Hollywood Is Burning Screenplay Competition

In the interest of promoting Pittsburgh's small but thriving little film industry, I present this Screenplay contest which I found out about from Open Thread.

HOLLYWOOD IS BURNING SCREENPLAY COMPETITION

This is a tough business. It's nearly impossible to break in, and once you do, it's nearly impossible to do anything of quality. Welcome to the entertainment industry!

One of the toughest things to do is to get anyone in any position of power to read your screenplay. Producers usually have stacks of screenplays sitting on their desks at any given time and usually they only read the first few pages (if they're actually reading the things themselves) before making up their minds whether they'll keep reading or move onto the next one on the stack.

HOWEVER, producers will generally pay more attention to scripts that have won some sort of award. This industry loves winners, and they don't usually differentiate between small and large competitions, as long as the words "Winner of the [insert name here] Competition" appear somewhere in the cover letter.

That's where Hollywood is Burning would like to help you.

Founded by Happy Cloud Pictures producers Mike Watt, Charlie Fleming and Amy Lynn Best, Hollywood is Burning likes to champion the indie filmmaker and the struggling screenwriter. The purpose of this competition is to find the best unproduced scripts out there and give out a couple of awards that might help get your foot in the door later on. Do we guarantee it will help? Of course not, but again, the word "Winner" never hurt anyone.

The Hollywood is Burning Horror Screenplay Competition will award:

* A Grand Prize of $250 plus a "Winner" certificate to the author of the best horror screenplay.

* A Second Prize of $50 plus a "2nd Place" certificate to the author of the first runner up.

* AND to give your entry fee a little extra value you can choose to receive a one-page critique of your film written up by screenwriter and producer Mike Watt (writer of the Sci-Fi Channel film "Dead Men Walking", the Happy Cloud Pictures productions "The Resurrection Game", "Splatter Movie: The Director's Cut", "A Feast of Flesh", editor of Sirens of Cinema Magazine and contributor to numerous publications including Fangoria, Rue Morgue, Cinefantastique and Film Threat Magazine)

Again, Hollywood is Burning offers no guarantees - few things in life are sure things - but by entering our competition, you'll be taking your work to the next level and perhaps taking that next step in your career.

FEES AND DEADLINES:

Deadline and Fees:

$25 until October 1

$35 until November 30 - this is the super-late procrastinator's deadline. NO SCREENPLAYS WILL BE ACCEPTED AFTER November 30.

More info here