By Raymond Lloyd

Rating:

I’ve placed in a number of competitions, but the coolest by far was my first – The Austin Film Festival “Heart of Film Screenplay Competition”. It was long, long ago… Bush was still the Governor of Texas (I only know this because the screenplay finalists had a luncheon outside the Governor’s Mansion).

I remember receiving the letter notifying me I was a quarter finalist and informing my wife that if I made it to the semi-finals, I would like to attend the film festival. We had a brand spanking new baby, so taking off for a week wasn’t an easy choice, and even though I got home sick only after 3 days in Texas, the trip was worth it.

The place was crawling with celebrities, and though I was too shy to talk to most of them – I met Amanda Plummer (she was as sweet as pie), Laura Dern, saw Scorsese and a few others mingling during the events. Andrew Marlowe (who was a new celebrity screenwriter at the time) presented the awards. I even boarded the plane back home with Oliver Stone, but I was too doped up on Dramamine and Ativan (don’t care for flying) to say hello, let alone strike up a conversation. I seriously thought about slipping my screenplay into his carry bag.

I didn’t win, but I did option my script a few months later to a production company in New York who requested a list of the finalists from the competition.

Probably the coolest part, though, was hanging out with the eclectic group of screenwriters I was competing against - interesting creatures from all walks of life. Not sure what the contest is like these days, but I give the Austin Film Festival “Heart of Film Screenplay Competition” 5 stars.

By Duane Gross

Rating:

My experience as a finalist in the 2008 Disney/ABC Writing Fellowship (Feature Screenplay Division) was very positive, very productive, mainly due to two factors: the executives in charge of the fellowship and the camaraderie that was developed between the 22 candidates.

The Talent Development & Diversity Staff were very professional and friendly. A cocktail reception was scheduled for the finalists as a meet and greet the night before the individual interviews. The TD&D staff mixed in and mingled with the potential fellowship recipients to get a good idea of who was getting involved and displaying their winning charm and personality, and who was standing on the sidelines being the room’s added wallflowers. The fellowship candidates came from all parts of the country… New York, Washington D.C., Michigan, Texas and of course California. And every writer had a different story to tell of their struggles to climb up the ladder of success.

The interview process was a bit intimidating, consisting of a panel interview with as many as seven to ten panelists. I won’t go into detail on the questions that were asked, but as long as a candidate is on top of their game… they’ll have no worries in answering them to the best of their ability.

Although, I didn’t win a covenant spot as one of the final four fellows, I experienced one of the best times in my life as a writer. I know that my writing skills have improved in leaps and bounds because of it. And best of all, I built a number of great friendships with the other candidates of whom I still speak and correspond with today.

Duane is an aspiring screenwriter living in Michigan.  Find him at www.grossbros.com!

Is there a current list of Producers to submit query letters to?