I was wondering whatever happened in the Cyberspace Open – the organizers seemed happy to find any excuse to email contestants earlier but I hadn’t heard anything in a while. I went over to check things out and found that the finalists have been selected, but so far no mention of the YouTube voting for the big winner.
You can read the top three here, if you want to see what a winning entry looks like. The prompt for this round was to write a scene in which one character has been betrayed by a confidant, and confronts the betrayer.
A hearty congratulations is in order for all three. They made something that sparkled and shone in the eyes of their peers. Not bad for a day’s work.
I considered whether to put my own thoughts on the top three here, but the contest is still going, and I don’t want to come off as a sour-grapes kind of guy, picking at the flaws of writers who scored better than I did in the previous round. I’ll just say that I think one of these scripts is substantially better than the other two, while another had nice moments but seemed fundamentally flawed.
It was a good exercise for me to read them, because there were several places where I could tell that the writer was not getting everything out of their head and onto the page (writing time was very limited, after all). In the future I will try to identify those places in my own writing, before I leave my audience flat.
Edited to add:
If this page is any indication, they have decided to go back to the old format (a ninety-minute period for the finalists to craft a third scene) for the next iteration of the contest. (In fact, that is the same page as last year, just with the dates changed.) This is either to make the contest work better in conjunction with the Screenwriting Expo or it’s an indication that the current format isn’t working out. Or maybe both.
I hope they get the kinks worked out — it’s a cool contest (despite my frustrations). As you will see in the comments, I wasn’t the only one wondering what was going on over there.
Looking more at the Cyberspace Open Web site, I see that either they are way, way behind schedule or the winners have been announced elsewhere. I was supposed to have been eligible to vote, so I suspect there have been hitches in the video production and voting stuff. If anyone knows more, please let me know.
Sorry for leaving out the name, but I’m one of the genre winners in this year’s competition and so far, it’s just been a huge runaround. They’re not sending out any prize money until the winner is voted on but…
No one can vote because they’re dragging their heels on videotaping the scenes. It’s a simple, one-camera setup for a table read that was supposed to happen in June and there’s no explanation as to why this hasn’t happened yet. While it was definitely nice to win even a small prize, I just hope that it won’t be tarnished months down the line because I had to beg and fight for a check. It wouldn’t be the first time.
Dang, that sucks. I wonder if their ambitions got ahead of them with the new format. I hope they get it together because — bitching and moaning aside — I think it’s fundamentally one of the most fun writing contests I’ve ever heard of.
Also, congratulations! I’m sure you’ll be paid eventually, but beyond that you accomplished something pretty cool.
Another thought – hey, fuego! You think you and a couple of Nicks could handle doing the videos? I could handle the technology side. Maybe we should send Creative Screenwriting a bid to get this contest taken care of.
Hey,
I was just trying to find out if I was left out of the loop on the voting and yours is one of the first sites to show up. I’m also a genre winner in this year’s competition, and yes, it is a bit of a drag that we won’t get paid until all voting is finished. However, in the brief contact we’ve had, Jim has been quick to respond and very complimentary. Anyway, there’s still no info on when they’re shooting the scenes so maybe if anyone hears, they can post it here. By the way, your novel writing software is excellent.
Congratulations on your victory, and thanks for the plug! I hope they get the contest resolved quickly (like, before the next one).
It looks like the fall 2010 version of the contest will not have the video and voting. Not sure if that’s significant.
And just like that the voting is open! Hooray! Subscribers of the CS Weekly can now vote for their favorite script.