No entrant may have earned money or other consideration as a screenwriter for theatrical films or television, or for the sale of, or sale of an option to, any original story, treatment, screenplay, or teleplay for more than $5,000.
Entrants must be 18 years or older to enter the contest. Misrepresentation of age, upon discovery by American Zoetrope, will disqualify the applicable entrant.
The rights to the submitted screenplay should not have been previously optioned or sold.
Employees of American Zoetrope and its affiliated companies and their immediate families are not eligible.
Screenplay submissions should be in the US Motion Picture industry standard screenplay format
and approximately 87-130 pages in length. Pages should be typed and not handwritten. Submissions should be written in the English language.
Screenplay submissions must be the original work of the applicant and may not be based, in whole or in part, on any other fictional or non-fictional material, published or unpublished, produced or unproduced for which the writer does not own rights. Entries may be adapted from the applicant's original work and works in the public domain, which should be noted on the entry form and title page. If the script is based on a true story, historical or contemporary, that should be noted on the entry form and title page.
Screenplays will not be returned under any circumstances. Include a self-addressed stamped postcard for each submission if you wish acknowledgement of the receipt of your screenplay.
Under no circumstances will substitutions of either corrected pages or new drafts of the screenplay submissions be made.
Entry fees will not be returned or adjusted.
Collaborative work is accepted. One of the writing partners should be selected as the prime contact for all mailings. Writing partners selected as winners will divide the award equally.
Entrants may submit screenplays and entry forms online or by mail (or any courier service).
The selection of the Grand Prize winner will be made by the Judge.
The Grand Prize winner will receive $5,000.
For mail submissions, the writer's/writers' name/s, contact information, and tracking number should appear on the title page.
The Grand Prize winner and top ten screenplays will be announced on or around February 1, 2006.
Submissions for the EARLY DEADLINE should be submitted online and/or postmarked no later than August 1, 2005. Submissions for the LATE DEADLINE should be submitted online and/or postmarked no later than September 1, 2005.
An entry fee of US$30 (for early deadline) or US$40 (for late deadline) can be paid by credit card online or by personal check or money order. All checks or money orders must be payable to: AZX.
