Emerging Screenwriters

Rules & Regulations

Please read carefully. Any submission that does not comply with contest rules and regulations may be disqualified.

All writers from all countries are welcome to enter the contest; however, all scripts must be submitted in English and entry fees must be paid in U.S. dollars.
Scripts must be the original work of the author(s) and may not be encumbered by any third party. Scripts that have been sold, produced, or are currently under option are not eligible.
Novels, short stories, stage plays, treatments, synopses, reality show concepts, and/or spec scripts for existing TV series are not eligible. Your script must be an original screenplay or teleplay.
Adaptations of books, plays, or other source material written by another author are not eligible under any circumstances; nor are scripts adapted from books, plays, or other source material written by you if your source material has been sold, produced, or is currently under option to any third party. Screenplays adapted from your own self-published books, plays, or other source material are eligible if you have retained all rights to your work.
You may submit your entry and payment online only. We’re GREEN!
Multiple entries are permissible, but each entry must be accompanied by a separate entry form and entry fee.
For $10 you may submit a NEW logline to your current submission AS MANY TIMES AS YOU LIKE but you must fill in the appropriate entry form. Each logline is judged independently of the others!
Adaptations from other works are permissible provided you have the writer's written permission to adapt the work.
Adaptations of works in the public domain are permissible.
Collaborative work is eligible, the writers are responsible for the distribution of the contest prize(s).
Writers under the age of 18 years old must have parent’s permission to participate.
Contest applicants must accept without reservation the decisions rendered by the judges.
The work or submitted material must NOT have been previously produced for profit.
1st round submissions are judged by the logline and 1st 10 pages only. For the 2nd round, the TOP 100 screenplays will be read and rated based on an internal rating system. The reason we chose this process is to simulate the process used by producers to judge your screenplay.
Writer understands and accepts without reservation that he/she is an independent contractor and that Contest Administrators are not responsible for withholding any taxes or payments to any government agency, at any level, be it state, local or federal.
Writer understands that it is his/her sole responsibility to register Material with the U.S. Copyright Office and/or with the Writer’s Guild of America or the appropriate agency in his/her country.
Payments to be accepted via Paypal only. All major credit cards accepted.
By entering this contest and in the event you are declared a finalist, you understand and accept that we will be free to use your name and likeness for advertising or promotional purposes without additional consideration.
Contestants are under no obligation to participate therein.
Contestants may submit their screenplay to any other person, contest, producer, agent, publisher, and/or organization and will retain all rights to their screenplay.
No agreement for compensation, other than the prizes, has been implied.
Domestic airfare only - not to exceed $300. If the Grand Prize winner requires an international flight, they shall be responsible for the difference in cost of flight. Hotel is maximum 3 night stay. Location to be decided by Emerging Screenwriters’ Staff.
Once a script has been entered in the competition, we will we only accept substitutions of new drafts or corrected pages if you contact us within 24 hours. After that, under no circumstances will we accept changes. If you wish to submit a revised draft of your script, you must enter it as a new submission and pay the appropriate entry fee. (Writers who advance to the Final Round of competition will have the opportunity to submit a revised draft of their script for the Final Round of judging.)
Multiple entries are permissible, but each entry must be accompanied by a separate entry form and entry fee.
Decisions of the Judges are final and may not be disputed. The Judges will adhere to our screenwriting contest guidelines; however, the contest and its administrators may not be held responsible for any errors or omissions on the part of the Judges.
Scripts should be written in standard spec screenplay or teleplay format, set in 12-point Courier font. Scripts should be standard length. While your entry will not be disqualified if it is longer or shorter than these specified page counts, for your own benefit we recommend that you adhere to the following guidelines:

Full-Length Features: 80-130 pages
TV Drama Pilots: 50-70 pages

Include a standard title page, listing the title of your script, name of author(s), mailing address, telephone number, and email address. This is does NOT affect the judging process.
Under no circumstances should you include your name or contact information within the body of your script.
Please do not enclose synopses, casting suggestions, letters, resumes or photos with your submission. They will not be forwarded to the Judges. However, if you’re submitting a TV Pilot you may include standard supplementary materials, such as lists of recurring characters and future episodes.
You understand that your LOGLINE and or SCRIPT will be reviewed by our employees and/or our panel of Industry Judges for evaluation. You also understand that any one of these employees, or judges may have been or may be exploring ideas similar to yours and you hereby waive any claim that the Emerging Screenwriters’ Competition, its employees or judges may have misappropriated any ideas or portions of your submission logline or script.
Entering early in NO way affects the judging, it simply saves you money!