A prize to write home about for future filmmakers

By John Tillotson

Attention future Oliver Stones and Cameron Crowes: Now’s your opportunity to get your foot in the door with the fourth annual Scriptapalooza screenwriting competition.

The deadline for the competition is April 15, but entries postmarked by March 1 get $5 off the $50 entry fee.

The grand prize is $10,000 and a software package. Second prize, third prize and 10 runners-up will receive various software packages.

“If I had the time to write a screenplay, I’d definitely enter it,” said Chris Holland, a junior theater arts major. “I think it would be a great opportunity.”

Last year the contest received over 2,000 entries, and the grand prize went to Rett Thompson, a Xerox engineer, for his work, “Ted Inc.”

Besides the software packages and money, the winning screenplays are seen by studios, agents and producers. Quite a few even have been optioned and put into pre-production.

The requirements are that the writer has to be at least 18 years of age and cannot have any produced feature film credits.

“I think I could write a pretty good story,” senior English major Jenny Shaefer said. “But a script would be a bit challenging.”

Script guidelines state that a script must be 90 to 130 pages in length and must be bound by two or three brads, which can be picked up at any office supply store.

The Web site also has a special section, Screenwriter 101, which is about how to write a screenplay.

Previous finalists include Andrea Bailey, whose script is now in pre-production with Mary Stuart Masterson set to direct.

Scripts can be from any genre, but must be written in English.

“I’d probably write a crazy script, like Quentin Tarantino,” said Joel Jacobs, a junior theater arts major.