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2006 Hollywood Gateway Screenwriting Contest Grand Prize Winner Announced
It is our great please to congratulate TJ Foley and her screenplay “Shattered” as our 2006 Hollywood Gateway Screenwriting Contest Grand Prize Winner. Her outstanding screenplay was selected from a diverse group of compelling entries. When notified, TJ responded “I can’t believe this. I’ve never won anything in my life. I’ve always loved movies and I write only because I enjoy it. I never thought anything would come from it. Thank you so much” Congratulations TJ. We’d like to thank everyone who entered this year and applaud all of you for persuing your dreams.
TJ will receive a $5,000 cash prize against a potential purchase price for the screenplay of $250,000, an intensive one-on-one coaching session with Producer Brent Armitage designed to teach our winner the art of pitching effectively in a professional setting, meetings with top Agents and Producers, transportation to Hollywood and accommodations, a copy of Final Draft 7, a one year subscription to Scr(i)pt Magazine and her screenplay will be submitted to top agencies and production companies.
If you didn't enter this year, it's time to get back to work hammering out a new draft. The Hollywood Gateway Screenwriting contest will be accepting entries for the 2007 competition January 1st! We'll have the same great prizes as this year, plus some new surprises. So polish up your script and maybe next year you'll be next in our winner's circle!
Hollywood Gateway Screenwriting Contest Announces 2005 Grand Prize Winner - Susan Emshwiller to take top honors with The Furnace
The competition was fierce this year, but one script could really stand the heat. The Furnace is a gritty thriller set against the desolation of the blistering Nevada desert. This tight, suspense filled script is sure to be a hit with producers and the audiences they want to reach!
Susan Emshwiller encourages other writers to "Do it! Write the best script you can and make it! Don't waste years of your life waiting when you can be out there, creating and doing what you love!"
"Hollywood is an insular business," says Armitage, "If you don't have connections in the industry, it can be hard to get your script noticed, let alone read by a studio. That's where we come in. Hollywood Gateway knows that there are great writers out there waiting to burst on to the scene, and the finalists this year prove it in spades."
Hollywood Gateway Screenwriting Contest Announces 2004 Grand Prize Winner - Kip Koenig to take top honers with Lost in His Prime
Los Angeles, California - October 27th, 2004 - The Hollywood Gateway Screenwriting Contest is always flooded with great material, but this year's winner was lengths ahead of the competition. Kipp Koenig's Lost in His Prime is an inventive script that puts a comedic twist on the idea that artists are only appreciated after their death. Sure to be adored by producers and actors looking for a rich leading role, Lost in His Prime has the potential to be a comedic blockbuster.
Hollywood Gateway Screenwriting Contest Announces 2003 Grand Prize Winner - Matthew Flynn to take top honers with Magnet
Los Angeles, California - January 30th, 2004 - The 2003 Hollywood Gateway Contest included a great number of imaginative and well-crafted entries, but after the dust settled Matthew Flynn's script Magnet stood head and shoulders above the rest. Magnet is a fresh and original story, well written and easily translatable to the screen - a script producers will love!
A native of Los Angeles, Matthew Flynn graduated from NYU Film School. He has developed video games for Disney, and written numerous travel articles, including a recent feature on South Africa for Los Angeles Family Magazine. Matthew likes to write his scripts quickly, in about a month, then rewrite, rewrite, rewrite! "Every scene needs a reason to exist," says Matthew. This dedication to continue honing a screenplay to improve it has really paid off! Without question this quirky, yet highly marketable script will excite the attention of agents and studios alike.
Matthew Flynn had never entered a screenwriting contest before. When he received the email telling him that his script had placed him a finalist he "thought my friends were messing with me." Matthew appreciates what winning First Prize did for his writing psyche: "The biggest issue for a writer is that you write in a vacuum, so this prize is a great objective response to my story and characters," he says.
Entering the contest has given him yet another perspective: "The greatest part about this contest is that it takes only ten minutes to submit your script and then you can forget about it. Where else, without an agent, can you get your script read by people who have the power to make the big decisions and get a project made?"
Hollywood Gateway Screenwriting Contest Announces 2002 Grand Prize Winner - Pam Ribon to take top honers with Lost in Translation
Los Angeles, California - February 28, 2003 -- The first-prize winner of the 2002 Hollywood Gateway Screenwriting Contest hails from the hub of the Entertainment Industry where she works as a columnist and writer.
Join us in congratulating Pamela Ribon on her $5,000 first prize and option agreement for her screenplay "It Skips A Generation." Pamela also won a copy of Final Draft, one-on-one pitch coaching by our judge Michael Hauge, and she will meet top agents and producers during her tenure as the 2002 contest winner. Five other finalists also won a copy of Final Draft and detailed script analysis.
"I'm excited to have this opportunity," she says, "and I'm looking forward to seeing what's going to happen. That's what I love about Los Angeles: one phone call can change everything." -- Pamela Ribon
She claims that co-founder Brent Armitage's phone call advising her of her first place win caught her with less than five hundred dollars to her name - "Just in time!" in her own words. "I'm excited to have this opportunity," she says, "and I'm looking forward to seeing what's going to happen. That's what I love about Los Angeles: one phone call can change everything."
"It Skips A Generation" is a comedic drama set in Texas, Connecticut and the road between the two. When a young woman's mother dies, she's bequeathed a set of audiotapes that set family history straight and reveal that Grandma, who supposedly died years ago, is still alive and well. It is the mother's last wish that her daughter retrieves her grandmother and set her up at an old folks' home. Chaos ensues when the girl meets her grandmother, a character to say the least, and learns the lessons only family can teach you on the road to forgiveness and a new life.
"The exceptional quality of the entries we received confirmed our conviction that there's great writing talent waiting to be discovered," says Jesse Douma, co-founder of the Hollywood Gateway Contest and president of WritersStore.com (R), a contest sponsor.