As I was finding more screenplay competitions to enter in search of my first win, I did make one decision that I regret. While I definitely feel I made a mistake with the way I entered into the Scriptapalooza Contest, that was more so in the gaffe I made with my submission, but I did ultimately submit for the services that I wanted to.
The regret I had was with my submission to the Chicago Script Awards.
This is not to say that there was anything wrong with the contest itself. It, like the earlier contests I had entered, offered multiple options for submissions, and while there was nothing inherently wrong with any of them, I do feel what I submitted for wasn’t right.
Let me explain.
The Chicago Script Award had something akin to a general submission for full length features. I found this to be standard among the contests I was entering: there would be entries for full length features, shorts, TV shows, all different types of projects that really needed their own category to fairly judge all the submissions.
Chicago, however, offered a category that wasn’t necessarily offered by all other contests: First Time Screenwriter. Now, given the guidelines for submissions in this category, I should point out that I did qualify. It was for writers who hadn’t had any of their scripts made into a feature length movie already. I believe even if you had a script optioned you couldn’t qualify. So this wasn’t a situation where I explicitly entered a contest I shouldn’t have.
I can even explain my mindset on this entry. In horse racing, owners may have a horse that can compete at a certain level, but not necessarily came away with wins. For example, a horse might have the speed and talent to run a stakes race, but it will rarely get into the winner’s circle. What savvy owners will do when they see this is drop the horse down a level in competition, maybe into something called an allowance race. The winnings from the race won’t be as high, but the competition will be easier, which could lead to more wins.
My thought was that if Dig Down was good enough to place as a finalist against all other entries, I would have a real leg up against first time writers. But I also feel this went against the spirit of this particular category. While its true that I didn’t have a writing credit to my name when it came to scripts, my screenplay for Dig Down now had the extra level of editing and polish thanks to the feedback provided by industry professionals, something other entries were likely not to have. By the standards of the rules for entry it was a level playing field, but it also wasn’t.
More than that though, I also regret it because I felt for the first time in this process, I was selling my script short. I had entered the Page Turner Competition using the option to get feedback and a phone consultation, the most costly option they had, because I believed in my script. And I was proud of the results, placing as a finalist. Entering in the first-time writer category felt like it was betraying that belief, like I was conceding it wasn’t good enough to beat the field, but if I narrowed it to what was likely to be a lot of first-time entrants, even though my script wasn’t a first-time entrant, that I could score a cheap win.
Regardless of whether or not I get a win in any screenwriting contest, I won’t ever enter as a first-time screenwriter again.
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