Who here uses FilmFreeway to find screenwriting contests and festivals to send their scripts to?? I'm curious to have some feedback. Have you won? Have you found some genuine contacts through it?
It's been almost a year I use it and my records is far from stellar. I also I become more picky because there are quite a few of the "contests" and "festivals" which look dodgy or totally scammy.
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Hi Thomas Yazar - I used FF (basically a competition clearing house) for a bit but found it of little help other than tracking competition results. At least ISA also lists heaps of OWAs and Coverly tracks well, runs The Red List, and is searched regularly by producers, managers, etc... Just IMO :-)
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They're just data mining writers to sell stuff. I think they're owned by Coverfly, which is owned by Red Ambersand (?), which owns a lot of contests & script services.
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I have used them in the past, but I now focus here on Stage 32.
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I've used FF and had some wins and placements. But before I submitted to any contest, I checked them out and looked at any feedback on FF.
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Thomas Yazar Never even been to the FF site, but I have seen people state it does let some...less legitimate festivals onto the site. Apparently the submission rates for the smaller festivals have blown up as a result of FF too. I have only entered some of the big ones thus far, but they also have a TON of submissions and, obviously, even with the early deadline discounts the entry fees can be $$$$$$$. I am not giving up on contests altogether yet, but with the next one I enter I am going to make sure the script(s) I submit are SUPER SOLID so I have a fighting chance of even placing as a QF out of a thousand+/thousands of other entries.
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Yes, I won in the Austin Revolution film festival, I highly recommend that one
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Stage 32 hosts contests on Film Freeway and a few of the recent winners were found via Film Freeway submissions. It is a trustworthy platform in and of itself, but like any aggregator, there are a grip of dubious festivals who call for entries to festivals that really aren't even festivals. The best rule of thumb is to do some research on festivals before submitting, and if it seems to good to be true, it probably is. It is a really good aggregator tool though. There are books and articles aplenty online about which festivals are "worth the entry fee" and the like.