Calling all screenwriters and filmmakers 18 years of age and older who are current or past Peace Region residents! Announcing SCaMP, the Screenplay Competition and Mentorship Program! Write a script, rewrite it, make a movie. This opportunity is made possible with funding from the Canada Council for the Arts.
Submit your short screenplay (maximum 15 pages) in standard screenplay format by 7:00 pm on Sunday, August 17, 2014 and you could be one of 12 writers chosen on the basis of writing ability and story potential to receive professional mentorship and feedback from award-winning filmmaker Scott Belyea.
Mentored writers will receive feedback from Scott in an email or Skype meeting and could receive follow-up feedback if a revised script is sent to Scott with sufficient time remaining before the final submission deadline of 7:00 pm on Sunday, September 21. By that deadline, writers must have submitted their revised and polished screenplays (maximum 15 pages) to terry@reelshorts.ca for a chance to win a $500 cash prize for writing the script and a $2,000 production package to make the film. Because the intent is to develop a script that can be made in the Peace Region, concept practicality will also be a determining factor. A script about aliens on the moon, no matter how brilliant, would likely not be chosen as one of the 12 screenplays to advance to the second round.
Gordie Haakstad will judge the 12 revised and polished entries, and will cast and direct a table-read of the winning screenplay at the Reel Shorts Sneak Preview at 7:00 pm on Sunday, September 28 at Grande Prairie Live Theatre. He will also mentor the director of the winning screenplay in areas of pre-production, production, and/or post-production as mutually agreed upon.
How much does it cost to enter this competition where you can receive professional mentorship and $2,500 in prizes? Thanks to support from the Canada Council for the Arts, this opportunity for current and past Peace Region residents (must be a current Canadian resident) is absolutely free. See SCaMP under the Filmmaking tab for more details.
For a great illustration of standard screenplay format, check out the sample script on the oscars.org website.
To best understand how to write a screenplay for a short film, it is helpful to read a script and watch the film created from that script. Here are two short films that we screened at past festivals along with their screenplays. Keep in mind that these are shooting scripts which can have scene numbers and camera shots, but your screenplay should NOT have them.
The Red Valentine (2014 fest) – screenplay
website
The Confession (2010 fest) – screenplay
