Sisters for AppleTV+, Shining Vale for Starz, and HouseBroken for Fox. With a background in international programming at AMC Networks and a start in news production in London, Jack brings a wealth of diverse industry knowledge and a keen eye for captivating storytelling to every project.

Amy Zvi
Manager, Canopy Media Partners

A Talent Manager and Emmy-nominated Producer, Amy Zvi currently serves as an Executive Producer on the HBO and Max special Sarah Silverman: Someone You Love. She is also an EP of the upcoming TBS series, Stupid Pet Tricks, starring Sarah Silverman and produced by David Letterman. Previously, she was an Executive Producer for Hulu’s I Love You, America as well as Netflix’s Bumping Mics and Historical Roasts. She has been a part of numerous other projects including Sarah Silverman’s Emmy award-winning HBO comedy special Sarah Silverman: We Are Miracles, Netflix’s Sarah Silverman: A Speck of Dust, and Comedy Central’s Jeff Ross Presents Roast Battle, The Burn, Jeff Ross Roasts Cops, Jeff Ross Roasts the Border: Live from Brownville, Texas, and the critically acclaimed Jeff Ross Roasts Criminals: Live From Brazos County Jail.
Before making the transition to management and producing, Zvi spent 11 years as a Publicist at BNC (now PMK*BNC), where she was a Vice President in their Entertainment Division. At BNC, she led many high-profile talent public relations campaigns and worked on corporate accounts such as T-Mobile, PlayStation, and General Motors.
She currently manages Sarah Silverman, Nikki Reed, Jeff Ross, Sindha Agha, and a handful of other emerging talent.

Evan Lesser
Director, Acquisitions, Double E Pictures

Double E Pictures is a production company founded by Eric Eisner to develop and produce content for theatrical, television and digital distribution. Their past projects include Hamlet 2, Long Strange Trip, and All I Can Say.

Susan Hurwitz Arneson
Co-EP The Continental, Magic Order, Preacher and The Tick, Writer on South Park

Susan Hurwitz Arneson is a Television Writer and Producer best known for her work on six seasons of SOUTH PARK. She was with the show through three Emmy wins and one memorable death threat. Currently Susan is Executive Producing and Show Running an unannounced one hour historic drama for Netflix and Gaumont. Before her current show, Susan worked as a Writer and Co-Executive Producer on THE CONTINENTAL, MAGIC ORDER, PREACHER and THE TICK. In the past Susan has written for Seth MacFarlane’s BORDERTOWN, MR. ROBINSON starring Craig Robinson and MALIBU COUNTRY with Reba McEntire and Lily Tomlin. Susan has also developed series for Fox Television Animation, MTV, Comedy Central and is currently adapting Anthony Bourdain’s HUNGRY GHOSTS for Sony Animation. She received her MFA in Screenwriting from UCLA.

Corinne Hayoun
Partner/Manager, Manange-ment

Corinne Hayoun, a former CAA theater agent, joined the company in 2015 as head of the New York office. Hayoun has clients with film and TV projects set up at Warner Brothers, Netflix, Apple, FX, Amazon, Max, UCP, Fifth Season and others. Her clients have worked on shows such as the Peabody Award-winning David Makes Man, Emmy-winning The Marvelous Mrs Maisel, and other critically acclaimed shows like Pachinko, Little America, American Crime Story, Black Lightning, and When They See Us, as well as the Emmy-nominated Netflix documentary Reversing Roe and Oscar-winning film Moonlight.  Her clients also work across docs, animation, podcasts, books and extensively in theatre on Broadway & around the world.  Hayoun also served as a co-producer on the hit Broadway play An Act of God starring Jim Parsons, and is a board member of the Lilly Awards Foundation, which celebrates and advocates for women in the American theatre.

1. Screenplays entered must:
A. Be screenplays that are a minimum of 18 pages. (scripts under 18 pages will be accepted, read, and considered through the finalist round – but cannot win one of the top 4 prizes).
B. Be submitted in PDF form and must fit all standard screenplay format guidelines. Personal formatting conventions will be accepted but must not intentionally or accidentally alter the page count of the project as determined by the judges.
C. Be owned solely by the writer or writing team listed. It may be an adaptation or reimagining of true events or fictional stories. Spec scripts of existing shows are NOT accepted.
D. Be written in English. However, scripts from anywhere in the world will be accepted.
E. Be under 70 pages – Anything over 70 pages will be charged an extra $1 per page.
F. NOTE: WeScreenplay automatically removes the cover page before assigning scripts to readers, so writers may include any typical information on their cover page. Scripts are accepted with or without cover pages.
2. Writer must be 18 years of age or older at the time of the winner’s announcement.
3. By entering this screenplay into the competition, you must have full permission from all co-writers and any attachments to the project.
4. WeScreenplay claims no ownership nor option on your work. All ownership and rights to the scripts submitted to this contest remain with the original rights holder(s).
5. Screenplays entered may be in any genre or combination of genres. All will be treated equally and read by an unbiased panel of readers and jury members.
6. The following formats will be accepted: Original TV pilot screenplay
7. Entrant’s total earnings for screenwriting for either film or tv, produced or unproduced, must not exceed $50,000 in the previous 18 months from submission or $250,000 lifetime earnings. This excludes any prize money from competitions or fellowships and only applies to funds or money transferred in exchange for an option or sale of a script, treatment, idea, intellectual property, or other writing for filming. Money earned from acting, directing, producing, or any other film work outside of writing is not included.
8. Screenplays submitted must not have been previously sold or produced unless said sale or production was completed with no financial gain to the writer.
9. Purchasing Additional feedback throughout the competition will in no way impact your standing or odds of advancement.
10. For a submission to be valid it must be accompanied with the appropriate payment based on the submission deadlines.
11. All deadlines are at 11:59pm PST on the date listed. Any deadline alteration or promotion of any kind does not make any entry valid for a refund of any kind.
12. RESUBMISSIONS will be accepted. Alterations can be re-uploaded via our submissions management platform at coverfly.com for $6. New drafts of an entry will be accepted at any time during the contest.
13. There are no refunds for any submitted screenplay. Coupons may not be applied to previously submitted scripts. Coupons deemed for WeScreenplay coverage may not be used for submission to the contest or addition of coverage to any submission unless explicitly stated or exempted on the coupon or by a WeScreenplay representative via e-mail communication only.
14. There is no limit on the number of scripts a writer or writing team may submit.
15. Prizes are awarded per script and teams of writers are expected to divide prizes on their own accord. WeScreenplay will send prizes to the writer who submits the project and will in no way be responsible for how the prizes are distributed among the writing teams.
16. The decision of the judges will be final and cannot be contested in any manner. There is no score on a scorecard that guarantees advancement to the next level as advancement will be based on all scores in the competition.
17. Scorecards can be accessed on the writer’s dashboard. Feedback will be delivered before the next announcement but usually sooner. Feedback for each round of the competition, whether it’s the 1 Page or 3 Page option, will be returned before the next competition announcement.
18. WeScreenplay reserves the right to delay announcements for any reason. While we never anticipate any delays, such delays will not alter the standing of any screenplay entry and will not qualify an entry for a refund under any circumstance.
19. By entering a WeScreenplay competition every entrant is agreeing to all WeScreenplay Terms of Service listed on the website and additional terms agreed upon at checkout. If you disagree with any terms you may not submit to the contest.
20. By submitting to the contest you are releasing your script (but not it’s underlying rights) to WeScreenplay and holding harmless WeScreenplay or any affiliates from any claims, expenses, and liabilities, including but not limited to invasion of privacy, defamation, copyright, libel, trademark infringement, slander, personal property infringement, etc.
21. Any prize winners will be required to sign an affidavit validating their entry into the contest.
22. Any writer winning a cash prize of over $599 will be required to file the appropriate tax and legal documentation before the cash prize is distributed.
23. All prizes provided by sponsors or mentors are subject to said sponsor or mentor providing the prize. WeScreenplay will do everything in its power to collect the prize packages promised, but is not responsible for a sponsor’s failed delivery.
24. Former Grand Prize, Second Prize, and Third Prize Winners of the contest may enter so long as it is NOT the same script that won in a previous year. Any other placement in former years does not disqualify the script from being entered this year.
25. By entering the competition, entrants are acknowledging their eligibility for the competition. 99.9 % of entrants enter in good faith, and validating everyone at that stage would be inefficient and take away from efforts reading and finding the best scripts. We do check eligibility at the finalist stage before picking winners or distributing any prizes. We also advance a few additional scripts to ensure no one is missed by someone entering who is not eligible. We check all finalists and on a case by case basis in earlier rounds if something seems like it may not be eligible.
26. Void where prohibited.
27. Except where prohibited by law, participation in the contest constitutes each entrant’s consent to WeScreenplay and its agents’ and contest sponsor’s use of entrants’ names, likenesses, photographs, and/or personal information for promotional purposes in any media, worldwide, without further payment or consideration. All uses of a entrants’ information are in accordance with our Privacy Policy.
28. BY ENTERING THE CONTEST YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THAT YOU HAVE READ AND AGREE TO THESE CONDITIONS. You agree to release and hold harmless WeScreenplay, Red Ampersand, Inc., Industry Arts, LLC., WeScreenplay.com, its subsidiary, parent and affiliated companies, Prize contributors, judges, screenplay readers, Sponsors, and any other organizations responsible for administering, advertising or promoting the Contest, and every one of their respective members, directors, employees, agents and representatives (collectively, the “Released Parties”) past and present from and against any and all claims, expenses, and liability, including but not limited to damages and negligence to property and persons, including but not limited to invasion of privacy, defamation, slander, libel, violation of right of publicity, copyright, infringement of trademark or other intellectual property rights relating to a participant’s Entry, participation in the Contest and/or acceptance or use or misuse of Prize; provided however, that such release will not apply to any commercial exploitation of the script by a Released Party in violation of your rights under applicable copyright law; and (c) indemnify, defend and hold harmless the WeScreenplay.org and its Sponsor, agents and employees from and against any and all claims, expenses, and liabilities (including reasonable attorney’s fees) relating to an entrant’s participation in the Contest and/or entrant’s use or misuse of Prize. Employees of WeScreenplay and their immediate families are ineligible to participate in this contest. Any such submission will be immediately disqualified. ENTRY TO THIS CONTEST IS VOID WHERE PROHIBITED or restricted by any Federal, State or Local law. Voided entries will be refunded. Recipients’ eligibility will be verified before the grant is awarded and the winner may be required to sign an affidavit of eligibility.