Best Screenplay Contests to Enter, Part 1: Fellowships

is a question often asked by new screenwriters. Sometimes, choosing the best screenplay contests to enter seems more daunting than writing a script.

With 250+ screenplay competitions, contests, and fellowships to choose from, many screenwriters would need a second mortgage to enter a script in every screenwriting competition. Even if mortgages were an option, too many writing contests are run by writers whose only experience is creative writing--not for film, but for their contest's advertisements.

If your ultimate goal is to sell your script, your investment in writing contests should be based on how much they will help you achieve that goal. After all, if you pick the right screenplay competitions to enter, they could lead to a lifetime spent writing films! And who wouldn't love to tell people "I work in the movies"?

Towards that end, screenwriting fellowships often provide the guidance necessary to take a writer to the higher levels of craft expected from professional screenwriters.

Beyond the quick infusion of prize money provided by most screenplay competitions and contests, screenwriting fellowships in particular focus on developing the winning writers' talents.

Depending on the fellowship, a writer will be assigned to a group of mentors who have proven success in the film industry. These mentors may be writers, directors, actors, agents. Regardless, they will be people who have done what you have not - worked on movies. For money. Often, lots and lots of money. The goal of fellowships is to get the screenwriting fellow to that point, too - working in movies.

Based on past results, the following thre% screenwriting fellowships offer the best chance for a writer to start a career writing films.

No contest, competition, or fellowship matters as much to producers, agents, or studios as the Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting does. Run by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences - you know, the people who hand out Oscars - the Nicholl awards five fellowships annually.

Funded by Gee Nicholl, widow of the co-creator of "The Jeffersons" and "Threes Company", the Nicholl provides its writers with $30,000 each so they can avoid some of the financial struggles that Don Nicholl had to go through when he was first starting out.

The fellowship prize money may be attractive, but the Nicholl's real value lies in the boost it gives to a writer's career. Professional careers launched by this screenwriting fellowship include Allison Anders (Gas Food Lodging, Mi Vida Loca, Grace of my Heart), Jeffrey Eugenides (author, The Virgin Suicides), Susannah Grant (Erin Brockovich, 28 Days), Andrew W. Marlowe (Air Force One, End of Days, Hollow Man), Ehren Kruger (Arlington Road, Reindeer Games, Scream 3, The Ring), and too many more to list. In all, Nicholl screenwriting fellowship winners have contributed to the creation of over $3 billion in worldwide box office revenues.

In addition to launching careers, the Nicholl has the best record of winning scripts being made into movies. By 2006, 13 of 86 fellowship scripts had been produced. It's no wonder that even quarter and semi-finalist screenplays garner requests from production companies - something few other competitions can claim.

If you pick one screenplay fellowship to enter, make it the Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting.

Robert Redford should be used to 3econd billing as his alter-ego, the Sundance Kid. With the 1969 release of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Redford ended a decade of mostly minor roles on a high note--as the star of an Academy Award nominated, box office hit.

Ever grateful to his break-through character, Redford chose "Sundance" as the name for his hotbed of independent film when he founded the Sundance Institute in 1981. It's mission: "discovery and development of independent artists and audiences. Through its programs, the Institute seeks to discover, support, and inspire independent film and theatre artists from the United States and around the world, and to introduce audiences to their new work".

To that end, the Institute supports a wide range of programs, only one of which is the annual Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. For budding screenwriters, though, the jewel in the institute's crown is the Feature Film Program's Screenwriters Lab. Though not labeled a screenwriting fellowship in Institute literature, it has all the trappings and benefits of a fellowship, and therefore earns a well-deserved spot on this list.

For an entry fee of $30, a screenwriter has a shot at taking one of 12 slots available for the bi-annual Lab, held with Sundance himself and a cast of notable creatives. Past alum include Darren Aronfsky, who worked on Requiem for a Dream during the lab, and PT Anderson, whose Hard Eight also impressed the Creative Advisors.

Though on paper more truncated than the Nicholl's yearlong fellowship, and lacking the Nicholl's $30,000 in prize money, Sundance's Screenwriters Lab provides a fellowship-like experience of hands-on practice with professional scribes, actors, and directors. With a real shot at seeing your screenplay produced during the Directors Lab, which takes place between the two Screenwriters Labs, you may find yourself skiing the slopes of Park City come awards time.

If they really like your screenplay and your work ethic, they'll provide you with more support beyond the competitions stipulated prize, up to and including the arrangement of financing, production, and distribution of your movie. You might say they'll help you jump off the cliff into the river of...um...filmmaking (okay, that was a bad reference to Butch and Sundance...see below for a funny remake).

In terms of cash layout, the Disney screenwriting fellowship can't be beat. Officially named The Walt Disney Studios/ABC Entertainment Writing Fellowship, the Mouse and Alphabets contest grants a number of $50,000 screenwriting fellowships to film and television writers each year, with four feature film fellowships awarded in 2005 alone.

With that kind of cash on the line, Disney and ABC expect something for their investment. Unlike Sundance and Nicholl, the Disney screenwriting fellowship requires relocation to LA, since fellows participate in a year of work, mentorship, and lecture opportunities that could easily be considered a day job.

Due to the workload, Disney/ABC recommends avoiding employment or education outside of the screenwriting fellowship for the duration. Adding to the day job vibe: all screenplays that fellows create during their fellowship becomes the property of Disney and/or ABC.

That $50k isn't sounding so great after all, is it? With rent prices in LA, that'll leave you money for a can of baked beans a day (one rent-saving alternative: build a shelter out of all the drafts of your previous screenplays).

Still, being a Disney Fellow opens doors. Past fellowship recipients find steady work in LA, including a bevy of TV jobs on such shows as "Ellen", "Buffy the Vampire Slayer", and "Judging Amy". On top of that, the Writers Guild of America sponsors the program, which means you could end up sipping single malt whiskey in the ultra-exclusive Writers Guild Gold Star Screenplay Lounge with the top writers in town (okay, I made up that whole lounge bit).

With no entry fee to worry about, entering your screenplay in this one is money well spent. Just make sure you're up for the sacrifice and the work...ya know, sorta like what you'll experience when you're a professional writer.

Whether you enter your screenplay in these or other screenwriting fellowships, remember one thing: winning a contest is only one step towards selling your screenplay. Check back for future hubs dealing with some of the other steps, as well as other helpful hubs for writers, filmmakers, and movie junkies. Part 2 of the Best Screenwriting Contests will deal with some of the better non-fellowship competitions.

Finally, if your ultimate goal is to make money from screenplay contests, buy a lottery ticket. It will take less time and cost less money in the long run.