Yeah, but how do you win?

My biggest question regarding this contest is how do you win?

That has been the biggest and most troubling intangible aspect of this contest.

Since there is no system in place to properly vet reviews (like Triggerstreet) the ratings are obviously subject to spamming. Reviews by other users cannot be used to vouch for a screenplay's worth, since anyone can leave a comment like "Wow! Someone needs to option this script for a million dollars right now!!! A+", or simply torpedo a good screenplay with terrible "one star" reviews.

Community participation is nice, but should have absolutely no impact on selecting a winner for the contest(s).

The BIG question is how is Amazon going to narrow down (let's say) 2,000 entries to just TWO winners? That's what I want to know.

E.G. How is Amazon going to select the scripts that they are going to actually read to then determine the winner?

Furthermore, how is Amazon going to stop the natural obfuscation of screenplays as the contest progresses?

Once again, lets say that during month number one Amazon gets 2,000 entries. Two winners are selected. That leaves 1,998 scripts on the site. Month two, 2,500 scripts are uploaded and two winners are selected. That leaves 4,496 scripts on the site. Etc. and so forth.

By the end of the first year there could be upwards 25,000+ screenplays uploaded to Amazon.

What is the system set up to sift through the majority of screenplays that are just terrible to find the winners?

I'm just not seeing it.

Lastly, there's also no incentive to rewrite your own screenplay, or anyone Else's.

Let's say on month five I find a screenplay that's good, but was submitted on week one and I rewrite it to make it GREAT. How is that screenplay going to get noticed in week five?

This is why I think Amazon should change their format/contract and simply start EACH MONTH with a clean slate. If you don't win in the month period you submit, your rights automatically revert back to you and you go on with your life. Does anyone seriously think that after their screenplay sits on Amazon for a year, all of a sudden it's going to win the grand prize and get noticed?

There are dozens (hundreds) of screenwriting contests. Moviebyes.com lists them.

They (1) hire judges (2) screen material (3) advance material and do coverage -- written reports from readers (4) advanced the finalists to the celebrity judges who (5) pick the winners.

Hope they monitor revisions as I'm posting a major (tossed out the first draft basically) rewrite of my script GET MOTIVATED. In fact, hoping the judging hasn't started yet. But we don't know...

Popularity, we have found out, is NOT factored into the final scoring.

Nicholl judges 6,500 scripts each year. Sure Amazon has the resources to pull it off as well with only a couple thousand entrants.

I kind'a agree. How can you evaluate a thousand scripts unless each is read by some qualified person using some agreed standard. Than there's the problem of judging categories by genre, rather than pitting them all against each other. Waiting for one or two scripts to emerge or become popular with online reviewers is going to be very difficult and may not happen at all. Selecting a script can't just happen by itself.

Yes, Stephen, other screenwriting contests hire judges, screen material and go through the selection process that they have established to the public.

The Nicholl Fellowship is run by the Academy itself and has been run successfully for twenty five years. Amazon might have vast resources and money, but it doesn't appear that they've put the manpower (yet) into this contest/studio/endeavor.

At least with Nicholl you at least get the promise that someone's going to read your script. With the Amazon contest there is nothing established that anyone at Amazon will ever even read your logline.

Also, with other contests you don't sign away your rights for 18+18 months. If you don't win another contest, you're free to try and enter another contest, or at least present your non-winning entry to someone else.

Amazon Studios has not defined what exactly the process that they're going to use weed through the undesirable screenplays and pick the ultimate winners.

If popularity (reviews, submitter community activity) is not factored anymore, it is not represented in the current official rules:

"8. Process for Determining Best Movie. We may use up to three rounds (any of which we may elect to split into two or more stages) to determine the Best Movie: (i) Audience Feedback; (ii) Analyst Review; and (iii) Judging Panel Determination.

i. Audience Feedback. In this round we will use a variety of audience metrics to narrow down the field of Eligible Entries. One or more of the Eligible Entries selected as a result of this process may advance directly to the Judging Panel Determination round.

ii. Analyst Review. In this round an analyst will review part or all of an Eligible Entry and score the Eligible Entry using the Evaluation Criteria to further narrow down the field of Eligible Entries.

iii. Judging Panel Determination. In this round our panel of judges will each review each Eligible Entry and score the Eligible Entry using the Evaluation Criteria to determine the Best Movie."

If step one is no longer going to be used, what exactly replaced step one?

How does one get to step two, let alone step three?

Furthermore, if Amazon actually amends their contest rules/contract (An FAQ on the site does NOT count) then that should be considered a material breach of the contract and a perfect and easy "Out" for those who may have had any regrets for not reading the contest rules. *Not a lawyer, but I don't think that they can't change the rules after the contest has started and then go "Ha, Ha, we change da rulez, we can do what we want!! we still own ur scriptz for three years, lol!"

The Amazon Studios contest it appears to be a vast Black Hole designed to suck in content with (apparently) little thought on what to do with that content once acquired.

Scripts check in, but they don't check out.

This is the main problem and the big downer about this contest; if you don't win, your script is just going to be BURIED under the endless deluge of entries month to month, and will never see the light of day again.

Furthermore, how is the "groundbreaking" premise of "Anyone can edit anyone's script anytime®" supposed to work if at the start of every month there's 2,000+ more scripts uploaded. How are these revisions wanted, or unwanted going to get read?

Contrast this with the system set up with "Triggerstreet." Each user has to read and review at least four scripts before they get theirs reviewed. Real reviews too, not just one line reviews AND provide constructive feedback, THEN the reviewers are TESTED on the script. If they fail the test then their review does not count.

Also, submitters have to continuously read MORE scripts in order to get more reviews of their script(s).

Anyway, this system promotes users to be active AND relegates the sub par scripts to the virtual dustbin if the users are not active. This way users can't just dump their scripts and forget about them and have them cluttering up the site; they're still there, and you can read them and do a free review, but they won't come up for a real review unless the user that submitted them is active on the site.

Once again, Amazon has the resources, they just really need to put the manpower into this contest and EXPLAIN it a little better and make it so the entrants don't feel sad about "giving away their baby" for most likely nothing in return.

@Neil - Great points. I love the way triggerstreet is set up. Wish they did it the same way here or something to that effect.

I just wish that Amazon would clarify the selection process. IF indeed they have, or will soon amend the contest rules to say that they will NOT be choosing scripts based on "community feedback" to go onto stage two (and beyond) that they would tell us how scripts will get to the second step and beyond.

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