Just because your script hasn’t made it to production yet, doesn’t mean it isn’t worth celebrating 🎉
Rianne Pictures’ Script Competitions
Historically, women have been underrepresented in the film industry, with fewer opportunities for them to showcase their talent.
Our script competitions seek to address this issue by providing a platform for your work and the opportunity to gain recognition for your creative abilities.
We believe that diversity and inclusivity are crucial to the success and growth of the film industry, and we are committed to supporting and promoting talented female writers through both our RP Evolve mentoring programme and script competitions.
Our script competitions are open to all female and gender nonconforming writers, whether they are experienced professionals or new to the industry, although we would say this competition is aimed more for those who are struggling to move their script into production or have found difficulty securing funding. But rest assured there is no age limit or bracket on this competition, it is open to all!
2024 Women X Script Competition
It’s the fifth edition of our festival this year, and our script competition is absolutely back! This year sponsored by Final Draft and Coverfly!
We are looking for original and compelling short film scripts, the story can feature any characters, any worlds, any themes, any genre, any decade, we set no theme to inspire the most creativity possible - so get creative!
We’ll be looking at strength of story, pacing, characterisation, world building and formatting.
Rules & Entry Criteria
Your script must be an original piece of work and not a copy or adaptation of an existing piece.
The script should be written in English.
Scripts must be submitted before the deadline.
All scripts must be written by a female or gender non conforming writer.
The script should be no longer than 20 pages.
We can only accept PDF copies of the script, no other formats.
We can only accept scripts from UK and Ireland based writers.
We can not accept scripts that have already been produced into short films or are in the early stages of pre-production of a short film.
All submissions must be accompanied by an entry fee and a completed entry form.
Writers can submit multiple entires with different material, but an entry fee must be paid for each script.
For feedback entries, we only provide this for the entry submitted, not any further drafts after you have actioned the feedback. That would be separate script consultation.
Writers who have had their script developed through our RP: Evolve scheme are not eligible to enter the competition with the developed script.
All entries are via Rianne Pictures and no third party.
Entry Costs
Competition Entry: £18.00
Competition Entry + Detailed Script feedback breakdown with actionable steps: £60.00
Competition Timeline
Wednesday 27th March: Opening Date
Wednesday 17th April: Earlybird Entries Ends
June 28th 2024: Final Closing Date
August 9th 2024: Announcement of Finalists
August 19th 2024: Feedback returned
September 20th: Festival Begins
September 22nd: Winners Announced at Festival Awards Ceremony
Awards and Prizes
All finalists receive a Women X Festival all access pass and invite to our Finalists and Alumni event and awards ceremony, plus a 50% off pass for any accompanying guests, along with a finalist certificate. Our finalists are determined by our Development Team led by our founder Caris Rianne and Senior Development Executive Pearl Andrews-Horrigan.
1st Place: £100 Cash Prize, Winners Trophy, 3 feedback reports on additional scripts for a 12 month period, Copy of Final Draft from our Partners Final Draft and Coverfly.
2nd Place: 1 Hour session with Development Team on career progression and pre-production journey, Copy of Final Draft from our Partners Final Draft and Coverfly.
3rd Place: Festival Hamper including Copy of Final Draft from our Partners Final Draft and Coverfly.
Our winners will be selected by a jury, led by Caris Rianne and Pearl Andrews-Horrigan.
How To Enter
Complete your purchase below of your entry fee.
Complete your google form submission form
Email a copy of your script to development [@] riannepictures.com (please remember to remove the brackets, that’s to protect us from spam)
2023 Women X Script Competition
In July 2023 we introduced our first script competition, which was attached to our BIFA accrediated film festival Women X.
We were overwhelmed by applications, and loved celebrating our 10 finalists at the festival and awarding our top 3 scripts with prizes.
1st Place - Grace Cassidy, 2nd Place - Zoe Bullock, 3rd Place - Lucy Chappell [All pictured below, L to R]
Finalists - Amelia Pitcher, Angel Lloyd, Courtney Buchner, Farrah Chaudhry, Elise Bowes, Jess Moore, Lucy Foster.
10th birthday themed competition
With Rianne Pictures turning 10 in November 2023, we wanted to host a competition for all writers to get involved with the celebration.
We opened up submissions for either a short film or pilot podcast episode, that include a 10th birthday party. Allowing writers to be as creative as they felt on all other elements of their story, but they had to have a 10th birthday party involved in the script someway, somehow.
Running a volunteer led organisation for over 10 years has been a wonderful and challenging journey, so we wanted to celebrate with our community and give an opportunity to spotlight some creative writers and showcase some exciting stories!
We held an intimate coffee morning at the BFI’s Woman With A Movie Camera Summit [Pictured Below] where our ten finalists and team came together to celebrate eachother’s work.
3rd place: Girlfriends and Girl Friends by Courtney Ceanne Buchner
2nd place: Unwell by Michelle Lindsay-Baharie
1st place: Ladybugs In Top Hats by Kate Driver.
Finalists - Elizabeth Connick, Jenny Recaldin, Julie Tsang, Kate Willis, Lydia Jenkins, Mollie Semple, Ruby Phelan.
