The Global Screenwriting Contest Hub
Stage 32 has announced the launch of its Global Screenwriting Contest Hub. It features a number of distinguished contests, including some that are Oscar and BAFTA-qualifying.
Among the initial partners are the HollyShorts Film Festival Screenplay Contest, the Manchester Film Festival Screenplay Contest, the PAGE International Screenwriting Awards, and the Vail Film Festival Screenplay Awards.
The platform is designed to provide screenwriters with a streamlined process for discovering and submitting their work to a wide array of respected competitions.
It functions like Coverfly, as a place you can submit to, and then a place where you can post what you're scored, where you're ranked, or what you've won.
You can track all that via your profile.
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Richard "RB" Botto, CEO of Stage 32, stated, "The Global Screenwriting Contest Hub cuts out the noise and allows writers to not only find the most highly regarded contests, but also those that fit the genre(s) they write in."
To spearhead the new hub, Stage 32 has brought on three former executives from Coverfly and Industry Arts. The new hires include Geoffrey Faugérolas, who previously served as Senior Manager of Development at Coverfly; Mitch Lusas, former Chief Operating Officer of Coverfly, as Chief Technology Officer; and Nate Witty as an Engineer.
Unpacking it All
It's still early to really tell how effective this will be. It's a place writers can go and post things to a profile, and we'll have to learn as we go about whether or not agents and managers use this as a place to discover people.
The other big thing to examine will be the hope machine, and how many contests you need to enter and how much you're actually paying to get noticed, but that's something I like to keep an eye on across all these kinds of websites.
Just know that platforms like this get kickbacks for getting people to pay to apply. That's why they exist. They are marketing tools to sell things.
As long as we all know that, we can acknowledge that they may also be necessary to be discovered if you're not willing to move to Hollywood or network.
I am genuinely happy that the people who lost Coverfly have a new place to build out a profile and to register with some popular contests.
We'll keep an eye on this as it goes.
Let me know what you all think in the comments.
