You can find all this year’s Shore Scripts contests listed in their press below.

Funding

Shore Scripts Short Film Fund https://www.shorescripts.com/shortfilmfund/

Spring Season Opens: 15 / 01 / 2024

Final Deadline: 02 / 05 / 2024

Fall Season Opens: 15 / 07 / 2024

Final Deadline: 31 / 10 / 2024

USD Pricing: Open to Early Deadline $39, Regular Deadline $49, Final Deadline $59.

Turn your calling card script into an attention-grabbing short film with our $15,000 cash production grant! As much as we love to read scripts, too many excellent shorts never progress beyond the written word, which is why we established the Shore Scripts Short Film Fund to help take those compelling stories off the page and onto the screen. One new short film will be funded each season, offering screenwriters and filmmakers the fantastic opportunity to finance and produce their short scripts with a $15,000 cash grant towards production or finishing funds. The Grand Prize Winner will also receive free camera equipment rental from our partner ARRI Rental, mentorship with Oscar-nominated producer Maria Gracia Turgeon, and a film festival strategy package with Tribeca programmer and Academy member Kimberley Browning. Many of our previous 19 funded short films have played at some of the top film festivals in the world, including Sundance, Tribeca, BFI London, Austin, Cannes, Encounters, and Palm Springs. They’ve even won a BAFTA! Those writers have gone on to gain representation, sold screenplays, and been staffed on Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, & BBC shows as a direct result of winning and producing their shorts with us. Scripts should be between 2-30 pages and must be written in English. However, produced films can be filmed in any country and any language, as long as English subtitles are provided. We accept scripts for narrative short films (live-action & animation), web series pilots, half-hour TV pilots, and proof-of-concept shorts for TV series and features, as well as produced films seeking finishing funds.

Shore Scripts Script Development Fund https://www.shorescripts.com/scriptdevfund/

Spring Season Opens: 16 / 02 / 2024

Final Deadline: 19 / 04 / 2024

Fall Season Opens: 16 / 09 / 2024

Final Deadline: 19 / 11 / 2024

USD Pricing: Open to Regular Deadline $39, Final Deadline $49.

The Script Development Fund is for screenwriters who want support to finish their screenplay. Prizes for the two (2) Winners include 12 months of free script development support, including one-to-one calls and multiple rounds of coverage feedback + $3,000 cash to spend on whatever the writer needs to give them more time to write. We accept the first 10 pages of longer scripts, and treatments up to 10 pages long for Feature, TV, Shorts, and Animation projects which are personal/spec scripts, and not commissioned by a producer or production company. The Script Development Fund offers you an opportunity to transform your story idea into a screenplay that will make people take notice of you and your work. 

* No Early Deadline for the Script Development Fund.

Competitions

Shore Scripts Feature Screenplay Contest https://www.shorescripts.com/feature/

Date opens: 03 / 04 / 2024

Final Deadline: 30 / 08 / 2024

USD Pricing: Open to Early Deadline $55, Regular Deadline $65, Final Deadline $75.

The Feature Screenplay Contest is for screenwriters looking to gain representation with an Agent or Manager and sell their screenplay. Along with cash awards totaling $6,500 and development prizes from UCLA and Stage 32, the Grand Prize Winner will have an unprecedented opportunity to participate in one-to-one calls with FOUR (4) of our Judges to get firsthand advice on how to polish their script with a view to successful production and get on a call with our Industry Roster Manager, Alec Ring at CINETIC, to receive must-have career advice and industry guidance. Placing in Shore Scripts contests will boost your rating on Coverfly’s Red List. At the end of 2023, over 100 scripts by Shore Scripts writers were listed in Coverfly’s Top 10%.

Shore Scripts TV Pilot Contest https://www.shorescripts.com/tv/

Date opens: 01 / 02 / 2024

Final Deadline: 28 / 06 / 2024

USD Pricing

• 1-Hour: Open to Early Deadline $55, Regular Deadline $65, Final Deadline $75.
• ½-Hour: Open to Early Deadline $50, Regular Deadline $60, Final Deadline $70

The ½-Hr & 1-Hr TV Pilot Contest is for screenwriters who are looking to get staffed on TV shows and have their pilots picked up by production companies. Many contests will quickly move on after announcing the placings. Not us. We are constantly getting each year’s top scripts out to the industry and creating real and tangible opportunities and successes for our writers. We accept pilots for ongoing shows or limited series. Web series pilots should be entered in the ½-hour category.

In addition to sharing a prize jackpot of $5000, both of our 1hr and 1/2hr Grand Prize Winners will win a call with SEAN CHARLES – Development & Production Manager at AMC Networks – who will read and discuss your script with you, imparting expert advice on how to best position yourself to take the next step in your screenwriting career. Our alumni have gone on to write and get staffed on shows for Netflix, HBO, HULU, Universal, SYFY, FOX, Sony, and SkyTV.

NB: FOR ALL CONTESTS, the pricing above is for a standard submission, which includes a detailed contest score. Written feedback in the form of a coverage report can be purchased together with submission for an additional fee.