Developed by the Santa Barbara International Film Festival in 2004 to bring together student filmmakers and industry professionals in an effort to encourage and assist the next generation of filmmakers, the 10-10-10 Student Screenwriting Competition emphasizes the first step to creating films: writing the screenplay. Combined with the 10-10-10 Student Filmmaking Competition, students produced 10 films over a period of 10 days and were judged on both Filmmaking and Screenwriting criteria.
Students currently enrolled in Santa Barbara area high schools and colleges are invited to submit a 10 page sample of their best fiction writing - screenplay, stage play, short story - to their school’s representative along with the Submission Form. The representative will then choose the five best script samples to be submitted to the 10-10-10 Student Screenwriting Competition judges for final selection. Five finalists will be chosen from the high school level and five from the college level. These finalists will then be assigned a storyline and an industry professional to mentor them during the writing of their screenplay. Finalists will meet with their mentor throughout the process, submitting their final draft in January 2009. The 10 student screenplays will then be matched with a category appropriate Filmmaking finalist from the 10-10-10 Student Filmmaking Competition, who will then produce a 10 minute film during the 10 days of the 24th Santa Barbara International Film Festival. Filmmakers are encouraged to collaborate with screenwriters during production. Filmmakers may be as creative as they like with the scripts but should remain faithful to the screenwriter’s vision of the film.
Contestants will compete within their own category, high school or college. A winner of the 10-10-10 Student Screenwriting Competition will be chosen from both the high school and college level. Similarly, a winner of the 10-10-10 Student Filmmaking Competition will also be chosen from both the high school and college level. Note: this is an individual’s contest, not a school competition; all contestants will be chosen on their own merit.
Winning films will be shown at the Closing Night Ceremony on Sunday, February 1st at the Arlington Theatre.
10-10-10 Student Screenwriting Competition Schedule for 2008:
• Friday, September 5th
Open call for Student Screenwriting Competition submissions
• Friday, October 17th
Deadline for submitting project to your school’s representative
• Friday, October 31st
Deadline for school representative submitting to SBIFF
• Wednesday, November 12th
Five finalists from high school and five finalists from college are announced via email
• Saturday, November 15th
WORKSHOP - Finalists are given guidelines, assigned a story and introduced to an industry professional who will mentor their project
• Saturday, December 6th
Deadline for first draft submitted to your mentor and project liaison
• Saturday, January 3rd
Deadline for revised draft and table reading
• Monday, January 12th
Deadline for final draft submitted to SBIFF
• Tuesday, January 20th
Screenwriters hand over scripts; Filmmakers produce the 10 minute film
• Friday, January 30th
10 AM - Deadline for final films to be delivered to the SBIFF hub in their final screening condition
• Sunday, February 1st
1 PM – Public Screening of all 10-10-10 films; 3 PM – Winners awarded
Sunday, February 1st Winners are announced and films shown at the Closing Night Ceremony
The 10-10-10 Student Filmmaking Competition is an exciting educational program developed by the Santa Barbara International Film Festival in 2004 to bring together student filmmakers and industry professionals in an effort to encourage and assist the next generation of filmmakers. In 2006 we expanded this program to include a 10-10-10 Student Screenwriting Competition, emphasizing the first step to creating films: writing the screenplay. Combining these two competitions, students produced 10 films over a period of 10 days and were judged on both Filmmaking and Screenwriting criteria.
Students currently enrolled in Santa Barbara area high schools and colleges are invited to submit a five minute sample of their best filmmaking efforts - on DVD - to their school’s representative along with the Submission Form. The representative will then choose the five best samples to be submitted to the 10-10-10 Student Filmmaking Competition Jury of industry professionals, for final selection. Five finalists each will be chosen from the high school and college level. Each Filmmaker finalist will then be matched with a screenplay from a school level appropriate Screenwriting finalist from the 10-10-10 Student Screenwriting Competition. Filmmakers will then produce a 10 minute film, shot during the 10 days of the 24th Santa Barbara International Film Festival. Filmmakers are encouraged to collaborate with screenwriters during production and should also remain faithful to the screenwriter’s vision of the film.
Contestants will compete within their own category: high school or college. A winner of the 10-10-10 Student Filmmaking Competition will be chosen from both the high school and college levels. Similarly, a winner of the 10-10-10 Student Screenwriting Competition will also be chosen from both the high school and college levels.
The winning films will be shown at the Closing Night Ceremony on Sunday, February 1st, 2008 at the Arlington Theatre.
The 10-10-10 Student Filmmaking Competition is sponsored by Sotheby’s International Realty, enabling the Festival to provide both a Pre-production Workshop with industry professionals.
Sotheby’s International Realty 10-10-10 Student Filmmaking Competition Schedule for 2009:
• Wednesday, October 1st
Open call for Student Filmmaking Competition submissions
• Wednesday, November 12th
Deadline for submitting project to your school’s representative
• Friday, November 28th
Deadline for school representative submitting to SBIFF
• Friday, December 12th
Five finalists from high school and five finalists from college are announced via email
• Saturday, January 10th
WORKSHOP – Pre-production with the Pros (REQUIRED)
• Tuesday, January 20th
4 PM – Press Reception at the Montecito Country Club. Filmmakers receive scripts and production rules.
• Friday, January 30th
10 AM – Deadline for final films to be delivered to the SBIFF hub in their final screening condition
• Sunday, February 1st
1 PM – Public Screening of all 10-10-10 films; 3 PM – Winners awarded
• Sunday, February 1st
6:30 PM – Winning films announced and their films shown at the Closing Night Ceremony
For additional information on 10-10-10 Student Screenwriting/Filmmaking Competitions, contact
Ryan Hedge, Programming Coordinator at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, 805-963-0023.