Screenplay Challenge Three – Comedy Scene: Everything’s Fine.
EXTENDED: Submission deadline May 25th
It’s time for the latest Write Club Screenplay Challenge contest
Think you’re funny?
Comedy is not pretty.
Or easy.
And it comes in lots of flavors. Slapstick? Screwball? Satire? Whether you’re writing the next fart-filled Farrelly opus, or the next Spinal Tap-killing mockumentary, it’s hard to get the funny on the page.
And that’s what you have to do, right? Get the funny on the page. Make the reader laugh (remember, we approach all screenplays from the spec perspective, and assume you have to win the reader over).
So here’s your challenge: Read more 
free screenplay contest relaunches with audience voting
After a fifteen month hiatus (lots of writing, and a new sister site launched), Write Club Challenge is back with a new look, and a new model.
Yes, we’re still offering free screenplay contests.
Yes, the rules remain the same: write fast, stick to the rules.
Yes, the prize is still bragging rights (with the occasional exception).
What is Write Club Challenge? Read more
screenplay contest winner announced
Winner of unofficial Paranormal Activity screenplay challenge announced.
Well, we’ve struggled with some technical issues (why oh why do hackers think we want a flaming skull on our homepage?) but we’ve finally got control of the site back, and we can announce the (belated) winner of our second screenplay writing challenge: The End.
As a reminder, we asked you to submit your best shot at rewriting the ending of 2009′s most successful horror film, Paranormal Activity. Our referee was the awesome Denise Gossett, scream queen and founder of the Shriekfest Film Festival.
So who took the prize? Read more
Denise Gossett signs on as new challenge referee
Write Club Screenplay Challenge announces new screenplay contest referee Denise Gossett.
We’re stoked to announce the referee for our second challenge, Write a New Ending for Paranormal Activity.
Denise Gossett is the founder and Director of the Shriekfest Horror and Sci Fi Film Festival, which runs in L.A. each October, and an actor. A certified Scream Queen in her own right, Denise has seen a lot of screenplays come through her festival, as well as of course having appeared in a few flicks herself: Carnies, Fright Club, The River, Decaying Orbit, Chain of Souls, Nightwatch, Sheila Takes a Bow, When Silence is Dangerous, Self Inflicted, Crustacean, and tons more!
We appreciate her making some time in her extremely busy schedule. Read more
Challenge Two – the end.
UPDATE: Winner announced!
** SPOILERS ** This screenplay contest assumes the entrant has seen the film Paranormal Activity, and knows how it ends. Virgins tread no further lest the cherry be popped.
Is it too soon for this?
As you may know from my review of Paranormal Activity, I’m a fan of 98% of the film. The last 3o seconds, however? Not so much.
And I’m not alone. The film has developed into quite a phenomenon, and so has the heated discussion around the supposed “studio imposed” ending. This thread at Roger Really has information about two other alleged endings, and the comments section makes for good reading on the variety of reactions to all the alternatives. Likewise the IMDB forums for the film. Or HorrorSquad. Read more
Screenplay Challenge One: Subtext – the results are in…
The first Write Club Screenwriting Challenge contest results announced – “Subtext”.
See the original challenge (and read the entries) here…
The envelope please…
Thanks to all those who submitted to the subtext challenge. Knowing how to avoid gratuitous exposition and on-the-nose dialogue is so critical to developing characters that have depth and motivations that resonate.
How often as a teen did you catch grief over your tone of voice? “It’s not what you say, it’s how you say it” was a common refrain in my household. Read more
Business of Show Institute and Sony Creative Software support Write Club
BOSI and SONY ROCK!
We are thrilled to announce that Marvin Acuna’s Business of Show Institute (BOSI) and Sony Creative Software are supporting our efforts to challenge the screenwriting community by providing the prize for our first challenge!
The winner of the first Write Club Screenplay Challenge on “Subtext” will receive a boxed copy of Sony Vegas Movie Studio 9 Platinum Pro Pack!
Now remember, boys and girls, Write Club doesn’t always offer prizes for our challenges but it only seems right that our inaugural launch be as celebratory as possible. So when BOSI and Sony stepped up and volunteered, we said what any smart guy is gonna say… Yes!
We are very excited to be able to offer this great prize, and can’t express enough gratitude to Marvin, BOSI and Sony for their support.
Now get out there and write!
Challenge One: Subtext
09/01/09 – SUBMISSIONS ARE CLOSED – See results here!
It’s not what you say, it’s how you say it.
The gauntlet has been thrown.
John Rainey has stepped up and volunteered to referee our first challenge. It goes without saying that all of our challenges share a few requirements… among them proper format, spelling, and punctuation. Otherwise, we leave it up to each referee to define their challenge, and to decide just how stringent they plan to be on issues of compliance. We can promise you John has extremely high expectations.
JOHN’S CHALLENGE REQUIREMENTS (READ CAREFULLY):
From John’s site: “An objective is the character’s subtext in a scene. Rarely do characters say what their objective is. They speak around it in an effort to persuade the other character to give him/her what he/she wants. A guy on a date would never say ‘Let’s go to my place and have sex.’ … To say that would be ‘on-the-nose.’” …more Read more
first challenge coming soon!
We’re happy to announce that John Rainey has agreed to design and referee our first challenge!
We can’t tell you the details yet, but we can let you know that the theme is SUBTEXT.
Check back September 1st for the announcement.
And check out our about and rules pages to learn more about Write Club Screenplay Challenge.
John Rainey – Rated the #1 screenwriting analyst in the country by Creative Screenwriting Magazine in 2003, John has been in the industry as an actor, screenwriter, reader, and analyst for more than 20 years. Learn more about John’s consulting and writing services at raineyscriptconsulting.com.
and… action!
welcome!
Write Club Screenplay Challenge is a simple little blog that sets up mini-challenges for screenwriters. It’s like one of those 48-hour filmmaker’s challenges, but you don’t have to make a whole movie. You just have to write it.
- We establish the parameters of the challenge.
- You submit your “entry” in the comments section below the challenge post (using “scrippets“).
- Our referee(s) review the entries and choose a winner.
- The winner receives the satisfaction of having won (maybe someday we’ll offer something more than that… but if you’re not writing to write, that in itself is something to think about).
We’ll be launching our first challenge soon… keep checking back. And tell your fellow screenwriters.
why?
It offers motivation to get writers to write; it allows for socializing with, and feedback from, your peers; and it’s good fun.
inspiration…
Write Club Screenplay Challenge was inspired by the John August website. Although John is a busy busy man, he occasionally finds time to offer his blog readers a “scene challenge” — wherein John sets up parameters, and invites readers to post “entries”. There have been 5 challenges on John’s site in the past 30 months. When he has another, we’ll let you know.
Write Club is an appreciative homage to the spirit of John’s site.
