Page International Screenwriting Awards is a screenplay competition that hands out awards to the best screenplay in several different categories. There is also one Grand Price winner of $25,000. Last month I found out that I was a quarter-finalist out of 6100 entries (top 10%). And now just last week, I was informed I am semi-finalist, which is the top 25 scripts in each category. My category is FAMILY FILM and my script is The Great Surrender. Here’s the list of the semi-finalists below:
(you can check out all the semi-finalists at PAGE)

FAMILY FILM

THE ABDUCTIONS OF DOROTHY by Paul Clinco
ABSOLUTE FAITH by Mary Haarmeyer
BEAUTIFUL by Thuy Hugens
BETTER AT LIFE by Hal Harris
BIGGER by Brian Rauch
BRADIGAN AND THE BANSHEE by Arlene Kalem
ELEVEN by Christopher Glatis
EXCHANGE STUDENTS by Atif Shaikh
FIRST TO FIND by Liana Winters Thomas
FLY GIRL by Patrick Byrne
THE GREAT SURRENDER by Romeo Ciolfi
HERMAN AND THE DWEEB SQUAD by Mark Anderson
I’LL FLY AWAY by Duane Kellogg & Bob Stromberg
KINDERGARTEN DETECTIVE by John Bradley
THE LAND OF HORSES by Allison Johnson
PATCHWORK by Amanda Keener
RALLY CAP by Michael Raymond
RESCUE DOG by Rich Orstad
RETRO by Cynthia Webb
SIGNS OF WARNING by Taylor Albertson
SUMMER SKIES by Jo Jacobs
SURVIVING 14 by Katie Streicher
TANSEN by Aarthi Ramanathan
TUMBLEWEED by Richard Dane Scott
UGLY ANIMALS by Shawn Boxe

The great thing about Page is when I found out I was a quarter-finalist, they let everyone know that if you make the semi’s, you can submit a new draft of your screenplay. However, once they announce the semi’s (on August 15), and IF you make the semi’s list, you must submit your new draft by August 17.   So, I decided to re-write my script in the hope that I would make the cut. When I made the cut, I was quite happy and extremely relieved, because the new draft I had been working on is better than the one that made the semi’s.

I have to thank a few friends who read, re-read and offered some much needed advice to help improve the script.   Here’s a photo of my friend Annie and I (she too is a writer, check out her IMDB page).

Annie and I go back a few years and have been through lots together. We have been huge supports to each other on this journey of writing, rejection and life in general. Annie has a beautifully blunt nature and when she read The Great Surrender, she let me know exactly how she felt. Did I take all her advice?   No…but most I did and I measured it against what others told me. I got another opinion from a producer I just met, David Barlow. He was instrumental at getting me to look at 2 characters and changing their arcs. I was able to combine both David and Annie’s advice together and wrote what I believe to be is a much cleaner, tighter script.  I also must thank two readers who read the script for grammar/spelling mistakes. They did not have much time to proof-read as the deadline was tight, but they corrected a lot of little mistakes I missed from pure exhaustion. Thanks to Mima Hoyes and Linda Lyons for their encouragement and making the time to help me. They have read many of my scripts over the years and their support is invaluable.

So, I go onto the next round of Page. The finalists will be announced on September 15. Here’s hoping and believing I make the next cut. I leave you with this quote from writer Graham Greene: