Hello Everyone,
Are competitions worth the money and effort? I think so. In the past year, I've been placing in many screenplay competitions, and I think this does help a writer to get noticed as quite a few producers and agents, as of late, have asked to see my work. Of course, what really matters is getting something produced. Check out my profile on ISA:
https://www.networkisa.org/profile/kevin-dobbs-1
Hi Kevin, there worth it, I'll try a few by the end of this year
Are they coming to you from the competitions or through another platform?
There is the old adage “Half my advertising doesn’t work. I just don’t know which half”.
They could find you through a comp but contact you in a different way. Have you been able to attribute any directly to comps or is just reputation building for you?
Some of the competitions are too expensive, but I believe placing gives you a leg up: it shows agents and producers that your screenplays are at least worth a look, right?
Depending on how confident you are in your project, I'd say competitions are definitely worth it for the exposure and accolades.
When I sent a screenplay to a producer, recently, (after she'd asked to see it) I included links that list my competition placements, and she did email back with a "congratulations" and asked to see more work. But, as yet, no agent or producer has come out and said, "I saw your competition win this morning and decided to ask you for a screenplay." Anyway, I now make sure to include links that list my profile with competition and festival placements, which means agents and producers can look at it or not. But, obviously, some do.
I think it's vital to keep the queries flowing, and I mean all the time. Include helpful links that boast your credibility. If you do that, sometimes these industry people will pop up on your email asking to see a screenplay. But, since I'm still new in screenwriting (I've been writing and publishing other things for a very long time), I'm still at the stage in which they're just asking. No taking as of yet. One producer asked for a screenplay, recently, after I queried him, but, how funny, he didn't ask for the screenplay in question. You see, I also attach a list of all my loglines, and he really liked one of the loglines and asked for that screenplay. What a goofy world, it is.