Final Draft Big Break Screenwriting Contest

Contest · 2026Prestige 78/100Feedback included

Final Draft's flagship contest. $10,000 cash, an LA industry trip, and a Dell laptop for the Feature and TV grand prize winners.

Official site ↗

Deadlines & fees

Closed for this cycle

Big Break 2026 is closed for submissions. Winners are announced in stages from late August to 18 December 2026.

Dates and fees checked against the official site 14 Jul 2026.

Entry categories

Feature
Feature · up to 120 pages
Feature screenplays, 80 to 120 pages. Same fee applies to Diversity-track feature entries.
Short
Short · up to 20 pages
Short screenplays up to 20 pages. Lower entry fee than Feature and TV categories.
TV Pilot
TV Pilot · up to 70 pages
Original pilots only. One-hour 40 to 70 pages, half-hour 20 to 35 pages. Same fee applies to Diversity-track TV entries.

Key facts

Formats: Feature, TV Pilot, Short
Genres: Action, Adventure, Animation, Biography, Comedy, Crime, Documentary, Drama, Family, Fantasy, History, Horror, Music, Mystery, Romance, Sci-Fi, Sport, Thriller, War, Western
Page limit: 120 pages
Required materials: PDF of the screenplay in industry-standard format

Entrants must be 18 or older with internet access. Optioned screenplays are not eligible. Adaptations are accepted only if the entrant wrote the original source material, or if the source material is in the public domain. Prior Grand Prize and category winners cannot resubmit winning scripts. Employees of Final Draft and competition sponsors, and their relatives, are excluded.

Prizes

Two Grand Prize winners (one Feature, one TV) each receive: $10,000 cash, a Dell laptop, an iPad, a New York Film Academy fellowship, and an all-expenses-paid trip to Los Angeles for industry meetings with executives, producers, agents, and managers. Short Script Winner: $5,000 cash, a Backstage casting credit, a FilmFreeway credit, and a Final Draft 13 software licence. Category winners and finalists also receive a free entry into the following year's contest plus industry exposure.

Judging

Judged in rounds across the 11 sub-categories. The full judge roster is published on the Big Break page each year. Final-round judging is conducted by an industry jury of managers, producers, and executives.

The PreList verdict

Big Break's draw is its sponsor. Final Draft is the industry's default screenwriting software, and it puts real marketing muscle behind its winners: two US$10,000 grand prizes (one feature, one TV), category awards, an LA trip and genuine visibility. For commercial, mainstream material it is one of the strongest brand names you can put on a query letter.

The honest part: 2026 set an entry record, so the field is enormous, and the fee ladder climbs steeply at the extended deadlines, particularly once you add the optional feedback packages, which ran up to US$155 for features this year. The feedback is an upsell, not part of the base entry.

Enter if your script is polished, commercial and genre-clear, and get in at the early deadlines where the fee is sane. Skip it if your work is quiet, experimental or in need of notes first; a contest this size rewards scripts that grab a tired reader by page three. The 2026 cycle closed on 29 June; winners are announced in stages from late August, with the grand prize on 18 December.

Dylian Salvatore, Founder of The PreList · Updated 14 Jul 2026

Frequently asked questions

Is Big Break still open for 2026?

No. Entries closed on 29 June 2026 with no further extension. Quarterfinalists are announced on 28 August and the grand prize winners on 18 December 2026.

What does Big Break cost?

Fees rise by deadline tier and by category. At the 2026 extended deadline, short scripts ran US$65 to US$110 and features and TV US$85 to US$155 depending on optional feedback add-ons.

What do winners receive?

Two US$10,000 grand prizes (feature and TV), US$1,000 category wins, a US$5,000 short script prize, an industry trip to Los Angeles and promotion by Final Draft.