ScreenCraft's Short Screenplay Competition is one of Hollywood's top contests celebrating short-form screenwriting. With the rise in demand for high-quality short content across new platforms and devices, and the increased industry importance placed on short filmmaking worldwide, we’re honoring the craft of short-form narrative screenwriting with this competition, which features a prestigious jury of industry-leading professionals.

All finalists will receive a guaranteed meeting with an industry professional!

Awards & Prizes

GRAND PRIZE MENTOR

The Grand Prize Winner this year will receive a mentorship with filmmaker Joe Russo which includes personalized feedback over the course of a year, two virtual meetings, and project development insights.

Joe Russo is a three-time BloodList screenwriter and producer whose recent feature film credits include the Mickey Rourke-starring horror anthology NIGHTMARE CINEMA, the Bruce Willis-starring HARD KILL, the Ryan Phillippe, Ving Rhames and Kate Bosworth-starring THE LOCKSMITH and the Zac Efron, Russell Crowe-starring THE GREATEST BEER RUN EVER.

JURY

JASON GOLDBERG
Head of Global Film, Wattpad WEBTOON Studios

Jason Goldberg is the Head of Global Film for Wattpad WEBTOON Studios. He previously served as the Vice President of Scripted Film and Television Development at the independent studio Gunpowder & Sky, founded by Van Toffler (Election, Napoleon Dynamite). He formerly worked at MTV Studios, HBO, & Lee Daniels Entertainment.

MICHAEL DAVIS
Manager - Citizen Skull Productions

Michael Jeffrey Davis is a Manager with Citizen Skull Productions and a prior Coordinator at Elevate Entertainment. A Master’s graduate from UCLA, Michael was the recipient of the Judges and Audience Awards at its annual Producers Marketplace. This spring, Michael was a producer on Tyler Taormina’s CHRISTMAS EVE IN MILLER’S POINT, a spirited indie featuring Michael Cera, Elsie Fisher, Maria Dizzia, Francesca Scorsese, and more.

AYANNA ANENE
Development Executive

Ayanna Anene is former Director of the Writers’ Colony, a writers’ residency for emerging screenwriting talent based in Los Angeles. Before that, she touched all areas of development and production at story27 productions, an LA-based TV and film production company founded by Mara Brock Akil. Ayanna began her entertainment career at ABC Studios supporting deal development for above the line talent (Writers, Producers, Directors and Actors) for primetime television shows including THE GOOD DOCTOR, THE FIX, DOWNWARD DOG, THE MAYOR, REEF BREAK, TAKE TWO, among others. Having worked with colleagues at The Walt Disney Company, Netflix, Apple, Fox Broadcasting Company, ABC Studios, Warner Brothers and beyond, Ayanna has garnered a wealth of knowledge about navigating the studio/streamer system and the deal development process. Hailing from the midwest, Ayanna is also a producer obsessed with character-driven stories that tackle big thematic questions.

MITHRA ALAVI
Former Short Film Winner / Staff Writer

Mithra Alavi is an Iranian American comedy writer/director. Raised Muslim in the Evangelical Bible belt of Northeast Tennessee, Mithra credits her mixed cultural background as the source of inspiration for her work. Her most recent short film, BIRD'S FLY HOME has been accepted into the Academy Award Qualifying, LA Short International Film Festival, and won Best Narrative Short at the Indie Spirit Film Festival and Best Drama Short at the Hollywood Reel Independent Film Festival. Her student film THREE’S A CROWD was a Student Emmy Award winner. Mithra’s original pilot RULES FOR BEING A MUTT helped earn her a spot in Disney General Entertainment’s 2022 Writing Program, which led to her current position as a Staff Writer on Season 2 of Freeform’s SINGLE DRUNK FEMALE.

ADD-ON MENTORSHIP PRIZE OPPORTUNITY

This optional add-on prize category will identify one winner to learn, workshop, and strengthen their project with guidance from an industry mentor. This year's mentor Nuhash Humayun will select one writer/writer team that includes this unique add-on benefit with their entry.

Nuhash Humayun is a Bangladeshi writer/director with a love for combining genre with South Asian identity. A self-taught filmmaker, Nuhash wrote, directed and edited the short film MOSHARI (2022), which won the 2022 SXSW Jury Award as well as 10 awards at HollyShorts, Fantasia, Atlanta, Melbourne and many more. MOSHARI is the first Oscar qualifying film in Bangladesh history. After the short film's meteoric festival run, Jordan Peele and Riz Ahmed signed on as Executive Producers on MOSHARI. Nuhash's supernatural anthology PETT KATA SHAW (2023), widely touted to have reinvented Bangladeshi horror, premiered at the Fantasia International Film Festival and the Rotterdam Film Festival. Nuhash also wrote and directed the Hulu original FOREIGNERS ONLY (2023), the first Bangladeshi original on a U.S. streaming service. FOREIGNERS ONLY won the Gold Audience Award at Fantasia, the Jury Award for Best Horror at HollyShorts and screened at festivals around the world including the prestigious BFI London Film Festival. Nuhash is currently developing his debut feature MOVING BANGLADESH, a coproduction between Bangladesh, Taiwan and USA.

Only projects submitted to the ScreenCraft Short Film Screenplay Competition AND that select this add-on are eligible for consideration in this category. Additionally, all projects that place in the Top 10 of the competition will automatically be considered.

PRIZES

The overall grand prize winner will be welcomed to the Writer Development Program and receive individualized consulting regarding your portfolio and career goals, and receive introductions with one or more top Hollywood literary managers, execs, or producers who are looking for talented emerging screenwriters.

In addition, the winner's project info and log lines will be recommended in a targeted way to our network of 150+ Hollywood managers, agents, producers and development executives with mandates that match your writing and voice.

ScreenCraft has a proven track record for getting writers signed with managers, agents, and staffed in writing rooms.

Grand Prize
- Personal Introduction to industry professionals
- Accepted into the Writer Development Program
- $1,000 cash award
- An exclusive invitation to a Finalist+ workshop to position yourself and your writing to the industry

Runner Up
- $500 cash award
- Accepted into the Writer Development Program
- An exclusive invitation to a Finalist+ workshop to position yourself and your writing to the industry

Finalists
- A guaranteed meeting with an industry professional
- An exclusive invitation to a Finalist+ workshop to position yourself and your writing to the industry

Rules & Terms

For full rules, terms, and conditions, please visit -- https://screencraft.org/short-film/

Rules:

1. Submissions are accepted via electronic submission only.

2. Entry fees are as listed on the site and checkout form. No coupon or discount is applicable on a previous entry.

3. Optional feedback from a professional reader may be requested at the time of entry. Requests for feedback can be done through Coverfly.

4. While short scripts may be any length, we recommend scripts be between 2 - 30 pages. Any script submission longer than 30 pages will incur a $1 per page overage fee for each page over 30.

5. Entries must be received on or before the deadline dates by 11:59PM Pacific Time, and submission fee payment must be made in full at time of the submission. All entry fees are non-refundable.

6. All submitted material must be owned by the writer(s), however the material may be based on other works not owned by the writers.

7. Material must be submitted by the writer. Material written by writing teams must be submitted by one of the writers, with consent of the other(s).

8. If a writing team is chosen as a winner, prizes will be given to the person who submits the project. Each team is responsible for dividing or sharing any prizes awarded as they deem fair (whether there is a cash value or not).

9. Substitutions of either corrected pages or new drafts of the entered material will be allowed for a limited time with a $6 reentry fee through Coverfly. Please proofread your script carefully before submitting.

10. It is recommended that original material be registered with the WGA or The Library of Congress before submitting to any competition, however we do not require registration.

11. Contact info may be included on the cover page of the screenplay, however it is not required. ScreenCraft uses Coverfly to manage submissions and automatically removes cover pages before scripts are read by the judges.

12. ScreenCraft claims no ownership nor option on your work. All ownership and rights to the scripts submitted to this contest remains with the original rights holders.

13. 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.

14. ScreenCraft reserves the right to change deadline and announcement dates at any time.

15. ScreenCraft reserves the right to amend these rules at any time.

ELIGIBILITY:
1. All writers at least 18 years of age are eligible. However, a writer who has earned more than $50,000 (or equivalent currency) from professional writing services for film or TV in the preceding 12 months or $500,000 (or equivalent currency) from professional film or TV in the proceeding 10 years is not eligible. (Contest winnings not included.)

2. All persons from anywhere in the world are eligible; however the material submitted must be in English (occasional dialogue in other languages is acceptable, if subtitle translation is provided).

3. All material submitted to other competitions or contests are eligible for this contest.

4. The material may have been written at any time.

5. Material should be submitted in standard screenplay format, font, spacing and margin.

6. We have no preferences regarding title page content. Title and name of writer would suffice.

7. All material must be submitted electronically as a PDF. Broken files or non-PDF files may be accepted, but if the file cannot be read ScreenCraft will not judge the submission.

8. ScreenCraft reserves the right to amend these rules at any time.

9. Prize winners may be required to sign an affidavit of eligibility and proper tax documentation before prizes are released.

10. By entering the competition, user acknowledges their eligibility for the competition. ScreenCraft will verify all eligibility requirements at the finalist stage of the competition and before distributing any prizes.