Official Invitation for our Next KarmaCritic Contest

Alright good people, here's the deal!

Our next contest begins tomorrow!

Our contest in plainspeak and quickiexplained: phase 1 is about "who can write the best script in a given genre and theme" while phase 2 is about "who can actually shoot the best film based on that winning script from phase 1". Everyone votes everywhere. At the end we put all films and scripts together (as well as behind-the-scenes footage, interviews and other extras) inside a well-made DVD, and we try to sell it. Profits will be split amongst everyone, larger shares to the winners.

Now the details:

PHASE 1

Phase 1 of the show is a writing contest. All KarmaCritters are welcome, and its free to become a KarmaCritter. You may submit as many scripts as you want, provided they meet the following criteria:

1. Genre must be HORROR-COMEDY (gotta be scary, gotta be funny)
2. Theme must be "Practice Makes Perfect".
3. Lenght must be 7 to 13 pages (not counting cover).
4. Finished script must be submitted to KC before Christmas day 2007.

Points number 1 and 2 are at my discretion, points 3 and 4 are pretty objective.

Now, the following is not mandatory, but just friendly advice: keep in mind you're writing potentially for a short film with a 250 dollar production budget cap. Let this knowledge help you drive your choices regarding setting, number of actors, FXs, etc.

• The winning script is announced on Christmas day, and becomes the cornerstone of phase 2.
• All 10 finalists must record 3-minute interviews (Questionarie will be provided, background is green-screen).

PHASE 2

Once again, everyone is welcome to submit an entry. The requirements:

1. Must be based on the script that wins phase 1.
2. Must be produced with no more than 250 dollars (not including film equipment; keep your receipts!)
3. Must be between 7 and 13 minutes long.
4. Finished film must be submitted to KC before March 1st 2008
5. Must include 7 to 13 minutes of Behind-The-Scenes footage

Once again, points 1 and 2 are subjective to my discretion (I reserve the right to request copies of your receipts if a dispute ensues), while 3, 4 and 5 are pretty objective.

• The winning film is announced on March 1st!
• All 10 finalists must record 3-minute interviews too (see phase 1).

NOTES ON BOTH PHASES

• To submit, simply upload your PDF script as usual, but write in the description that this is an entry for the contest, I'll take care of the rest.
• As with SUBLIM, as soon as an entry is submitted it becomes eligible for votes; so the early birds do have an advantage (Ex. a script submitted on the bleeding edge of the deadline on Dec 24 technically is eligible, but will it have enough time to gather votes and become a finalist?)
• The finalists are the top 10 entries with the most votes AND an average score of 70 or better. Each phase has its own 10 finalists.
• All finalists will be featured in the DVD and share in profits from it (more details below).
• Copyright over their own work always remains the property of the contestant who submits it, but KC will have the right to compile and sell this work in a DVD, for which you'll receive a percentage of the profits. Portions of your work may also be used in promotional materials.

DISTRIBUTION AND PROFIT SHARING

• We dont yet know who will replicate the DVDs and at what cost, but we know how the unitary price breaks down:
• Unitary Price = Replication Cost + Distribution Cost + Profit. In other words, when we sell a DVD, first we substract what it costed to copy the DVD, then what it costed to distribute it, and the rest is our Profit. Said Profit is split as follows:
  • 10% to Eric Bumpus for Production work (which includes dealing with replicator, distributor, creating DVD menus, editing, titling of interviews, subtitles, etc).
  • 10% to the winner of Phase 1.
  • 40% to the winner of Phase 2.
  • 1% to each of the 9 non-winning finalists of Phase 1
  • 3% to each of the 9 non-winning finalists of Phase 2
  • 4% for publicity and promotion of future contests
• Profit shares will be sent by Eric in the frequency that makes the most sense. This will be determined once replication and distribution details are known. Most likely we'll use PayPal.

TITLE AND IMAGERY

Working on both as we speak!! Go vote!

Any questions? Please ask away, lets hammer out anything that's pending with the info that is known!

Tomorrow monday.... We Begin Writing!! Remember: Horror-Comedy with the theme "Practice Makes Perfect"! Best of luck everyone! Stay tuned for a contest page SUBLIM style tomorrow!