Emerging Screenwriters Screenplay Competition

Deadlines & fees

• RegularNext deadline
  17 Sept 2026America/Los_Angeles$59Google·.ics
• Final
  29 Oct 2026America/Los_Angeles$79Google·.ics

Dates and fees checked against the official site 10 Aug 2026.

Key facts

Formats

Feature, TV Pilot

Page limit

120 pages

Eligibility

Open worldwide

Required materials

Screenplay as a PDF, 12-point Courier, standard spec format · Logline (required) · No synopsis, casting suggestions, letters, resumes or photos · Title page optional; pen names permitted · TV pilots may email character and episode lists separately

Open to writers from all countries, though scripts must be in English and fees paid in US dollars. Features run 70 to 120 pages and TV pilots up to 70, in 12-point Courier as a PDF; going over is discouraged but not disqualifying. Shorts, novels, plays, treatments, reality concepts and specs for existing series are all excluded. Scripts must be your original work, not encumbered by a third party, and not sold, produced for profit or currently under option, though selling after you enter is fine. Adaptations are allowed with secured rights or public domain material. Writers under 18 need a parent or guardian's permission. Two prior-winner rules bite: grand prize winners and their screenplays are barred from every future season, and placing as a finalist three times with three different scripts ends your eligibility.

Prizes

A 30,000 US dollar pool, and unusually it is all genuinely cash. Each of the ten finalists receives 1,500 dollars, and one of them takes an additional 15,000, so the grand prize winner banks 16,500 in cash. Non-cash benefits sit on top of that rather than being counted inside it: the winner gets two general meetings with industry executives, a script consultation with an ISA executive, ISA pitch practice and a twelve-month ISAConnect membership; the top ten get ISA Development Slate consideration, a development evaluation on a new script, a three-month ISAConnect membership and a logline review; semi-finalists receive a digital screenwriting book. ISAConnect membership prizes expire after 90 days and cannot be combined with an existing free membership, and prizes are issued one package per project based on highest placement.

Judging

Judged by an unnamed panel described only as industry judges. One prize executive is named, JR Rappaport, but he is an executive the winner meets rather than a judge, and a second is listed as still to be announced. Announcements run quarter-finalists 7 January 2027, semi-finalists 4 February, finalists 18 February and the grand prize winner on 18 March 2027. Note that prize cash is distributed three months after the final announcement, so around June 2027.

Frequently asked questions