Anyone in the world, however, writers under the age of 18 years old must have a parent or legal guardian’s permission to participate.

Your screenplay or short story must be in the horror genre or one of its sub-genres such as horror comedy, horror western, horror thriller, horror sci-fi etc. It can be a dramatic piece, as long as elements of horror are there.

Horror may also be defined as Apocalyptic/Post-Apocalyptic, Bizarro, Creature Horror, Dark Fantasy, Extreme Horror, Fabulism, Gothic, Historical, Horror Western, Magic Realism, Noir, Paranormal, Psychological, Retrofuturism, Science Fiction Horror, Serial Killer, Shapeshifter, Shared World, Slipstream, Soft Horror, Supernatural, Vampire, Weird/New Weird, Zombie.

Submissions will be treated equally irrespective of sub-genre by the judges.

As this is a contest for horror shorts only, Horror Short Screenplays must be under 20 pages.

If you are entering the 1 Page Horror Short Category, your script can be a maximum of 1 page.

If you are entering the Short Story (Prose) Category, your script must be no more than 6,000 words.

Yes, you may submit the same script to both categories if it is only 1 page long.

Each category is its own competition with its own prizes. However, you must pay the submission fee for each entry and you cannot submit a script of 2 pages or more to the 1 page category.

No. Killer Shorts will have no involvement in the production of your film, that is solely up to you. We just provide $500 cash to help. We also recommend doing a crowdfunding campaign to raise additional funds.

That being said, the money is yours to do with as you please, no strings attached.

Even scenes have a beginning, middle, and end. Yes, it can be a moment in time. Horror shorts often are!

Submit your screenplay or short story via Coverfly, Filmfreeway or ISA.

Yes, simultaneous submissions are allowed.

Yes, multiple submissions are allowed.

No. In order to advance in the Short Story (Prose) category, your work must be unpublished anywhere else.

Substitutions of either corrected pages or new drafts of the entered material will be allowed with a $6 reentry fee through Coverfly. Please proofread your script carefully before submitting.

Yes, please include a title page. Contact info is fine.

Coverfly removes the first page so our readers don’t see who the writers are.

Absolutely. All ownership and rights to the scripts submitted to this contest remains with the original rights holders.

This contest was created for emerging screenwriters. To be eligible, your total earnings for film and TV, produced or un-produced must not exceed $10,000 in the past 12 months. This excludes competition wins and grants.

The screenplay’s IP must be solely owned by the writer or writers of the piece. Writers may adapt real-life or fictional events once it does not impinge on the IP of copyright-holders. So, for example, public domain content or real-life events that are not rights-held would be suitable for adaptation but last year’s chiller would not. Prequels or sequels of any property not solely owned by the writer or writing team are not acceptable for this contest.

Yes, your team can absolutely enter. It’s up to you to split the prize if you win.

No, all submission fees are final.

If your screenplay has been optioned, congratulations, however this will make you ineligible for the contest. If your screenplay is optioned or sold while under consideration by the judges, you must inform the contest.

Our readers will be judging your scripts based on the following: Premise, Originality, Pacing, Characters, Dialogue, and Writing Ability.