Press Release: Baltimore Screenwriters Competition, Deadline Extended - January 27, 2021
Gardner, Betsy
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE January 11, 2021 |
For media inquiries only, contact: Santiago Nocera
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16th ANNUAL BALTIMORE SCREENWRITERS
COMPETITION CONTINUES ACCEPTING SUBMISSIONS
Application deadline extended until Wednesday, January 27, 2021;
screenplays to be submitted online only.
The Baltimore Film Office at the Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts (BOPA) continues accepting entries for the 16th annual Baltimore Screenwriters Competition. Due to the ongoing pandemic, and the backlog of USPS package shipments, the application deadline has been extended until Wednesday, January 27, 2021. Screenplays are to be submitted electronically only, along with the completed application. Copies of the application form, along with entry fee check, must be mailed to The Baltimore Film Office, Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts, 10 E. Baltimore Street, 10th floor, Baltimore, Maryland 21202. The application and full guidelines are available online at www.baltimorefilm.com.
All screenwriters are encouraged to apply for this opportunity to craft a winning screenplay highlighting Baltimore. Screenplays may be submitted in both the feature and short categories, and scripts must be set in or able to be filmed in Baltimore. Submitted scripts receive coverage from students in the Johns Hopkins University and Morgan State University screenwriting programs and by local screenwriters and producers. The final screenplays are judged by industry professionals in film and television, including producers and writers working on projects for HBO, NBC and others. The top entries in each category will win cash prizes and are scheduled to be announced during the 2021 Maryland Film Festival in May 2021. The 2021 Competition Judges include MK Asante, Nina K. Noble, and Annette Porter. The Baltimore Screenwriters Competition is a project of the Baltimore Film Office in conjunction with film programs at Johns Hopkins University and Morgan State University.
In 2020, the 15th annual Baltimore Screenwriters Competition judges -
Ken LaZebink, Nina K. Noble, B.A. Parker and Annette Porter
- selected “King of the Freaks” by Evan Balkan; “Squeegee Boy” by Chung-Wei Huang; “Wooden Nickels” by Miceal O’Donnell; and “Stealing Cars,” “Derby Night” and “Like You Think You Know Me” by Stephen Schuyler, whose “Like You Think You
Know Me” screenplay also won a Script Competition Award at the Austin Film Festival 2020. Previous Baltimore Screenwriters Competition winners have also received Saul Zaentz Innovation Fund Fellowships, Individual Artist Awards from the Maryland State Arts
Council, and have participated in nationwide film festivals.
2021 Competition Judges Bios
MK Asante
MK Asante is a best-selling author, award-winning filmmaker, recording artist, and distinguished professor who the Los Angeles Times calls “One of America’s best storytellers.” He is the author of four books including Buck: A Memoir, a multi-year Washington Post Bestseller and the recipient of numerous literary awards. Buck is currently being adapted into a major motion picture. Asante studied at the University of London, earned a B.A. from Lafayette College, and an M.F.A. from the UCLA School of Theater, Film, and Television. He is the founder/CEO of Wonderful Sound Studios and the Executive Producer and Host of the Snapchat original shows While Black with MK Asante and Free Tuition with MK Asante. Asante is a Distinguished Professor at the MICA Business School in India and a tenured professor in the Department of English at Morgan State University.
Nina K. Noble
Nina Noble is a freelance producer, and producing partner of David Simon’s Blown Deadline Productions. With Simon, she has produced three long running series and three miniseries for HBO-The Wire, for which she won a DGA and Peabody award as well as a BAFTA nomination, the Peabody award winning Treme, and most recently The Deuce. Miniseries include The Corner, which won the 2000 Emmy for best miniseries, Generation Kill and Show Me a Hero. Her most recent project is the HBO miniseries The Plot Against America, starring Winona Ryder, Zoe Kazan, Morgan Spector and John Turturro.
Annette Porter
Annette is a Producer at Nylon Films, an independent film company based in Baltimore and Co-Director of the JHU MICA Film Centre. She is also the Director of the Saul Zaentz Innovation Fund at Johns Hopkins
University, whose mission is to support new and emerging voices in filmmaking. Recognized for building and managing creative production teams internationally, Annette has directed and/or produced short and long form factual films on topics ranging from contemporary
arts and culture to environmental and social issues for clients including: Avon, Campaign for Female Education, Rambert Dance Company, UNESCO, Victoria & Albert Museum, Warner Brothers, Women's Aid, BBC, NBC, ITV, Discovery (Fr) and NHK (Japan).
For more information on the Baltimore Screenwriters Competition, call 443-263-4313 or visit www.baltimorefilm.com.
The Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts (BOPA) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, which serves as Baltimore City’s arts council, events center and film office. By providing funding and support to artists, arts programs and organizations across the city, and by producing large - scale events such as Artscape, Baltimore Book Festival and Light City, BOPA’s goal is to make Baltimore a more vibrant and creative city.
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Santiago Nocera | Marketing & Communications Associate
Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts
10 E. Baltimore Street, 10th Floor
Baltimore, MD 21202
Office: 410.752.8632 | Direct: 443.263.4311
