The Truth About Contests and Education

Max Timm and The Story Farm offer all of his Substack content to ISA members for free, but a week or more after the original post was sent. If you would like to receive his most up to date Substack posts, as well as participate in a community of writers through his subscription and the Substack app, you can do so by going here, www.substack.com/@thestoryfarm.

I have worked a ton of different jobs during my time in the entertainment industry. I have quite literally lost count of how many different companies I’ve worked for, executives I’ve assisted, roles I’ve played in various institutions in and out of the entertainment industry. But what I’ve noticed while working with the International Screenwriters’ Association over the past ten years, and forming my own consulting company, is that we truly do have a customer-first attitude. And I actually kind of hate that term, “customer-first”, since it over simplifies a company’s intent and, really, it’s kind of a douchy thing to say. Still, everyone I work with at the ISA does take a selfless approach to their job. I really mean that. We are providing a resource for writers and creative people of all types so that you can be better prepared, better armed, better educated, and so that your attempts to create a career for yourself feel that much more attainable. As I have said in previous posts, this pursuit of becoming a working writer, director, producer, filmmaker, actor – whatever you’re attempting to achieve – it’s all attainable. It really is, and if you ever doubt yourself, or if you ever doubt that you will create longevity in this business, then that’s on you. And I do mean to be a little harsh with that statement. It is up to you to make the decision and to stick with that decision, regardless of what other people believe.

I have been lucky to have a group of friends who believe in me, and a family who back my choices. Not everyone has that luxury, and for those of you who face that kind of opposition or lack of belief from your friends, family, society in general, you have a more difficult road, but let me emphasize this: you have the power and control to make decisions and choices on your own. You do not need anyone else’s approval to live the life you intend to live. Period.

So I have taken the self-empowerment approach to this post, much like my previous one, but that has been on purpose. This Substack is about the craft of screenwriting, so naturally I talk about the process of creating a script, telling a story, and I try and stay as practical as I can and boil all of this down to something real and tangible. So I’m going to continue to do that, but it’s necessary to point out the importance of that term, self-empowerment. It isn’t just the name of an aisle in a bookstore.

Self-empowerment is as important to the craft of writing as it is to understanding structure and character development.

If we can’t see the power within ourselves to make choices that support our beliefs and help further our progress toward achieving our goals, then technically speaking, the physical craft of writing a story means nothing. Am I over-simplifying? Of course. In no way am I trying to make you believe that this process of self-empowerment is in any way easy. It’s something you will always be practicing, and it’s something at which you will probably fail many times throughout your life, but that doesn’t mean you should stop. What I want to emphasize is something more practical, and something that references what we writers tend to lose once we’re done with our work. Control.

I’ve talked a lot about a character’s emotional flaw or a personal problem that the Hero needs to overcome throughout an adventure. I’ve broken down, in detail (ad nauseam, even), how a character’s emotional flaw can hold back his or her attempts at achieving a goal, but a little exercise that I practice a lot is trying to define my own personal flaws and how they affect my own attempts at achieving goals.

You should consider trying it on yourself – make yourself your own Main Character and list the personal flaws, fears, and problems that affect your life.

It’s actually quite eye opening if you make yourself your own Main Character. But what I’ve noticed about myself is that I’m a bit of a control freak. I’ll admit it. I like having control over my life, and I take it as a personal affront if my freedom is taken away from me in some way. That being said, because I have noticed this about myself: I have been able to enjoy the process of learning how to let go. Well, okay, “enjoy” might be an exaggeration. There have been many times where learning to let go has been far from enjoyable or easy. I am thankful to admit that my control issues have not overtly affected all aspects of my life in terribly negative ways, but some emotional flaws and fears can actually work in your favor. If we spin the flaw positively, and if we take control as the primary example, it’s absolutely necessary to own your personal goals. Your goals and intentions are your own, and you have to make a stand and declare them as immovable, unchangeable, and controlled. This is part of what I was talking about in a previous post in terms of having clarity. But let me also say that just because you have clarity and that your intentions are completely unchangeable, doesn’t mean that you won’t keep an open mind and wear blinders for the rest of your life.

A tree’s branches don’t push against the incoming wind, they instead sway and bend with it all the while still keeping strong roots.

But my point about control is that it allows you to make decisions based on your beliefs and intentions, goals and aspirations. You have control over your own destiny, and you have control over creating your life.

So how does this relate to the title of this post?

By breaking down your understanding of your own personal amount of life control, you can then make decisions that will assist you in becoming a better writer, a stronger collaborator, better prepared and equipped to find a job in this industry, and will allow you to have a stronger understanding of how this business of writing works. All of that can be boiled down to one word – education.

I cannot stress enough the importance of educating yourself. It seems so simple and could spawn a reaction of, “duh”. Of course education is essential. You never hear a point/counterpoint or debate over whether or not education is important. We all know it is, but I need to point something out here. It seems that a lot of writers – and I mean a lot of writers – do not think they need to take a class on writing. It blows my mind, thoroughly frustrates me, and consistently makes me wonder why a writer would never invest in some form of a writing class, course, consultant, writers group, something! Every person that moves to Los Angeles with the intent to become a working actor is immediately given what? A list of all of the acting classes and showcases available to them. And there are a ton available. But what does that person do? She nods her head and says, “Oh, okay. Cool. I’ll find one and sign up.”

How is it that the screenwriting side of this business hasn’t taken on the same mindset as the acting side? The craft of acting is not all that different than the craft of writing. It’s something that is learnable, and it’s something that if given enough time will result in...? Being better! I can’t simplify it any more than that.

I’ll play hardball for a second, and whether or not you agree with me, well, I really don’t care, but if you’re a writer who thinks you can just figure this out on your own, maybe read Robert McKee’s book, Story (or my Substack for that matter), and then think that you can write a marketable and ready-made screenplay that will get produced...you’re wrong. You are, very simply, wrong. I am sorry if that offends you, but you should know by now that it is my intent to be real with you. It’s my intent to give a bit of a wake up call.

Investing in yourself and finding the right writing class or course, or even hiring a consultant to work with you, is so necessary that I wish there were billboards all over Los Angeles that announced a new law that forced all writers to take a class before they ever attempt to submit a screenplay to an agency or production company or even a screenplay contest!

Which are your favorite contests, and what success have you found? Tell us!

Let’s put this in a practical sense so that maybe I can make a small dent in the brains of those who may disagree. Screenplay contests. I love them. I think every writer should submit their projects to contests for many different reasons:

A) they’re a great way to test your material to see if you’re doing something right

B) if you are doing something right, you can receive a level of validation that every creative person needs because, let’s face it, we’re all self-conscious and if you say you’re not, you’re lying

C) you may very well win a contest and receive more than just validation but actual recognition, and potentially get your project in front of people who can make something happen with it

D) it is by far the least expensive way to get written notes and feedback on your script if you purchase the notes option that most contests and fellowships offer

But yes, queue some kind of a drum roll. Not every contest is created equal. If you have just finished your first draft of your first screenplay and have never showed the script to anyone and then you think it would be a good idea to submit it to the Academy’s Nicholl Fellowship, you might as well take that $60 dollars and flush it down the toilet. The Nicholl Fellowship gets nearly 9,000 entries every year (they’ve recently put a limit on how many submissions they will accept - 5,000). Even if the top 100 of those scripts are all amazing, they will still only choose roughly five winners, and then that selection process is relatively arbitrary based on how the Academy wants to represent themselves by the scripts and writers they choose to be fellows. Political? Yes, but also completely understandable and they have every right to do so.

I should also mention that if you wrote one draft of a screenplay, you shouldn’t show that draft to anyone except your class instructor, a writing group member, or a consultant who is going to be open-minded toward helping you rewrite that first draft and create an even stronger second draft. On top of that, if you have not fully developed your project, you should not consider submitting your script to the top, big name contests. You just shouldn’t. I’ll name those big contests in a second, but I want to explain what “fully develop” means for a quick second.

To fully develop a script, that script needs to go through multiple iterations and drafts. And a rewrite is not just the rearranging of words or correcting grammar and spelling mistakes or formatting. A rewrite – a true rewrite – is looking at each component of your script (Main Character, Secondary Character, Opponent, 2nd Act Hook/Recurring Moment) and further brainstorming and enhancing scenes that deal with each component so that the uniqueness of each is drawn out even more than the previous draft. And you should do this multiple times and with multiple people supporting you, offering insights as to how those components can be enhanced. Multiple drafts. Hundreds of hours. Saying no to parties, and asking your girlfriend or boyfriend to reschedule dinner to a different night. I’m getting a little dramatic there, but going back to what I was initially saying about a practical approach to submitting to contests and considering a class on screenwriting...

Why would you spend $60 just to “see” if your first draft is worthwhile? You might as well buy a lottery ticket, and we all know our chances at winning the lottery. That’s not gambling. A true, professional gambler looks at his or her odds and does everything he can to allow for those odds to be in his favor.

You as a writer need to up your odds and therefore up your chances at finding success.

So why spend $60 on a lottery ticket? And, by the way, because of the amount of screenplay contests out there, I would assume you would want to apply to two, three, maybe four of them at a time. That could run you upwards to $200 or more just to “see” how your script does. Huh? Do you understand how insane that sounds? Even if you have a ton of money or have saved thousands of dollars since you were nine years-old and you now want to spend that money. It’s still just a giant waste if you haven’t vetted your script, rewritten it at least three or four times, sent it through coursework or hired a consultant to offer his or her notes on it. Take that $200 and put it toward a class that instead turns you into a stronger writer so that all of your screenplays – not just the one you choose to submit to contests – become stronger, more viable, and more marketable. There are so many classes available to you, and so many consultants. Are they all amazing? No. You need to do research, ask around, go on Reddit and look up reviews and comments. The same goes for writing classes. There are some classes that only care about taking your money, but there are even more available to you that are incredible and extremely helpful. My consulting and development company, The Story Farm, is always looking for devoted, career-minded writers who want long term success, but I am one of many consultants. For instance, if you really want to work as a TV writer and get staffed, you need to check out Tawnya Bhattacharya’s Script Anatomy. If you want to work hard, learn a ton of tools, and get very honest feedback, look up Corey Mandell. If you want consistent, nearly-priceless career advice, Lee Jessup is the best.

I work with writers in a bit of a combined way, meaning I’m 50% craft/industry education and 50% creative development, much like a manager or a studio executive would; helping you build your projects step-by-step while teaching you tools, exercises, and a whole bunch of outlining techniques that may or may not drive you a little crazy.

Just work with someone! Join a writer’s group, online or in-person. I am currently working on developing an online community for my Story Farm writers to be able to share material, support each other, and receive live webinars and writing group sessions with me and your fellow writers. There are options out there!

In terms of contests – it’s the same thing, really. There are hundreds of them, and I would suggest that if you are a new writer and you are technically ready to submit to contests, submit your scripts to the some of the mid-level contests like WeScreenplay, TrackingB, ScreenCraft, Emerging Screenwriters, Script Pipeline or Table Read My Screenplay. Those contests get fewer submissions, so your chances of receiving recognition go up, but they also offer a more hands-on, practical set of prizes that help you further your career. Table Read My Screenplay flies you to Park City, UT and the Sundance Film Festival, for instance, and gives you a table read with professional actors in the middle of the amazing Festival. I mean c’mon. And the ISA’s Fast Track Fellowship offers meetings with executives around town and I, personally, shop the winning scripts to rep’s and producers. So you have that going for you.

But in terms of the big contests, only submit to them when you know and are completely confident that you’re ready. I’ll list them here for reference. I mentioned Nicholl, they’re at the top, but then you have…in no particular order:

• Page Int’l Screenwriting Awards
• Final Draft Big Break
• Blue Cat
• Austin Screenwriting Competition
• Nearly all of the studios have fellowships like Nickelodeon, Universal, NBC Writers on the Verge, or the Sundance Screenwriting Lab. I even launched my own free-to-submit fellowship, The Story Farm Fellowship this past summer, and we received over 1300 submissions (for a first year fellowship, I was quite happy).

Here is a link to a whole bunch of really excellent, vetted, and professional competitions and fellowships: https://www.wgfoundation.org/fellowship-writing-programs-for-screenwriters-masterlist

The mid-range contests are your safer bet for recognition when just starting out on this screenwriting endeavor. Emerging Screenwriters, Table Read My Screenplay, ScreenCraft (they have multiple genre-specific contests), Script Pipeline, TrackingB.com, ISA’s Diversity initiative, and so many others. Do your research. Google “top screenwriting contests”. You’ll see a ton of lists, most of them are cultivated by particular screenwriting organizations who are trying to get you to sign up for their own contest, of course. The competition industry is a business, remember. They are profit centers for screenwriting organizations, yes, but…

…the very best contests are the ones who actively support you for the long term through development, live classes or retreats, and in-person meetings with industry executives.

With this post, I am in a way addressing fallacies of the screenwriting world, and fallacies need to be corrected. Mistakes happen more often than necessary because we’re simply uninformed. You’re reading this Substack because you want to be informed, so I’m taking it upon myself to, well, inform you. I could keep going and list a whole bunch of classes and consultants that you could check out, but please remember…

You are in control of how you approach your own creative career, so own that control. Make the best decisions, and don’t be afraid to invest in a screenwriting class or consultant. Even if you think you are an expert, you’re not.

“We are all apprentices in a craft where no one, ever, becomes a master.”

And that was stated by someone who most of the literary world believes was a master, Ernest Hemingway.

Be your own personal Hemingway and accept the fact that you must educate yourself (and maybe don’t drink as much as he did). This is your career we’re talking about, so make it a point to break down the steps you can take to make it a successful one. I’m here to help if you need me.