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Elissa Down

DIRECTOR

Elissa’s assured debut feature, The Black Balloon received over thirty awards including six AACTA awards including Best Film, Best Direction and Best Screenplay, as well as accolades from the Australia Directors’ and Writers’ Guilds, Asia Pacific Screen Awards and Rotten Tomatoes. Elissa Directed the “The Honor List” and on this Lionsgate film the crew was 60% female. In 2020, Elissa directed the movie “Feel the Beat”, starring Sofia Carson and produced by Susan Cartsonis. This family dance film was an international hit being the third most streamed movie on Netflix for the month of June, as well as being the 18th most watched movie of the year on the platform. Elissa teamed with Netflix once again by directing the Ivy + Bean movie series. Currently, Elissa is in post-production for While the Men Are Away for SBS which she is also an executive producer. Other work from Elissa includes writing and directing the 7-part drama, Confess, for Awestruck and go90.

David Ebeltoft

SCREENWRITER

David Ebeltoft’s screenwriting work includes the survivalist horror film HERE ALONE, which won the prestigious Tribeca Film Festival Audience Award before releasing on Netflix in 2017, ROOT LETTER, a hardboiled drama that released on Amazon Prime in 2022, and the currently-in-post-production, BLOOD FOR DUST, a gritty thriller starring Kit Harington, Scoot McNairy, and Josh Lucas.

Craig Luck

SCREENWRITER, PRODUCTION

Craig Luck co-wrote the award-winning Apple TV movie FINCH starring Tom Hanks. Craig has worked on many prestigious Hollywood filmsets such as the live action remake of Cinderella, Maleficent, Thor the Dark world, Kick Ass 2, Doctor Strange and many more.

GRAND –––
––– PRIZES

1 month "boosted" feature on the SWN script market

$50 Gift card to be redeemed on Filmmania Gifts

The SWN hanging frame award with your winning script and laurels inside

Your script will be sent to our judges and select members of our contacts

Lifetime subscription to Final Draft Pro (worth $249.99)

Your script will be sent to our judges and select members of our contact

A lifetime pro membership with SWN, this will give you unlimited access to our job board, script library and script market

SUBMISSION BENEFITS

Every script submitted gets registered with SWN for free. No need to register with the Writers’ Guilds (WGA, WGUK etc.).

You will receive a $10 gift card from us to be redeemed on our Script Coverage services

FREE eBook

OUR PARTNERS

RECEIVE FEEDBACK

RULES & TERMS

All submissions must be written in English.

All ages are eligible.

Material submitted must be written and owned by the person submitting it. You may submit as many entries as you like.

All entries must be uploaded in PDF format.

You may resubmit your entered script once at the discretion of Screenwriters Network. This will be dependent on where the script is in our process and whether this has already been assigned to a reader/ judge.

If submitting as a team a singular prize package (only) will be made out to the initial person who submitted.

Scripts submitted to the SWN Screenplay Competition are protected and remain the owner of the person(s) that submitted.

If you have any further questions, please contact us.

The winners are selected based on the some of the following elements:

Plot

What does your story consist of? Is the bulk of your story great action, meaningful moments and interesting plot related scenes. Or is it a little mild, unrelated and/or too reflective of everyday life. What events does your script consist of to pull in the audience? Is it related to the character desire and potential theme?

 

Character Development

What interesting character traits do your characters have? Are they 3-dimensional and interesting? Do they have a past? Are they unique and fascinating? Are they boring, passive and/or underdeveloped?

 

Cinematic Potential

Does your script have many moments that will translate well visually? Is this script non-visual and unimaginative? Does it have an array of exciting, interesting or unfamiliar locations? Does it have any breathtaking, thematic or nuanced scenes? Will a director be able to interpret this script well?

 

Denouement

The denouement is the culmination of all events of your script; the pay off! How impactful is your ending? Is your resolution satisfying and related to your characters desire? What’s the lasting impression on the audience? Have all loose ends and sub-plots been resolved or addressed?

 

Prologue

The prologue is your opening image, the introduction to your story. Does your opening set up a theme? Is there a hook or device that draws the audience in at the beginning? Is the introduction to your story memorable, impactful or shocking?

 

Call to Adventure

The call to adventure is often a very good predictor of how strong your characters desire is. This works hand in hand with your protagonists desire. What is it that sets your character on their journey? Is it an impactful or emotional event or series of events? How strong is your call to adventure? Is it a fleeting thought within your protagonist, or is it devastating or dramatic moment?

 

Dialogue

Is the dialogue overused, too obvious and revealing? Is it repetitive? Is the dialogue used in a way that’s unique? Is there subtext involved? Do all of the characters speak differently? Is the dialogue poignant? Is there a good amount of conflict in the dialogue? Is some of the dialogue too long?

 

Pacing

Is this script well-paced? Does it have any slow moments? Is the pacing too fast without any breaks in the drama or action? How well paced is the beginning, middle and end acts? Could the story be shorter? Could it be longer?

Screenwriters Network does not claim ownership of any script submitted. All rights to the screenplays submitted to our competition remains with the original rights holders until and unless other agreements are made.

Except where prohibited by law, participation in the SWN Screenplay Competition constitutes each entrant’s consent to Screenwriters Network and its 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.

Details submitted by any entrant are private and in no way used or shared by any of our partners unless consent is given to award prizes.

All entries are non-refundable.

By submitting your email with Screenwriters Network (us), FilmFreewayCoverfly or ISA Connect you hereby consent for Screenwriters Network to email you in the future about competition updates and other future notifications. This is so we can send you your submission benefits and also notify you when other competitions may be taking place.

We recommend that scripts should be written in 12-point courier font.

Page lengths MUST meet the guidelines stated below or there is an additional cost of $1 per page.

– Feature Lengths screenplays must be 200 pages or under.

– TV Pilot screenplays must be 75 pages or under.

– Short Film screenplays must be 45 pages or under.

Please do not include any personal information (including your name), cover letter, CV, synopses, or photos with your submission. These will not be forwarded to the readers/ judges. We pride ourselves on judging anonymously and therefore the script must be presented without any of this information.

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