The Great Pitch Competition
Contest · 2026Prestige 50/100
Genuinely free to enter, including with an unfinished script. The prize is ISA credit, not cash.
Deadlines & fees
- RegularNext deadline
- Final
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
- Logline (required) · Synopsis (required) · Screenplay as a PDF, or the first 20 pages of a work in progress · A written pitch as a one-page PDF uploaded to the pitch deck field · 12-point Courier, standard spec format, with no name or contact details inside the body of the script
Open to writers from all countries, with scripts submitted in English as PDFs. Four categories: completed feature, completed TV pilot, work-in-progress feature and work-in-progress pilot. Features run 70 to 120 pages and pilots up to 70, though the FAQ states a 10-page floor for pilots that the rules do not carry. Works in progress need at least 20 pages submitted as a draft. Scripts must be your original work, not encumbered by a third party, and not sold, produced for profit or currently under option; selling after entry is fine. Adaptations need written permission or public domain status. Shorts, web series, novels, plays, musicals, treatments, reality concepts and documentaries are excluded. Writers under 18 need a parent or guardian's permission. Co-writers may enter but all prizes are issued to a single applicant. Do not put your name or contact details inside the body of the script.
Prizes
IMPORTANT: there is no cash anywhere in this competition. Two grand prize winners each receive 1,500 US dollars in ISA credit, redeemable only against ISA-run resources on the ISA site, and the rules state no transfer, substitution or cash equivalent is allowed. Alongside the credit each winner receives a Pitching Like a Pro class, an ISA pitch practice and coaching session, high-level script feedback from an ISA story executive with a live 60 to 90 minute development call, a one-page pitch document built alongside the VP of Development, and their logline circulated in a newsletter to industry contacts including HBO Max, Disney+, LuckyChap, CAA and Amazon MGM Studios. The top ten finalists are considered for the ISA Development Slate and the top fifty receive laurels. Every element of the prize is ISA credit, an ISA service or exposure.
Judging
Judged by an unnamed panel described only as industry judges. Individuals named on the page are feedback-service providers or prize deliverers rather than selectors: Shayna Weber, Max Timm, Felicity Wren and Jeffrey Ryan Morales. Announcements run quarter-finalists 3 December 2026, semi-finalists 6 January 2027, top 50 finalists 17 February and grand prize winners 10 March 2027. Note that submitting enrols your email address in the ISA newsletter, with an unsubscribe available. One thing the page leaves unresolved: its FAQ implies Script Pipeline selects and develops one of the two winning projects, but no Script Pipeline prize or benefit is described anywhere, so one of the two grand prizes may differ materially from what is published.
The PreList verdict
This is free to enter, and unlike most things advertised as free it really is: zero dollars at both deadlines, across all four categories, for ISAConnect members and non-members alike. Better still, you can enter a work in progress with just 20 pages and a written pitch, which makes it one of very few credible routes for a script you have not finished. If you want a deadline to force a pitch document into existence, this will do it at no cost.
The honest part, and it is the whole story: the prize is not money. Each of the two winners receives 1,500 US dollars in ISA credit, redeemable only against ISA's own services on ISA's own site, and the rules foreclose conversion by stating no transfer, substitution or cash equivalent is allowed. Everything else in the package is an ISA class, an ISA session, an ISA document or exposure. That can be worth having, since their catalogue runs from 39 to 799 dollars, but it cannot leave the building. And a free entry sits directly in front of an eight-tier upsell ladder running from 39 dollars to 799, where four of those tiers dangle consideration for the ISA Development Slate, which is the same benefit the top ten receive for nothing.
Enter if the pitch document and the deadline are what you want, or if you have an unfinished feature that 20 pages could represent. Submitting also enrols you in the ISA newsletter, which is the ordinary trade for a free entry and easy enough to unsubscribe from. Regular deadline 30 September 2026, final 22 October, no times published. One loose end worth knowing: their own FAQ implies Script Pipeline selects and develops one of the two winning projects, but no Script Pipeline benefit appears anywhere on the page, so half the top prize is undocumented.
Dylian Salvatore, Founder of The PreList · Updated 2 Sept 2026
Frequently asked questions
Is it really free?
Yes. Both deadlines are zero dollars across all four categories, with no difference between the standard and ISAConnect rates. Submitting does enrol your email in the ISA newsletter, which you can unsubscribe from.
Is the 1,500 dollar prize cash?
No, and this is the most important thing to understand. It is ISA credit, usable only against ISA-run resources on the ISA site, and the rules state that no transfer, substitution or cash equivalent is allowed. There is no cash anywhere in this competition.
Can I enter an unfinished script?
Yes. Two of the four categories are for works in progress, and you need at least 20 pages submitted as a draft alongside your logline, synopsis and a one-page written pitch. That is unusual and is the main reason to consider it.
What are the paid add-ons?
Feedback is not included and is sold at entry across eight tiers, from 39 dollars for notes on your first 20 pages up to 799 for an accelerator evaluation. Worth noting that four of those paid tiers offer consideration for the ISA Development Slate, which the competition awards its top ten for free.
Is your script right for The Great Pitch Competition?
Upload your screenplay and The PreList scores how well it fits this contest: genre, format, eligibility and readiness, before you spend anything.
Similar competitions
All contests
The Sitcom Mission
Contest · 2027
Closed for this cycle
The 2026 round closed at 11:59pm on Sunday 3 May 2026 and the competition returns in early 2027, with no date yet published. The recent pattern is consistent: across 2023, 2024, 2025 and 2026 the deadline has fallen on the last Sunday of April or the first Sunday of May at 11:59pm, with finalists in June and showcases in June and July. The fee rose from 20 to the current level between 2024 and 2025 and has held since. One caveat on calling it annual: the organisers' own previous-years list skips 2019, 2021 and 2022, and the 2020 finalists were never staged in a theatre because of the pandemic, so it has run annually since 2023 but has missed years before.
Twenty pounds, open to anyone including produced writers, and your sitcom performed by professional actors.
TV Pilot
Checked 29 days ago
TrackingB Script Contests
Contest · 2026
Closed for this cycle
The 2026 TV contest closed on 9 March with results due by 30 August (fees ran $99 to $119). A 2026 feature cycle has not been announced; previous feature contests opened between April and June.
Hollywood tracking board contests built on rep signings: industry reads instead of cash prizes.
FeatureTV PilotActionAdventure+18
Checked 29 days ago
Virginia Screenwriting Competition
Contest · 2026
Closed for this cycle
The 2026 round opened on 6 April and closed on 25 May 2026 at 11:59pm Eastern, with winners announced at the Virginia Film Festival in October. This has one of the most predictable calendars we have found: across four consecutive cycles the closing date has fallen on US Memorial Day, the last Monday in May, every single year, with entries opening in early April in three of those four. No extensions are ever granted. One small note for verification: only the 2026 cycle published a timezone; earlier years stated 11:59pm with no zone.
Free to enter, 1,000 dollars to each of three winners, and a written evaluation of every single entry.
FeatureTV Pilot
Checked 30 days ago
ISA Fast Track Fellowship
Fellowship · 2026
Opens soon
Both 2026 seasons have closed. The fall season's final deadline was 30 July, extended to 13 August; second-round selections follow on 17 September, the top 50 on 1 October, fellows on 22 October, and Fast Track Week runs from 16 November 2026. ISA's spring page still shows the Spring 2026 season, which closed on 5 February. That season opened with a mega-early tier on 23 October 2025, so expect Spring 2027 to open around late October 2026, at 39 US dollars mega-early rising to 79 by the February final deadline, 10 dollars less for ISAConnect members.
Twice-yearly fellowship: a week of exec meetings plus a year on the ISA Development Slate.
FeatureTV PilotActionAdventure+18
Checked 2 days ago
It's My Shout
Programme · 2026
Closed for this cycle
The 2026 round closed at 10pm on Sunday 8 February 2026 and applications are now shut. Do not try to plan around a pattern here: the deadline has moved across January, February, April, May and September in six documented cycles, and the gap between the 2025 close in September 2024 and the 2026 close in February 2026 was roughly seventeen months. The only durable features are a 10pm cut-off and a Sunday close in the most recent rounds. The page limit has also drifted, from 8 to 15 pages in the 2024 and 2025 calls to a maximum of 12 in 2026.
A produced, broadcast credit on BBC Cymru Wales and S4C. What the writer is paid is not published.
Short
Checked 29 days ago
ITV Academy Original Voices
Programme · 2026
Closed for this cycle
The 2026 round opened on 11 June 2026 and closed at 11:59pm on 2 July 2026, with no timezone published. IMPORTANT: this is not an annual scheme, despite being long-standing. Evidenced cycles ran in October 2021, August and September 2023, and June and July 2026, and ITV's own run-count confirms no cycle in 2022, 2024 or 2025. The window has moved from October to late August to mid June across those three rounds, with two and three year gaps between them. Do not diarise against it.
Three paid months inside Coronation Street or Emmerdale, learning how continuing drama actually works.
TV Pilot
Checked 30 days ago
For organisers
Run The Great Pitch Competition? You are welcome to use this badge on your own site. It links back to this listing, where writers see dates and fees checked against your official site.
<a href="https://www.theprelist.io/competitions/the-great-pitch-competition"><img src="https://www.theprelist.io/badges/listed-on-theprelist.svg" alt="The Great Pitch Competition is listed on The PreList" width="190" height="36" /></a>On a dark background, swap the image for /badges/listed-on-theprelist-light.svg. Using the badge makes no difference to your listing, ranking or verdict. Those stay editorial.