Today I'm sharing what I wish I knew before spending slightly more than $600 on screenwriting competitions in a month.

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I’m making this video because I wish I saw something like this before I made the decision to part ways with my hard-earned money, and I’m guessing you clicked on this video because you’ve either had similar experiences to me, or you’re unsure of what the world of screenplay competitions are like these days- so I hope what I relay today will be valuable.

Chapters:
00:00 How much I spent on screenwriting competitions
00:21 Why I entered so many screenwriting competitions
00:46 Opportunity vs Deadlines
01:11 Types of screenwriting competitions
01:45 What I wish I knew
01:59 Screenwriting Competition Cons
02:40 Screenwriting Competition Pros
03:40 Pay to Play
04:40 The point of screenwriting competitions
05:28 Perspective
05:42 How I plan
06:43 The best screenwriting competition?
07:22 My new approach
09:36 What works for me
10:26 My focus has changed

Opportunity is definitely a reason why I entered these screenwriting competitions, but tied very closely to the opportunity was a deadline.

I have been writing screenplays on and off since 2016. This year I decided I was going to focus and commit to my goal and so deadlines meant that I had to do the work.

So I’ll give credit where it’s due. The screenplay competitions I entered all happened to have deadlines within days of each other and this was the motivation I needed to start the year strong.

I entered different types of script contests at different companies.

I entered two standard screenplay competitions, a career accelerator, and a few pitch competitions as well.

In terms of deadlines: 10/10 for competitions. I guess this is a reason why people hire personal trainers, consultants, or coaches- to hold them accountable. And if you’re spending money on something, you’re likely to see it through. So even though it was pricy, I stuck to the deadlines and I was amazed just how much writing I could get done in a short time frame.

So the point of these competitions is to either meet with representation or executives, and even though I didn’t get past the first round in some competitions, and I made the semi-finals in another competitions, I did get the ultimate goal of a recommend in another. YAY!

So as you can see, my focus has changed from relying on competitions to relying on myself to get the best script possible and then hopefully getting it in front of the right eyes, myself.

It’s a new approach, but more so than that, I’m thrilled that I’ve finally focussed on my craft without needing validation from people in the competition circuits. That’s been empowering.

#screenwriting

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