TV Writing Contests • The Two Biggies

Screenwriting contests are crazy-controversial in most situations – the vast majority are designed to hoover as much cash as possible out of aspiring writers pockets with little possibility of anything happening…even for the winners.

Which is why it’s important to be aware of the handful that can actually lead to the next step. And in TV, there are basically two biggies: The Disney/ABC Fellowship and the WB Writers Workshop.

And both are accepting applications. Right. Now.

What do these guys offer the others don’t? First of all, they focus exclusively on TV – something most competitions do not do. Usually, TV scribes are offered a side contest attached to a giant “Million Dollar Feature” extravaganza. While some of these have actually helped folks in the past (The Austin Film Festival, in particular), most are focused on features.

But not ABC/Disney or the WB.

Nope, both of these contests are focused exclusively on getting their winners staffed into a show. This is a huge huge HUGE prize and the number of entrants reflects this. Which isn’t to say you’re better off not even entering – if there was such a thing, June would be “TV Contest Season”. Don’t let it pass you by.