Stonestreet Studios is accepting submissions by independent writers for COMEDY MICROMOVIES, DRAMA MICROMOVIES, and DRAMEDY MICROMOVIES​. Our goal is to create a platform for emerging screenwriters to produce their writing with Stonestreet Studios and provide screening opportunities through our distribution arms,​ which includes access to our partnership with international platforms.

Stonestreet is a multi-functional production company with a decades-long track record of producing high-quality independent work covering a wide range of genres, formats, and thematic material. The purpose of submitting your work to Stonestreet is to see it produced by a team of proven professionals and brought to life featuring some of the most exciting young talent of today and tomorrow.

We invest a significant amount of time and money into our productions via the best equipment, crews, locations, and actors, including follow-up public relations; festival submissions, and /or delivery of projects for distribution. That being said, if we make any money on distribution, it goes toward helping us recoup our investment, and if there’s a profit on any of our MicroMovies, the funds go back into producing more new, relevant, and exciting work. If you are looking to partner for a monetary benefit, Stonestreet MicroMovie scripting may not be right for you. However, if you’re looking to produce your work in a collaborative, knowledgeable environment with a diverse team of proven professionals, then we are excited to read your work if it meets the parameters set forth below. Writers maintain copyright to their scripts, while Stonestreet owns the copyright to the film produced based on it.

A MICROMOVIE, a short film structure crafted at Stonestreet Studios, is a short film less than 10 minutes in length, filmed in one location and focusing on realistic, timely stories of the human condition.

Specific breakdowns for each category:

Script Length:
Between 3-5pages for a script that includes 2 characters of relatively equal weight.
4-7 pages for screenplays with 3 characters that carry equal weight.
5-10 pages for screenplays with 4 characters of relatively equal weight.

Genres:
● Comedy MicroMovie
● Drama MicroMovie
● Dramedy MicroMovie
● Comedy MicroMovie
● Dramatic or Comedic Musical MicroMovie - includes original lyrics and/or original music (one or the other or both) and scripted drama or comedy.

Open casting and inclusivity are encouraged, but a script that requires a specific race, religion, or gender should then be clarified and justified for all roles. IMPORTANT: for all scripts, please include 2-3 sentence character descriptions, as this will help us in terms of casting the best actors for each role.

Profanity, reference to violence, subversive or dysfunctional behavior, and intimacy must not be gratuitous, but character-specific and responsibly explored and integrated throughout the narrative.

Stonestreet reserves the right to move the notification/acceptance day for our MicroMovie contest. We are not always able to confirm which scripts will be produced until the semester progresses, so some scripts may not receive a response until we lock in our production schedule.

ABOUT STONESTREET

STONESTREET STUDIOS is celebrating 33 years as a New York City-based fully operative, multi-purpose, visual motion picture production studio, founded by Alyssa Rallo Bennett and Gary O. Bennett, director/writer/producer team. Stonestreet’s work ranges from award-winning socially speculative feature films such as ReRUN (Christopher Lloyd), Rain Without Thunder (Jeff Daniels, Linda Hunt, Steve Zahn) The Pack aka Smoking Non-Smoking (Luci Arnaz, Elizabeth Moss), to pilots, web series and Micro-Movies released internationally and on Stonestreet’s growing platforms.

Stonestreet has become known as an incubator of socially conscious, character-driven, and culturally provocative millennial and generation Y content, and talents such as Miles Teller (Whiplash, Divergent), Rachel Brosnahan (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, House of Cards), Camila Mendes (Riverdale), Beanie Feldstein (Booksmart), Xosha Roquemore (The Mindy Project), Francesca Reale (Stranger Things), Idina Menzel (Frozen), Rachel Sennott (Bottoms, Shiva Baby), and more.

Stonestreet is also an independent film production company creating feature films, TV pilots, web series, and short-form content and the Stonestreet Conservatory, the exclusive screen acting and production program of New York University Tisch School of the Arts Drama Department.

Stonestreet's films explore the passions, eccentricities, politics, and humor of character-driven, no-holds-barred stories that seek to entertain and enlighten. The Conservatory trains actors, writers, and directors in the art of screen acting and filmmaking within the professional environment of an independent film studio, empowering them to become producers of their work and careers.

Awards & Prizes

Have your film professionally produced by Stonestreet Studios, featuring Stonestreet's actors-in-residency and directed by filmmakers whose films have been featured in the Tribeca Film festival, Berlinale, Vice, FX, and more.

Rules & Terms

GENERAL RULES

Submitting your work for consideration is not a guarantee that Stonestreet will produce your writing.
Stonestreet Studios will own the copyright to the film. Winners will own the copyright to the written material.
TERMS and CONDITIONS
If more than one (1) party signs this agreement as submitter, then reference to “I”, “me”, “my” throughout this agreement shall apply to each party; jointly and separately.
My ENTRY has not been optioned, produced or purchased. If it does become optioned or produced or sold during the judging period then the ENTRY will be disqualified and the entry fee will be forfeited. It is my obligation to let the production company know that it has been optioned, sold or produced.

I understand creative revisions may be required prior to setting up meetings and therefore agree to the process. I also understand that if my script is chosen, it is a requirement to sign a release formin order to receive any prizes. I understand and accept without reservation that I am an independent contractor and that Stonestreet is not responsible for withholding any taxes or payments to any government agency, at any level, be it state, local or federal.

I grant Stonestreet permission to give a copy of my screenplay to industry members if requested. Industry includes but is not limited to network executives, agents, managers, casting directors and others that can aid in securing future work or funding to make my screenplay into a film or TV show.

I/We own and am/are the only authors of the material submitted with application and are the only people that can lay claim to this work. I further claim that the submitted material is not adapted from the work of any other author.

I understand that it is my sole responsibility to register Script with the U.S. Copyright Office or with the Writer’s Guild of America or the appropriate agency in my country.

I warrant that the use of the rights granted here and of any material supplied by me will not violate the rights of any third party. I agree to defend, indemnify and hold harmless Stonestreet, its officers, agencies, employees, and sponsors from any claims by third parties alleging that our content or material infringes on any third party’s rights. This Release and Hold Harmless Agreement shall bind my assigns and any representative.

This contract is the entire agreement between the parties hereto, and replaces and supersedes any prior agreement or understanding, verbal or written, with respect to the subject matter hereof. No amendment, addendum, modification or waiver of this contract or any portion hereof shall be valid unless contained in a writing signed by both parties hereto.

Any signed contract shall be deemed to be entered into in New York, NY, and shall be governed by and interpreted in accordance with the laws of the State of New York applicable to agreements entered into and carried out entirely within California. I agree that any and all disputes or controversies arising under this contract or any of its terms shall be resolved under the auspices of the American Arbitration Association, under its Commercial Arbitration Rules, through its New York, NY office; provided, however that I agree that my remedies for any breach of this contract by Stonestreet Studios, its officers, agencies, employees, and sponsors will be limited to damages to an action at law to recover and in no event will I be entitled to rescind or terminate this agreement or to seek injunctive or any other equitable relief.

I hereby certify that I am over eighteen years of age and competent to contract in my own name.