In the past few years, horror shorts have become a goldmine for Hollywood. Feature films such as The Babadook, Lights Out, and Mama originated as proof-of-concept shorts. Shorts like Whisper, The Burden,Behind, Sweet Tooth, and Milk were discovered by producers like James Wan and Sam Raimi and are now in development as features.
But it all starts with the script.
Killer Shorts was created to discover, inspire, and promote emerging screenwriters around the world as we dig up the freshest new voices in horror. We’re passionate about horror and all its sub-genres! Horrifying monsters, psychological terrors, hilarious horror-comedies, creepy creatures…whatever your dark & twisted mind can imagine!
The top three screenplays will be read by agents, managers and producers from Grey Matter Productions, Good Fear Content, Paradigm Talent Agency, and Affirmative Entertainment. These industry heavyweight recognize the potential in horror shorts as a way of launching careers and they can't wait to read YOUR work!
In addition to guaranteed industry reads, a combined $3,000+ worth of prizes are up for grabs, including Final Draft screenwriting software, pitches to major studios, coverage from The Script Butcher, and free subscriptions to on-demand horror streaming service Shudder.
To celebrate the announcement of our contest, the awesome folks at Shudder want everyone at the Screenwriters Network to enjoy 14 days of free Shudder! This is a discord server for screenwriters and you can join free!
Killer Shorts is proud to partner with a network of literary managers, agents, executives, and producers who are actively seeking fresh voices in horror screenwriting and recognize the potential in short form content as a way of breaking into the industry.
They have a proven track record of discovering talent via their horror shorts, including Leigh Whannell (Saw), James Wan (Saw), David Sandberg (Lights Out), Angel Gómez Hernández (Behind), Julian Terry (Whisper, They Hear It), Nico van den Brink (Sweet Tooth, The Burden), and more.
Killer Shorts is accepting entries until December 15th!
SPONSORS
Shudder, Final Draft, Virtual Pitchfest, Screencraft, Crimson Screen Horror Film Fest, Oregon Scream Week Horror Film Festival, WeScreenplay, The Script Butcher, Coverfly, and FilmFreeway.
