At Screenwriters Network we are dedicated to providing value to all of our submitters. The Grand Prize winners will receive prizes that help them move to the next step in their career as we provide a platform for exposure to many popular production companies.
Anders Thomas Jensen’s is a Danish award-winning screenwriter who has received 40 awards including an Oscar and multiple Academy Awards for his Short Films. Anders has also been nominated for 44 awards, his work includes Riders of Justice starring Mads Mikkelsen, Oscar Winning short film “Election Night”, Oscar nominated short films “Wolfgang” and “Ernst & Lyset”
Alice Doyard is an Oscar and Academy Award winning French producer who has produced the also award-winning short film “Colette” and in her credits she has produced TV series for the BBC called “Our World” and written and directed the powerful film “Brave Britain with Fergal Keane”.
Kirk DeMicco is an American screenwriter and director. He sold his first spec script called "Day in November" to Arnold Kopelson in 1995. Since then, Kirk has been fortunate enough to adapt the work of many of his writing heroes such as: Roald Dahl, Jack Kirby and Elmore Leonard, and had the great opportunity to co-write two scripts with comedy legend John Cleese. He wrote and co-directed DreamWorks Animation's "The Croods," which was nominated for the 2013 Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.
Promotion of your script via a social media post across the Screenwriters Network platform (56k followers)
$50 Gift card to be redeemed on Filmmania Gifts
The SWN hanging frame award with your winning short film script and laurels inside
A lifetime SWN PRO membership giving unlimited access to script market where you can upload your winning script, script library, job board and more.
Lifetime subscription to Final Draft Pro (worth $249.99)
Your script will be sent to our judges and select members of our contacts
Receive a 4-month InkTip Pro Membership. Thousands of filmmakers can find and read your scripts, and you'll be able to pitch directly to production companies every week.
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
Screenwriting is a very solitary endeavor with little to know professional feedback throughout the process, so it’s often hard to know how far along you are with your goals and what steps you need to take next to reach that goal.
Sometimes it’s good to have a scrupulous consultant analyse your screenplay as they can not only pick up story issues, but also grammatical errors and formatting mistakes; things that could easily make producers stop reading your script.
“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results” – Albert Einstein. If you’re not getting anywhere in screenwriting competitions or gaining any traction with producers and prodcution companies, it might be time to see why…
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), FilmFreeway, Coverfly 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.