[Watch the video interview on Youtube here]
Film Courage: Why is it a bad idea to submit to screenwriting contests?
Cody Smart, Writer/Script Doctor/Teacher: I think that you need to have a plan, it’s a bad idea when you don’t plan it out. I think that contests can a great way to jump start your career because granted it’s hard to get a script out there right. You can be querying and you can be networking, you should be doing all of those things but when it’s a bad idea, when you haven’t polished your script enough, when you don’t have a plan of action, when you’re just targeting random competitions and don’t have a plan of action. Contests obviously are not a cheap thing, it’s a lot of submissions, that’s a lot of extra money, so you need that plan of action. You need to know if your script will do well in a certain competition. You need to do your research. Some people just send out their scripts without realizing that certain competitions are really more awarding scripts that are dramatic and not horror. You need to have a plan of action. If you’re writing a niche type of script, research the contest where that script would do well. I think that they can do wonders for your career but you also need to continue working on it.
If you submit to a festival then you should try to attend the festival and network and meet other people meet other writers, actually do the job. I think that a lot of times writers just write and stay in their own sheltered space hoping things will happen to them and just like in…(Watch the video interview on Youtube here).
BIO:
Cody Smart is an independent writer and script doctor from Chile. She holds degrees in English Literature & Linguistics, Screenwriting, Development and Producing. She worked as a script analyst for Sony, she’s a judge for multiple script and film competitions, she’s written some award-winning shorts, she’s head of the coverage department at a script hosting site and she does a bi-monthly vlog with tips for Screenwriters for Story Data. She takes pride in helping writers take their work to the next level.
CONNECT WITH CODY SMART
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