9 posts tagged “contest”
Ion Television is looking for scripts in the area of "drama procedural." I've no idea what that means. For details, go here.
Good luck!
Susan Ee
www.feraldream.com
I submitted my novel, WAR GAMES, to the Amazon Novel Contest today. The prize is a publishing contract with Penguin and a $25,000 advance. Contest submission period runs from today through 2/8/09 or until they receive 10,000 submissions. I'm assuming they will get their 10,000 contestants (world-wide) so the competition should be fierce. But I'm learning that the competition is always fierce.
This is my first novel contest. One of the things I've come to appreciate about writing novels is that it's so cheap compared to filmmaking and screenwriting. Aside from all the crazy costs involved with making the films, the cost of simply submitting films and screenplays to contests/ festivals can be surprisingly high. Each festival submission fee is about $25-$80, with most falling in the $35-$60 range. It's pretty common to submit a film to at least 20 festivals. But with novels, it's a no-no to charge for submitting a manuscript. Novel writers start to scream "SCAM" when they see those kinds of fees. Yay for novel writers! Hence, I'm pleased to say that the Amazon contest is fee-free. :-)
Cheers,
Susan Ee
www.feraldream.com
Netflix is having an amazing film contest with a prize worth $350,000 -- $150,000 cash production grant + a bunch of production assistance, PLUS Netflix will distribute the film you make from the prize money. Deadline is Feb. 9.
Go for it!
Susan Ee
www.feraldream.com
The 2008 Producers Lab and Sloan Grant are now accepting applications. The Producers Lab deadline is June 9 (early) and July 7 (final). It's an intensive program for indie producers.
The Sloan Grant deadline is July 7 -- $25k in development funds, admission into the Producers Lab and year round support from Film Independent. They want scripts and films about science and technology. My mad scientist story ideas probably wouldn't qualify. :-)
Good luck!
Susan Ee
http://feraldream.com/
Okay, I've entered my first contest! I browsed through the entries to get a feel for it first. The most viewed video was one entitled something like "The Home of My Dreams". It had about double the number of views as the #2 video. I was guessing that it was some fancy house with high end appliances. But it was actually a slideshow of cracks in this guy's grout. O-k-a-y. The #2 video was a slideshow of a cat doing mundane cat things like sleeping. The majority of the rest were about kids and travel but most of them didn't get many hits.
Since the titles and the photo were the only things you had to go on to select a video to watch, I figured the audience is interested in dream homes. So mine is entitled "My Dream Home." :-)
I equate this contest entry to a writing exercise: who's my audience and how do they want to be entertained? My guess was middle-aged to older women who are into cats and homes. I'm anti-cat so I had no photos of those fluffy things... but I did have a few shots of a house...
So here it is, MY DREAM HOME! Watch it and weep, my sappy friends! :-)
Susan Ee
These contests got me curious. I always seem to hear about them a few days before the deadline. So I did a little research on how to find out about these. It still seems to be a case by case basis but here are the two main spots I found for video contests: Vidopp (search results for cash of $1k+) and YouTube Contests. Neither of these sites list the two development deal contests I've mentioned which I heard about via digital word of mouth. If anyone knows of a good site to find out about these contests, please let me know.
The biggest $$$ contests running right now that I know of are the ones I've already mentioned in my posts and the following:
FiligeeBox Network Series - $10k, under 3 min, due May 15, 08
Flip for Budget - $25k, under 2 min, due June 13, 08
Microsoft Share Your Passion - $25k, due April 27, 08
Post It - $10k, due Aug 18, 08
Nesquick - $10k, due Sept 5, 08
Century21 - $21k, due April 25, 08
Sync - new car (Ford Focus), due May 14, 08
Cheers,
Susan Ee
http://feraldream.com/
Looks like FX Networks has opened up their contest (not just to Filmaka members) and extended the deadline to May 1. You can check out my previous post re this contest for further comments.
Good luck!
Susan Ee
If I could do funny, I would so be going for this. Filmaka and FX networks are partnering to offer a competition for a TV comedy development deal. It's not guaranteed but it sounds like the winner will get a full shot at it. 10 people will get $1k and one person will get up to $40k to do a 15-20 minute version of their idea. Check out the details here.
Man, I hope they do one for sci-fi/horror/thriller/fantasy/weird sometime soon!
Good luck!
Susan Ee
Media Labs and Red Bull are sponsoring a contest for a development deal of a webisode. The deadline is April 13th. Looks like the winner gets a minimum of $12,000 ($6k for the concept and $6k for you to direct). If you go for it, let me know how it goes.
I was thinking about entering the contest until it dawned on me that my webisode idea was aimed at adult women sci-fi fans. Oh, yeah, Red Bull's just going to love that. Maybe they should consider a more feminine version of their product called Pink Cow.
Good luck!
Susan Ee
http://feraldream.com/
