#screenplay competition
Ideally, when you enter a competition, you win it. If you don’t, your consolation prize is some knowledgeable feedback about why someone else won.
But when you’re reading for a competition, you aren’t a critic. We can’t be brutally honest about what doesn’t work in your script. Our function is to be as helpful as possible, which occasionally produces euphemism.
If you didn’t get past the first round and you want to know what your feedback really means, here is a translation.
Euphemism: The concept didn’t gel.
Your story isn’t about a person who fights through obstacles of increasing difficulty, including his crippling flaw, to get something he can’t live without.
The fix: Nail down your story so it is about someone doing something difficult for a compelling reason.
Euphemism: The dialogue is expository.
Your lines explain what’s going on, who everyone is and why they’re doing what they’re doing.
The fix: Write dialogue as if it’s the reader’s job to figure all that stuff out. Compose most dialogue to build character instead of reveal plot. Focus on subtext. Readers love subtext.
Euphemism: The stakes are low.
Your plot never establishes why your protagonist needs this thing he needs so much that if he doesn’t get it, it would be a catastrophe.
The fix: Get rid of all his safety nets. Write with an eye to increasing how badly this enterprise can go wrong.
Euphemism: The protagonist is not sympathetic.
You wrote a character the reader doesn’t care about. Your protag does not have to be likable, but he has to be relatable.
The fix: Give your protag a deep, authentic flaw and construct his obstacles to challenge him right where he’s weakest.
Euphemism: Low conflict.
You’re much too easy on your protag.
The fix: To up your conflict, brainstorm about the worst possible thing that could happen to your protag in his quest. The tallest hurdle. The biggest betrayal. The most devastating setback. Then do that.
Euphemism: The structure is loose.
Every scene does not add something.
The fix: Every scene should complicate matters rather then illuminate them or set them up or resolve them. Go through your scenes and find the ones that don’t throw another wrench into the works. Tighten your structure by lumping them together into scenes that matter, or get rid of them.
Did you get a euphemistic piece of feedback you can’t decipher? I would love to hear it.
To get you past the first wall of readers.
Most spec scripts submitted to competitions and festivals look alike in ways that these gifs and articles encourage you to avoid.
That’s about it.
As some of you may already know, ny western/horror script, The Devil Himself, is currently a finalist for the 2014 Shriekfest Screenplay Competition. I created a campaign for funding to cover for the trip to Los Angeles in order to attend from October the 2nd to the 5th. Any help will be appreciated!
