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Welcome to the club. Coffee and donuts are in the back. As no doubt you've noticed, this is easier said than done. The system was created to keep people like you out. Want to sell a script? Get an agent. Want an agent? Sell a script. It's enough to make you go cross-eyed. Cracking Hollywood's like waltzing off a plane bound from Cuba with a fat cigar clenched between your teeth and a "Viva Castro!" t-shirt on your back: only the rich and powerful can get away with it. And honestly, the hell with those people.
Somewhere out there, whether it's Titusville, Florida or Beverly, Massachusetts or Hawthorn, Australia or a suburb outside of Los Angeles, there are writers who can make us laugh or cry or fire us up with righteous indignation or can write the best car damn chase in history. It's just a case of getting those scripts to the people who make the decisions.
But we're realistic. We know other contests might have bigger prizes or might be situated down the hall from Steven Spielberg's agent, and that's cool. We like to think of ourselves as the baby bear's porridge of screenplay contest: not too hot, not too cold, but just right. You're odds are better than something like the Nichols' Fellowship-which received over 6000 entries this past year-and at the same time, we're interested in more than just cutting the winner a check and leaving them dangling in the wind. So there you go, that's our spiel. Explore the site and get a feel for the contest. We've got a passion for writing and we're going to do whatever it takes to get strong writing out to the people whose idea of creativity is turning another 70's TV show into a movie. These people need writers like you. And you need us. Together, we're Anything But Hollywood. |
Let me take a guess here. You're a part-time screenwriter who wishes they were full-time who, during the odd hours of the day, works on The Next Great Script. After years of spending $10 a pop to see the utter garbage that Hollywood foists upon movie screens you're ready to show the over-paid big shots in Century City and Miracle Mile how much better you can do their jobs than them.
That's why screenplay contests exist. More specifically, that's why this contest exists. Trust me it's not about making money (we'd be better paid flipping burgers at the Bob's Big Boy than we are reading scripts). Writing is the one aspect of filmmaking that anyone can do provided they have a story to tell and a little imagination. Anything But Hollywood knows that there are great writers outside of the 310 and 818 area codes (although we like those people too). 
Anything But Hollywood is plugged directly into the independent film scene. Last fall ABH entered into a partnership with Your Half Pictures, a production company with an exciting docket of feature-length and short films. Through our relationship with Your Half Pictures, Anything But Hollywood is able to get screenplays to filmmakers, agents, managers and talent with the greatest of fluidity. We're constantly working to expand our clientele roster with writer's reps who are just jonsing to get their hands on the latest in fresh, talented writers. Several scripts over the past few years have drawn interest from agencies and production companies and we're confident that under Your Half's guidance, that number will double with subsequent years.