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Contest Rules

ELIGIBILITY AND SUBMISSION PROCESS

NOTE: Before entering, please be sure to read the TERMS OF USE of our website.

This contest is open to anyone EXCEPT:

  • Pavaline employees, directors, partners, associates as well as their immediate families,
  • Pavaline affiliates and/or sponsors,
  • Past and present Pavaline competition judges and their immediate families.

Entries from outside of the United States are encouraged. However, scripts must be in English and all contest entrants must speak and write English well enough to be able to participate in development meetings should they win the grand prize.

How to Submit:

  1. Fill out the online application form. Have your logline ready.
  2. Agree to the pavaline competition submission release agreement.
  3. Upload your script.
  4. Pay any processing fee by credit card, as required.
Important: Judging is anonymous. Under no circumstances should you include your name or contact information anywhere within the body of your script, not even on the title page. The title page should only include the title. Your contact details will be collected through your application form. Your script will be assigned a number for identification and tracking purposes.

To qualify, your short script:


  • Must be in English.
  • Must be in 12-point Courier font and in standard entertainment industry script format. You can find format guidelines in just about any standard screenwriting guide or textbook, or click here for a quick refresher.
  • Must be in the genre of the competition you are entering.
  • Must not have been previously optioned, sold, or produced for profit.
  • Must be no less than 5 pages and no more than 20 pages.
  • Must be electronically transmitted in PDF, RTF, FDR (Final Draft), or SCW (Movie Magic Screenwriter) format (no other electronic formats are acceptable).
  • Must be the original work of the author. With the exception of adaptations of the author’s own work to which he/she holds all rights, no adaptations are permissible.


Important: In all cases, please ensure that your script pages are numbered.

Collaborative work is eligible, but each writer must agree to the submission release terms. The primary entrant will be given the option to express co-authorship, and enter co-author(s) email(s). Pavaline will contact the co-author(s) via email with instructions to review and agree to the submission release terms. If selected as the grand prize winner, only one writer will be flown to New York at Pavaline's expense. The writers are responsible for the equitable distribution of any other awards.

Only open to writers who are at least 18 years old.

Multiple entries are permissible, but each entry must be a unique script and accompanied by a separate entry form, release form, and entry fee.

Once material has been entered, no substitutions of new drafts or corrected pages will be considered. You may submit a revised draft of your short script as a new submission, fill in an entry form and pay the appropriate entry fee.

CONFIRMATION RECEIVED

When your submission is received you will be notified by e-mail only (within two weeks). If you do not hear from us within a reasonable time (within four weeks) send an email to service@pavaline.com and include your name, address, phone number and title of your material. This will not affect the anonymity of the judging process. If your email address and/or home address changes please let us know.

CONTEST DEADLINE

To qualify, submissions must be received by 6:00 PM Eastern Time on the deadline date as published on Pavaline's website. Any entries received after the deadline will be disqualified.

Pavaline is not responsible for late or lost submissions and/or any part thereof.

JUDGING

Judging will be anonymous. Each script will be assigned a number linked to your personal details and tracked in Pavaline's computer system. Scripts will be read and scored by film industry professionals in three phases. Finalists are announced after the second phase of judging.

All judges' decisions are final and may not be disputed. Pavaline and its administrators may not be held responsible for any errors or omissions on the part of the judges.

AWARDING OF PRIZES

Grand Prize:


The Grand Prize winner will have his/her film produced by Pavaline. The writer will receive a cash payment in the amount of US$500, and be credited as screenwriter. Upon acceptance of this prize, Pavaline will own the script and have the right to copyright and produce it into a film. Pavaline reserves the right to ask for further development, and to make all final decisions regarding the budget, casting, attachments, marketing, distribution, as well as any other decisions connected with producing and exploiting the film.

In addition, Pavaline will award airfare up to US$500 (based on average fares within the continental United States) to fly the Grand Prize winner to New York and will provide standard hotel accommodations and expenses for up to three (3) days in New York for the writer to participate in development/pre-production meetings.

At the time of the shoot, Pavaline will once again fly the winner to the shoot location (at a cap of US$500) and provide accommodations and expenses for the length of the shoot, which shall be approximately 5 days.

Grand Prize winner will also receive: A free Annual Pro Membership to the Pavaline Network (US$100 value)

Second Place:


US$500 cash prize
A free Annual Pro Membership to the Pavaline Network (US$100 value)
Upon your acceptance of this prize, Pavaline has the option of the Material at no additional fee for up to 18 months for further development and/or possible production.

Third Place:


A free Annual Pro Membership to the Pavaline Network ($100 value)
Upon your acceptance of this prize, Pavaline has the option of the Material at no additional fee for up to 18 months for further development and/or possible production.

LEGALITIES

You understand and accept without reservation that you are an independent contractor and not an employee of Pavaline. Nothing contained herein shall be construed to render you a partner, employee or agent of Pavaline nor shall either party have any authority to bind the other in any respect, it being intended that each party is responsible for their own actions. You shall not be entitled to, included in or eligible for any benefits from Pavaline that might otherwise be provided to employees, including but not limited to health insurance, workers’ compensation insurance, unemployment insurance, state disability insurance or any other insurance or employment benefit of any kind. You understand and acknowledge that Pavaline is not responsible for withholding any taxes or payments to any government agency on your behalf or in connection with any tax authority, and you are solely responsible for reporting any compensation, monetary or other award or income to federal, state and local taxing authorities.

We recommend registering your script before submitting it to any contest, company, or individual. You understand that it is your sole responsibility to register material with the U.S. Copyright Office and/or with the Writer’s Guild of America or the appropriate agency in your country.

You have retained at least one copy of the submitted material, and you understand that material we receive cannot and will not be returned under any circumstances.

PERMISSION

By entering this contest, you understand that you may be (and in the event you are declared a finalist shall be) contacted for an interview by the Pavaline team prior to the final selection process to determine, among other things, whether you still hold all rights to your project, whether the project and screenplay rights are clear and to verify your information and eligibility. In the event that this is not the case (i.e., your script has been optioned or sold, the rights are not clear, or you have presented a fraudulent identity), you will be disqualified from advancing further in the contest.

By entering the contest you also accept and agree that Pavaline will be free to use your name, likeness and biographical information in any media or platform now known or hereafter devised (including without limitation the internet) for advertising, publicizing, promoting and otherwise exploiting the contest, your screenplay, any picture which is thereafter produced by Pavaline based on the screenplay, any product or material derived therefrom or related thereto, any results and proceeds of your services, and/or in respect of Pavaline, including without limitation any Pavaline related entities and Pavaline internet sites, without the payment by Pavaline of any additional consideration to you.

If you are a finalist you agree to give Pavaline the permission to post your script's logline, synopsis, excerpts, and an interview with you on its website.

You may submit your screenplay to any other person, contest, producer, agent, publisher, and/or organization during the term of the contest; however, if you are selected as (1) the Grand Prize Winner or (2) the Second or Third Place Winner and Pavaline elects to option your screenplay, you agree to immediately cease and/or withdraw all third party submissions and terminate all third party discussions or negotiations in connection with your screenplay. Accordingly, all contest participants agree to the following:

  1. Pavaline and/or its assigned representatives will be the producers of the winning screenplay and shall have the right to copyright the screenplay and any produced picture based thereon exclusively in Pavaline’s and/or its assigned representatives’ names.

  2. The winner grants Pavaline and/or its assigned representatives all of the results and proceeds in and to the screenplay (written by the winner) and any picture or work created and/or derived therefrom, with Pavaline being deemed the sole and exclusive owner of such work, of all such results and proceeds, and of all rights of every kind and nature in and thereto (which rights include, without limitation, all audio visual rights for any and all media on any and all delivery platforms now known or hereafter developed). For good and valuable consideration, the receipt and sufficiency of which is hereby acknowledged, the winner further waives any and all so-called "moral rights" of authors. In the event such results and proceeds are determined not to be a "work-made-for-hire," then the winner hereby irrevocably and exclusively assigns to Pavaline, in perpetuity, throughout the Universe, all rights (including, without limitation, all copyrights and renewals and extensions thereof) in and to such results and proceeds. Pavaline shall have the right to use, refrain from using, change, modify, add to or subtract from, and to exploit, advertise, exhibit and otherwise turn to account any or all of the foregoing in any manner and in any and all media, whether now known or hereafter devised, throughout the Universe, in perpetuity, in all languages, as Pavaline in its sole discretion shall determine.

Notwithstanding the foregoing, until your script wins and you enter into an option and/or purchase agreement with Pavaline, you retain full copyright (100%) in and to your screenplay.



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