The dream of writing the great American novel is dead, replaced with writing the great American script.
“Everyone has a screenplay in their mind,” said Debbie Dorsey, director of Baltimore Film Office that’s sponsoring the Fourth Annual Baltimore Screenwriters Competition. “I’d encourage everyone to enter. Don’t be afraid, even if you don’t think your script is the best or it’s not complete.”
» Entry fee: $50
» Deadline: Jan. 30
» Info: www.baltimorefilm.com
First place wins $1,500, passes to local movie theaters, Weekend in Baltimore Package passes and most importantly, an all-access pass to the Maryland Film Festival, where you can speak with established and lauded writers and directors. John Waters, Barry Levinson and Oscar-winner Alex Gibney were among last year’s festival attendees.
Second- and third-place winners will receive $750 and $350 respectively as well as all-access passes to the festival and passes to local theaters.
Helping the writers who tend to procrastinate, the Film Office recently extended the competition deadline to Jan. 30.
This year’s judges include film and television veterans: Co-producer of the Spider-Man franchise, including the 2011 release of “Spider-Man 4,” Grant Curtis; executive producer of “The Wire” Nina Noble, and head of UCLA’s department of film and television Richard Walter, who has been a member of the Screen Writers Guild of America for more than 20 years and written numerous feature assignments for major studios.
Screenplays must be set in Baltimore or be able to be filmed in Baltimore for 75 percent of the shoot.
Entrants receive feedback on their work from students and professors in Morgan State University’s film and television writing program and Johns Hopkins University’s film and media studies program.
Towson resident Richard Longway, second-place winner in 2008, sees the competition as fun, profitable and a vehicle to secure an agent or get noticed by a producer. “Getting an agent is probably a screenwriter’s biggest hurdle aside from writing,” he said. “Most studios and production companies won’t look at your work unless it is submitted by a Writers Guild signatory agent.”
Longway’s teen comedy screenplay, “Today’s Tom Sawyer,” about three geeky Towson U. freshmen who play in a Rush tribute band, was a quarterfinalist in this year’s Nicholl Fellowships screenwriting contest, considered the top competition in the country and judged by members of the academy.
“Since winning in the contest I have gotten a lot of interest from leading Hollywood talent agencies and production companies,” he said.
One of Longway’s scripts is currently under consideration by a production company that has a deal with Warner Bros.
Longway suggests using software programs like Final Draft to format the script according to industry standards.
