Women over 40 Screenwriting Competition

The MORE Women in Film Screenwriting and Short Film Competition is just for women over forty. You young film school hotties can't enter. This is just for us, shall we say, more seasoned hotties?

The competition is sponsored by MORE Magazine and Women in Film but has some Austin Film Festival ties as well since all but the $5000 cash prize is tied to the AFF. There's no entry fee. It's offset because you send THREE copies of your screenplay up front. No office staff costs and copying going on. You pay your fee in copies and postage.

Five finalists will be reviewed by Angela Bassett, Ilene Chaiken, Glenn Close, Lindsay Doran, Mary Hansell (screenplay competition director, Austin Film Festival), Diana Ossana, and Sela Ward.

Of course, the competition reserves the right to substitute VIP judges, substitute prizes, or grant no awards at all if all entries suck. I love that caveat. "We believe in women over 40 so much that just in case none of you can write, we reserve the right to call the whole thing off". And, it will take you longer to read all their rules than to write your screenplay.

So, for women who believe screenwriting is biased in favor of young males, this is it - a playing field only for us gals who secretly worry about arm jello.

Will winning this thing launch your career? Hmm. It may. It DOES have those AFF ties. But, let's be real. It's a new competition nobody's heard of. It certainly can't hurt your career. At least I don't think it can - unless you're like me and really don't want to win $5,000 plus prizes because it would interfere with your Nicholl eligibility.

MORE Film Contest
MORE.com - Celebrating Women 40+
(seriously, somebody tell them to change that tagline)