The cost of entering screenwriting competitions.
Computed live from our hand-verified directory, not estimated. Every figure below traces to a published fee on an official competition site, and the page recalculates as the directory is re-verified each week.
$70
Average paid entry fee across every published deadline we track
+38%
Average rise from a competition's earliest fee to its final-deadline fee
+90%
The steepest late-entry rise in the directory right now
3
Competitions and programmes in the directory that are free to enter
Based on 18 of 41 published directory entries with verified fee data, page updated 29 July 2026.
The late-entry premium.
Most large competitions run tiered deadlines: an early bird price, a regular price, and a final or extended deadline at a premium. Writers who decide late pay the most, which is worth knowing before a “last chance to enter” email lands. Of the competitions we track with more than one paid deadline, 10 charge more at their final deadline than their earliest, rising by an average of 38%.
| Competition | Earliest fee | Final-deadline fee | Rise |
|---|---|---|---|
| CineStory Foundation Retreat and Fellowship | $50 | $95 | +90% |
| Shore Scripts Short Film Fund | $39 | $59 | +51% |
| BlueCat Screenplay Competition | $65 | $95 | +46% |
| Film Independent Screenwriting and Episodic Labs | $45 | $65 | +44% |
| Atlanta Film Festival Screenplay Competition | $100 | $140 | +40% |
| Shore Scripts Feature Screenplay Contest | $59 | $79 | +34% |
| Filmmatic TV Pilot Awards | $45 | $59 | +31% |
| Scriptapalooza | $45 | $55 | +22% |
| Slamdance Screenplay Competition | $85 | $95 | +12% |
| Filmmatic Comedy Screenplay Awards | $55 | $59 | +7% |
Fees are each competition's own published prices for its earliest and latest paid deadlines in the current cycle. Tiered pricing is a normal, disclosed practice; the point is simply that entering early is cheaper.
Methodology.
Figures are computed from The PreList competitions directory: 41 published competitions, fellowships and labs, of which 18 publish verifiable entry fees across their deadline phases. Each entry is checked against the official competition site, and every directory page shows when it was last verified.
The average fee covers every paid deadline we track, not one fee per competition, so a contest with a $50 early bird and an $85 final deadline contributes both. Late-entry rises compare the lowest and highest paid fee within the same competition's current cycle. Fees published in other currencies are compared in their USD-normalised form.
What this page does not claim: anything about your odds. Most competitions do not publish entrant numbers, so we make no estimate of them, here or anywhere else. Where a figure cannot be verified, it is left out rather than guessed.
Citing these figures
Quote freely with attribution. Suggested citation: “The Cost of Entering Screenwriting Competitions, The PreList (2026), theprelist.io/competitions/cost-of-entry”. The figures recompute as the directory is re-verified, so link to this page rather than copying numbers forward. Questions or a correction: enquiries@teamprelist.com.
Deciding where your entry fees should actually go? The free Contest Fit-Finder narrows the field, and the deadline calendar shows what closes soon, before the fees rise.