Halfway Crooks Entertainment x Roadmap Writers Proof of Concept Challenge (2026) Rules, Guidelines, and Scoring

HALFWAY CROOKS ENTERTAINMENT X ROADMAP WRITERS PROOF OF CONCEPT CHALLENGE(2026)RULES, GUIDLINES, AND SCORING: 

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ELIGIBILITY:

• Must be 18 years of age or older to enter The Halfway Crooks Entertainment x Roadmap Writers Proof of Concept Challenge (2026).
• Scripts submitted in the competition must NOT actively be optioned, purchased, or produced at the time of entry.
• Must be an original idea/work, free and clear of any copyright issues, and the original work of the submitter(s).
• While Halfway Crooks Entertainment has a particular interest in thrillers and horror, they welcome outstanding stories across every genre, including but not limited to: Thriller, Horror, Drama, Comedy, Science Fiction, Action, Romance, Family, Genre-Bending Stories.
• To ensure the winning project can move into production, submissions should be designed with practical production in mind. Halfway Crooks Entertainment will evaluate not only the quality of the screenplay, but also whether the proof-of-concept short can be realistically produced within the competition's $15,000 production budget. Projects requiring substantially larger production budgets for the proof of concept may not be suitable for this initiative.

• A completed feature screenplay version of the short proof of concept script is NOT required at the time of submission. Writers may submit either:

  - a proof-of-concept short screenplay that already has an accompanying feature screenplay, or
  - a proof-of-concept short screenplay with the intention of developing the feature version in collaboration with Halfway Crooks Entertainment if selected as the winner.

• Writers may submit multiple screenplays; each requires a separate entry.

WRITER/DIRECTORS:

• Writers are welcome to submit whether they intend to direct the proof-of-concept short themselves or not.
• Writer/directors are encouraged to apply; however, directing experience is not required. If the winning writer does not wish to direct - or if the parties mutually determine another director is the best fit - Halfway Crooks Entertainment may attach a director from its creative team or network of collaborators.

WRITING TEAMS:

• Co-written projects are accepted, but all writers must be credited in the submission.
• Material written by writing teams (or multiple writers) must be submitted by one of the writers, with the consent of the other(s).
• Please list all additional co-writers.
• If a writing team places in the competition or is chosen as a winner, prizes will be given to the person who submits the project. Each writing team is responsible for dividing or sharing the prize benefits.

SUBMISSIONS/SCRIPT FORMATTING:

• While Halfway Crooks Entertainment has a particular interest in thrillers and horror, they welcome outstanding stories across every genre, including but not limited to: Thriller, Horror, Drama, Comedy, Science Fiction, Action, Romance, Family, Genre-Bending Stories.
• Must be written in English in 12-point courier font and must adhere to standard industry margins and formatting.
• Proof of concept scripts must not exceed 20 pages (does not include title page).
• Do NOT “cheat” in an effort to reduce your page count. Your script will be disqualified. As a standard rule, 1.5” left, 1” right, and 1” top and bottom dimensions are acceptable. Using screenwriting software can help with this.
• All submissions must be in PDF format.
• You must submit your script with a cover page that includes your script title ONLY.
• The cover page does not count towards the overall script page count.
• It is recommended that you do NOT include your name, WGA registration number, and/or copyright information.
• All submissions are final. No substitutions of pages, drafts, or scripts will be allowed.
• Do not include any additional documents with your submission (i.e. pitch documents, series bibles, look-books, etc). They will not be reviewed.

JUDGING:

• Halfway Crooks Entertainment x Roadmap Writers Proof of Concept Challenge (2026) readers’ decisions are final.
• Submissions will be evaluated by experienced independent industry experts and judged on the following criteria: Premise/Concept, Characters, Dialogue, Story, Structure, and Voice/Style. Submissions will receive multiple evaluations based on the competition's proprietary scoring system.
• If a judge or competition partner is no longer able to serve in their specific capacity, Roadmap Writers will make best efforts to secure a replacement. Judges reserve the right not to grant an award.
• The Top 10 scripts will be reviewed by Halfway Crooks Entertainment for review.

FEEDBACK/NOTES:

• Only entries that purchase Feedback Notes at the time of submission will receive written feedback.
• Feedback notes will be returned to writers within 6-8 weeks from the Finalist announcement.

PROOF-OF-CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT:

One Grand Prize winner will receive $15,000 in production funding from Halfway Crooks Entertainment to produce their proof-of-concept short film. The production budget is intended to fully fund projects that can be realistically produced within that amount. As part of the judging process, Halfway Crooks Entertainment will consider each screenplay's production feasibility within the available budget.

POST PRODUCTION:

Following production, Halfway Crooks Entertainment will work with the winner to submit the completed proof-of-concept short to film festivals and use it as a calling card when presenting the project to financing partners, producers, distributors, and studio contacts in an effort to secure feature-film financing and development. While feature development is not guaranteed, the goal of the initiative is to give exceptional stories the strongest possible path toward becoming feature films.

LEGAL/RIGHTS:

• To enter the Halfway Crooks Entertainment x Roadmap Writers Proof of Concept Challenge (2026), you must agree to its Rules & Guidelines.
• Roadmap Writers reserves the right, at our sole discretion, to change or modify these terms at any time without notice.
• Announcement dates are tentative and subject to change.
• All sales are final. No refunds will be issued.
• All scripts submitted will remain the property of the writer(s). Neither Roadmap Writers nor any of its judges, partners, and/or their respective companies assume any attachment to your work, unless a development agreement is reached between the Writer and Halfway Crooks Entertainment.
• The $15,000 production funding is contingent upon the winning writer entering into a mutually agreed-upon development and production agreement with Halfway Crooks Entertainment for the proof-of-concept short film.
• Production of the proof-of-concept short film does not guarantee that the project will be developed, financed, optioned, or produced as a feature film. Any future feature development will be at the sole discretion of Halfway Crooks Entertainment and subject to separate agreements.
• Neither Roadmap Writers nor any of its judges and/or competition partners investigate or confirm the authenticity of an entrant’s authorship rights or claim. If it is found out that a writer or writing team has falsely claimed authorship, they will be disqualified from the competition. Their money will not be returned, and Roadmap Writers reserve the right to ban any or all of the writers from future competitions, and from any other Roadmap Writers services.
• Multiple scripts may be submitted but each script is required to pay the registration fees.
• Roadmap Writers is not responsible for any technical issue(s) that may arise from electronic submission.
• While it is not a requirement, we encourage writers to register their script with the U.S. Copyright Office and/or Writers Guild of America.

PROMOTION, MARKETING, OUTREACH:

• Entrants may be contacted as a result of the competition by Roadmap Writers, a member of the judging panel, or other industry professionals.
• By entering the the Halfway Crooks Entertainment x Roadmap Writers Proof of Concept Challenge (2026), you agree to receive competition updates via email and marketing emails from Roadmap Writers.
• You may unsubscribe from our emails at any time - BUT if you do so, you won’t be notified if you place in the competition. You will have to check the competition announcements on our blog at your own convenience. 

ENTRY SCORING:

Submissions will be judged by independent industry experts based on the following criteria. The explanations of each criterion below are by no means exhaustive. They are examples of some of the questions readers and judges consider in each category.