|
2010 Cyberspace Open: The Rules
Preface: Fun, But The Challenges Require Some Rules...
This contest is meant to be fun. However, it is necessary for us to
keep on a tight schedule, and at times, Internet delivery of files can fail. Unfortunately, we can't change
deadlines or grant exceptions if your entry doesn't arrive due to some
glitch. So the rules regarding timetables and late entry are strict.
We sincerely apologize for the tough language of these rules, and for
any disappointment and inconvenience which might arise if a glitch
causes an entry to fail. We
hope you understand that they are that way because we need to keep the
contest fair for everyone and on schedule.
Here Are "The Rules"
1. Time Zone. All time referred to are Pacific U.S. time.
2. Producer's decisions final. Contest
management is acting in the rule of "Producer," and you are entering
this contest in the role of "Writer." As Producer, contest
management has sole authority to rule on receipt, timeliness,
format, and other aspects of entries.
3. Prize List. The prizes are as stated on the Official Prize List
page. If there is any discrepancy in descriptions of prizes
at other pages, the Official Prize List page prevails.
Genre Prizes. The Cyberspace Open management may, at its option, add
genre prizes or other special prizes to any contest. Such prize details, if any, will be posted at the official prize list page.
In the Spring 2010 contest, four genre prizes have been added. See the prize list page for details.
4. Announcements And Notifications At Web Sites Only. All formal Contest notifications to contestants as a group will be made solely by posting them at the Creative
Screenwriting web site at
http://creativescreenwriting.com/cyberspace.open.2010.html.
Additionally, a mirror of this page will be maintained at http://screenwritingexpo.com/cyberspace.open.2010.html in
order to reduce the possibility of a server overload. Premises
will be posted, and scene submissions will be accepted, at both
pages. You agree by entering that:
- While scene premises will be
sent by email just before they are posted, the purpose of such
emails is solely to reduce the traffic burden on the server and as a courtesy to you; and
- If you do not receive the courtesy email, it is your sole responsibility, under pain of forfeiting your entry fee, to visit one of the two web pages above to
obtain the premise and submission email addresses; and
- Your failure to enter the
contest, or any claim that you did not "receive" the scene premise, is
cause for forfeiture of your entry fee.
5. How To Submit A Scene: File Name; Cover Page; Formats; Submission System.
(A) Entry file name.
When purchasing an
entry, you will receive a confirmation screen with a
five-digit ORDER NUMBER. For the Spring 2010 contest, this order
number will be greater than 26668 and smaller than 33333. This
order number will also be emailed by the
shopping cart to you at that time.
You must save this order number and submit your entry/entries with a
filename using this naming scheme. Substitute your actual order
number for the word “ordernumber” and your first and last
name in the filename example below:
ordernumber.yourfirstname.yourlastname.doc if it is an MS Word 97-2003 file
Or
ordernumber.yourfirstname.yourlastname.docx if it is an MS Word 2007 or later file
Or
ordernumber.yourfirstname.yourlastname.pdf if it is an Adobe PDF file.
(B) Cover page. The entry must have a cover page, which must contain all of this information:
- Your names
- The full mailing address of at least one entrant
- One email address
- Your order number
- The Round number (Round 1 or Round 2)
(C) Supported language and formats. Submissions must be in English and in movie scene format, using
12-point Courier font. The only acceptable file formats are:
- Microsoft Word 97-2003 files (*.doc extension)
- Microsoft Word 2007 files (*.docx extension)
- Adobe PDF file (*.pdf extension)
If we cannot read your
submitted file, your entry will be disqualified and we will refund your
entry fee. You will not receive a second chance to submit. Please understand that it is your
sole
responsibility to ensure that the submitted file is in a format
readable with Microsoft Word 2003 or 2007 or Adobe Reader. Make sure your entry is readable before you submit it.
NOTE to Microsoft Works users: Microsoft Works is not Microsoft Word. Microsoft offers a Works-to-Word converter at this page,
but we have no idea whether such a conversion will properly
retain scene format. That is your sole responsibility should you
choose to write a scene with Works.
Note to Final Draft users: To learn how to save a Final Draft file in PDF format so that it
includes the title page, please to go the support link at finaldraft.com
and search the knowledgebase using the search term "Cover Page."
Look for the article on saving to PDF. Please also see
Rule 11, "No tech or format support."
(D) Submitting a scene. Entries must be made in the following manner:
- You must come to the
page http://creativescreenwriting.com/cyberspace.open.2010.html or the
page http://screenwritingexpo.com/cyberspace.open.2010.html and upload
your scene using the click-to-upload system which will be posted at each of
those pages.
- If the system "hangs," fails
to deliver a confirmation page with a big blue "YES" on it, or delivers
a page with a big red "NO" on it, contestants must try again at
least once. If the upload fails or hangs more than once, then
(and only then), contestants are to send the entry via email to
the backup email address which will be posted on the entry pages above.
Contest
management may, at its sole option, extend Round 1 deadlines for up to
30 minutes on the basis of earliest entrants receiving latest entry time
if the number of entries exceeds or appears to exceed the maximum that
the delivery system can handle at one deadline. Such extensions
will be posted on the entry pages.
6. Deadlines and Dates. Contest dates and deadlines are as posted on the contest home
page. Any other date or deadline conflicting with that
page, such as an erroneously posted date or deadline on another contest
page,
is void.
Your deadlines are absolute; no late submissions will be accepted. Deadlines will not be individually extended
for you. By entering, you agree that your sole remedy in case of any failure, including
a failure on our part, which prevents submission or receipt of your entry, is
refund of your entry fee. No refunds will be given for failing to enter.
You must retain proof of your attempt to send the backup
entry email to us to receive a refund for a lost entry.
7. Refund is sole remedy. The sole remedy for any failure other than a failure on your part, including a
failure to receive or judge your sent entry, is a full refund of your
entry fee. Contest management is not liable for any
inconvenience, hardship, expense, lost time, or any other expense other
than your entry fee(s) for any reason, regardless of whether such
failure was caused by us, our staff or agents, you, third parties, the
Internet or Internet email systems or other causes or
sources. Any decision to forgo other activities, change
your schedule, or otherwise inconvenience yourself to enter this
contest is purely your responsibility.
8. No refund if scene is judged. If your entry is received and read by a contest judge, you
agree that you will not be entitled to a refund for any reason,
including non-receipt of the feedback on your entry.
8a. No refund for failure to submit.
If you fail to submit or attempt to submit a scene, you will
not recieve a refund. You must retain proof that you attempted to
submit. The submission procedure provides that you must attempt
to upload your scene, and if that fails, you must email it as an
attachment to the submission backup email address posted at the
submission page and the home page. Your record of this sent email
is proof that you attempted to submit your scene.
9. Contact information. All requests for refunds must be sent only to customer.service@creativescreenwriting.com, not to any other contest manager. Refunds will be made after contest deadlines have passed.
10. Limited right to display your scene. Your entry or entries remain your intellectual property.
However, by entering, you grant to us the following unrestricted,
permanent, and irrevocable rights:
(A) If you are a finalist or winner or genre winner, the right to send your entered scene to
producers, agents, managers, and others on our lists of entertainment
professionals, giving you full credit, without giving you an
opportunity to further rewrite or polish it; and
(B) If your scene is among the top 20 scores and
ties in Round 1, or if it is a genre prize winner or a finalist, the
right to post the text of your scene,
crediting you as author, at our web site as a sample of excellence in
this contest,
without giving you an opportunity to further rewrite or polish it; and
( C ) If you are a winner, the right to videotape
readings your scene and post it at our web site for contest-judging and
other purposes, giving you full credit, without giving you an
opportunity to further rewrite or polish it.
11. No tech or format support.
The contest management does not and will not provide any
technical support whatsoever on software or file formats or how to
write a scene, other than information posted at this site.
12. Writing partners may enter together. Each partner must be an
individual at least 18 years of age. All partners must be
identified on the cover page as described in Rule 19.
13. Original, unproduced work. Other than the fact that the
premise and possibly characters are provided by the Contest,
submitted scenes must be the unproduced, unoptioned, and wholly
original work of the writer(s). There must be no dispute about the
ownership of submitted scenes or the writers’ right to submit the
scene. Entrants may not use characters or any other copyrighted
material owned by others.
14. Multiple entries allowed. Yo may enter more than once.
However, each entry must be a separate shopping-cart transaction with
its own order number. Do not pay for two entries in one shopping
cart transaction. If you do, you will receive only one
order number and your second or additional entry/entries will be void.
15. Nonprofessionals only. Writers of submitted scenes must not
have earned more than $25,000 (in cash or other consideration) for
writing services for film or television in the three years before the
contest opened.
16. Length.
Your entry must be one scene three to five pages long (not counting the
cover page). The action must take place in one
location, and it must conform to the premise provided for that
round.
Other than the cover page, the scene must be formatted in Hollywood
script format. If a scene exceeds five pages of standard Hollywood script format using 12-point Courier typeface, it will be disqualified.
The contest management does not advise, consult, provide examples of, or
assist entrants in any way on what constitutes Hollywood script
format. It is solely and wholly your responsibility to learn it.
One of the real-world conditions of this contest is that you must know
or learn Hollywood script format on your own. However...
PLEASE NOTE: there are many books, courses, DVDs, and other
resources to help you learn Hollywood script format. Other than our own DVDs
currently on sale for $19.95 each, Creative Screenwriting does not
endorse any one over any other. However, for your convenience,
Coverage, Ink, which manages this contest for us, is making
its own 80-page Coverage Ink Spec Format & Style Guide available for only $3.95 in PDF format. Email info@coverageink.com to request a copy.
17. Our employees and contractors banned. Employees, contractors,
or immediate family members of principals of Coverage, Ink., Creative
Screenwriting, The Screenwriting Expo, and their parent company Inside
Information Group, Ltd. may not submit scenes.
Exceptions: a writer who has written rarely for Creative Screenwriting
or CS Weekly or who has worked in a one-time or one-time-annually
capacity (such as a Screenwriting Expo on-site worker) may be accepted at contest management's option.
18. Right to modify rules; your right to withdraw with refund based on
rule or deadline change. As The Creative Screenwriting
Cyberspace Open Scene-Writing Contest is a unique Contest using
a unique combination of technologies, management reserves the right,
with notice given on the website only, to modify these Rules, the deadlines,
methods of submission, and any other details to facilitate the smooth
and effective management of The Creative Screenwriting Cyberspace Open
or to correct or remedy a problem.
19. Judging and Scoring. The judges are professional
Hollywood script readers and contest judges. Each scene will be
given a score from zero to 100 by one judge based on these four judging
criteria:
25% (up to 25 points) for structure
25% (up to 25 points) for dialogue
25% (up to 25 points) for style
25% (up to 25 points) for originality.
Entry into Round 2 ("finalists") shall be on the basis of the highest 100 scores and
ties on Round 1. Thus a perfect Round 1 score would be 100 points.
The three winners will be chosen on the basis of the highest three
scores of Round 2.
Other than genre winners, there will be only three winners. If there is a tie in score
for places in the finals, a contest manager will serve as a tiebreaker
judge, and each of the "ties" will be designated as "Runner up."
The places of winners (first, second, third) will be decided this way:
- Actors
will perform a reading of each of the three scenes before a
camera/cameras provided by the Contest, which will be video recorded.
- The three videos of scenes and the scene texts will be placed on the Internet for viewing.
- Recipients of our CS Weekly E-Zine (approx. 80,000) will be invited to vote for a winner.
- Voting will take place through an online survey system. The
three winning positions (first, second third) will be on the basis of
highest score. One vote will be allowed per IP address. Voters must provide a valid and verifiable email address.
20. Feedback on your scene.
Your score and
feedback will be posted at the contest web site by order number.
In addition, a single COURTESY email with your score will be
mass-emailed at the end of each round. Scores WILL NOT BE
RE-SENT; it is your responsibility to retain your order number and look
up your score at the contest web site.
You must provide an email
address which does not block emails from *@creativescreenwriting.com
and *@screenwritingexpo.com in order to receive your score and
feedback. If feedback is not received by the announced end of a round, entrants may contact customer.service@creativescreenwriting.com.
As stated in Rule 6, the only remedy if a scene has not
been read is refund of your entry fee after completion of the contest.
21. No abuse. Verbal abuse of the Producer or staff is cause for “firing
you” from the contest. If we “fire you” for
abuse, we will refund your entry fee, but we will also reserve the
right to ban you from future contests.
22. Release. By entering this contest, you agree to the rules above and execute the Release below:
Cyberspace Open Scene-Writing Contest Release Statement
Writers
who apply to The Creative Screenwriting Cyberspace Open Scene-Writing Contest (The Contest) agree to the following terms.
I attest that I have read and understand and complied with the Rules
and Regulations of The Contest and that I am the author and sole
owner of all rights to the Material.
I understand that due to the
nature of the Contest, it is possible and indeed highly likely that
other submissions will bear close resemblance to mine. I agree to
abide by and not dispute a single Coverageink.com judge's decision on the score
given to my entry; that I do not have the right to learn the individual
judge's name or how the judge arrived at the decision.
I agree that any dispute arising between us shall be subject to binding
arbitration pursuant to the then effective Commercial Arbitration Rules
of the American Arbitration Association. The arbitrator will be someone
with at least 10 years of motion picture industry experience and shall
have the authority to award all appropriate relief, including equitable
or injunctive relief; provided, however, that the arbitrator is not
authorized to award punitive damages. The award issued by any such
arbitrator may be entered and confirmed as a judgment in any court of
competent jurisdiction. The state with jurisdiction over any disputes
relating to this Agreement is California, and the sole location for
proper venue is Los Angeles, California.
Furthermore,
I indemnify Coverageink.com, Creative Screenwriting, the Screenwriting
Expo, The Contest, and Inside Information Group, Ltd., their
associates, judges and sponsors against all claims, losses, expenses,
damages and liabilities, if I do not satisfy all of the The Contest’s rules and regulations.
I understand that the submission of the Material into The Contest
does not establish any fiduciary or confidential relationship between
us, nor is there one intended or created by reason of this letter
and/or submission of the Material. I have retained a copy of the
Material and agree that you shall not be obligated to return the
Material to me, and I release you from all liability if the Material is
lost, misplaced, stolen or destroyed. Furthermore, I understand that
it is our sole responsibility to register Material with the U.S.
Copyright Office and/or with the Writer’s Guild of America.
Cyberspace
Open Entry Fees, Extended Deadlines, and Entry Links:
(All times are Pacific U.S. time)
48-Hour Late Extension Closes at Midnight, April 13, 2010
Extended-Deadline Entry Price Is $16.99
|
By entering, you agree to the Contest Rules and Release
To enter: First, click here. That places your entry in your shopping cart.
Then click here to go to your shopping cart and complete the purchase |
|
The Cyberspace Open Is managed for Creative Screenwriting by Coverage, Ink.:
|
|
|
