Six finalists announced for John Jameson Productions Scriptwriting Competition
The six finalists have been announced for this year’s John Jameson Productions (JJP) Scriptwriting Competition, with the next stage of the selection process to now commence in this unique Australian short film competition.
Following the success of 2009, this year’s competition is set to be bigger and better than ever, with close to 800 entries having been submitted from aspiring scriptwriters around the country.
Open to anyone over the age of eighteen, the JJP competition is a unique platform which gives emerging filmmakers the opportunity to see their vision come to life on the big screen. Applicants are required to write a 200 word synopsis for their short film idea, with the only criteria being that the film incorporates an ‘unexpected ending’.
With a ten-year history of supporting the independent film industry on a global level, Jameson Irish Whiskey first launched JJP at Tropfest, Sydney in February 2008. Since then, the competition has spawned an impressive portfolio of talented scriptwriters and creative film projects, all of which have gone on to make significant impacts in leading film festivals around the country, and indeed the world.
The 2009 winning films all received high acclaim. ‘Viva Las Possum’ and ‘Providence Park’ went on to become finalists at the St Kilda Film Festival – one of Melbourne’s most respected events on the film industry calendar. Meanwhile, Viva Las Possum was also a finalist at the Australian Film Festival in February 2010.
With a particularly strong showing from entrants in New South Wales, this year’s finalists include: Jim Lounsbury (NSW), Shannon Browning (NSW), Jonathon Samiec (NSW), Kate Walter (NSW), Arabella Macpherson (NSW) and Kate Schmitt (VIC).
These six finalists will now be invited to attend a special one day workshop on Saturday 1 May at AFTRS, Fox Studios, Sydney, where they will meet with leading producers, directors and screenwriting professionals to help craft their script one step closer towards a finished product.
Of the six finalists, three screenplays and their writers will then ultimately be selected and given a production budget of $20,000 each to have their ‘work shopped’ screenplay produced into a short film, thanks to the support of production partner, Chaotic Pictures.
The three winning scriptwriters will be announced early June 2010.
For more information about the JJP competition, please visit www.johnjamesonproductions.com.au.
8 Comments
This comp is a joke. You don’t get anything, except the chance for someone else to make your film and for jameson to own it and get free creative work.
It’s a pathetic competition that makes dreadful films – It’s a joke that jameson’s platform is to support the film industry.
Agree entirely, the competition is an absolute shambles.
It was totally useless last year. I heard about the dilemmas of one of the writers who after the production company who were producing the films (Cream) folded, had his idea totally hijacked by a new freelance director without consultation. The film ended up being so totally different to the original script, that he’s disowned it entirely.
What does that say for the competition? About exposing upcoming writing talent?
…sounds like a piece of shit to me.
Good luck to the writers this year.
The whole thing was a joke, after making it look like you were getting 20k to make your film, I was ‘informed’ by a smug marketing type that I don’t get the money, someone else gets to make my film. When I replied ‘oh’ his response was ‘you sound like you’re not grateful’.
Go figure.
I have really enjoyed watching all the films from previous years and look forward to seeing what comes from 2010. Sounds to me like there are some disgruntled entrants commenting on this article.
surely ‘anonymous’ would like to tell us which films from previous years they have enjoyed ? Disgruntled doesn’t come close – these people sound utterly ripped off. Are you perhaps one of the people involved in this debacle ?
Agree with all the comments except the Hallway one [whom I believe did this promo].
This comp is a sham and sadly typical of big business using free creative under the guise of a compeition.
a few of you entered this comp sans results no doubt. The comp has allowed 6 writers to have the films produced. end of story.