Receive £1,000 for a horror treatment or first draft screenplay with further development from Hopscotch Films.
Are you a screenwriter or writer/director with a passion for psychological horror? Do you have an idea or a script for a low budget feature film to match the imagination and terror of the likes of Rosemary’s Baby, The Blair Witch Project, or Paranormal Activity?
What to Submit: A Treatment (2-10 pages) OR a first draft script for a low budget psychological horror.
They’re looking for captivating and terrifying stories told creatively, with compelling characters we can care about. Characters who have recognisable fears and emotional instabilities. Ideas that have a particular slant which makes them feel new. Terror and tension that gets under your skin rather than attacks your senses with a chainsaw.
Boundary pushing ideas will be well received. Found footage films have been a recent success story in this genre, but they might feel a bit predictable now. Is there a new innovation that can be found to make psychological horror work on a low budget?
Screenplays will not be given preference over well thought out treatments.
How to apply: Email your submission to horror@hopscotchfilms.co.uk.
If you’re submitting a first draft script, you don’t necessarily need any previous credits of note. The quality of the idea and the writing will be apparent from the script. But please also submit a Biography, flagging up any previous writing credits, if you have any, as well as links to any work you have had made.
If you’re submitting a treatment, we’ll need to be convinced that you can also write in screenplay form. So please include examples of previous scripted work, as well as a Biography. Links to any work you have had made will also be extremely helpful.
For more information and details on how to submit, visit the Hopscotch Films website.
What you get: Hopscotch Films will pay £1,000 for the best treatment or first draft screenplay, and in addition to this will develop your work with you so it’s ready to seek production finance and actually get made.
Deadline: Sunday Dec 15th 2013 at 11.59pm
Source: BBC Writersroom