Entry Pricing & Deadlines
Early | September 19th, 2021 | $25
Regular | October 17th, 2021 | $35
Late | November 30th, 2021 | $45
Add Feedback Notes | +$35
Receive a one page analysis of your script.
Grand Prize (4)
Short Script & Short Film Category
- A Month Mentorship with one of our competition mentors!
- 5x Free Open Pitch Sessions
- 5x Months of Roadmap's "Industry On-Ramp" Program
- A 30-Minute Marketing & Strategy Call with Roadmap's CEO and Director of Operations
- Personalized marketing outreach for your project
See below for full list of placements and prizes!
Announcement Dates
Top 50 | January 12th, 2022
Top 25 | January 26th, 2022
Top 10 | February 9th, 2022
Winners | February 23rd, 2022
Dates subject to change
This competition is open to both short films and short scripts of all genres.
Roadmap Writers is a leader in screenwriting education and training taught by working industry executives & literary representatives. In just four years, Roadmap has helped more than 200 writers get signed to representation with agents and managers! Through our educational programs and competitions, Roadmap has directly helped writers get signed to companies including CAA, APA, Gersh, 3 Arts, Circle of Confusion, Gotham Group, Zero Gravity, Good Fear, Echo Lake Entertainment, and many more!
This year we are selecting not one but 4 winners for this year's competition! Each winner will participate in a one-on-one mentorship with one of four amazing mentors.
2021 Shorts Competition Judges
- QC Entertainment | Okey Onyiuke (Coordinator), GET OUT, BLACKkKLANSMAN, THE OATH
- Academy Award-Winning Producer | Andrew Carlberg, Producer of short SKIN
- Anvil Pictures | Maddie Breeland (Director of Development), HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON franchise
- Crypt TV | Jasmine Johnson (SVP of Digital Development)
- APA | Danny Alexander (Literary Agent)
- Gersh | Janne Barklis (Packaging & Sales Agent)
- The Gotham Group | Eitan Kleinman (Creative Executive)
Now closed for entries
2021 Competition Mentors
Andrew Carlberg
Academy Award-Winning Producer
Producer of short SKIN, FEELING THROUGH
Named by Variety as one of "Hollywood's New Leaders," Andrew Carlberg is an Academy Award-winning film, television, new media, Broadway and Los Angeles stage producer. He has produced over 20 short films that have played hundreds of festivals worldwide, including Sundance, Tribeca, Cannes, AFI Fest, Clermont-Ferrand, Palm Springs International ShortFest, HollyShorts and more. His short films SKIN and FEELING THROUGH were both nominated for Academy Awards, with SKIN winning the Live Action Short Film Oscar in 2019.
Maddie Breeland
Anvil Pictures - (Director of Development), HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON franchise
A graduate of Boston’s Emerson College with a degree in producing for film and TV, Maddie Breeland recently joined Dean DeBlois’ (HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON) Anvil Pictures, as Director of Development. Maddie began her career as a development assistant at Fox 2000 Pictures (THE HATE U GIVE; HIDDEN FIGURES; LOVE, SIMON) before working for Sean Bailey, President of Walt Disney live-action features, and eventually being promoted to development coordinator at Walt Disney Pictures (BEAUTY AND THE BEAST; ALADDIN; MULAN). At Anvil, Maddie will develop and produce live-action and hybrid content as part of their deal with Universal (JURASSIC WORLD; THE SECRET LIFE OF PETS; FURIOUS 7), including upcoming projects, TREASURE ISLAND and MICRONAUTS. She’s a fan of all genres but personally loves action, adventure, sci-fi, fantasy, thrillers, and true-crime documentaries. Maddie is a huge advocate for diversity and inclusion and aims to make content that promotes underrepresented groups.
Okey Onyiuke
QC Entertainment - (Coordinator), GET OUT, BLACKkKLANSMAN, THE OATH
A graduate of the University of Virginia, Okey Onyiuke is currently a Coordinator at QC Entertainment (GET OUT; ANTEBELLUM; BLACKKKLANSMAN). Okey started his career working in the production and motion picture literary departments at WME (CALL ME BY YOUR NAME; DOPE; SNOWPIERCER) before joining the film advisory and sales group of WME’s sister company, Endeavor Content (ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD; HAMILTON; KILLING EVE).
Danny Alexander
APA - Literary Agent
Danny Alexander is an Agent in the Literary department at APA, one of the largest diversified talent agencies in the industry with offices in Los Angeles, Nashville, Atlanta, New York, Toronto and London. A market leader, APA’s Television Literary department represents the creative and business interests of award-winning showrunners, writers, directors, and intellectual properties across all media platforms.
Following his graduation from Indiana University in 2012 where he majored in Political Science and Economics, Alexander joined APA’s mailroom in 2013 before working as an assistant and then coordinator in the Television Literary department prior to his promotion to Agent in 2018. With a primary focus of staffing writer clients on series and helping guide their respective development projects to fruition, Alexander also works across the agency’s Talent, Alternative & Factual Programming, and Physical Production departments in securing intellectual properties, development and acquisition, and navigating the scripted marketplace in general.
Placements
Top 10 Finalists
- 3 months of Roadmap's "On-Ramp" Program
- 3 Free Open Pitch Session credits. Choose to pitch to execs or reps
- One 60-Minute Group Strategy Webinar with an industry executive
- 30-Minute Marketing & Strategy Call with Roadmap CEO and Director of Operations
- Personalized marketing outreach for your project
- Logline and bio circulated to over 400 execs
Top 25 Semifinalists
- 1 month of Roadmap's "On-Ramp" Program
- 1 Free Open Pitch Session credit. Choose to pitch to execs or reps
- One 60-Minute Group Strategy Webinar with an industry executive
- 15-Minute Marketing & Strategy Call with Roadmap CEO and Director of Operations
- Logline and bio circulated to over 400 execs
Top 50 Quarterfinalists
- One 60-Minute Group Strategy Webinar with an industry executive
- Featured on Roadmap Writers Website
- Logline circulated to over 400 execs we work with.
Scoring
Submissions will be judged by independent industry experts based on the following criteria. The below explanations of each criterion is by no means an exhaustive list, but just an example of some of the questions readers and judges consider in each category.
Premise/Concept
Is it unique/original? Is it a new spin on a familiar story? Does the concept have longer form potential for either film or TV? Can it succinctly be explained? Do the actions and obstacles advance the story?
Characters
Are the characters well developed? Is their purpose or struggle clearly identifiable? Do they have a clear and complete arc? Are they multi-layered? Are the characters relatable or accessible to the reader/viewer?
Dialogue
Does the dialogue elevate the scene? Does it heighten the overall story? Does it propel the story forward?
Story
Is the story compelling? Does it serve to drive the characters and events forward in a meaningful way? Does it emphasize a deeper theme? Does the story explore new ideas?
Structure
Does the story have a clear beginning, middle and end? Does it have the appropriate structural beats? For scripted work, is it formatted properly? For filmed content, is it edited effectively?
Voice/Style
Does the writer use interesting word choice and sentence structure? Do they have a unique way to view and relay what’s happening in the story? Does the writer/filmmaker have a unique perspective?