About the Competition

about the competition

history | mission | competition format | filmmaker benefits

history of the competition

NYC Midnight Movie Making Madness is a filmmaking competition co-founded by two New York filmmakers, Craig Flamm and Charlie Weisman, determined to take digital filmmaking to new heights and put a spin on the standard film festival. The competition is currently in its 3rd year.

In its inaugural year in 2002, NYC Midnight attracted 35 teams of filmmakers from 12 states across the United States. In 2003, participation skyrocketed to include 279 teams competing from 40 states across the U.S. and 6 countries around the world. And, 2004 promises to be bigger and better!

mission

There are so many festivals out there with the same format. Countless films are rejected, and most often the films with the larger budgets prevail. It's easy for a low budget filmmaker to get discouraged after numerous rejections because he/she is unable to secure the funds for a large scale production.

Digital technology has provided aspiring filmmakers everywhere the chance to chase their dreams for little or no money. But with a $50 million dollar budget or a $75 dollar budget, the most important factor of a movie is the story and how its told. If the budget of a movie determined how good it was, then everything coming out of Hollywood would be fantastic.

NYC Midnight Movie Making Madness provides a competition where filmmakers from around the world can test their skills on a level playing field. We challenge filmmakers to utilize all their available resources to create a great movie under extreme time constraints. And to keep a level playing field, creative storytelling is rewarded over a big name in the credits or an elaborate crane shot.

To sum things up, the goal of NYC Midnight Movie Making Madness is to give EVERY filmmaker, rich or poor, amateur or veteran, the chance to show what they can do. And in the end, filmmakers up to the challenge will receive the confidence and knowledge that anything can be done, regardless of time or money--and not to mention well deserved cash awards and exposure for the filmmakers that prove to be the most talented.

competition format

Short Film Competition (For complete details on rules and prizes, click here)

Anyone may compete from anywhere in the world
There are 2 rounds
1st Round: Teams are placed randomly in heats. Each heat is assigned a genre and a subject. Some past examples of this are: genre-comedy subject-competing lemonade stands, genre-musical subject-animal rights. The list of possible genres is below:

Action/Adventure	Western	Slasher	Silent Movie	Film Noir
Comedy	Sci-Fi	Slapstick	Suspense	Mystery
Drama	Romantic Comedy	Mockumentary	Political Satire	Fairy Tale
Musical	Horror	Crime Caper	Samurai / Kung Fu (Martial Arts)	Thriller

Teams have 2 weeks to write, shoot, edit, and score a 10 minute (maximum) short movie and send to NYC for judging.
Winners are chosen from each heat and are invited to participate in the Final Round held in NYC to compete for the grand prize ($10,000 in 2003)
Final Round: Teams all receive the same subject and genre and have 24 hours to create and submit a movie from scratch...from midnight to midnight. The movies are viewed by a panel of judges who choose the top movies - the winner takes home the grand prize!

Screenplay Competition (For complete details on rules and prizes, click here)

Anyone may compete from anywhere in the world
There are 2 rounds
1st Round: Screenwriters are placed randomly in heats. Each heat is assigned a genre and a subject.
Screenwriters have 1 week to write an original short screenplay (maximum 20 pages) and submit to NYC for judging.
Winners are chosen from each heat and advance to the final round to compete for the grand prize ($1,500).
Final Round: The winning screenwriters all receive the same genre and subject at midnight (NYC time). They have 24 hours to write an original short screenplay and e-mail to NYC for judging.
A panel of judges review the final round screenplays and a grand prize winner is chosen. The winner will receive the grand prize, as well as a trip for 2 to NYC for the final round weekend of NYC Midnight Movie Making Madness!

benefits to filmmakers

Experience - Working as a team, using all your available resources on a limited budget, and creating a short movie from scratch under difficult time constraints not only provides beginning filmmakers with invaluable experience, but also benefits veterans in the industry. And of course, it's a blast to take part!

Awards - We provide the winning filmmakers in the competition with much needed cash and equipment awards so they can continue to make great movies and take the next big step towards breaking into the industry.

Exposure - Because of the exciting competition format of NYC Midnight, publicity for the participants is growing rapidly and is exposing the world to a new wave of talented filmmakers and storytellers.

In the past, 1st Round finalists have received local, national, and even international publicity for their accomplishments in NYC Midnight Movie Making Madness. And, for many filmmakers the publicity doesn't stop when the competition ends in October. Several films created for NYC Midnight have gone on to screen at prestigious film festivals around the world including Sundance, Cinequest, and Cannes, as well as winning top awards at these festivals.