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As I mentioned last week, I wasn’t really sure where my script of Lock the Doors stood. I had gotten success initially, when all I was really looking for was feedback, but then when I tried to follow that success, I was surprised to find it non-existent. I decided at that point what was best for me was to stick with the initial plan, to seek out feedback.

Scriptapalooza was offering that, not as part of another screenwriting contest, but as a focused review of the first 20 pages of the screenplay. This felt worthwhile because I had heard several times that if a screenplay didn’t hook someone in the first fifteen, maybe even ten pages, they would just put it down and move on to the next script.

This review would be a good litmus test for my script.

So how did it do?

Honestly…poorly.

I had thought that I had set myself up pretty well pacing-wise in those initial twenty pages. It started out a little slow, admittedly, but it also introduced nearly all of the main characters, with the last one just arriving onto the scene around the twenty page mark, established the conflict, and even had the first tense scene that resulted in the first murder. For horror, this usually happened within the first couple pages, so again, I admit it started a little slow, but it still got there, established the stakes, and started to raise them.

The reviewer did not share my assessment of my first twenty.

They seemed intrigued by side characters more than the main ones who were in a bigger chunk of the script, even the first twenty pages. They said the characters all sounded the same. They were even saying they didn’t buy small actions like a character accidentally setting a siren off.

The experience wasn’t all bad. The feedback did identify some blind spots I had for my script. For instance, they wanted to flesh out a character mentioned in the script who was actually dead, something that was obvious in the book, but something I acknowledge I hadn’t conveyed in the screenplay. While I had identified this as horror, and its set in an isolated cabin in the woods, I think its fair they may have wanted to push me to develop characters who typically become fodder in these types of stories. And they had questions about where the story was going which I wanted to shout “You’ll get these answers if you read the whole thing!” but in fairness, their assignment was to only read the first twenty.

They also included a four rank scoring system from “Poor” to “Excellent.” Unfortunately, I was across the board “Fair” which was one rank above “Poor.” I knew that this evaluation was not of me as a writer, but of me as a screenwriter, but I was still expecting better of myself.

In the end, I had gotten feedback like I wanted. I just didn’t like the feedback I got.

As I mentioned in my previous post, after scoring some initial success for my script of Lock the Doors in the first screenplay contest I entered, it started trending in the wrong direction. Not only was I not building off the initial results, I wasn’t getting any results.

At that point, I was open to considering the possibility that while I had received positive feedback, this may be the outlier in the experience that all script readers were having. It had been the only contest that had offered feedback, which was what I originally sought after and was extremely helpful, but didn’t guarantee that the positives they saw in it were what other competitions saw or were even weighing equally.

I decided that what I needed was to find an avenue that offered me feedback on my script. While I had gotten what I was initially after, I could also see that I stopped pursuing feedback in lieu of similar results in the competitions. I had gotten a taste of success, and though I think its justifiable to believe that I would’ve gotten similar results, there was still the opportunity to grow and develop in a new medium.

After doing a little research for script analysis online, I found that Scriptapalooza was offering a review and analysis of the first 20 pages of screenplays submitted, as well as a scoring system. While I would have preferred a review of the entire screenplay, I understood that in this industry, because so many scripts come across people’s desks, it’s important to hook people within the first ten to fifteen pages.

Also, in the 13Horror.com contest where I was selected as a finalist, I received feedback on comments to get a better understanding of why I placed where I did. In TIFF and the other screenplay competition where I was not selected…well, that’s all the information I got. I had no idea where I stood among the other entries, had no idea what my script had done right, and -more importantly- what it did wrong.

Also, the only feedback I had gotten on the revisions I had made was that I placed as a finalist. But I didn’t actually know if I had implemented the changes in the most effective manner.

The additional feedback Scriptapalooza would provide offered the possibility of finding out what might still be lacking in my script that could get me over the hump of these pesky “Not Selecteds.” The notes would be something to compare and contrast to the previous notes I received, to see if the issues identified were still prevalent, or if something else was holding it back.

I’ll share the results from this 20 page feedback, next time.

Although my bold claims that everything was going to go my way while on vacation were dashed when I got the results from the Toronto International Film Festival and found my screenplay had not been selected, I still felt like I was in a really good place. The feedback I had gotten from the first contest I had entered was mostly positive, and I placed as a finalist. Not getting selected didn’t even feel like a setback, it was on a draft that hadn’t implemented the changes I’d made, and horror wasn’t likely to have a strong showing at a competition as prestigious as TIFF.

I felt the best placement for Lock the Doors in screenplay competitions would be in contests actually for horror scripts. And so, I preceded to enter my script into two more horror screenwriting contests. I felt like I was putting myself in a great position to succeed.

Some time went by, and the deadline for the earlier contest arrived. I opened the email and my eyes immediately honed in on “Unfortunately…”

Whoa! What was going on here?

All of a sudden, the contest where I was selected as a finalist was the outlier. This actually was starting to become crushing because it had been the first competition I had entered Lock the Doors into. I still felt like I could dismiss the results of Toronto, as I would readily admit my script didn’t fit what they were looking for. But now this contest, with its focus purely on horror, was telling me my script didn’t fit their competition either.

At this point, I knew what was best wasn’t to just continue submitting my script into more competitions. It also wasn’t to just give up and stop applying at all. I had gotten some much valued feedback, but…was it enough feedback? And, more importantly, was it the right analysis.

I knew this was going to take more than just another readthrough of the screenplay with my own eyes. Having written it, and adapted it, and gone through so many drafts, I was too close to it. I needed objective, professional, analysis.

I’ll describe what that was, next time.

I was thrilled when I saw that my screenplay for “Lock the Doors” was selected as a finalist in the 13Horror competition. I had just traveled to Arizona to spend time with my cousins, and this was a great way to kick off the vacation.

I…also didn’t know what placing as a finalist meant.

I had taken that to mean that I had successfully advanced through the first round of judging, and would be considered among the other finalists for the grand prize. But as much as I read and re-read through an admittedly short email, I couldn’t find any indication of when they would announce the winners. I had an attachment of a digital laurel for my achievement, a pitch to buy a physical copy of my script, as well as some other offers to help promote my screenplay.

I will admit I read and analyzed this (again) short email, and even read through their website for a couple of hours before putting it together, which is much longer than it should have taken. I had been waiting for this email on this particular day because this was when the contest was announcing its winner. It just took me a little longer to piece together that I hadn’t.

In screenwriting competitions, they will typically announce the winner, maybe even a second and third place, and then the finalists. If a screenplay competition is big enough, it will also list some honorable mentions. What I didn’t realize at the time but understand now is that when you place as a finalist, that is your final placement. You did well, just not well enough to win.

I honestly wasn’t disappointed in the result, and any frustration was over how long it took me to figure this out on my own. I was thrilled! I had entered “Lock the Doors” just looking for feedback, and the response I got was that this was one of the best screenplays entered into a competition designed for its genre.

I’ll go into the results of the other screenplay contests I had entered, next time.

As I had mentioned in a previous post, having signed up for a screenwriting competition at the end of my vacation and wanting to follow up on that feeling of accomplishment, I had looked for other contests to enter. One that was upcoming was the Toronto International Screenwriting Competition.

Now, at the time I had entered, the only confidence I had was that I had already entered one competition, and wanted to get Lock the Doors out there in front of more eyeballs. I didn’t think there would be too many other horror screenplays submitted, and for good reason. The genre isn’t always known for its storytelling.

Despite that, I felt that I had an angle to play with my script, because it took the slasher genre, which I’ll admit can be described as played out and stale, where rarely anything new is brought to the genre, and flipped it on its head, telling the story from the killer’s point of view and making them empathetic, even with the notable drawback of them killing the other characters.

After getting the results that I had placed as a finalist in the first competition I’d entered Lock the Doors in, I was feeling really confident, maybe even cocky. So, when I saw I had an email four days later from TIFF, I felt like this was about to turn into a really amazing vacation.

I saw that the judging status had been changed, and when I opened it I saw…

“…unfortunately…”

Shoot.

That brought me back to reality. Hard.

But, after a little time to process it, I had to remind myself what my thought process was when I first entered Lock the Doors. I was just looking to see how it fared, this draft didn’t have all the changes I had made based on the feedback I received, and I hadn’t been expecting my horror script to fare well against other screenplays written to win competitions, both as scripts and as films, and that I had entered it because I thought the concept might help it fare well.

So despite the setback, I wasn’t discouraged in the least by not being selected. It actually motivated me to get back out there and try again.

I’ll get more into that, next time.

I remember that the contest results were going to be announced on July 31 of last year.

At that time, I was going to be on vacation in Arizona. My cousin was going to be featured in an art show in downtown Phoenix that Friday. Because the results were going to be announced at the beginning of my trip, I took this as a good sign for both of us.

I quietly scrolled through my emails every hour. The time difference may have thrown me off a little in terms of how late the announcement may have been made.

I perked up when I saw the email in my inbox. All I ever had to go on was one email from Scriptapalooza years ago that my submission had not been selected.

That wasn’t the case this time.

I was informed that I had placed as a finalist!

This was truly amazing to me. While I am competitive and like to win, my main goal for submitting my screenplay for Lock the Doors was just to get feedback on a writing style I wasn’t all too familiar with. For that to lead to placing as a finalist in the first competition I entered was just incredible.

And to share it with family was a great experience as well. Since we were all on vacation, we had been drinking, but this announcement finally got them to acquiesce to the hard stuff in celebration.