LONGEVITY IS KEY

Two of us sitting on the floor, staring at each other, trying to figure out how to make a screenplay competition actually matter. We were fed up — fed up with the "competitions" where you mailed in your script, paid your fee, and never heard a word back from anyone.

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"We can change this," we told ourselves.

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More than 27 years later, here we are — looking back at how it all happened, and thinking hard about where it's going. So let's say the quiet part out loud: there are far too many screenplay competitions out there. A new one seems to launch every month. The websites are gorgeous — flashy photos, glowing quotes, and of course, every single one is "number one."

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Now back to reality.

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When we started Scriptapalooza, we cold-called producers, managers, and agents, practically begging them to read our winners. After 200 phone calls, we walked away with maybe 20 commitments. We put each of those producers on our website — name, company, title — and things got interesting fast.

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"What are they doing over there? How did they pull that off?"

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That was the reaction from the other competitions. And that's when we knew we were about to change the industry. Our first year, 600 scripts came in. Our second year, 2,300. It grew from there — even as an endless parade of new services and competitions kept popping up, confusing screenwriters at every turn.

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So here's a simple question: why don't most of these competitions have an office phone number?

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Scriptapalooza has had one since 1998, and there's always a real person answering it. If you can't get a human being on the phone, stay away — from the competition and the service. Very few of them have genuine connections or real industry weight behind them, no matter what the homepage claims.

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A lot of the newer ones simply copy the competitions that already work.

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We all know imitation is supposed to be the sincerest form of flattery. Here, it just feels dishonest. We've spent since 1998 doing the unglamorous work — building and protecting real relationships with producers, managers, and agents. Those relationships are what get our writers' scripts optioned and sold.

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Writers have to swim through a sea of competitions and figure out which ones actually have their back. There are a handful of reputable ones out there. A handful — in a sea of hundreds. Or should I say thousands?

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How do I know all this? Experience.

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What confirmed it recently was a MovieBytes poll that voted Scriptapalooza the #1 competition. And we mean it when we say we want nothing but success for every writer who trusts us with their script.

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Let our experience, our knowledge, and our team — people who've been doing this since 1998 — help start your career.

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Better yet, pick up the phone and call us. We'd love to talk.