Kairos Prize 2026
Movieguide's faith and values prize wants uplifting features and pilots built on biblical principles, with one track for beginners and one for working professionals.
closes today
Screenwriting events in United States
34 listed in Los Angeles, Idyllwild, Austin, Asbury Park, Nantucket, Atlanta, Omaha, Stowe, Park City, Saratoga Springs, Rabun Gap, Taos, Washington, DC, Peterborough and Madison. They take work in English.
34 listed. Late deadline Oct 20, 2026 is the soonest.
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13th Annual Search for New Blood Screenwriting Contest
A horror contest for features and pilots, run by Stage 32 for the 13th time.
closes tomorrow
The AFM Pitch Conference
At the American Film Market in Century City, a handful of attendees pitch an original film or series idea to industry panelists on stage and hear their reaction in the room.
closes in 2 days
CineStory TV Retreat & Fellowship 2027
This pilot contest leads to a five-day retreat in Idyllwild, California, in late April 2027, where the writers invited from the top rounds work one-on-one with industry mentors.
closes in 5 days
Fall 2026 WriteMovies Screenwriting Contest
WriteMovies, set up in Hollywood in 1999, runs a fall and a spring round.
closes in 5 days
Austin Film Festival Writers Conference
A four-day program of panels, roundtables and workshops in Austin for screenwriters, held during the first half of the city's eight-day film festival.
starts in 9 days
ISA Fast Track Fellowship, Spring 2027 Season
Twice a year the International Screenwriters' Association picks two writers and sets up a week of online general meetings for each, this round in May 2027.
closes in 9 days
2026 First Look Project
Unlike Script Pipeline's main contests, this one scores concept and market appeal next to the writing, so it rewards high-concept features and pilots.
closes in 10 days
Cassian Elwes Independent Screenwriting Fellowship
Producer Cassian Elwes chooses one unrepresented feature writer from ten scripts the Black List shortlists, then takes the fellow to the Sundance Film Festival for meetings and events.
closes in 12 days
Garden State Film Festival Screenplay Competition
New Jersey's festival runs a script contest beside its film program, with feature, short and teleplay categories.
closes in 12 days
WIF x The Black List Episodic Lab
Women in Film and the Black List run a four-week, in-person TV lab in Los Angeles each March for six to eight writers with a pilot, working on the script, the pitch and a practice writers'…
closes in 13 days
Tony Cox Screenplay Competition
Nantucket's festival has judged screenplays since the early 2000s and now takes features, hour and half-hour pilots and shorts.
closes in 16 days
Atlanta Film Festival Screenplay Competition
Out of each year's pool the Atlanta festival picks five scripts: three features, one pilot and one short.
closes in 17 days
Omaha Film Festival Screenwriting Competition
A Nebraska festival in its 22nd year that takes feature, teleplay and short scripts alongside films.
closes in 20 days
BlueCat Screenplay Competition 2027
BlueCat has been running since 1998 and returns written notes on every script entered, so a writer gets feedback whether or not the script places.
closes in 21 days
Creative Screenwriting UNIQUE VOICES Screenplay Competition (Season 12)
Only the last tier of this feature and pilot contest is left: scripts are due November 12, 2026, at 79 dollars.
closes in 23 days
Stowe Story Labs 2027 Narrative Labs, Writers' Retreats and Fellowships
A Vermont nonprofit runs four-day, in-person labs where screenwriters and filmmakers work on a project, with two 2027 sessions in Stowe and writers' retreats online and in Europe.
closes in 27 days
Sundance Institute Graton Fellowship
Two film artists from California tribes, recognized federally or not, each receive USD 25,000 and a year of backing from Sundance Institute's Indigenous Program.
closes in 27 days
11th Annual Feature Comedy Screenwriting Contest
Comedy features only, judged by named producers and executives from companies such as Whitewater Films and Shoot to Midnight.
closes in 29 days
Television Writing Conservatory
Eight writers spend most of 2027 in this live Zoom class from UCLA Extension, meeting two evenings a week to write two original pilots, each with an outline, a pitch and a bible.
closes in 41 days
Scriptapalooza Screenplay Competition
Features are ranked in seven genres, from family to historical, and a separate shorts track has lower fees.
closes in 42 days
Sundance Institute Episodic Alfred P. Sloan Grant
Sundance Institute's Episodic Program gives this grant to one original half-hour or hour-long series that centers science, technology or a historical figure or event.
closes in 44 days
2026 Pitch Contest (Fall/Winter)
Writers with an idea and no draft yet can enter here.
closes in 56 days
Yaddo Artist Residency (winter application cycle)
Yaddo, the artists' community in Saratoga Springs, New York, offers residencies with room, board and a studio, and screenwriters apply through its Film & Video category.
closes in 61 days
2027 Screenwriting Contest (25th Annual Script Pipeline Screenwriting Contest)
Now in its 25th year, this feature contest is judged only by Script Pipeline's own development staff, with no volunteer or intern readers.
closes in 71 days
2027 TV Writing Contest (20th Annual Script Pipeline TV Writing Contest)
For original pilots and unproduced indie series, this contest reaches its 20th edition in 2027 and turns away specs of shows already on air. Every round is read by Script Pipeline staff.
closes in 71 days
Hambidge Creative Residency
A residency center on 600 wooded acres in Georgia's northern mountains, where screenwriters apply under Writing with a 10 to 15 page sample.
closes in 87 days
Helene Wurlitzer Foundation Artist Residency
In Taos, New Mexico, the Wurlitzer Foundation hosts artists, screenwriters among them, in a furnished casita at no rent for one of three 2028 sessions of ten to twelve weeks.
closes in 90 days
WIFV Narrative Script Development Fellowship 2027
Members of Women in Film & Video, the Washington, DC area membership group, can apply with a feature or a pilot to a small cohort that works toward production rather than another draft.
closes in 111 days
MacDowell Fellowship (Fall 2027 to Winter 2028 season)
MacDowell, the artists' colony in Peterborough, New Hampshire, takes screenwriters under its Film/Video discipline and charges nothing for a residency.
closes in 113 days
SXSW Film & TV Festival & Conference
Each March in Austin, SXSW runs a film and TV festival next to a conference whose sessions take in writers' rooms, independent financing and distribution, plus mentor meetings on…
starts in 146 days
Wisconsin Screenwriters' Symposium 2027
Held each spring on the UW-Madison campus, this three-day gathering brings visiting industry guests to work with writers, with a focus on stories from Wisconsin.
starts in 171 days
Sundance Institute Development Track (Screenwriters Lab, Screenwriters Intensive, Sloan Fellowship and Commissioning Grant)
One application to Sundance Institute's Feature Film Program puts an unfinished fiction feature up for the January Screenwriters Lab, the online Screenwriters Intensive in March, and the…
closes in 182 days
ATX TV Festival Season 16
An Austin festival given over entirely to television, back for its sixteenth season over four days in June 2027.
starts in 226 days