Austin Heart of Film Competition

[Tom Moran]

I received an application for the Austin Heart of Film Screenplay
Competition the other day.

Anyone know anything about this thing? Outside of the fact that it costs
more to enter than the Nicholl Fellowship and gets you one-seventh the
amount of money of the Nicholl if you win?

Tom Moran

[Blacky Bokich]

Tom,
In my opinion the prize money is an incidental reason to enter one of
the major screenwriting contest. The Nicholl pays the most, but if you are
serious about writing and only writing for a living that won't go far. The
reason to enter is for the opportunity to make industry contacts.
Of the three major contests, the Nicholl is the only one that
publicizes its three finalist lists. I was only a quarterfinalist last year
and I got over a dozen calls from producers and agents. A quarterfinalist
last year was in the top 200 out of 4000 entries, or top 5%. This means
when you enter the Nicholl you have a 1 in 20 chance of reaping some real
benefit by winning. Assuming you have a well written screenplay, the odds
are really one in fifteen when you take into account that Greg Beal, who
heads the contest, says 25% of entries are so bad he doesn't expect his
readers to read past page three. I was a finalist in the Chesterfield last
year, which put me in the top 2% of roughly 2,500 entries, statistically
better than my Nicholl performance, but basically worthless, since they
don't publicize finalists, nor do they make the list available to producers
and agents. I think the Chesterfield had five winners, which means the odds
of winning were 1 in 500. The Austin contest had roughly the same number of
entries, with one winner and (I think) eight finalists, which means the
odds of getting some benefit from entering were one in 288.
Of course the winners of the Chesterfield and the winner and finalists
of the Austin will get a tremendous bounce out of their triumphs. If you
can comfortably afford the money, by all means enter all three. If money is
any issue, beg, borrow or steal the $30 for the Nicholl.
-Blacky
PS I sent the same script to the Nicholl, the Chesterfield and the Austin
contests last year. As I said, it placed in the top 5% of the Nicholl and
the top 2% of the Chesterfield. It didn't make it past the first round of
readers at the Austin. Either their standards are phenomenally high, or
they use some criteria the other contests don't, and I can't even guess
what that might be.

[Brian Anderson]

> placed in the top 5% of the Nicholl and the top 2% of the Chesterfield. It didn't
> make it past the first round of readers at the Austin.

In 1994 Max Adams submitted MY BACKYARD and EXCESS BAGGAGE to both
Nicholl and Austin. MY BACKYARD won Nicholl but didn't make the first
cut at Austin. EXCESS BAGGAGE won Austin, but didn't make the first cut
at Nicholl. Despite efforts at every contests to minimize subjectivity
in the judging, it will always exist. You can expect more of the same
when you shop your scripts around LA. :(
A minor revision on your Austin numbers: Austin essentially runs
two separate contests, a Family category and an Adult category, so there
are two winners. Last year Austin had 15 finalists (including the
winners) and an additional 30 semi-finalists, for a total of 45 names
publicized (out of something like 2300 entries).

[Brevity]

Brian Anderson <socr...@flash.net> wrote:

> In 1994 Max Adams submitted MY BACKYARD and EXCESS BAGGAGE to both
>Nicholl and Austin. MY BACKYARD won Nicholl but didn't make the first
>cut at Austin. EXCESS BAGGAGE won Austin, but didn't make the first cut
>at Nicholl.

Additionally, as a result of Excess Baggage's win at Austin, it was
purchased by Columbia and made by Alicia Silverstone's production
company. After the script was criticized publicly by Ms. Silverstone,
it was rewritten by, I believe, two other teams of writers, The
finished film was supposed to be released last year, but has been
pushed back until later this year, perhaps hoping to play off of the
hoped for success of another Silverstone starrer due out soon.

-Brevity

[gb...@oscars.org]

> Greg Beal, who heads the contest, says 25% of entries are so bad he doesn't expect his
> readers to read past page three.

While I admit to stating that about 25% of Nicholl entries in a given year are not too good, I have never
said anything about any reader not getting past page three. There have been scripts that don't need to
be read past page three to determine their quality, but other than the nine page handwritten script that
was entered about a half-dozen years ago, I don't know of an entry of which only three pages were
read.

Otherwise, Blacky's comments on contests' potential benefits seem pretty much on the mark.

[Gregg Delso]

> In 1994 Max Adams submitted MY BACKYARD and EXCESS BAGGAGE to both
> Nicholl and Austin. MY BACKYARD won Nicholl but didn't make the first
> cut at Austin. EXCESS BAGGAGE won Austin, but didn't make the first cut

> at Nicholl. Despite efforts at every contests to minimize subjectivity
> in the judging, it will always exist. You can expect more of the same
> when you shop your scripts around LA. :(

I'm not quite sure why, but this seems like a good thing to me. Maybe
the old Hollywood saying is true, "Nobody knows anything."

(snip)

GD

[V.P. Turner]

I just started attending a screenwriting peer group here in Ausin. Four of
those present are readers for the Austin competition. They are *required*
to read the first 30 pages no matter how bad it is. Just FYI.

Vince

gb...@oscars.org wrote in article <5ibjc8$h8q$1...@covina.lightside.com>...

[JBurrows]

I had the good fortune of meeting Greg Beal in Chicago recently. If
anyone here is concerned about writing your check and submitting your
script to the Academy/Nicholl Fellowship -- only to have your work not
read or treated without respect -- put those fears to risk.

The stories Mr Beal passed on convinced us all that the Academy Fellowship
treats all entries with respect and will even cut some a little slack!

tcb,
john scott lewinski * screenwriter/interactive writer
jbur...@aol.com

"Screenplays are not works of art.
They are invitations for others to collaborate on a work of art."

[Mysti Rubert]

I believe Max said in the SCRNWRIT mailing list that the
two contests got different versions.

Lesson being, don't quit rewriting too soon!

Mysti

--
http://www.earthlink.net/~mysti/

Wear pants. -- Katherine Hepburn, Daily Mail, 1939

[gb...@oscars.org]

> Mysti Rubert <my...@earthlink.net> writes:
> I believe Max said in the SCRNWRIT mailing list that the
> two contests got different versions.
>
> Lesson being, don't quit rewriting too soon!
>
> Mysti

Indeed, it's true. Max entered both MY BACK YARD and EXCESS BAGGAGE extremely early in the
Nicholl contest year (as in January and February), thinking that she wouldn't have time to rewrite, given
that she had an onerous school schedule, etc. But with the later Austin deadline (wasn't it July 15 back
then?), she found the time to rewrite EXCESS BAGGAGE for them.

The Nicholl version of EXCESS BAGGAGE did put her into the top 10% of all entrants in 1994, but one
needed to be among the top 5% to advance to the quarterfinals.

On the other hand, at least one rewritten version of a Nicholl winning script was entered in Austin in
1996 and didn't make the first cut. It's among the best scripts that I have ever read.

[TVSDi]

Another Austin anecdote:

Ron Peer, who used to be active in AOL's screenwriting workshop, was a
semifinalist in 1995. His script, *Goodbye, Lover* was optioned shortly
afterward and is now in production -- I think the director is Roland
Joffe? And it stars Ellen DeGeneres.

If you have an opportunity to attend the Festival, do it. Some of the
info might be a little too remedial for some of you, but you will leave
feeling so inspired you'll want to write night and day for a couple of
months afterward.

[Manny Shah]

Um, I missed the original post. Do you have the stats on when it is? And
how much just to attend w & w/o submissions?

Also, is it roughly the same time each year?

Thanks
M

TVSDi <tv...@aol.com> wrote in article
<19970417001...@ladder01.news.aol.com>...

[Brian Anderson]

> I missed the original post. Do you have the stats on when it is? And
> how much just to attend w & w/o submissions?

The Screenwriters Conference runs from Oct 2-5. Registration is
$275 before May 15, $350 by Sept 10, or $450 after Sept 10 (by phone or
fax only). Last year they sold out, and probably will again this year.
Student registration is $175, with proof of current enrollment.
Entering a script doesn't affect the registration price, unless you
become a finalist (then they waive the registration fee).

The entry fee for scripts is $35, and the deadline is a May 15
postmark. For more information, an info packet, and an entry form, call
1-800-310-FEST, or visit their web site at
http://www.lnstar.com/~austinfilm

One new piece of information is that Ted Tally (SILENCE OF THE LAMBS
[best screenplay adaptation, 1991], THE JUROR, BEFORE AND AFTER) is a
confirmed panelist for this year.