From the recent Open Forum, Steve the Creep asks:

I’m a semi-finalist in the Austin Film Fest (find out if I’m a finalist today or tomorrow). I don’t have an agent or a manager, or any real connections for that matter. How can I use the festival to my advantage?

The High Dweller follows up with a similar question:

I have a script that has Quarter-finaled in the ’09 Nicholl and Semi-finaled in the ’09 Creative World Awards (still waiting to hear more).

So what can an “undiscovered” aspiring screenwriter do with these contest placements?

Just throw out a mass of query letters with this info spelled out? Or are there other avenues?

And to complete the trifecta, ashleyfmiller asks:

And to echo Steve and The High Dweller, are there ways to use festival placements (Semi-Finalist Nicholl) to get scripts read? Is there a number of scripts that you should have written to get real attention from agents?

Of all the screenwriting competitions, the one that draws the most attention in Hwood — and for some people the only one — is the Nicholl. You can go here to see a list of Nicholl Fellows stretching back to the competition’s inception in 1986 – and you’ll see some writers (e.g., Allison Anders, Susannah Grant, Ehren Kruger) who have gone on to successful careers in the movie business.

If you are selected as a Nicholl Fellow, you will most certainly meet numerous agents and managers, and more than likely gain representation.

The Austin Film Festival, perhaps because of its focus on screenwriting, has a screenwriting competition that is becoming more and more influential in Hwood. You can go here to see a list of its success stories.

If you win or are even a finalist at the AFF, it’s more than likely you’ll at least meet with agents and/or managers.

But what if you don’t win? What if you’re a semi-finalist or a quarter-finalist? Will that translate into anything re representation? And if not, is there a way to parlay your accomplishment into something significant?

Will a semi or quarter-finalist showing translate into representation? I’ve had several students who have found themselves in this situation. A couple actually did end up with an agent and in both cases (Nichol semi-finalists), the agents sought them out. So it’s possible you may get some attention, more than likely a hungry young agent at a mid-level outfit or someone at a small, boutique lit agency.

Is there a way to parlay a semi or quarter-finalist showing into getting a rep? There’s no definitive way to do that. Certainly you can go the route High Dweller suggested: Query letters to agencies and managers wherein you include information about where you placed in the screenplay competition. But unless it’s the Nicholl or the Austin Film Fest, I’m not sure how much value other competitions mean to reps.

By the way, you can pick up the “Guide to Literary Agents” which not only lists basically all lit agencies, but also has good advice on how to craft strong query letters. They also have a blog which is a good place to check out, including a bunch of helpful links.

Now anybody who has been visiting this blog for any length of time has heard me harp on the importance of writing a great script. And although I’m not an agent or a manager, I think it’s probably safe to say that if your script did not win a Nicholl or AFF screenplay competition, a lit rep is unlikely to consider what you’ve written to be a great script. So it will be an uphill struggle to convince them to read your material.

This is yet another reason why a strong story concept is invaluable – because even if your script may not have won a screenplay competition, if it has a commercially viable, marketable high concept at its core, the logline alone could entice an agent or manager to read your material.

[BTW, on occasion in the past, I have made an offer: If you write a great script, you may contact me to possibly read your story. However there are more than a few of you who are still waiting for my feedback, even after several months. So as much as I'd like to act as a direct conduit to Hwood for those without contacts there, I currently can't accept any submissions. I have to go through my current reading list first.]

I’m afraid my advice doesn’t offer any great insight into the situation: Yes, you can query agents or managers by email. Yes, you can mention how your script was a semi or quarter-finalist in this or that competition. Yes, you can provide a logline of your story which hopefully conveys a strong story concept.

What to do after that, you can go here for an approach I wrote about recently.

Finally re ashley’s question:

Is there a number of scripts that you should have written to get real attention from agents?

There’s no magic number that I know of. Obviously it’s helpful if you’ve written more than one script, so you have something else to show people at meetings. If I was forced to pick a minimum number of original screenplays you should have handy, I’d say at least three scripts. The more original material you’ve written, that’s generally better because each of those represents a potential sale, making you a more attractive candidate for representation — with the obvious caveat that if your scripts stink, even if you’ve written a dozen of them, it will do you no good. Quality is always better than quantity.

One final final thought: If your script only made it to the semi or quarter-final level, ask yourself: Is this really a great script? A great script? If not, then I suspect your efforts would be much better served by coming up with a fantastic story concept, a compelling Protagonist character, and writing what you absolutely believe is a fantastic screenplay.