The Contest

Submissions for the 2010 CinemaSpoke Screenwriting Competition and Workshop will open on Jan. 1, 2010. CinemaSpoke is an opportunity for St. Louis-area screenwriters to have their work read aloud in a public forum by professional and amateur actors and to receive feedback from a panel of film-industry experts experienced in producing, screenwriting, filmmaking, development, and criticism.

Selection and Reading Process

A committee of selection judges (composed of local filmmakers and teachers) will read the first 30 pages of each submitted screenplay. Based on these 30 pages, the judges will then select up to, but no more than, five scripts. The first 30 pages of each selected script will be given a public reading in front of a live audience and the judges. Writers will be allowed to play a role in casting the actors who will do the live readings of the competition scripts.

All readings will be held once each month from April through August at 7 p.m. in the Dana Brown Rehearsal Hall/Rialto Ballroom on the fourth floor of the Centene Center for Arts & Education, 3547 Olive St. in Grand Center. The readings are free and open to the public.

A panel of film professionals will offer criticism and feedback based on these readings. The writer then has the option to rewrite the script based on feedback from the panel; the writer has two weeks following the CinemaSpoke reading to complete and submit this rewrite. Once the panel has read all five scripts in their entirety, a winning script will be selected from the five.

April 20:
May 18:
June 22:
July 27:
August 17:

Submissions

Click (here) for submission application and script format rules. Deadline for submissions is Feb. 19, 2010.

Please include a self-addressed, stamped postcard if you want acknowledgement of screenplay receipt. CinemaSpoke reserves the right to refuse or disqualify any screenplay. Screenplays not selected for competition will be returned if writer picks them up in person at Cinema St. Louis offices.

Prizes

The winning script will be given a full public during the 19th annual St. Louis International Film Festival in November of 2010 and will be submitted for consideration to an accredited literary agent and/or production company. The writer will also be given the option to direct this reading with guidance from the CinemaSpoke committee.