Screenwriting Competition Finalist!

My post today is a departure from my typical post since most of that has to do with my novel.

Today I'm thrilled to say that I was just named a finalist in the Creative Screenwriting Cyberspace Open contest!

I'm in total shock. I entered the contest on a lark. It was only $13 to enter, and every entrant would receive feedback on the screenplay. Thirteen bucks is pretty cheap to have a professional give you feedback!

So I entered Round 1 of the contest, which worked like this: on a Friday night (I think it was April 16), every contestant was sent a scene premise. Here's the premise we were given:

"Your protagonist is crushed. His or her plans have been dashed; his objective now appears impossible. And yet if he throws in the towel, bad things will happen. Write a scene in which a mentor, friend, love interest or enemy rallies or provokes your protagonist in an unexpected way. Be sure to give us your best dialogue here as your protagonist comes around and rises – or falls — to the occasion."

We then had until 9:00 a.m. Monday morning to write a 3-5 page scene based on the premise.

Click here if you want to read my scene.

The finalists were posted online here if you want to check out my competition. I think one of my former middle school students (from way back) is actually one of my fellow finalists! How weird is that--student and teacher ending up in the same competition!

(Note to Mike Tyburski--If you stumble upon my blog and you are the Mike Tyburski that I taught in Waukegan 10-12 years ago, please contact me. I'd love to hear from ya!)

For the final round, we will be given a different premise this Saturday at noon, and then have only 24 hours to write a new 3-5 page scene!

You can bet I'll be talking about this when I teach my annual summer school screenwriting class to middle school students. :)