Screenwriting : Zero for three by Demiurgic Endeavors

Lendell congrats. Hopefully you will get that 2nd win.

Demiurge: Keep at it. It's only a yardstick for you to measure yourself, and a tiny tool to add to a subject line. You now know you need to make improvements in order to catch a reader's eye. It's the Reader you have to get past, so that knowledge is valuable. Keep your chin up and use it to push yourself. Blessings.

Here's the thing, Demiurgic. You're are dramatically ahead of 99.99999% of other people who want to be screenplay writers. You decided to write a screenplay, you finished at least one, you've connected with peers, and you've entered some very challenging contests. And despite not quite aligning this time round, you still have the passion and determination to continue. Dude, you are already winning.

Let's put it this way from a pragmatic point of view - I've placed in all kinds of contests and frankly - it leads to nothing. Invest in locating a good manager or agent, find people who know A LOT of people in the business, and there's the pot of "gold" for you. It's all about being at the right place with the "right" script.

Contests are not a true measure of writing ability. I've read massively uninspiring Nicholl finalists (they make the scripts available at their library) and I've endured a staged reading from another first-place contest that was so full of "WTF?" moments it completely turned me off of contest entries. There are cracker-jack scripts that do reach the top, no question. But just because yours didn't fall in win/place/show shouldn't discourage you too much. If you haven't already, get feedback from people who know story and character, and who you can trust to be supportively honest. That's a better measure of your current ability. Here's something else to consider. Of about 125 Nicholl finalists, only about 17 have actually been made into movies. So what kind of movie do you want to write? One that wins awards, or one that gets made into a movie? Sometimes you can have both, but the odds are not in your favor.

Brilliant post, Shelley. Spot on.

Exactly! So save your money!

I don't see how people enter the contests over and over again. I want to enter once and that's it. You have to sometimes take a risk every now and then.

I think that, for many of us, they become a measuring stick.

Demiurge, they are, in my opinion a chance to create a compelling subject-line in an e-mail to someone who still may-or-may-not open it. Most people lose. Many people in that category still have success. It's only a tool for you to improve yourself, not as valuable as finding someone in the vast sea of "consultants" who can actually help your script. Move onward, enter again with another script if you want, Don't let it defeat you. You have something that no-one else does. Be aware of it and use it.

Don't feel bad, I entered dozens of contests with no luck until last year. Placed in the top 100 of the Emerging Screenwriters competition just keep pressing on.

I know how you feel. My screenplay, POTUS, finally got "Quarter Finalist" status in one contest last month, after three years of entering, getting feedback, editing based on the feedback and re-entering. I'll be pitching it when I get my next paycheck. I'm not giving up and neither should you. This is a hard business and you need to have the stamina to keep going until you finally get that break, and to keep your career going once you've got it off the ground. Peace.

Don't give up man. Getting into those top contests is very hard but if you don't, it doesn't mean you suck. I am a finalist in 4 different good sized film festivals/ competitions but haven't cracked the big ones yet. Yet still, doing as well as I have has opened doors in other unexpected ways, so get some more feedback and keep on trying mate! :)

There's a writer who's pretty well known on many writers forums who's been destroying the competitions over the past few years and regularly gets spotlighted on the blacklist. After a ton of reads, they've got nothing out of it. And I don't mean some lucrative deals have slipped by, or stuff is under option and struggling to attach talent, mean nothing, nada, not even a load of what else do you have emails. And this isn't somebody who's shying away in a corner, this is somebody who makes sure everybody they know is aware of every success they have. It's hard to establish where the problem lies, but it's surprisingly common.

yes, in the end, competitions are just one of many marketing tools for a screenwriter. They are no substitution for doing the leg work it takes to get your stuff out there.

I feel like such a loser at times, been working on a script for forever, and I get the feeling persons around me would like me to quit. I just do a bad job of quitting as well. Until it is perfect it is not good enough. But one day it will be good enough. All I have do to is do everything perfectly. The Gold Standard. http://www.scriptmag.com/features/columns/meet-the-reader-ray-morton/mee...

Keep trying and don't get down because of contests!

I've had more luck on Stage32 with requests than with contest advancements. So believe me I know the feeling. But Joey's right you can't let them get you down. I've simply been taking the feedback from the contests and the report from the pitches I do on Stage32 and using them as a way to better my script!

I agree with lots of folks here. Winning contests help you get read. They look great on your resume. They give an ego boost. You get money and prizes. They don't equate to sales. Losing them doesn't mean you're a bad writer. Winning them doesn't mean you're a good writer. I won the grand prize for the same script in two different categories in two (non-mayoral) contests this year, yet the same script didn't pass the first round in another contest. To pass up the ladder in contests, only one reader has to like it, because only one reader reads it. If you get to the finals, then usually more people read it, and to win, they all have to agree. I've also won second place and finals, etc, but my sales have come from personal relationships by meeting the right person at the right time who wanted that story I was telling. It's pretty much a crap shoot. That's why I'm making my own movie now, and am building an international crew to back me. This is a great site for attracting like-minded people, especially if you live in the West. I'm not, but if you are, maybe consider making your film yourself.

Keep writing. You are an artist.