The Film Empire's inaugural film mentorship contest provides a unique platform for blossoming filmmakers! Submit your projects for a chance to receive mentorships and meetings with some of Hollywood's leading producers, development executives, screenwriters, directors, cinematographers and other creatives. The mentors represent the full spectrum of the filmmaking process, from development to post-production.

Contest culminates at MixKnowledgy's summer event on Friday, July 28th at The Reserve in Downtown Los Angeles. Speakers include screenwriter Zack Stentz (The Flash, Thor, X-Men: First Class), TV literary coordinator Danny Alexander of Agency of the Performing Arts, United Talent Agency agent Tara Jones, publicist Heather Weiss, Empire executive producer Loucas George, manager/partner Cindy Ambers of Art/Work Entertainment (management company to Arrival writer Eric Heisserer), manager Brian Dobbins of Principato-Young Entertainment (rep to director F. Gary Gray, Jon Chu, Tracee Ellis Ross), Kate Kratz of Crypt TV, and manager Glenn Rigberg of Inphenate, and more to be announced.

Awards & Prizes

Grand Prize (limited to one winner):

Ticket for (1) to be flown into Los Angeles for 5 days of meetings with promoted mentors. Hotel stay for (1) for 5 days/4 nights of visit. Winner will be given a tour of Hollywood studios, production, and/or management companies. Some meetings will take place via video conference due to volume of mentors involved. A copy of Final Draft 10, FilmConvert, (1) SpecScout submission, SellAScript listings, $750 cash prize, dinner with co-founders of MixKnowledgy and The Film Empire, a 15 minute guest appearance at MixKnowledgy's summer event in the form of a solo Q&A alongside the Hollywood lineup, two free tickets for a year to any events hosted by MixKnowledgy (travel not included in this individual prize) and press coverage. After the week of mentorships, The Film Empire will arrange one monthly video conference call every month for a year with different mentors, totaling (12) video calls.

MENTORS
Find more information about our mentors here:

Bekah Brunstetter (producer & writer, This Is Us)
Tobias Schliessler (cinematographer, Beauty and the Beast (2017), Hancock)
Scott Steindorff (producer, Chef, The Lincoln Lawyer)
Maia Glikman (Sony Pictures Television)
Daniel Levin (executive producer, Lion)
Dana Ledoux Miller (writer and producer, Designated Survivor, Narcos, The Newsroom)
Siddharta Khosla (film and television composer, This is Us)
Lesley Barber (film and television composer, Manchester by the Sea)
Constance Tillotson of LA Management (reps an Academy Award-nominated writer/producer)
Ben Davis (cinematographer, Doctor Strange, Guardians of the Galaxy)
Peter Schink (screenwriter, Legion)
Michael Shawver (editor, Marvel's Black Panther, Creed, Fruitvale Station)
Joseph Garner (producer, War Dogs, executive at Bradley Cooper's Joint Effort)
Amal Baggar (co-producer, Concussion)
Joshua Butler (TV director, The Vampire Diaries, Pretty Little Liars, The Magicians)
Alex Barnes (Trigger Street Productions)
Dan Liu (editor, The Walking Dead)
Alex Czuleger (manager/CEO, Green Room Mgmt)
Dan Scheinkman (Le Vision Pictures, Variety's Top New Leaders in Film 2016)
Kameron Tarlow (development, Hazy Mills Productions)
Talia Cohen (First Look Media)
Lauren Selig (executive producer of Hacksaw Ridge, Jumanji)
Kate Lilly (Film/TV coordinator at Funny or Die)
David Baggelaar (creative executive, Good Fear Film + Management)
Matt Birch (SVP, co-head, physical production | APA)

Mentors are subject to change.

Grand Prize Trip will take place July 24th - July 28th.

First Runner Up:
Three mentor video conference sessions (mentor to be decided at later time). Final Draft 10 and FilmConvert software to download. One free ticket to the MixKnowledgy event in July for The Film Empire (travel not included).

Second Runner Up:
One mentor video conference session (mentor to be decided at later time). Final Draft 10 and FilmConvert software to download. One free ticket to the MixKnowledgy event in July for The Film Empire (travel not included).

More prizes may be announced.

Rules & Terms

We love everyone but you must be a resident of United States, Mexico, Canada, United Kingdom or Australia.
Must be 18 years or older to enter. No fake I.D.’s!
The winning film (short or feature) must not be optioned by any studio, production company or investor. The winning film must not be owned by parties other than the filmmaker submitting. If written by a team, only submitting filmmaker is eligible to receive any offered prizes.
Both feature films and short films are eligible as we seek the best storytelling regardless of length.
The winning filmmaker must be able to travel on the dates set by The Film Empire team as the mentors schedules adhere to established dates ahead of time. Mentorship will occur on the final week of July 2017, culminating the MixKnowledgy’s summer event.
Films must be uploaded to FilmFreeway available to The Film Empire judging team.
Films do not have to be in English but captions must be available if made in another languages.
Any genre will be accepted.
Applicants may submit project to other contests, we won’t tie you down! You’re not married to us, submit around!
Applicants can submit as many films as they wish, with additional entry fees, but there are no resubmissions of a singular project. No refunds once submitted.

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  • Daniel Mentz

    The Film Empire makes dreams come true.
    It was just another day dedicated to film festival submissions. I browsed listings on the two popular submission platforms and stumbled across the inaugural Mentorship Contest by The Film Empire. After reading the first few names on the mentor list, I submitted our feature film ‘Slipaway’ without hesitation.
    We did not expect to get very far, since the lineup of mentors would surely attract hundreds of other filmmakers.
    Yet we made it into the Top 10. Then we made it into the Top 3.
    When they finally announced that ‘Slipaway’ won, I turned to my wife and co-creator Julia Butler, stuttering: “I… I think we won the Mentorship Contest.”
    I am still somewhat in disbelief about the entire experience.
    Not only are the founders Brandon & Erman genuinely kind, generous and hard-working entrepreneurs, but their Mentorship Contest has opened up opportunities for us that we previously had only dreamed about.
    Over the course of one single week, I met and spoke with one amazing mentor after another. I got to pitch our projects in development and received invaluable advice on filmmaking, distribution and the current state of the entertainment industry. It would have taken me years of trial and error to learn all of this on my own.
    It was one of the most intense and overwhelming weeks of my life, but positively so. To this day, I am still in touch with the mentors and continue to receive guidance.
    The Mentorship Contest has been a definitive life- and career-changer. The Film Empire opens doors. They make dreams come true.
    Words are not enough to express my deepest gratitude for The Film Empire and their Mentorship Contest. I encourage all indie filmmakers to submit their latest project. You won’t regret it.

    September 2017
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