Submit the first 10 pages of your script, get feedback from professionals, and get your screenplay performed by professional actors. At least 2-5 winners every single month.
An excellent séance fraudster evades police capture by faking his death.
CAST LIST:
Narrator: Elizabeth Rose Morriss
Dr. Johnson: Geoff Mays
Maria: Ariel Brooker
Roy: Hugh Ritchie
Rosemary: Julie Burris
Voice of Dead Child: Pip Dwyer
Get to know the writer:
What is your screenplay about?
An out of luck carnival medium tries for one last big score on a desperate widow, and discovers his act might not be a con after all.
What genres does your screenplay fall under?
Drama, horror.
Why should this screenplay be made into a movie?
A story about the final scam of a carnival con man who claims to be able to speak with the dead: who wouldn’t be intrigued?
How would you describe this script in two words?
Gravity’s Pull.
What movie have you seen the most times in your life?
The Adventures of Baron Munchausen.
How long have you been working on this screenplay?
A few years.
How many stories have you written?
50 or so.
What is your favorite song? (Or, what song have you listened to the most times in your life?)
Moritat (Sonny Rollins)
What obstacles did you face to finish this screenplay?
Always finding the time, and then the distance to read it objectively.
Apart from writing, what else are you passionate about?
Not much.
What influenced you to enter the festival? What were your feelings on the initial feedback you received?
This script had some success in various contests, but little else. After putting it aside for a year, I decided to try another draft, and wanted to get some feedback on the first scene. I enjoyed your contest, and the feedback was worth the entry fee. The first scene and its aftermath become increasingly central to this story as it unfolds, so it was important for me to see if it worked, as odd visuals are quickly introduced. And the central question of whether you want to spend more time with this character.
OCD (working title) is about a young woman who begins to have dark obsessions after an HIV scare.
What genres does your screenplay fall under?
Drama, Dark-Comedy
Why should this screenplay be made into a movie?
The script is currently 231 pages so it could be either a TV mini-series or film series. OCD should be made because it’s
an untold story relevant to the Millennial age.
How would you describe this script in two words?
“Digital Loneliness”
What movie have you seen the most times in your life?
It’s a tie between The Santa Clause or Deathproof.
How long have you been working on this screenplay?
Almost a year now.
How many stories have you written?
I’ve written several short stories but this is my first full-length story.
What motivated you to write this screenplay?
Something happened to me a year ago that left me in a state of devastation and I began writing this. It was the only thing that
made me feel better.
What obstacles did you face to finish this screenplay?
A major obstacle was finding a quiet place to write. I live in a loud household. It’s hard to write when there is some annoying
noise going on. I’m still trying to find a quiet, private place. Mostly, I write at night when everyone is asleep. Headphones,
earplugs, and music/atmospheric sound help.
Apart from writing, what else are you passionate about?
I’m currently reading Les Miserables by Victor Hugo, which I had put off for years because it looked so long and boring.
But I’m so glad I started, because so far, it’s one of the best stories I’ve ever read.
What influenced you to enter the festival? What were your feelings on the initial feedback you received?
I had also just rewritten the first scene so it was kind of a sign for me. Also, I found a coupon code on Facebook.
The feedback was paramount to my script’s consistent progress. It really encouraged me as a new writer, because it’s rare to get encouragement when people think you’re in your room all the time doing nothing, and you’re actually writing.
Plays from the perspective of a bedridden patient who – in the beginning – is unable to communicate his thoughts to the world.
Get to know the writer:
What is your screenplay about?
A rebellious young Carer becomes the keeper of her Patient’s secret, one which could destroy his family, the empire on which their wealth depends, and the government it’s helped control.
What genres does your screenplay under?
Action-adventure, clue-puzzle, political thriller. Romance
Why should this screenplay be made into a movie?
It should be made because it’s a fun (and funny) emotionally-driven, action-adventure that thrills, entertains and satisfies. What more could you want?!
How would you describe this script in two words?
Evocatively provocative.
What movie have you seen the most times in your life?
It’s line-ball between Casablanca, The Searchers, and Some Like It Hot.
How long have you been working on this screenplay?
A couple of years and then some.
How many stories have you written?
15 of my own and 10 with co-creators.
What motivated you to write this screenplay?
I was inspired by feature films Venus and The Sea Inside, as well as by Dennis Potter’s ground-breaking television mini-series The Singing Detective.
What obstacles did you face to finish this screenplay?
Ensuring the characters’ truths trumped my temptation to plot as outrageously as they behaved.
Apart from writing, what else are you passionate about?
Directing, riding motorcycles and (attempting) being in the Now.
What motivated you to submit to the festival?
Hearing others’ interpretations and delivery of your words is always beneficial. The feedback prompted me to listen to an inner voice offering the same advice … which I’d been trying to ignore!
Aided by their human friends, chimpanzees with typewriters try to climb the Evolutionary ladder.
Interview with Steve Mikals:
1. What is your screenplay about?
My screenplay is about the comedy of Evolution, how bigger forces than we realize are at work on this planet. It begins with a book shop putting a chimpanzee with a typewriter in the window, to see if he will type Shakespeare. It then follows that thread to some logically absurd conclusions. Along the way this will involve a secret program of one hundred typing chimpanzees and the canon of Western literature, spoofs of Mafia loan sharks and “going to the mattresses”, and the DNA of Custer’s scalps. Plural.
Trust me, it works.
2. Why should this screenplay be made into a movie?
It deserves to be a movie because it entertains AND challenges the audience to think beyond comfort zones. Two examples of this are the classic comedy Groundhog Day, and one of my current favorites, Lucy, Luc Bresson’s provocative look at human potential welded to a Hong Kong action flick.
3. How would you describe this script in two words?
The Ruminant.
4. What movie have you seen the most times in your life?
Annie Hall. It’s one of the all-time greats, especially for an ending that refuses to pull punches.
5. How long have you been working on this screenplay?
I recently wrote a novel, my first. It took me three years, on and off. It took only three months to adapt it into the rough draft of this screenplay, but it has been polish and edit ever since.
6. How many stories have you written?
I have two others in progress. One, a followup to MSM, set in the same book shop with a few of the same characters. It has a killer opening sequence, but I have yet to settle on the metaphysical instrument it revolves around. The second is a romantic comedy that follows the aftermath of a divorce, and I hope captures some of the poignancy as well as the comic possibilities. I will submit both of the openings to this festival.
7. What motivated you to write this screenplay?
This screenplay began as a novel (my own), and as I watched the publishing world collapse in the Internet Age, I decided I had a better shot at success with a screenplay and film festivals like this one. Plus, I’ve given up reading novels, except for clean stylists that I find helpful in my writing, like Jonathan Franzen, Raymond Chandler, Elmore Leonard, and George Higgins,
8. What obstacles did you face to finish this screenplay?
I was working from a novel (my own) with TOO MANY funny plots, characters and scenes. I had to teach myself a great deal about editing and make tough but rewarding choices.
9. Apart from writing, what else are you passionate about?
You can be passionate about more than one thing? 🙂
10. What influenced you to enter the festival? What were your feelings on the initial feedback you received?
Critiquing the first ten pages is a great idea. That’s the easiest part to write, so it had better rock. The feedback is objective and helpful.
11. Any advice or tips you’d like to pass on to other writers?
Accept all feedback in the constructive spirit it is given. Let it sink in over time. These people are now where you want to be.
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Director/Producer: Matthew Toffolo
Casting Director: Sean Ballantyne
Editor: John Johnson
When the mysterious toy store owner gives orphaned Jack a real mermaid, his aunt and uncle must learn the difference between real and imaginary, before the mermaid kidnaps him, and they never see him again.
In the early 1940s in North Carolina as the soldiers prepare to go to War, Julianne balances the life on the farm with her family and being a showgirl for the army brats.
DIVERSITY 1st Scene Reading: INHERIT-LY GAY by Michael Preston 
1st Scene Reading: WHITTAKER ALGER AND DICK by Stephen Witty
COMEDY 1st Scene Reading: SUPERFAN by Harry Greenberger
COMEDY 1st Scene Reading: THE FRANCHISE by James Grayford
HORROR 1st Scene Reading: PUNCTURED by Shari Hamrick Grewal
HORROR 1st Scene Reading: TIMMY COOKE: A CANNIBAL LOVE STORY by Aaron Barrocas
FAN FICTION 1st Scene Reading: KENOBI: A STAR WARS STORY by Paul Watkins
THRILLER 1st Scene Reading: THE GIRL IN THE WELL by Richard Webb
ADVENTURE 1st SCENE Screenplay – THE MONSTER HUNTERS CODE
FAMILY 1st SCENE Screenplay – MY ATARI CHRISTMAS
1st SCENE Screenplay – DEFYING THE TIDE
THRILLER 1st Scene Screenplay – BUNNYMAN BRIDGE
1st SCENE Script – INT. CAR – NIGHT
1st SCENE Script – FAN SITE
1st SCENE Script – OCD
SUBMIT your TV PIOT Screenplay or TV SPEC Script
SUBMIT your SHORT Screenplay or FEATURE Script
FIRST SCENE (first 10pgs) Screenplay CONTEST
First Scene Screenplay Festival 