Bottom line, we want to take our winning scripts (yes, there may be more than one winner!) directly to the screen and make it a movie. Most screenwriting competitions have the noble intention of bringing unheralded writers and their scripts to the attention of Hollywood, usually through recognition or providing lists of their winners to managers and agents. At Packed House Pictures, we want to take that concept to the next level.

At Packed House, we believe that the Hollywood system of choosing what films to produce is broken, missing the mark and producing endless sequels or movies that film fans don’t want to see. So, for our screenwriting competition, we will take our finalists directly to the people we want to please most: the fans. Packed House Fans will get a chance to view a production write up on the best scripts from the competition. This write-up is very similar to what financiers and producers in Hollywood see, including a mock-up poster, log line, synopsis, aspirational casting choices, and a sample of the script - we don’t want to spoil the ending! Fans will vote on the movie they want to see most, and that will be our winner.

We will finance our production primarily in the same way we choose the winner: through the fans. Our voting process will act very much like a crowdfunding a project (like Kickstarter, for example). Fans will “vote” on the winner by purchasing a “ticket package” to the film (or films) of their choice. As with many crowdfunding platforms, no fan will be charged until the finalist reaches the production threshold and is declared a winner.

As a small company producing indie features, Packed House uses the script fees simply to cover the costs of running the contest: human readers, script coverages, prizes, etc. We strive to make basic entry to the contest as affordable as possible when compared to other leading script competitions, while using add-ons to enable contestants to receive various levels of feedback on their work.

At Packed House, we believe that all great movies start with a great script, and that great scripts can come from the most surprising places. It doesn’t matter if you have an agent or not, live in Los Angeles or Kenosha, have been writing for your whole life or started last year. We want to remove as many obstacles as possible between a writer with a great script and a company like us that wants to bring that script to life on the screen.

Then Packed House will produce both films! The script that achieves the highest budget will be declared the official winner of the contest.

If for whatever reason we are unable to raise enough money to make the movie, or if none of the scripts entered reach a quality of storytelling high enough to merit production, then the winner will be selected by traditional judging and will be awarded a cash prize of $1000.

For every Packed House screenwriting competition, every script entered will be reviewed by a experienced industry professional, and as we mentioned above, the winner will be chosen by our very human Fans. We will also use AI coverage to help our human readers spot things they might miss and see trends and comparisons between the entrants that we might otherwise not notice. At the end of the contest, notes will be delievered for each submission (Note: This will NOT be full coverage.) offering writers some feedback as to why their screenplay was not selected. For a nominal fee ($25), we will offer the full AI coverage to our entrants provided in partnership by Greenlight Coverage. We do this for one simple reason: The major studios in Hollywood are already using AI to analyze scripts! Knowing that, many of our writers who did not win, may want to take their scripts to reps, managers, or producers in the Hollywood system. The coverage, be it AI or Human, will help those writers be prepared by showing them what the studios are already seeing.

Absolutely not. Packed House Pictures is looking for human stories written by human writers. Your script is your own, as are your ideas, and they will stay that way.

Participants in the Packed House screenwriting competition give up no ownership to the rights of their script. The winner(s) of the competition, whose scripts receive enough votes to meet the production threshold, will be offered a contract payment for their script, as well as back end "points" to any profits the film might see in the future. To be clear: By participating in our screenwriting competition, you retain all right and title to your copyrighted work.

Packed House Fans will help us finance our productions by purchasing tickets for a Virtual Premiere, which will also be attended by the cast and crew. The virtual premiere will include a Q&A with select members of the cast and crew after the screening, other interactive segments, and of course, a great movie to watch. Fans will also have the option to purchase hard or digital copies of the movie, and Packed House will work to secure wider release of the film, including theatrical and streaming venues.

If you've purchased any form of coverage add-on for your screenplay submission, be it AI or Human based coverage, you should expect to get the coverage shortly after the competition ends. In the case of our 2025 contest, the final deadline to submit is July 31, 2025. Coverage documents (in the form of a PDF) will be made available to download a few business days later.

The screenplay competition officially ends on July 31st, 2025. Given there might be some last minute late entries, we won't be announcing the semi-finalists until 2 weeks after that - no later than August 15th. It will be at this time as well when your screenplay's notes and coverage (if purchased) will be added to your profile. Those that get chosen as semi-finalists will then be added to our website for final voting by film fans!