1st – Degenerate by Karen Frank 2nd – The Land of Milk and Hotdish by Karen Frank 3rd – Turn of the Wheel by Jill Schmaedeke Runner Up – The Ride Along by Al Easter Runner Up – Rock Solid by Lisa Umhoefer The top 3 writers received cash prizes ($1,000, $250, & $100 respectively), and the winner also receives a meeting with a producer/agent/manager and a staged reading in the Fall. All finalists also received written and verbal feedback from the final judges (Judy Coppage and Kyle Bowe).  Congratulations to our winners and thanks to everyone who entered!

Presenters (also the final judges for 2013 SWW Feature Contest) spoke for about an hour and a half (Judy Coppage of The Coppage Company, a literary consulting and producing company based in Los Angeles and Kyle Bowe of Dreyfuss / James Productions based in Los Angeles.) The highlights: Judy recommended entering contests, especially the one noted below since it is unique and offers mentorship. Entrants write the first 15 pages of a feature script based on the logline given by an A-List screenwriter, then the top 10 finalists receive mentorship through the 12-week process of completing the script, which is  [ Read More ]

The first round judges have chosen the finalists to advance to the next round of the 2013 Feature Script Contest.  A total of 18 entries were received and narrowed down to the top 5 finalists. In alphabetical order: Degenerate – by Karen Frank  Logline:  After twenty years in Anoka State Psychiatric Hospital, artist Otto Becker asks his estranged daughter Lena to accompany him on a journey to reclaim artwork lost for nearly half a century. But will there be enough time to make up for years of misunderstanding? Ride Along – by Al Easter  Logline:  A college boy goes on  [ Read More ]

As a benefit of the Screenwriters’ Workshop partnership with The Playwrights’ Center,  SWW members may receive free enrollment in seminars offered at PWC. Be sure to take advantage of these wonderful learning opportunities. All seminars run from 6:00 to 8:30 pm and are free to SWW members. May 14th:  Constructing and Developing Plot with Christina Ham June 11th:  Cory Hinkle – topic TBD Location: The Playwrights’ Center, 2301 E Franklin Ave., Minneapolis, MN 55406 To sign up: Contact Julia Brown at info@pwcenter.org or 612-332-7481. Be sure to identify yourself as a Screenwriters’ Workshop member to get free enrollment. More class information is listed here: http://www.pwcenter.org/classes  

Congratulations to all our finalists, runner up and winner!  See below for announcements and comments from the judges. Really fine work, very impressed with the quality of these scripts.  This was a difficult task, any one of these finalists could have emerged a winner.  It went back and forth, we read them all at least three times and had great discussions.  Alas we had to pick one.   Here are some comments in no particular order: THE HERO: Real characters, good dialogue, nice surprise reveal with regard to Mike’s wheelchair, great cinematic montage as Tim gets into shape, nice payoff at the end upon Janice’s  [ Read More ]