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Best Short Film Competition - EVER!

Best Short Film Competition - EVER! DEADLINE FEB 29TH

Writers judge filmmakers and filmmakers judge writers. It’s that simple! We fund you to collaborate. We let the community decide.

Up to $10K for the short script. Up to $25K for the filmmaker to shoot it.

Writers can't judge writers. Filmmakers can't judge filmmakers. Everyone receives a massive amount of feedback.

The filmmaker owns 100% of the film. Writersandfilmmakers.com owns 0%.

Visit www.writersandfilmmakers.com to enter your work now.

Why do we say “up to”? Because you only pay when the competition starts, we recognize that some people will sign up but not commit. So we have to go on without them!

We put the d in fun!

February 29th Deadline. www.writersandfilmmakers.com
 
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You can't sign up as a writer and a filmmaker in the same competition.

This keeps people from cheating. this way you really want the best of the other group. Your judging and feedback will be more genuine.
 
After logging in, the interface is a bit confusing. My Vimeo link seems to have been saved, but after submitting my 4 questions and hitting send, they are not there anymore when I log in.

Also, if we haven't paid yet, is our spot still saved for the competition? Will you remind us that we need to pay once the competition starts?
 
Thanks for your question!

When you go to the "my questions page", go to the drop down section and select your work's title.
the questions will be there.

Yes, We will ask for payment next week!
 
I admire your dedication. I remember that you started this one year ago - Feb 2015.
http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?t=57928

Have you reached your goal of 500 entries in each category?

I was wondering about that as well last month:

How did last year go?
Or is this still the first edition?

Too bad that question did go unnoticed.
I don't think it is a shame if it is still the first edition, just be honest about it.
I think that once this has worked to get a script realised, next edition will go smoother.
 
I can't answer that question for OP, but what I can say, as someone who entered the competition, is that a private email was sent out recently disclosing the total number of entires and it's looking really promising.
 
I can't answer that question for OP, but what I can say, as someone who entered the competition, is that a private email was sent out recently disclosing the total number of entires and it's looking really promising.

But can you confirm if this is still the first competition? Or is this the second?
 
Hi everyone, I can answer all your questions.

First of all thank you very much for the compliment Directorik. I've been working on this longer than one year. The software and coding is no joke. It's based on asp.net software so it's basically fortune 500 software.

It is in fact the first run. We have no past winners. But we definitely hope to be writing a check to a great script and a great filmmaker

We currently have over 640 soft entries. Its pretty even in terms of wirters and filmmakers. We were scared at first we wpuld have 700 writers and 300 filmmakers. A soft entry is someone who has committed, but not paid. We do have lots paid entries, but not everyone yet. We will be collecting fees all next week after the competition is officially closed. we will determine whether or not we are a true success or a mild success.

IF everyone pays their entry fee we will have OVER $20,000 going to the script and film. Fingers crossed.

Every entry will receive an enormous amount of feedback from people who want to collaborate with others, and are looking for the best in the other group ( writer or filmmaker).

We also built a separate platform to support that winning filmmaker (called the "Exchange") to encourage locals to donate props and wardrobe to the winning filmmaker. This will push our funding even further. We will help break down the script and advertise in the winning filmmakers city for people to donate things, this will also drum up eyeballs if the filmmaker choses to market directly to fans vs the festival circuit.

Writersandfilmmakers exists because:
Festivals have small numbers of gate keepers (corruption is possible)
We are democratic in our goal to fund a film because you are the judge.
It is collaborative.
You get a lot of feedback.
You compete with a small number of entries. ( imagine competing with 300 people for $20k).
Festivals don't help you on your next film.

And finally, there is nothing like this competition for fairness and funding.
 
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^^^ that's all awesome. I have some classmates that entered... a long time ago (previous post), but haven't asked them about it since.

If things go well and you have a second year, I hope to participate. I'd like to see how your help developing the winner goes mostly :P
 
We have a couple of professional software engineers on the forum.
I used to be one. I programmed from around age 12 to age 29.

32 now and I just do film but I can tell you that software is no joke.
People don't understand how much skill it takes to develop complex software without introducing serious bugs or missing a deadline. It takes a lot of experience.
 
You should have a separate phase.. like an extra 30 days to join after people pay their dues.
This way you can advertise a guaranteed minimum prize and get some extra people in the competition.
 
Hey Everyone,

Sorry for the delay...it's been at least 2 or 3 months since we finished the competition. I gave myself a break after. Ugh.... marketing is so damn hard. Well, we raised just under $5k for a short script and filmmaker.

I got to hand it to the first competition entries, they helped with bugs and were sort of guinea pigs.

Here are their bios and decision of the winning filmmaker and writer. It's from our blog page (http://www.writersandfilmmakers.com/portal/blog.html)


Congratulations to the winning filmmaker Shekhar Bassi for his film: "NO LOVE LOST"
Mr. Bassi has chosen a winning script from the top 10:

"Having read all the top ten screenplays I chose 'The Invention' as the winner.

All the selected screenplays offered some beautiful moments. They also offered some challenges for a director to sink his/her teeth into.

For me, 'The Invention' felt more well-rounded in its approach to storytelling. Though the narrative is dialogue heavy, I feel it has the potential to be leaner and allow for a visual short film. 'The Invention' is not as stylised as some of the other screenplays.

Its story has the structure other scripts lacked. Hence allowing for character development and tightening of the plot. Apart from the challenges in the story and plot, I do see challenges to the shooting of the film. Challenges such as some CGI elements and some old school special effects.

Being a screenwriter myself I know we want our screenplays realised. To that end we often write in a way that would make it easy and cheap to shoot but only a few stories lend themselves to that. In the end, we are visual storytellers and our stories cannot do without some visual elements.

I am grateful for the opportunity to read the work of so many writers and learn new things."

Congratulations to Dennis Hennessey, the author of 'The Invention'!

Writers and Filmmaker's Winning Director Shekhar BassiDirector - Shekhar Bassi




Witers and Filmmaker's Winning Screenwriter: Dennis Hennessey

Deeply inspired by early Spielberg movies and the Twilight Zone at a young age, Dennis Hennessey began writing short stories when he was 11. He later wrote his first screenplay, a supernatural thriller, in High School for an AV class film. From that point forward, he knew this is what he was meant to do. He eventually would transfer to Emerson College where he majored in Communications with a concentration in Film. While there, his screenplays and short stories received considerable praise and attention.

Unable to break into the film industry, Hennessey put writing on the back burner as he turned his focus to starting a family and operating an independent record label. All the while, he continued to feel the pull of writing. Then, upon receiving an unexpected handwritten letter from an old college classmate praising his screenplays, Hennessey became re-energized and began writing again.

He currently has 4 feature length screenplays, 4 shorts, and roughly 100 story ideas to his credit. Hennessey is now writing regularly and hopes to resume the pursuit of a career as a screenwriter.
 
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Last year we had a tiny competition yet the winners used the funding wisely! I'm glad to say that the winning short script was shot by the winning filmmaker.

Here's the teaser to:

Lloyd’s Automotive” :
Script by: Montgomery Burt
Film by: Jean-Jacques Dumonceau

WritersandFilmmakers.com has no gatekeepers! No connections needed. No judges you need to get to know. No nepotism. No favorites.

And, you get feedback from various and diverse voices. What's not to love?

Dream Big!

Enter WRTIERSANDFILMMAKERS.COM today!

Sincerely,
Jonathan
 
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