THE 1ST EVER SCRIPT NOTES WRITING CONTEST: SEARCH FOR THE BEST TV SPINOFF!

Hey, folks— I am very excited and pleased to announce… THE VERY FIRST “SCRIPT NOTES TV WRITING CONTEST!” That’s right… you’ve asked for it… you’ve waited for it… and—at long…

Hey, folks—

I am very excited and pleased to announce…

THE VERY FIRST “SCRIPT NOTES TV WRITING CONTEST!”

That’s right… you’ve asked for it… you’ve waited for it… and—at long last—here it is… with a prize and everything!

(And hopefully this won’t be the last… I’m planning on doing a bunch of fun contests like this.)

Here’s the scoop…

THE CONTEST: Concoct and pitch the BEST SPINOFF to any TV show currently on the air

THE PRIZE: A copy of veteran TV writer Larry Brody’s best-selling TV writing book, Television Writing From the Inside Out. Larry has written and produced on more shows than most working writers put together, including… The Huntress, Diagnosis Murder, Star Trek: Voyager, Walker Texas Ranger, Heaven Help Us, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Baretta, The Fall Guy, Automan, Partners In Crime, Mike Hammer, The New Rin Tin Tin, Police Story, The Bold Ones, Hawaii Five-0, Here Come The Brides, Partners In Crime, The Rookies, The Interns, The Streets Of San Francisco, Cannon, Ironside, Medical Story, Medical Center, The Six Million Dollar Man, and Barnaby Jones. He’s now the Creative Director of Cloud Creek Institute For The Arts, a not-for-profit corporation dedicated to nurturing young talent working in film, video, or new media.

THE RULES:

• Contestants are competing to pitch the best/funniest/most inventive idea for a SPINOFF to any CURRENTLY RUNNING TV SHOW… comedy (30 Rock, Californication, The Big Bang Theory, etc.), drama (Lost, NCIS, Mad Men, etc.), or reality (American Idol, The City, Little People Big World, etc.).

• Contestants should submit a one-sentence logline and a short synopsis of no more than 150 words.

• Contestants may enter AS MANY TIMES AS THEY WISH… there’s no limit on submissions

• All entries should be emailed to WDScriptNotes@FWPubs.com. In the subject line, please write, “SPINOFF CONTEST.”

• All text and submissions should be included in the body of the email… NO ATTACHMENTS, PLEASE!

• Also include your name, email, snail-mail address, and a phone number.

• The submission DEADLINE is Sunday, March 22, 2009. Any entries received after March22(thanks, E. Daniels, for catching the deadline typo!) will be disqualified.

• The winner will be selected by myself and Larry Brody. I’ll select the top five Finalists, and Larry will pick the Grand Winner.

• The winner will be announced here at Script Notes on Wednesday, April 1, 2009.

• The winning spinoff idea, and the other four finalists, will be published here at Script Notes on April 1 (thanks for catching this typo, too, E. Daniels!) (FYI-- we were originally gonna start this earlier, so some of the dates didn't get changed-- sorry!).

• If you have questions, please post them in the comments section here on the blog, or email me at WDScriptNotes@FWPubs.com

• Be creative… get wild… and HAVE FUN!!!

Jane Friedman is a full-time entrepreneur (since 2014) and has 20 years of experience in the publishing industry. She is the co-founder of The Hot Sheet, the essential publishing industry newsletter for authors, and is the former publisher of Writer’s Digest. In addition to being a columnist with Publishers Weekly and a professor with The Great Courses, Jane maintains an award-winning blog for writers at JaneFriedman.com. Jane’s newest book is The Business of Being a Writer (University of Chicago Press, 2018).