Virginia screenwriting competition closes May 30

Virginia Film Office is currently accepting screenplay submissions for the 28th Virginia Screenwriting Competition, created to provide Virginia screenwriters with a forum for their work and an opportunity to present their scripts to professionals in the motion picture and television industry. The deadline for submission is Monday, May 30, 2016.

The competition is one of the few in the nation requiring no entrance fee, and all entrants receive a free written evaluation from the first round judges. 

Distinguished past winners include Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan, who won in 1989 for his screenplay Home Fries, and Megan Holley, who won in 2003 for her screenplay Sunshine Cleaning.

The competition is open exclusively to Virginia residents or students currently enrolled in Virginia schools.  Each script submitted must contain either Virginia locations or locations that could reasonably be found in Virginia.

Feature film scripts must be approximately 90-120 pages in length. 

For the second consecutive year, the competition will also accept scripts made for one-hour television pilots, a reflection of the high-caliber of writing found in today’s television programming.  These must be approximately 45-60 pages in length.

All scripts must be typed and submitted in a standard screenplay format, with numbered pages and a title page without any personal information.  All scripts must be saved in a non-editable format such as a PDF, with the title of the PDF the same as the screenplay. 

All screenplays must be e-mailed to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) no later than midnight on Monday, May 30, 2016.

Screenplays are first read by Virginia judges, and finalists are selected and submitted to a second panel of judges who are currently working professionally in the entertainment industry. 

Three winning screenplays are then selected, and notifications of results are made in October 2016.

The three winning writers are each recognized before a featured screening at the Virginia Film Festival and awarded a prize of $1,000.  The Virginia Film Festival, now in its 29th year, takes place in Charlottesville Nov. 3-6, 2016.

The winners of the 2015 Virginia Screenwriting Competition are:  Kristin Swenson (Charlottesville) TELL MISTER LINCOLN, Victoria Ellis Nye (Virginia Beach) FAR FROM HOME, and Via Buksbazen (Arlington) THE RADISH BABY.

For further information, visit the Virginia Film Office website, http://www.filmvirginia.org or ca,ll the Film Office at (800) 854-6233.