The Tennessee Screenwriters Association is proud to announce the winners of the 2004 Screenplay Contest

First Place - Jeannie And The Shadow by Robert Benziker
Second Place - Going Solo by Robert Gately
Third Place - Branded by Ken Lingo

Congratulations to the winners!


TSA Semi-Finalists 2005


The following Scripts advanced into the semi final round.

Demons 5 by Jim O’Rear
Mortuary Of Madness by Jim O’Rear
The Fine Print by Jacob Harvey
Maids Of Honor by Tony Cane Honeysett
Light Before Darkness by Ken Mora
Going Solo by Robert Gately
Jeannie And The Shadow by Robert Benziker
Dreamer by Rock Shaink & Mark Stanley
The Quarry by Walter Bost & Lisa Kyle
The Kingdom by Jim Walkington
The Wanna Be’s by Scott Crowell
12 Seconds by Edgar Sadler
The Coach by John Sherman
The Art Of Dog Walking by Mel Hicks & Linda Sands
Torpedo Alley: UBoats at the Doorstep by Jennifer Brasher
Men Of Iron by Graham Moes
Crimson House by Melissa Anderson
Branded by Ken Lingo
The Monsters Of Dent County by Jason Allen
Qumran by Michael Scherer
The Most Biggest Sleepover Ever by Rick Fonte
The Storm King by Via Morreale
Way of The Sword by Rick Leifer
Nu Blud by Doug Steier

This years field of entries was very good making it difficult to narrow the field.

NOTE: Unfortunately due to manpower versus volume issues we are not be able to notify individuals that were eliminated in the first round.

If your script is not listed above, it has been eliminated in the first round of judging. Please contact us with questions and comments.

Success in the TSA contest does not mean you will be able to sell your winning script (The great majority of winning scripts from contests have never been made or even sold). Likewise, failure does not mean that you will never have a career as a professional writer.

How well your script does in any one contest is no real judgment of its worth, or of your worth as a writer. Some scripts fare well in one contest and do poorly in another with no real rhyme or reason. Most professional writers will tell you that they've had as much failure as they have success (In truth, most have suffered much more failure on their way to their career).

So remember: If you have success in ours or another contest, don't get cocky. And if you do not succeed this time around, remember that it only takes one "Yes" for you to be on your way to a film career.

Thanks for your participation and especially for your patience

Sincerely

Peter Kremer
TSA VP and Contest Coordinator


ABOUT OUR COMPETION

The TSA's mandate is to attempt to help screenwriters learn and excel in the professional film business. In keeping with that, we go farther than most screenplay contests by openly informing our participants about the methods by which their scripts will be read and judged. Yes, the process can be subjective, but any competition of artistic merit is, by its very nature, subjective, much like the submission process used in Hollywood itself. The TSA has carefully constructed its judging format to closely conform to guidelines used by professional reader's working at major talent agencies and studios.

Who We Are:

The TSA is a strictly non-profit org, manned by volunteers; unpaid volunteers giving freely of their time. No one at the TSA gets profits for the work they do. We do it because we love writing and want to help others and ourselves be successful.

Through this contest we are trying to offer writers inexpensive, high exposure venues to production companies and agents in Hollywood.

Since the winning script represents the TSA, our values and work, we take the judging process very seriously.

How We Judge:

The TSA uses the Classic Narrative Structure as it’s criteria for judging and scoring scripts.

Our approach to screenwriting can be summed up as follows:

“The idea means nothing if the screenplay is not properly executed!”

Each script is read and scored by two readers. If there is a huge variance in these two scores, the script is assigned a third reader who acts as arbitrator.
v Senior TSA members serve as first and second round judges. The final placement of scripts will be determined by a panel of individuals with working credits in the film and entertainment industry.

Subject matter does not factor heavily into the first and second round of judging. Any concept or idea that is written and unfolded properly can be interesting. Rather we focus on structure, assuring that scripts have the critical plot beats, elements and flow that reflect the structure of American film making and the viewing habits of the consumer.

Thanks for your participation and especially for your patience.