2022 FEATURE
SCREENWRITING CONTEST

1. The Script Studio Feature Screenwriting Contest (the “Contest”) is administered and hosted by Nuvotech Limited ("Nuvotech", "we", "us" or "our").
2. The Contest begins on December 15, 2021 at 12:00 a.m. Pacific Standard Time (“PST”) and ends on June 19, 2022 at 11:59 p.m. PST (the “Contest Period”).
3. All deadlines are at 11:59 p.m. Pacific Standard Time (“PST”) on the date listed. Any deadline alteration or promotion of any kind does not make any Entry valid for a refund of any kind.
4. The Contest only accepts online entries and online payment for feature film screenplays written in the English language in PDF format during the Contest Period in conjunction with an Entry fee (paid in US dollars) and completed registration which together constitute the "Entry" or "Entries".
5. The Contest is not responsible for lost, late, incomplete, invalid, unintelligible, or misdirected registrations or Entries, which will be disqualified.
6. All feature scripts must be written in English in 12pt Courier standard industry format with standard margins and line spacing and with a page count greater than 80 pages and no more than 130 pages – no exceptions will be made and Entries with a page count outside the stated range will be disqualified without discussion or refund.
7. Pitches, synopses, resumes, letters, or other supporting documentation must not be included with your submission – judges will not receive these materials.
8. Screenplays are judged anonymously and therefore cover pages should include the script title only – all contact information must be deleted from the cover page and must not appear anywhere in the script. If information other than the title is included on the cover page it will be removed.
9. The Contest does not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, veteran status, or disability and it is our intention that all valid submissions be given equal opportunity with selection decisions based solely on quality of writing.
10. General script Entries will not receive written feedback, however, optional feedback from a professional reader may be requested at the time of Entry for an additional fee. Requests for feedback after an Entry is submitted will not be accepted. Feedback will be distributed to entrant within 90 days of their submission. Feedback will consist of 3-4 pages of detailed notes on Character, Plot, Structure, Dialogue and Concept, with a Pass, Consider, or Recommend rating, and an overall impression that will highlight key factors such as voice, tone, writing style, format, marketability and qualitative scores. Feedback is provided for the entrant’s personal script development purposes and is not assessed by judges or tied to contest placement.
11. Promotional discounts offered may only be utilized at the time of submission, and no partial refund for a promotional code may be issued after an Entry has been officially submitted.
12. Entrants hereby understand and accept that the Contest will aim to select twenty-one (21) finalists, seven (7) category winners (from the finalists) and one grand prize winner (from the category winners) but that this stated winner selection criteria may change at any time at the Contest's sole discretion.
13. All Entries will be considered for the top prize in each genre category and for the feature screenplay Grand Prize, however, former Grand Prize, Genre Category Prize Winners of the Contest may not enter the same script that has won or been placed as a "Finalist" in a previous year.
14. Entrants understand and accept that they will only be considered for the Guaranteed Option prize offer if they have selected this add-on when submitting their Entry and that a minimum of one qualifying Entry will be selected by one or more of our industry partners to receive an option offer for their script. The option prize offer will be extended to the winning Entrant within ninety (90) days of their winner notification and this option offer will be time-limited but completely optional without any obligation upon the writer(s) to accept. The option offer will be made with the intention to develop and/or produce the script, or to market the script and raise the profile of the writer(s) in order to secure development or production. This prize is not contingent upon placement in the Contest and projects selected for this prize may or may not have been a winner or finalist in previous rounds.
15. This contest is open to anyone except Nuvotech employees and immediate families of Nuvotech employees, judges, associates, partners and sponsors of the Contest.
16. Entrants are under no obligation to participate in the Contest and understand that it is not a guarantee or expectation of employment.
17. Entrants may submit multiple scripts as separate Entries with a separate file and a separate Entry fee. If two or more of an entrant's scripts place in the same prize category, the entrant will only be eligible for one set of prizes.
18. Scripts with multiple writers are allowed with a single Entry account and fee per script. All writers’ names should be listed on the online Entry with the primary contact entrant’s name first. All writers must authorize submission of the Entry for it to be accepted into the Contest and if after submission the Contest learns that any one writer did not authorize the Entry then the Entry will be deemed null and void without refund. All cash awards will be shared equally between all winning writers and all other prizes will be divided at the winning writers’ discretion but only one of each prize will be distributed by Nuvotech and prize sponsors, associates and partners.
19. All scripts must be the sole property of the writer(s) submitting the Entry.
20. Scripts which have been sold, previously produced for profit, or are currently under option, or a shopping or development agreement are not eligible. Scripts with a prior option, shopping or development agreement are allowed, but at the time of submission and for the duration of the Contest, must remain exclusively the writer’s property. If a script becomes sold, optioned or produced during the contest it will no longer be eligible or considered for a prize.
21. Adaptations are not eligible unless the source material was written by the writer(s) of the submitted Entry in question or the source material is in the Public Domain in which case the entrant assumes all responsibility in assuring the source material’s copyright status. Scripts are not eligible if the source material has been sold, produced, or is currently under option to any third party. If the script Entry is based on another person's life story, a statement attesting to the rights obtained must be attached.
22. The Contest’s aim is to foster emerging talent and as such, each writer, or writing team, may not have earned more than $30,000 in writing fees in the previous two years or more than $150,000 lifetime earnings — contest winnings excluded.
23. Cash prizes will be distributed within ninety (90) days of winner notification once information requested by the Contest is received from the prize winner. All prizes must be claimed within (90) days of winner notification otherwise the winner will be forfeit of that prize and will have no legal claim to it.
24. Winners are responsible for all taxes and fees associated with distributed prizes.
25. Winners will be contacted using the email addresses and/or telephone numbers provided on the corresponding Entry forms and may be awarded prizes subject to verification of eligibility and compliance with the terms of these Rules and Conditions that may require finalists to sign and return within seven (7) business days of receipt a notarized Affidavit of Eligibility and a Release and Indemnification and proof of valid passport and any other documents or information that the Contest, Nuvotech or any other partner may require before distributing prizes. If winners fail to respond to the Contest's placement and verification notification request and provide further information (if required by the Contest) within fourteen (14) days of receiving said notification, it may result in disqualification. In the event that a potential winner is disqualified for any reason, the Contest may award the applicable prize to an alternate winner from among all remaining eligible Entries.
26. Notification of winners and official finalists will be sent by email and posted on our website. It is the responsibility of the winners and finalists to redeem any prizes allotted to them by the Contest and our partners and sponsors. Entrants will be repsonsible for providing current contact information and mailing addresses for prize redemption purposes.
27. The Contest may use third-party services such as FilmFreeway, ISA and Coverfly to manage submissions.
28. Nuvotech, the Contest, its judges and readers will utilize whatever criteria they deem appropriate in scoring submissions and deciding a winner.
29. Deadlines, submission and resubmission fees, announcement dates, judges and prizes may be changed at any time at the discretion of the Contest and Nuvotech. Any changes will be made public on the Contest website and all winners affected will be notified of such changes via email. If through no fault of their own the Contest is forced to withdraw a prize or judge from the Contest, the Contest will exercise its best efforts to replace said prize with one of equal worth, and said judge with one of a similar industry background and experience. All prizes provided by sponsors or partners are subject to said sponsor or partner providing the prize and as such the Entrant agrees and accepts that the Contest is not responsible for a sponsor or partner's failure to deliver a prize.
30. All scripts will remain the property of the writer(s) throughout the contest and at no point will anyone associated with the Contest attach themselves to the entrant’s script without the entrant’s express consent.
31. Entrants must retain at least one copy of the submitted material and understand that any material we receive cannot and will not be returned under any circumstances.
32. Entrants understand and accept that they may be contacted as a result of the contest by Nuvotech, Buckle Up Entertainment Ltd, the judging panel, industry partners or other industry professionals in regards to representation, production, development, sale and/or option of the entered work.
33. Entrants are under no obligation to sell or option their work or otherwise attach themselves to representation in any form — this includes the Guaranteed Option prize offer.
34. Decisions of the judges are final and may not be disputed and no correspondence will be entered into regarding an Entry's placement or lack of placement in the Contest. The judges and Contest administrators may not be held responsible for any errors or omissions on the part of the judges, readers, script analysts or Contest.
35. The Contest is an international contest open to entrants 18 years of age or older worldwide, providing that an entrant’s participation is not prevented by law in their country of residence or the country through which the Contest operates.
36. The Contest reserves the right, at our sole discretion, to change or modify these terms at any time without notice.
37. The Contest notifies winners only and so entrants are advised to check the Contest website, associated social media accounts and e-newsletters for judging announcements.
38. By entering this contest, you agree to receive periodic emails from the Contest and its organizers Nuvotech and may unsubscribe to these at any time.
39. All entrants understand and agree to allow the Contest to post details on their script (title, writer’s name, logline, genre, and competition details) as well as regarding the writer (biography, picture) to their site and associated sites and social media accounts operated by Nuvotech to help promote the entrants’ work and Contest.
40. All purchases and submissions are final and Entry fee payment must be made in full at time of the submission. Your Entry’s script and category cannot be changed after submission and all Entry fees are NON-REFUNDABLE – in all circumstances, even for duplicate submissions (unless caused by a verifiable website/server error) or if the writer(s) changed their mind.
41. The Contest recommends that entrants register their original material with Hollywood Script Express, the WGA, The Library of Congress US Copyright Office or a similar copyright registration service prior to submitting to this or any other screenwriting competition, however this is not required.
42. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED OR RESTRICTED BY LAW.
43. Except where prohibited by law, participation in the Contest constitutes each entrant’s consent to the Contest and its organizers Nuvotech, agents, associates, partners and sponsors in the use of entrants’ names, likenesses, photographs, and/or personal information for advertising and promotional purposes on social media, websites and in any media, worldwide in perpetuity without further payment or consideration. All uses of a entrants’ information are in accordance with our Privacy Policy.
44. You agree to release and hold harmless the Contest, Nuvotech Limited and Buckle Up Entertainment Ltd, its subsidiary, parent and affiliated companies, prize contributors, judges, readers, sponsors, partners, and any other organizations responsible for administering, advertising, or promoting the Contest, and every one of their respective members, directors, employees, agents and representatives (collectively, the “Released Parties”) past and present from and against any and all claims, expenses, and liability, including but not limited to damages and negligence to property and persons, including but not limited to invasion of privacy, defamation, slander, libel, violation of right of publicity, copyright, plagiarism, idea theft, infringement of trademark or other intellectual property rights relating to a participant’s Entry, participation in the Contest and/or acceptance or use or misuse of prize; provided however, that such release will not apply to any commercial exploitation of the script by a Released Party in violation of your rights under applicable copyright law; and (c) indemnify, defend and hold harmless the Contest and its sponsors, agents, and employees from and against any and all claims, expenses, and liabilities (including reasonable attorney fees) relating to an entrant’s participation in the competition and/or entrant’s use or misuse of Prize.
45. By entering the Contest, you represent and affirm that your Entry is an original creative work that does not infringe, misappropriate or violate the copyright, trademark or other intellectual rights of any third party, and that to the best of your knowledge you have the legal right to submit it to this contest. Furthermore, you acknowledge and agree that contest readers and judges receive numerous submissions of ideas, loglines, stories and scripts, and that your Entry, and the ideas and stories embodied in it and its logline, may be similar or in some areas identical to other material already received and/or developed by one or more of the readers, judges, partners including but not limited to Nuvotech Limited, Hollywood Script Express and Buckle Up Entertainment Ltd. You also agree that you are not entitled to any compensation or credit for use by contest readers and judges of any such other material.
46. Nuvotech reserves the right to cancel, suspend, and/or modify the Contest, or any part of it, if any fraud, technical failures, or any other factor beyond Nuvotech's reasonable control impairs the integrity or proper functioning of the Contest, as determined by Nuvotech in its sole discretion. Furthermore, Nuvotech reserves the right in its sole discretion to disqualify any individual it finds to be tampering with the Entry process or the operation of the Contest or to be acting in violation of these Rules and Conditions or in an unsportsmanlike or disruptive manner. Any attempt by any person to deliberately undermine the legitimate operation of the Contest may be a violation of criminal and civil law, and should such an attempt be made, Nuvotech reserves the right to seek damages from any such person to the fullest extent permitted by law. Nuvotech's failure to enforce any term of these Rules & Conditions shall not constitute a waiver of that provision.
47. By entering the Contest you agree that a) you have read all of these Rules and Conditions; b) you have the authorization to submit this script to the contest; c) your screenplay is owned entirely by you and any co-author you have stated in your Entry submission; and d) you authorize us to use any trusted third-party online and cloud-based service and database for hosting, managing, and/or transmitting your submission file(s).
48. Entries that do not meet all the stated Rules and Conditions will be automatically disqualified and the submission fee will not be refunded.
49. Nuvotech's decisions are final and binding in all matters related to the Contest.
50. By entering the Contest the entrant understands and agrees that these Rules and Conditions (and those stated in this website's Terms Of Use and any additional terms agreed upon at checkout) constitute a legally binding "Agreement" which shall be deemed to have been entered into and shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of England and Wales and the parties irrevocably submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Courts of England and Wales. If you disagree with any of these terms you may not enter the Contest.
51. If you have a question about the Contest or these Rules and Conditions please use our contact form or email:

Script Studio^® 2022 Feature Screenwriting Contest Winners

GRAND PRIZE WINNER

Between the Silence
by Steve Spiro

GENRE WINNERS

ACTION/ADVENTURE

The World Turned Upside Down
by Dennis O'Flyng

ANIMATION/FAMILY

Decked
by Brent Hartinger

COMEDY

To Be Frank
by Cameron Graber

DRAMA

>Mavenmoon
by Matt Lewis

HISTORICAL/BIOPIC

Between the Silence
by Steve Spiro

SCI-FI/FANTASY

Ergosphere
by Martin McLoughlin

HORROR/THRILLER

Sticks
by Miguel Balona

FINALISTS

79 A.E. by William Scott Smith

A Breached Contract by Emmanuel Gilot

Baroness by Brent Hartinger

Between the Silence by Steve Spiro

Boomerang by Auguste Dinoto

Call Me Thor by Jamie Campbell

Child of the Disappeared by Michael Thomas Holliday

Cloudkill by Brent Hartinger

Control by Carroll Brown

Decked by Brent Hartinger

Ergosphere by Martin McLoughlin

Gristle by Heidi Hornbacher

Kintsugi by Desa Larkin-Boutté

Mavenmoon by Matt Lewis

Salience by Craig Cauchi

Sticks by Miguel Balona

The Cellist of Sarajevo by David Becker

The Guns at Cowra by Vir Srinivas

The World Turned Upside Down by Dennis O'Flyng

To Be Frank by Cameron Graber

SEMI-FINALISTS

79 A.E. by William Scott Smith

A Breached Contract by Emmanuel Gilot

Baroness by Brent Hartinger

Between the Silence by Steve Spiro

Boomerang by Auguste Dinoto

Call Me Thor by Jamie Campbell

Child of the Disappeared by Michael Thomas Holliday

Cloudkill by Brent Hartinger

Control by Carroll Brown

Decked by Brent Hartinger

Dumbest Generation by Leslie Lyshkov

Ergosphere by Martin McLoughlin

Gristle by Heidi Hornbacher

Jail Break by Jordan Taylor

Kintsugi by Desa Larkin-Boutté

Litten's Passion by Arik Bjorn, Debi King McMartin, Evelyn L. Morgan

Mavenmoon by Matt Lewis

Salience by Craig Cauchi

Sticks by Miguel Balona

The Cellist of Sarajevo by David Becker

The Guns at Cowra by Vir Srinivas

The Last Don by Anthony Moore

The Luckiest Man by Baxter Taylor

The Outskirts of Paradise by Montgomery Burt

The Wardrobe by Peter Noel

The World Turned Upside Down by Dennis O'Flyng

To Be Frank by Cameron Graber

Too Much Toad by David W. Hughens

Voices by Susan Klos

QUARTER-FINALISTS

79 A.E. by William Scott Smith

A Balm in Gilead by Ronald Sam

A Breached Contract by Emmanuel Gilot

A Long Way Home by Steven Bogart

A Pirate and a Princess by Mark Kelly

Arrow of Honor by Robin Woldorf & Rik Center

Baroness by Brent Hartinger

Between the Silence by Steve Spiro

Bloodlines by Eddie Clay Thompkins III

Boomerang by Auguste Dinoto

Brave Faces Fellowship by Caitlin Amans

Call Me Thor by Jamie Campbell

Child of the Disappeared by Michael Thomas Holliday

Cloudkill by Brent Hartinger

Control by Carroll Brown

Decked by Brent Hartinger

Dumbest Generation by Leslie Lyshkov

Ergosphere by Martin McLoughlin

Field Trip by Claudio Martinez-Valle

GIF Corp by Ryan Schorman

Gristle by Heidi Hornbacher

How to Be DysFunctional After Divorce by Erin Elizabeth Keefer

I, Alpha by Samantha Brennan

Jail Break by Jordan Taylor

Jumper and Jake by Caitlin Amans

Killer Whales by Alan Lambert

Kintsugi by Desa Larkin-Boutté

Litten's Passion by Arik Bjorn, Debi King McMartin, Evelyn L. Morgan

Mavenmoon by Matt Lewis

Salience< by Craig Cauchi

Sands of Lanikai by Greg Blair

Speak English by Keiran Angelini

Sticksby Miguel Balona

Terra by Nicholas Hogg

Tetzel's Moon-Gate by Peter McClelland

The Cellist of Sarajevo by David Becker

The Gargoyle< by Charles Stulck

The Guns at Cowra by Vir Srinivas

The Last Don by Anthony Moore

The Luckiest Man by Baxter Taylor

The Outskirts of Paradise by Montgomery Burt

The Secret Bloodline by Devin Dugan

The Shadow Falls by Clay Callender

The Wardrobeby Peter Noel

The Widow Mrs. Widger by Megan Breen

The World Turned Upside Down by Dennis O'Flyng

To Be Frank by Cameron Graber

Tomboy< by Kellie Wood

Too Much Toad by David W. Hughens

Voices by Susan Klos