Submission Guidelines
Please read our rules and eligibility before submitting.
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Submissions are accepted via electronic submission only, between June 1, 2024 and December 31, 2024.
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Writers under the age of 18 years old must have parent or legal guardian’s permission to participate.
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Entry fee for each screenplay or short story is $25 until the early deadline on August 1st, 2024, then $30 until the regular deadline on October 1, 2024, $35 until the final deadline on December 1, 2024, and then $40 until the extended deadline on December 31, 2024.
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Optional feedback from a professional reader may be requested at the time of entry. Requests for feedback can be done through Coverfly or Filmfreeway.
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Entrant’s total earnings for screenwriting for either film or TV, produced or unproduced, must not exceed $10,000 in the past 12 months. This excludes any prize money from competitions or fellowships and only applies to fund or money transferred in exchange for an option or sale of a script, treatment, idea, intellectual property, or other writing for filming. Money earned from acting, directing, producing, or any other film work outside of writing is not included.
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Screenplays submitted must not have been previously sold or produced unless said sale or production was completed with no financial gain to the writer.
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Screenplays must be a minimum of 1 page and a maximum of 20 pages. Any submission longer than 20 pages will be automatically disqualified. Submissions to the 1 page category must not exceed 1 page. Any entry over 20 pages that includes feedback will incur a $1 per page overage fee for each page over 20.
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Short Stories (Prose) should be 6,000 words or less, PDF and modern manuscript format. Remove all identifying information from all pages. Only original short stories that have not been previously published (at the time of submission) in print, digital or online publications will be considered. This includes all forms of digital self-publishing. Short stories should be submitted individually and not as part of a collection. If a collection is submitted, only the first story will be considered. Multiple submissions allowed. Simultaneous Submissions allowed. Feedback is not available for Short Stories (Prose) at this time.
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There is no limit to the number of projects you may submit.
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Entries must be received on or before the deadline dates by 11:59PM Pacific Time, and submission fee payment must be made in full at time of the submission. All entry fees are non-refundable.
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All submitted material must be original, and all rights must be wholly owned by the writer(s).
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Material must be submitted by the writer. Material written by writing teams must be submitted by one of the writers, with consent of the other(s). All writers must be credited on title page.
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If a writing team is chosen as a winner, prizes will be given to the person who submits the project. Each team is responsible for dividing or sharing the prize money.
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The decision of the judges will be final and cannot be contested in any manner. There is no score on a scorecard that guarantees advancement to the next level as advancement will be based on all scores in the competition.
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Killer Shorts reserves the right to delay announcements for any reason. Delay may last up to but never more than 90 days. While we never anticipate any delays, such delays will not alter the standing of any screenplay entry and will qualify no script for a refund under any circumstance.
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By entering the Killer Shorts contest every entrant is agreeing to all Killer Shorts Terms and Conditions listed and available before checkout. If you disagree with any terms you may not submit to the contest.
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It is recommended that original material be registered with the WGA or The Library of Congress before submitting to any competition, however we do not require registration.
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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.
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Any winners may have their name, script title, and picture used for any Killer Shorts promotions or promotions of our sponsors or affiliates.
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Former Grand Prize, Second Prize, and Third Prize Winners of the contest may enter so long as it is NOT the same script that won in a previous year. Any other placement in former years does not disqualify the script from being entered this year.
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VOID WHERE PROHIBITED.
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Except where prohibited by law, participation in the contest constitutes each entrant’s consent to Killer Shorts and its agents’ and contest sponsor’s use of entrants’ names, likenesses, photographs, and/or personal information for promotional purposes in any media, worldwide, without further payment or consideration. All uses of a entrants’ information are in accordance with our Privacy Policy.
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BY ENTERING THE CONTEST YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THAT YOU HAVE READ AND AGREE TO THESE CONDITIONS. You agree to release and hold harmless Killer Shorts and its subsidiary, parent and affiliated companies, prize contributors, judges, screenplay readers, sponsors, 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, 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.
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All ownership and rights to the scripts submitted to this contest remains with the original rights holders.
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By entering this competition, you agree to receive periodic emails from Killer Shorts. You may unsubscribe to these at any time.
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Submissions must not use AI. Any entries that are found to be using AI will be automatically disqualified and the author banned from all future competitions.
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