Hey female screenwriters of New York City! Grab your pens and keyboards. The Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment and Brooklyn College’s Feirstein Graduate School of Cinema have announced the launch of a citywide scriptwriting contest highlighting stories by, for, or about women in New York City.
Aimed at “addressing the under representation of women in the film and television industries,” the initiative calls for NYC-based writers to submit original 26-minute pilot scripts. Two winners will have their scripts developed into pilots that will air on NYC Media. They will be chosen by a panel of industry leaders. One of the pilots will be selected for the creation of four additional episodes that will air in the summer of 2018. IFP will be facilitating the contest.
“We are focused on increasing access and opportunities for women writers, as well as written work about women and their shared experience,” said MOME Commissioner Julie Menin. “This screenwriting competition will provide up-and-coming writers with a key opportunity to have their work viewed by millions of New York City residents. I encourage New York’s creative community to get involved with this and other programs from our office to elevate women’s role in the industry.”
“The film and television industries have clearly failed to provide opportunities for women and people of color to have their voices heard. This initiative is a small step towards redressing that inequity and advances one of our core values at Feirstein, which is to educate and create opportunities for diverse new voices in the industry,” said Jonathan Wacks, Founding Director of the Barry R. Feirstein Graduate School of Cinema.
“We are thrilled to work with the Mayor’s Office and the Feirstein Graduate School of Cinema on the Made in NY: Series Competition, which seeks to provide creative opportunities to give voices to women and women’s stories,” said IFP Executive Director Joana Vicente. “The IFP recognizes that women, and particularly women of color, face unique challenges when working in the film and television industry, and we are determined to do all we can to change that. We hope that this endeavor will help to broaden and diversify the stories that Hollywood tells.”
This sounds like a great opportunity for writers to get their projects off the ground. The competition has launched and the deadline to submit is December 16. Head to the online application to get started.
