2023 writing contest main ident

WriteMovies 2023 Screenwriting Contest: Prices frozen!

Since 1999, WriteMovies’ screenwriting contests guarantee to develop our winners’ projects at our own expense and pitch them to producers with the power to make them happen. Our contests are designed to show you exactly how well your script currently competes in the market, and a clear ladder to success.

Our results – with up to 50+ Quarter-Finalists, 25+ Semi-Finalists, 7+ Honorable Mentions and 5 winners – show you where your project currently sits in comparison to others, and our studio-quality tiers of script mentoring and script consultancy show you its potential and how to remove the obstacles to that success without compromising on the things that matter most to you about your script.

Because we’re serious about selling our winners’ scripts, and we can prove we have the contacts and meetings to put them in front of decision makers at the heart of the international entertainment industry, our contests are designed to give all writers a clear sense of where their script currently stands in the market – and the clear answers you need about all that your project could achieve and how to fulfil it.

You can also get free entry to this contest by submitting to one of our genre awards: the WriteMovies Horror Award, the WriteMovies Romance and Comedy Award, or the WriteMovies Sci-Fi and Fantasy Award.

All submissions receive a one-page summary of the strengths and weaknesses of your entry’s crucial first ten pages – and then you can resubmit your redraft for free to the same contest, up until the contest closes! And at a time when lots of costs are going up for everybody, we’ve frozen our prices, to help you how we can…

Awards & Prizes

Grand Prize: $3500

Top five scripts all receive:
- A year of free script development worth up to $3200
- Guaranteed pitching to industry
- Exclusive listing on InkTip for the top 4 winners - visibility to proven producers who are looking for scripts

Rules & Terms

- We no longer accept checks due to issues with fraud.

- There are no physical items deliverable under our services – all reports will be provided by email in standard document formats.

- Once a project has been processed, there is no refund.

- Cancellations must be requested within 48 hours before any public announcement of winning entries and/or before receipt of any completed.

- Entries MUST have a cover sheet/titlepage with contact info in order to be considered.

- Grand Prize: $3,500 cash prize and guaranteed representation. 1 Full year of script mentoring for the top five winners, including development notes on re-writes of the top 3 winning scripts worth $3,200

- Up to $1 million in option monies from the A-List producers we work with. If an established studio/production company makes an offer on your script, we will fly you to Los Angeles and cover your flight & hotel costs for three days. We will pitch the top three projects to relevant production companies. You keep ALL the option/sales money (unless you commission an agent, manager or attorney to represent you). The Grand Prize winner is also pitched to several literary agencies and management companies as well as non-US companies to increase the chances of a sale. The names of the top three winners and their projects are mentioned in press releases and on the web.
5 Reviews
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  • Kent Flaagan

    Very good replying to emails.

    August 2022
    Helpful
  • Jeremy Mayer

    This is a great festival. They keep their promises on deadlines and details. The feedback was useful and prompt. They communicate well, and I was honored to be selected as honorable mention, one of the top ten of hundreds.

    August 2022
    Helpful
  • Drew Henriksen

    Very happy to make Quarter-Finalist!

    August 2022
    Helpful
  • Alan David Pritchard

    Very pleased that my novel 'The Pebble Champion' received Honorable Mention.

    August 2021
    Helpful
  • Ernestina Juarez

    As someone who had the honor of being named the Grand Prize Winner of the Spring 2021 contest, I was delighted to discover that the announcement of the results was only the beginning! WriteMovies provides its winners and finalists with opportunities to have their work receive serious consideration by people who work in the film industry. It’s great to win or place high in a screenwriting contest, but it is more important to receive the kind of career shaping guidance and assistance that WriteMovies makes available to its entrants.
    Ernestina Juárez

    August 2021
    Helpful