Friday 8 October 2010

Kid In The Front Row Online Screenwriting Competition 2010

It's time to do some writing! Yes, it means we have to get off Facebook, stop flicking through blogs, and stop telling everyone about the projects we're going to be writing soon; because instead, there is one to write NOW! It needs to be written now because:

The deadline is in two weeks.
and
If you win, it gets made! In fact, it gets made many times!

The winner of the KITFR 2010 Screenplay Competition will have their script made by everyone who enters the upcoming KITFR 2010 Directing Competition! So it's a great chance to see your writing not only made, but made many times! And it will be SOON! I hope that's a great incentive!

This competition is for writers of all levels. Whether you're a pro, or whether you're just starting out, or even if you're interested but worried because you've never written a script and don't speak English very well--- I want you ALL to give it a go. Be creative! Have some fun! Write something!

Here's the rules:

  • Your script must be no longer than FIVE pages (six including a cover page)
  • You must write in industry-standard format. If you don't know how to do that, please read this. If you're still confused, email me, and I'll help you with the formatting.
  • The DEADLINE for the competition is THURSDAY 21st OCTOBER 2010. No exceptions.
Those are the technical rules, here are the STORY RULES.

  • You must have these THREE characters: Margaret, Abdul and Regina.These are the ONLY characters you can have.
  • Your story takes place at the Headquarters of: 'The Equal Rights Committee.' The only locations (within the headquarters) are: Meeting Room, Kitchen, Secret Shelter.
  • You must include this line of dialogue somewhere in the script: "Who the hell is Mark Flamstein?"
If you have any questions, please put them in the comments. Also, feel free to take the banner and share the link on your blogs, websites, Facebook's, etc. I am genuinely excited to read each and every script that is sent to me!

The competition opens NOW!

Send Entries To:

Care to share?

30 comments:

  1. Any specific font Kid? Or am I being overly detailed?

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  2. Anonymous - there is a Courier style font specific to screenwriting. If you get a free screenwriting program from the net, it will do it for you.

    If you have to use word, go with Courier.

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  3. Sorry Kid, and font size?

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  4. 12.

    It'd be good for you to get this program I think! http://www.screenwritingbasics.com/2010/07/celtx-free-screenwriting-software-tutorials-index-cards-celtx-screenplay-editor/

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  5. Spielbergs Left Hand9 October 2010 at 05:10

    Kid, should we email you our entries or copy and paste into the comment box?

    Love the blog and the effort you put in!

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  6. Being thick - is the equal rights committee equivalent to the equal rights commission?

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  7. Spielberg's Left Hand: Please email them to me. I've added my email address to the competition page; sorry, should have thought of that!

    Jonah: You can interpret it any way you like. But yeah, they could be the same thing, definitely. It's up to you! Maybe it's a small committee started by Abdul with secret donations from Mark Flamstein-- who knows!

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  8. Is there a specific genre that we should gear the story toward?

    Do you think that you tend to enjoy certain genres more than others? Drama over Horror? Comedy over Thriller? Or even SciFi over Family Adventures??

    Maybe you could mention your favorite screenplays so we can get an idea of what you, specifically, enjoy...

    Just a thought.

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  9. Dweller, very clever, finding out what the judge of the competition likes :P

    Well; I do personally sway towards comedy, and a good old Jerry Maguire-overcoming-life's-crap kind of stuff.

    BUT, I have very very high expectations with comedy.. so don't try it just to please me if it's not your thing!

    Horror rarely works for me personally.

    But, I can always enjoy a GREAT screenplay, whatever it happens to be; and I'd genuinely love for you to just follow your own instincts and do absolutely whatever you want!

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  10. Is it okay to do more than one script? And will you post the top few contenders, so we can all have a read later? I'd love to see what makes the cut.

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  11. Are nicknames for the characters okay?

    Ex: M or Meg for Margaret, or Abs for Abdul??

    If we can show how the nickname originated from the original name, is that alright??

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  12. 1. Echoing Annika W's comment, multiple entries OK or not?
    2. Is it free to enter?

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  13. High Dweller - be careful with that one -- as long as the reader is precisely aware that their names are Margaret, Regina and Abdul then that won't work. But sure, you won't be punished in one refers to the other as 'Gina or Abs or whatever, but y'know, don't deflect from who they really are!

    Annika/Anonymous - Sure, you can enter multiple times -- just as long as it's creativity that's driving you to pursue more than one script!

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  14. The three characters are all required. What about the three locations? Required?

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  15. Three locations are possibilities, they're what available, you don't have to use all three.

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  16. Thanks for the thoughtful responses, Kid.

    Just to clarify, I'm essentially using "code names" for the three characters. So the viewer is not aware of who they really are, only who they say they are, BUT the reader is aware that they are indeed Abdul, Regina, and Margaret.

    Are you saying that this is acceptable, or that the viewer MUST know that their names are Abdul, Regina, and Margaret at some point or the script will basically be disqualified?

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  17. It needs to be a film about three people called Abdul, Regina, and Margaret. A reader/viewer would have to know that, otherwise there would be no point in that rule.

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  18. Okay, thanks for clarifying.

    I was trying to be creative with the names whilst coming up with a creative story. I'll just stick with the given names and focus my efforts on the plot.

    Thanks again!

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  19. Many contests request that the entrant's name is not anywhere on the script.

    Do you?

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  20. No, not at all, I'd love for your name to be on it, as long as you're happy with it being shared!

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  21. I'm trying to wrangle a one line scene heading, wondering if this might work:

    INT. SECRET SHELTER - THE EQUAL RIGHTS COMMITTEE (HQ) - NIGHT

    Are you cool with abbreviating HQ?

    Thanks!

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  22. Are dead bodies characters?

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  23. Next question - are co-written pieces acceptable?

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  24. Paper size? US or A4?

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  25. Just heard about this. Sounds fun! Hope I have some time. Is the deadline by Thursday morning? Or would 11:55 pm Thursday be acceptable?

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  26. we will definitely try to write something new for kid in the front row.... thanks kid in the front row...and keep it up good work to entertainment...

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  27. Uhh.... that's weird as heck. I've never heard my name before and it's two comments above me!!!

    I really don't think you should make people write profanity, by the way. It's against some religions.

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