All of the finalists were given a week to rewrite their scripts according to notes given to them by the contest. From these 11 finalists and the Slamdance winner, seven winning scripts are chosen to be produced by the Duke City Shootout and directed by the writers. This is an exciting idea for a contest that is designed to promote both the winners and New Mexico as a viable state for filmmaking.

The seven winning scripts are

Food For Thought
Will Hartman
Culver City, CA

The Bakers Road Killing
Jarvis Rooker
Manson, NC

Mantrap
Aurore Barry
Los Angeles, CA

Mr. Fletcher’s Yard Sale
Nicholas Carr
Brooklyn, NY

Screwed
Rob Palmer
Phoenix, AZ

Assassin Emeritus
Kevin Napier
New York, NY

Preschool’s A Bitch
Christopher Boone
Albuquerque, NM

The Runner Up scripts to the 2008 Duke City Shootout are:

She Just Happened
Alexander Major
Severna Park, MD

Empty Gestures
James Kwan
Albuquerque, NM

Farewell, TX
Michael Winn
Albuquerque, NM

Vision Thing
Rudi Cruz
Albuquerque, NM

Marina’s Cello
Kate Brandt
Los Angeles, CA

According to the website, the contest received more than 300 entries this year. Sadly, the Moose and his script The Warrior’s Fury did not make the finalists round. The last few years finalist scripts have all been of low quality so that means either this year’s crop of entries are substantially better or that the judges and readers don’t know what they’re doing. We’ll find out when they release the scripts for this year’s finalists. Note: one of the finalist slots have been reserved for the winner of the Slamdance short script competition. Here they are, the finalists for the Duke City Shootout 2008 contest

She Just Happened
Alexander Major
Severna Park, MD

Mr. Fletcher’s Yard Sale
Nicholas Carr
Brooklyn, NY

Mantrap
Aurore Barry
Los Angeles, CA

The Bakers Road Killing
Jarvis Rooker
Manson, NC

Empty Gestures
James Kwan
Albuquerque, NM

Food For Thought
Will Hartman
Culver City, CA

Farewell, TX
Michael Winn
Albuquerque, NM

Vision Thing
Rudi Cruz
Albuquerque, NM

Marina’s Cello
Kate Brandt
Los Angeles, CA

Preschool’s A Bitch
Christopher Boone
Albuquerque, NM

Screwed
Rob Palmer
Phoenix, AZ

Slamdance winner
Assassin Emeritus
Kevin Napier
New York, NY

Sure, you get a little exposure and a few scripts have been sold as a result but no careers have been launched off any contests except the Nicholl and the Chesterfield. So for the rest of the contests, you’re basically just competing for cash. That being said, the contests with a large cash prize give you poor odds of winning because of the sheer number of entries. And since screenwriting contests are judged based off of subjective criteria, you’re probably better off going to Vegas to try to win money.

That being said, there are a few contests that are worth entering. One of them is the filmmaking festival in Albuquerque, New Mexico known as the Duke City Shootout. Although Albuquerque may be best known as the place where Bugs Bunny should have made a left turn…

…aspiring filmmakers should get acquainted with the city as the Duke City Shootout could become a fertile training ground and launch pad for writer-directors.

Launched in 2000 as the Flicks on 66 Wild West Digital Shootout, the idea of this film production festival was to take an entrants script in one week from the page to the screen. The first festival produced ten 10 minute shorts. The festival changed its name to the DigiFest SouthWest in 2003 and finally to its current name the Duke City Shootout in 2005.

What makes this contest stand out is from other screenwriting contests is that the finalists actually get produced. The way the contest works is filmmakers submit a script for a short film 12 minutes or less. Using the industry standard estimate of 1 page equals 1 minute of screen time, your script should be no more than 12 pages. If your script is over 12 pages, you will get penalized per page over the limit. The deadline to submit your script is May 15th.

Once all the entries have been received, the judges will then pare down the entries to ten finalists who will be given script notes and suggestions for revisions to help rewrite and strengthen their stories. Then the finalists will be given five days to re-write their script. The judges and producers will then select 7 of the 10 final scripts to be produced.

The Duke City Shootout will then fly each of the seven finalists out to Albuquerque where they will each be assigned a producer and creative team to help them film their short. The contest will pay for all costs of equipment rentals and labor and supply each filmmaker with $1500 for location expenses, expendables and other expenses. Filmmakers will then have from the crack of dawn on July 26 to midnight of August 1st to shoot and edit their films. The Gala Premiere for all the films will be on August 2nd.

From watching the finalist films of the past two years, I can tell you that the production value of the Duke City Shootout films can be quite impressive. Some of the films have a little CGI and others have used aerial photography from a small plane or helicopter

While the production value of the films made through the Duke City Shootout are high, the quality of the writing and filmmaking leave a lot to be desired. After watching the films and reading the scripts, I have to say that the bar has been set pretty low. Many of the scripts are one note or just one joke.

I think this is largely because the Duke City Shootout contest is still relatively young and not as well known as other contests that have been around longer like Scriptapalooza. That’s good news for you as it means that you’ll have a better chance of becoming a finalist. None of the finalists that I have read or seen so far actually has a story with any resonance. If you can write a story with a beginning, a middle and an end with even a little bit of resonance, I think you would easily make the finalist stage.

I’m so sure that the Moose is going to write and submit a short script for this contest this year. I will keep you updated on the progress and results from my entry, but I urge all you aspiring writer-directors and filmmakers to write and enter your own script. This year is the first year where all the films will be shot in hi-def. With this contest, you can shoot a short film or calling card on someone else’s dime using toys and other fancy equipment and techniques that might not be available to you on your own. That’s a pretty sweet deal if you think about it.

That’s the allure of the Nicholl Fellowship, officially known as The Don & Gee Nicholl Fellowships In Screenwriting. Run by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the same people who bring you the Academy Awards, the Nicholl Fellowship is the granddaddy of all the screenwriting contests.

Started in 1985 by Gee Nicholl, this international screenwriting competition is the most significant contest for screenwriters in the entertainment industry. In addition to the large cash stipend of $30,000, this contest has launched the careers of many writers and screenwriters. Famous alumni of the Nicholl Fellowship include:

• Oscar nominated screenwriter Susannah Grant (Erin Brockovich, 28 Days, Ever After)
• Pulitzer Prize winning novelist Jeffrey Eugenides (Middlesex)
• Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Dennis Clontz
• Andrew W. Marlowe (Air Force One, End of Days, Hollow Man)
• Ehren Kruger (Arlington Road, The Ring)
• Mike Rich (Finding Forrester, The Rookie)
• Doug Atchison (Akeelah and the Bee (Widescreen Edition))

The Nicholl Fellowship has a $30 entry fee with a deadline of May 1st. At the present, there is no electronic submission process and only hard copies of your screenplay entry will be accepted. Adaptations are ineligible for competition and your screenplay must be written originally in English.

All scripts are read at least once in the competition. About half are read a second time and about one-sixth are read a third time. About 5 percent of entries advance to the competition quarterfinals, about 2 percent advance to the semifinals and about ten reach the finals.

All entrants will receive notification of their status by mail sent no later than August 1 of each year. Quarterfinalist letters are mailed by August 1; fellowship recipients are announced in late October. Entries are judged by industry professionals and Academy members. The finalist scripts are judged by the Nicholl Comittee.

Winners receive $30,000 distributed over one year in five installments of $6,000. The first installment on day one and the second through fifth at the end of each quarter. The winners are expected to finish one original screenplay of their choice in their fellowship year as the fellowship was designed to help writers write by paying for expenses and getting them away from a “day job”. Fellows have two years to complete their script to fulfill their fellowship requirements.

The entertainment industry views the contest as a great way to weed out all the bad scripts floating around. This is one of the reasons why this particular screenwriting contest is so significant. The ten finalists are virtually guaranteed a read by every company that matters in the film industry. From there the trickle down effect helps many of the semifinalists and even some of the quarterfinalists to get there scripts read. Tell a literary agent you won the Arkansas’s Best Screenwriting Competition and they’ll hang up on you. Tell them you’re a Nicholls semifinalist and they’ll probably read your script.

So what’re your chances of winning this thing? In 2007, there were 5,050 entries so your chances were five in 5,050. This year, there’ll probably be more but don’t let that stop you. Good luck.