Your script has been "almost done" for how long now? Six months? A year? Three years? Here is the thing nobody tells you about finishing a screenplay. It does not get finished because you finally feel inspired. It gets finished because you finally focus the f up and power through to the end. And then the pesky rewrites. Without a deadline, you can be dead in the water. I once had to call my writing partner and tell him he had to give me a deadline on something because I wasn't working on it, but I thought about working on it all day. And he'd made the mistake of telling me, oh just finish it up whenever. So he told me next Thursday and next Thursday, it was done! That is what a script competition is actually for. A script competition can be your "next Thursday." Forget winning. Forget the laurels. Forget whether the contest "matters" or whether the judges "get" your work. None of that is the point right now. The point is a date on the calendar that you cannot move. Pick a comp. Mark the deadline. Now your draft has a job. A few real ones with real runways: Austin Film Festival. May 27, 11:59pm Central. Two days. If your feature is in shape, hit send. Tubi x Black List Horror Initiative. Open through June 30. One Black List evaluation gets you eligible. Tubi produces the winner. Scriptapalooza Fellowship. Final deadline July 1. Mentorship, not just laurels. Five weeks to get one script genuinely ready. Big Break, PAGE Awards, Shore Scripts. All have summer windows. Look them up. The number of writers in this community who have a script that is 85% there is enormous. The number who have a finished, submitted draft is much smaller. The gap between those two groups is not talent. It is a deadline. So here is the ask. Drop a comment below. Tell us: 1. Which competition you are entering 2. The deadline 3. The script you are sending Public commitment. We will check in. You do not have to win. You have to finish. More on the full comp calendar next week. For now, post your next Thursday.

This has been a long week for me yall. My 12hr night shift job at the hospital has been draining. Having not being to make classes sucks and not being at my usual work desk to write also sucks...But I have my phone and everyday I write something, progressing characters, stories, plots, setting myself up when I get down to write in my space. I even find myself writing when I can at the job through my writing app or notes, something. You'll find way to make progress for things you are striving for. That labor and sacrifice will have good results. So my encouragement to everyone in the forge, no matter what your current circumstances are for you in your writing journey: keep writing and keep pushing! Im always praying and rooting for everyone's success!🙌

Hello everyone! My name is Jordan. I live in St. Louis and for the last 17 years, I've been a theatre producer, director, and actor. In the fast few years, I've started doing more script writing for theatre. I recently wrote a play, The Colors We Carry, and I thought it would make an amazing movie so I researching formatting for film and then started writing. It practically wrote itself. I couldn't stop. But now my first draft is done and I have NO IDEA where to go next. Lol. I look forward to working and collaborating with you all. Thank you!

When I was reading your script yesterday, this is where I was when reading the character's lines. So if there's a writing workshop road trip, I would highly recommend this Chapel of the Bones in Evora, Portugal, and not too far from Anna Fermin! I so appreciate everyone's abilities to create such amazing worlds with your scripts! And I hope these inspire you as well!

TODAY!!! JOIN US , WEDNESDAY, MAY 6, 10AM PST. TODAY!!! LINK TO CALL: https://www.skool.com/live/xBHytwChwTt The business side of screenwriting is so often underdiscussed compared to the craft side, and writers who understand both give themselves a real edge. That's why our Wednesday BUSINESS TALK is essential in today's screenwriting landscape. At least once a month we plan on bringing in an industry pro, like last week's terrific talk with Deborah Pratt, to share personal stories, insights and advice about the industry (stay tuned, I'll be announcing our next guest soon!). The other times we'll dive into practical/tactical topics that we can workshop together and get hands on. This week, let's roll up our sleeves and dig into the topic of BREAKING INTO THE BUSINESS AND GETTING NOTICED. We'll be working on and discussing things like writing an effective logline and query letter, competitions, networking, and building relationships in the industry. Join us! WEDNESDAY, MAY 6, 10AM PST. LINK TO CALL: https://www.skool.com/live/xBHytwChwTt