WOTS CONTEST DEADLINE UPDATE

(PLUS QUARTERFINALISTS THUS FAR!)

Hey Stormies!

Well, we’re into the home stretch. As usual, you guys all wait till the end and then hammer us with the submissions. I know, I know, I’m a writer, too. I do the same thing all the time. Yeah, a deadline gets me moving. If I know I have 2 months, it gets back-burnered until the red alert kicks in -- yikes, 48 hours, I better get a move on!

Now I know our deadlines are a bit confusing, so let me try to explain this all as clearly as I can. (Note that as of this writing we're still waiting on our webmaster to get all the new info updated on the CI and WOTS websites.)
Our REGULAR DEADLINE is midnight 7/11. That means any script submitted to Writers on the Storm (at www.writerstorm.com or www.withoutabox.com) before that time gets into the contest at the $40 rate.

Our FINAL (LATE) DEADLINE is midnight 7/27. For the period from 7/12 through 7/27, the price jumps to $50 for any script submitted at www.writerstorm.com or www.withoutabox.com (or $90 for two submissions of the same script.) That’s the honest and true FINAL deadline, y’all. No extensions. 7/28, we’re out.

However -- and this is where it gets just a mite tricky -- you can also enter the contest through Coverage, Ink (www.coverageink.com) if you want a full script analysis. If you do that, entry into the contest is automatic and free, right up till 7/27. And there is no price increase. In other words, there’s only one deadline on the CI side -- 7/27. Send in your script for coverage any time up till midnight 7/27 and you’re in. Get it? Are we cool? ;)

And now once again it’s my pleasure to present our current quarterfinalists. These are folks who entered the contest via submitting their scripts to Coverage Ink for screenplay coverage, and they represent approximately the top 10% of submissions to CI since the contest began.

Congrats to our Writers on the Storm 2008 quarterfinalists so far:

Heather Upton, Belfast Boys
CA Bennett, Death Valley Dig
Kelly Murry, La Matadora
AC Yacobian, Rasta Pasta
Aaron Marshall, The Last Adventure of Martin Finch
Alan Sproles & Lizanne Southgate, Eden Lost
Rich Sheehy, Sliding Into Home
Paul Sargia, The Man Who Could Stop Time
Steven Zawacki, Orcadia
Suzanne Darling, Brush With Fame
Dennis Bailey, Pound For Pound
Chris Jopling, Blacklights
Andrew Zeoli & Christian Wagner, Blue Ballers
Attila Nagy, Garen Inboden & Gilbert Inboden, Enlighten Up
Russ Meyer, Organic Svengali
Vito LaBruno, The Last American Guido
Adam Nur, Jetpack
Nisso Cohen, The Source
Mark Eaton & Stacy Dymalski, Center of Fortitude
Art Blum, Back from the Dead
Patrick Nicholas, Edgewater
Michael Coleman, Jr., Clone
Dan Williams, Forest Fire!
Lisa Cordova, Remote Stryker

Will one of these guys be the big winner and pocket 10 grand??? Too early to tell! But a lot of these guys are polishing their scripts based on the coverage and resubmitting (their quarterfinalist status locked in.) Does that mean they have a leg up on all of y’all who just enter the contest directly? Maybe, maybe not! Depends how well they execute and how well your own screenplay gets it done. There’s plenty more room up there!

Oh, one last thing -- this year we have far fewer scripts over 120 pages than ever before. That’s fantastic. As most of you know, that’s the very first thing you’re judged on by the industry. D-Girls and creative execs assume if you can’t tell your story in 120 or less that you don’t have the discipline or editing skills yet to be worthy of serious consideration. It’s just the way it is, stormies! If you all take nothing else away from this, remember that first impressions count. If an exec picks up your script and sighs at the prospect of a 124-page trudge, you’ve already lost points. So get out that McCullough Eager Beaver chainsaw and rev that baby up and don’t stop till you’re at 115. You’ll be glad you did.

Love y’all!

Portia Jefferson

Writers on the Storm Contest Coordinator