http://ukfilmfestival.com/10-minute-screenplay-competition.html
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| Feature Script Competition guidance from the UK Film Festival |
UK Film Festival holds annual competitions which allows young people to enter with the chance of winning the UK Film Festival Winner's Laurels. Not only this but the script you write will also be sent to different production companies which could potentially become a reality.
Even runners up will get subscription to a website called InkTip which links producers and writers together to make productions.
The fee is up to £35 to enter into the competitions.
"The Rules and Guidelines are:
The script should be in English.
The script should be around 5 to 10 pages long in the recommended industry format.
The winner is obliged to agree to grant first option choice for production to the UK Film Festival.
Should there be a need to alter any small aspect of the script when it goes into production the winner should be willing to work with the script editor and/or director to develop the idea. If this should occur the rights to the script still remain with the writer."
Source - http://ukfilmfestival.com/10-minute-screenplay-competition.html
Another example of a competition that runs is BAFTA Rocliffe New Writing Competition.
This is when aspiring writers are able to enter and showcase work which could be seen by professionals. The competition runs once a year with four different segments which include film, television drama, children's media and comedy scripts.
The competition is blind judged by a range of people in the industry so they are unbiased with reviews.
If you become one of the finalists you will be able to work with BAFTA award winning actors and directors alongside having access to events and workshops which BAFTA provide for a year. From this it will give you a large amount of exposure into the industry working with different companies. Below is the full terms and conditions from the BAFTA website.
Commissioning body
One of the main UK based commissioning bodies that will accept unsolicited scripts are BBC Writer's Drama Room.
This is a scheme set up by the BBC to encourage writers to get scripts made.
Last year they had over 3800 scripts sent in which was then narrowed down to under 20 writers who then get taught development and training skills. They have windows of around one month long where people can enter the work which comes under certain categories.
How to submit? -
To submit to the writers room you will need to be signed up to the E-Submissions
All the terms and conditions can be found online and part of it is also below.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/send-a-script/esubmission-faqs
https://www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/send-a-script/terms-and-conditions
2. Background Material
Link to the screenplay layout post -
https://lottiesmediabtecblog.blogspot.com/2018/11/screenplay-layout-conventions.html
3. Research
books, news, real life, ideas in your head (or dreams) are all different ways that you can find inspiration for creating new screenplays.
Books -
The Hunger Games was originally written by Suzanne Collins. From an early age her father was part of the American Air Force fighting in Vietnam so had always heard stories about the battlefield in depth. When he was home he would also go hunting too so knew lots about wilderness survival.
It was one day that she was sat watching TV and witnessed stories on the news about the Iraq War. This is when the idea for a new book came to her head and was also heavily influenced by Greek Mythology. This combination is what then became The Hunger Games.
Source - https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/film-news/9161107/The-Hunger-Games-Who-is-author-Suzanne-Collins.html
Real life events -
One of the biggest films released last year on the 26th December was the Greatest Showman.
This film is based on the real life P.T. Barnum who is played by Hugh Jackman.
Barnum ran one of the first travelling circuses after his museum burnt down in 1868. In 1871 the circus traveled around the world with weird and wonderful acts. he was married to his wife for 44 years however, due to strong working commitments would often leave the children and wife for months at a time.
Considering the film was realeased in December it was still taking £1 million in the cinemas every week until March 2018.
Sources - https://people.com/movies/the-true-story-behind-hugh-jackmans-the-greatest-showman/
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/2018/05/15/box-office-hit-greatest-showman-heading-broadway/
3. Research -
3 primary sources to gather script information -
- Online Surveys, these ask questions relating to the topic to collect data and responses. It's also a free way of collecting data which only requires you to come up with questions especially if it is online as most companies will then sort the data for you. This applies to websites like Survey Monkey.
- Focus groups are also a way for small groups to come together to talk about the topics and conflicts of other peoples ideas and thoughts. This is a way to get more detailed responses as you can ask further questions.
- Observations are another way of gaining information as you can show snippets of films or script to small audiences and see how they react to certain things.
When creating my screenplay I intend to do primary research into the police force and try and interview someone who has worked on cases previously who could give me insights on how to make my cases more accurate.
Another thing I will do is create a survey to learn more about what audiences want to watch this show and who may not have any interest. This means I can almost tailor the show to what the audience wants meaning they would have more interest. From the responses to the survey I may then create a more specific focus group to find out more detail which could help with character development.
Secondary Sources -
- Looking online to find information in regards to films that may have similar themes or characters as well as seeing what topics are popular and keep audiences interested.
- Books are also a cheap way of finding resources as you could go to somewhere like a library or access archives to gain information.
- Journals or the news is a way to gain secondary sources from someone who has already done the research before you have.
For my secondary research I have watched more films and TV shows relating to murder mysteries to gain more knowledge on shots that work well and more about the settings they use and what they look like.
Relating to this I also turned to Netflix documentaries which are stories told from people that have gone through a traumatic experience to gain insight on how the character can develop. Two documentaries which helped me the most were the Ted Bundy Tapes and also Abducted in plain sight. Both have interviews with the people who were directly involved in the incidents. It also showed other members of the family and what they felt at the time. I used these to have a more accurate script. As I have never been in a horrific situation like this I wanted to know how the person being abducted felt and reacted.
4. Preparing Material
Primary Research -
This is research that you conduct yourself.
Advantages -
- More effective as it is completed by yourself
- More based on what you actually need information wise
Disadvantages -
-Takes longer to complete as you have to do it all
- Could be expensive
Secondary research -
Research which has already been undertaken by someone else.
Advantages -
- Is quicker to find and cheaper too as it has already been done
- Can be more extensive as others may have had more of a budget and time to gain information
Disadvantages -
- You can never tell if it's real
- Won't necessarily relate to what your project is about
Personally I found the most useful information has been reading books which has bought all concepts of my ideas to life. It helped me to write my treatment and learn how certain characters develop when they find certain things out like new evidence.
Also TV shows like Killing Eve has helped me to vision more of what I want in terms of having strong female roles.
For my research I have looked at screenplay layouts to know how to write my own and know what all the jargon means such as log line, parenthetical, continuous and slug line. I have also looked at other scripts which have been commissioned and made into popular TV shows like Sherlock. Reading crime novels has also been a good way to research how the writer conveys emotion and action as when people read my script I want them to be able to see in there head what is happening.
All of my research is on my blog under the screenplay label.
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