The showdown is finally here. The five submissions that most piqued my interest will be posted tonight for the first Showdown of 2022! Then, over the weekend, you, the readers, will read as much of each script as you can and vote on which one you think is best. Whoever gets the most votes will get a review next week.
For those of you good at math, you may have figured out that THERE’S STILL TIME LEFT TO ENTER. You have until tonight (Thursday, February 24) at 10pm Pacific Time to send your submission. I need your title, the genre, a logline, A PDF OF THE SCRIPT, as well as why you think your script deserves to be chosen for the showdown. This is where you pitch me the bigger story about you, or your script, in the same way that, if you were on a press tour, you’d be trying to get people to go out and see your movie.
Entries should be sent to carsonreeves3@gmail.com
Now might be a good time to remind everyone of the protocol for last second entries. You will be tempted to rewrite dialogue, rewrite entire scenes even. DON’T DO THIS. The only thing you have time to do right now is proofread. Make sure those first five pages, in particular, are error-free. And then proofread as much of the rest of the script as possible.
If you rewrite dialogue, you run the risk of erasing important info. Good writers have ensured that their dialogue is seamlessly packed with exposition and character development. By rewriting dialogue at the last second, you risk erasing all that. And you’ll kick yourself for doing it later.
Also, the main reason you’re tempted to replace dialogue in the first place, is because you’re tired of the dialogue you have. It’s not because the dialogue is bad. You’re just sick of it cause you’ve read it OVER and OVER and OVER again. Your dialogue is likely fine the way it is. You don’t need to rewrite it.
And same goes for reimagining or erasing scenes. I remember being hours away from a contest deadline and thinking, “I don’t like this one scene. I don’t need it.” And so I deleted the scene, only to remember, after I’d sent the script off, that the scene set up a critical reveal during the climax. That kind of sh#t happens ALL THE TIME when you do last second rewrites.
Also, be thankful that all of you live in an age where screenwriting software takes care of all the margins and spacing for you. Back in the day, you’d have to block off an entire week just to clean up all the formatting in your screenplay.
Can’t wait to see what all of you have baked up!
