▪ Anyone may compete from anywhere in the world

▪ There are 3 rounds of competition and a total of 4 writing challenges.

▪ In each challenge, writers are given a full 2 days to write their screenplay, from Friday at 11:59PM EDT to Sunday at 11:59PM EDT.

▪ All screenplays created in the competition must be 5 pages or less.

▪ Genre, Location & Object Assignment:  All screenplays must be created within the competition periods listed below and must include the genre, location and object assignment.  The screenplay must be written in the assigned genre.  The list of potential genres is Action/Adventure, Comedy, Crime Caper, Drama, Fairy Tale, Fantasy, Ghost Screenplay, Historical Fiction, Horror, Monster Movie, Mystery, Political Satire, Romance, Romantic Comedy, Sci-Fi, Spy, Suspense, Thriller, and Open Genre.  The assigned location (ex. baseball stadium) must be the predominant location used in the screenplay.  The assigned object (ex. toothbrush) must be used at some point in the screenplay.

▪ 1st Round (Challenge #1: September 25-27, 2009) :  Writers are placed randomly in groups.  There are 16 groups in the 1st round.  Each group is assigned a genre, a location and an object that must be included in the screenplay.  Once the judging is complete, writers receive points based on what place they end up in the challenge (see below):

▪ 1st Round (Challenge #2: October 23-25, 2009) : Writers compete in the same group they were placed in for Challenge #1.  Writers receive a new assigned genre, location and object which must be included in the screenplay.  Writers receive points based on what place they end up in the challenge.  The total points from Challenge #1 and #2 are added together, and the top 10 writers in each group advance to the 2nd Round. 

For example, if a writer comes in 4th place (18 points) in Challenge #1 and 13th place (3 points) in Challenge #2, than his/her total points for the 1st Round is 21 points.  If 21 points is among the top 10 highest point totals in the group, than the writer will advance to the 2nd round of the competition.

▪ 2nd Round (Challenge #3: November 20-22, 2009) : Writers are again placed randomly in groups.  There are 8 groups in the 2nd round with a total of 20 writers competing in each group.  Each group is assigned a genre, a location and an object that must be included in the screenplay.  The top 10 writers receive points (see below), but only 5 writers per group advance to the 3rd round.  The top 3 screenplays from the 2nd Round advance along with the next 2 writers with the highest point totals.  So, a total of 5 writers advance from each group to the 3rd and final round of the championships.

▪ 3rd Round (Challenge #4: December 11-13, 2009) : The 5 writers advancing from each group in the 2nd round are placed in the final group, with a total of 40 writers.  The group is assigned a genre, a location and an object that must be included in the screenplay.  The judges choose a top 15 in the 3rd round and the winners are announced.  Again, writers receive points based on what place they end up in the challenge (see below).

▪ How the points work:  Writers accumulate points through each round of the competition.  For example, if a writer comes in 4th place (18 points) in Challenge #1, 13th place (3 points) in Challenge #2, 2nd Place (20 points) in Challenge #3, and 10th place (15 points) in Challenge #4, than the writer would have a total of 56 points at the end of the competition.  There will be a leader-board on the website that will be updated after each round of the competition with point totals.

▪ How the prizes work:  The top 4 writers with the highest point scores at the end of the competition receive prizes.  Also, the top 3 writers that place in the 3rd round of the competition receive prizes.  For a detailed list of prizes, click here.

nycmidnight.com | screenwriting championships 2009 | how it works | register | prizes | sponsors | faq | forum

©2007 NYC Midnight Movie Making Madness, LLC.  All Rights Reserved.

be our friend :: facebook | twitter