Nope. The exact same criteria apply, whether you enter the contest directly here at writerstorm.com or if you send the script along for coverage at Coverage Ink. In other words, if you think you'll have better odds in the contest by sending your script to CI for coverage, unh-unh.
However, you WILL better your odds if you get coverage from CI (or any solid script consultant,) polish your script and THEN submit it (or resubmit it) to the contest. 

Coverage, Ink. is the primary sponsor of Writers On The Storm Screenplay Competition. Coverage, Ink. is one of the premier script analysis services in the industry and the leader in low-cost, high-quality screenplay analysis. Founded in 2002 by screenwriter and Script and Creative Screenwriting magazine writer Jim Cirile, Coverage, Ink's mission is to provide writers with tough but fair, industry-leading and empowering screenplay analysis at a price writers can actually afford. Our readers are all top professionals currently working in the biz who are hand-picked by us. They must have at least two years of experience reading for a major production company, agency or management company, a degree in film or screenwriting, and comprehensive knowledge of screenplay mechanics and the industry. We test every reader before letting them loose on your script to make sure their analyses are in-depth and on-the-money. No college interns here! We must be doing something right -- we were rated "Cream of the Crop" by Creative Screenwriting in their 2010 user survey.

For more about us and our philosophy, including bios of our team, please visit www.coverageink.com.

Coverage, Ink has coordinated and judged the annual CS Open/Cyberspace Open Live Writing Tournament for Creative Screenwriting magazine since its inception in 2002. We've given away over $35,000 cash and had one winner go A-list (Bob DeRosa, Killers). For more on this exciting and unique tournament, please visit www.cyberspaceopen.com.

This is now our fifth year of Writers on the Storm, and we have awarded over $50,000 cash and prizes. In addition, our team has read for and/or coordinated many industry contests including the Nicholl Fellowship, Slamdance, AAA, Scriptapalooza, and more.

There are two ways you can enter the contest:

1) Right here on this site. Just click here:

2) Or you can submit your script to Coverage Ink for script analysis. All submissions to Coverage Ink while the contest is running (4/25-7/31/11) are automatically entered into Writers on the Storm at no extra charge. TV scripts and shorts are not eligible, sorry!

You automatically advance to the Quarterfinals if the script garners a "consider with reservations" or better for script (approximately top 10%.)

We accept the following formats for online submissions: PDF, .rtf, .doc. Please do not send us Final Draft 8 (FDX) files or DocX (Word) since not everyone can open these, and it's up to you to make sure your submissions are in a stndard format viewable by anyone. To make a free PDF from a Word doc please go to pdfonline.com. If you use Movie Magic Screenwriter or other screenwriting program, please save your script as a .pdf or .rtf (rich text format) document before sending to us.

If you don't know how to save as a PDF in Movie Magic Screenwriter, watch this video. 

Regardless of whether you enter Writers on the Storm directly right here at this site, or by submitting your script to Coverage Ink for coverage, to advance to the Quarterfinal round your screenplay must score a "consider with reservations" or better for script (roughly top 10%.) Thus, approximately the top ten percent of our contest entries will advance to the quarterfinal round. Note that "consider with reservations" or better for writer does not advance the screenplay in the contest (but is nice validation nonetheless.)

The top 50 quarterfinalists will advance to the semifinals. From there, four senior analysts will narrow the field down to our ten finalists. Coverage, Ink. founder Jim Cirile, and a select group of industry executives will then each read the top ten scripts to decide on the top three and our Grand Prize winner.

**Coverage, Ink entries receive no preferential treatment. The top 10% (approximately) of both CI submissions and WOTS submissions advance to the quarterfinals.** 

Writers on the Storm has three submission periods: early (4/25 to 6/1/11), regular (6/2 to 7/11/11) and late/final (7/12 to 7/31/11.)

The entry fees are:

EARLY DEADLINE (enter before midnight 6/1/11):

$40 single submission, $75 double (two submissions of same script)

REGULAR DEADLINE (enter before midnight 7/11/11):

$45 single submission, $85 double

FINAL/LATE DEADLINE (by midnight 7/31/11)

$55 single submission, $105 double

+++

If you choose to enter the contest by submitting your script for coverage through Coverage Ink during the contest period, there is no increase in fees! The coverage cost remains the same. So take advantage of that to get some feedback, then use it to buff your screenplay into a brilliant shine.

Yes! Feel free to submit as many scripts as often as you like. Because judging is a subjective process, multiple submissions will be distributed to different readers to make sure that each script has an equal chance. Each script should be submitted as a separate entry -- one application, release form and entry fee per script. You may also submit the same script twice at a discount (see #7 below) and each will be read by a separate reader, theoretically doubling your chances of advancing to the next round.

Many Coverage, Ink. clients submit draft after draft to us, and we help polish them incrementally into winners -- just ask Jared Kennedy, whose script Private Storage we developed through multiple drafts at CI. Jared’s script went on to win the AAA Contest. Nice going, man! The best part is, if you take advantage of Coverage, Ink’s analysis services, every resubmission to us for coverage through the end of the contest (7/31/2011) will get you another entry into the contest at no extra charge. Every year some writers send in four, five, even six revisions for analysis during the contest period, and each time it replaces the previous the contest entry. It's a frenetic and intensely fertile period of craft development and productivity that everyone says is an amazing experience. Plus it's great practice for working with a producer and having to deliver under the gun. Best of all, we're telling you exactly what changes you need to make to move to the next round. Anytime the judges tell you exactly what you need to do to win, that's a good thing indeed.

Traditionally, feature-length scripts are 85-120 pages in length. Scripts that are over 125 pages require an extra $10 entry fee. Be forewarned, if you submit us a script that is over 135 pages, it will have to be pretty darn amazing to advance.

So take the time to scrutinize your own script! Self-editing is a critical skill for all writers. How lean and mean can you make your descriptions? Can you take that 25-word sentence and say the same thing in 10 words? Brevity is the soul of wit. Some decent writer said that... Watch this free video to hear Jim C.'s take on this.While you're at it, feel free to check out all our other free videos, covering everything from How Do I Get an Agent? to How Do I Know When My Script Is Ready to Send Out?

Scripts will not be disqualified based on formatting, but keep in mind that the purpose of this contest is to provide a foot in the door to a professional writing career. Good script formatting will not only make your script easier to read, but it's also something every writer needs to know.

If you need a refresher, check out our ownCoverage Ink Spec Format & Style Guide. Its 80 breezy pages will transform your craft from slap-dash to crackerjack in no time. best of all, it's only $3.95. You can order a copy when you enter the contest, or order one now at info@coverageink.com, and we'll send you a PDF within hours.

Click the button to the left for more info on the Guide!

Absolutely! However, because the contest is geared toward offering access into the world of screenwriting, we do have to limit applicants to those who have made less than $10,000 on feature or TV options or sales.

Of course! We encourage submissions from all over the world. All submissions should be in English, and all funds should be payable in U.S. funds, either by money order, bank draft, credit card or bank debit (through PayPal.) If English is your second language, consider finding a native language speaker to help edit and localize your screenplay into proper idiomatic American English. Coverage Ink can help out here, too. Just e-mail us using the contact form at the link above.

Every entry does receive feedback, but it is not a coverage report or detailed analysis. The feedback form gives you a quick taste of what the reader thought of your script, but it is not the detailed analysis you get with coverage from Coverage Ink. Your script is rated in the following areas:

• Structure
• Dialogue
• Style/Voice
• Premise
• Originality
• Commerciality
• Major Characters
• Minor Characters
• Stakes
• Execution
• Believability
• Structure
• Pacing
• Title
• First Ten

In addition, we give everyone a paragraph in which the reader comments directly on what worked and what didn’t, and offers recommendations. Finally, every script receives a rating for both script and writer:

• Pass
• Consider With Reservations
• Consider
• Strong Consider
• Recommend

Scrteenplays that receive a 'Consider With Reservations' or better for SCRIPT only (not for WRITER) are considered top 10% and advance to the quarterfinals. Bear in mind that the vast majority of screenplays are 'passes,' and 'Recommends' are insanely rare. A 'pass' does not mean that you stink or the reader hated your script. More often than not, it's just not quite over the finish line yet, and a little TLC will get it there.

You can find a sample of the feedback form on our rules page RIGHT HERE.

Feedback will be sent approximately 6 weeks after the conclusion of the contest either via e-mail (if you submitted online) or via US Mail (if you submitted a hard copy.)

If you desire faster or more in-depth analysis, you can submit your script to Coverage, Ink by clicking HERE. You'll have your in-depth analysis in 10 days (less if you select a rush option) and by doing so have a chance to polish the script and then resubmit to Writers on the Storm before the contest end date (7/31/11) -- thus giving you a second (or third or fourth) chance.

Yes. If you submit a script early and have it covered by Coverage Ink, you are welcome to rewrite it and resubmit the new draft before the contest final deadline (7/31/11). You can either send it back in to CI for coverage or just submit it directly to the contest right here:

Absolutely.

This is how it works: submit a script for standard analysis with Coverage, Ink. between April 25 and July 31, 2011, and your script is automatically entered in the contest. Scripts submitted for analysis that receive a CONSIDER WITH RESERVATIONS for script or better (roughly top 10%) automatically advance to round two. That's right -- "consider with reservations" or better for script = automatic quarterfinalist!

Scripts submitted both to CI and directly to the contest are rated according to the following:

• PASS
• CONSIDER WITH RESERVATIONS
• CONSIDER
• STRONG CONSIDER
• RECOMMEND

For both SCRIPT and WRITER. Again, only scripts that receive a Consider with Reservations or better for script will advance. Consider with Reservations for writer, while a strong affirmation of your ability, does not advance the script in the contest. 

Those who submit to CI have the option of polishing the script based on the coverage and then re-entering the contest with a new draft, in one of two ways: 1) You may submit it for another round of coverage at Coverage Ink before the contest end date (7/31/11) which then replaces the previous entry for contest purposes; or 2) you can resubmit your new draft directly to the contest (paying the regular contest entry fee.) Your script will be read again and judged by a separate reader. This resubmission would then replace your original script submission. Again, late and final deadline is 7/31/11.

CI entrants who receive a "Consider With Reservations" or better for script have the option of either "letting it ride" -- in which the script automatically advances to the WOTS quarterfinals (at no charge) -- OR you may elect to polish the script based on the analysis and resubmit it, (theoretically) bettering your chances. (There is another entry fee to submit a new draft.) The new draft will then be evaluated by a fresh set of eyes.

Thus if you enter through Coverage, Ink, you can get a SECOND, THIRD or even FOURTH chance in Writers on the Storm, getting guidance from the judges every step of the way.

Only if you submit two copies of the same script (a double entry.) You receive $5 off for submitting two copies of the same script before June 1 (early deadline; $75/2 entries.) Get $5 off if you submit by July 11 (regular deadline; $85/2 entries.) And you also get 5 bucks off with a double submission by the final (late) entry deadline (7/31; $105/2 entries.)

Alas, there is no discount for submitting several different scripts, but you do better your chances of winning, of course.

Writers On The Storm does accept adaptations, on one of two conditions: a) that the work is in the public domain, or b) that the author has the legal right to use the material and can provide written proof thereof. A good adaptation is just as hard to find as an original work, and we feel that these scripts should be given a shot.

We encourage submissions from any and all genres, from comedy to horror to science fiction to drama and everything in between. As in real life, we never know what's going to happen--no particular genre has an edge. What our judges are looking for is an engaging premise, well-executed, with compelling characters, sharp dialogue and a satisfying ending. We want your best work without regard to genre or budget.

No problem. Just click right here. Then print the release/order form (use your browser's "print" button, which is generally found in the File menu at top left.) Just fill it out and then send it along to us with your check and your script. Complete instructions are on the form.

Note that if you're sending hard copies, if you want a Double Entry (two separate readers review the same script,) you need to send us two copies of the script. (If you enter online, this isn't necessary.)

By Mail Submission Checklist

• Your Screenplay(s)
• Submission/Release forms
• Check or Money Order for entry fee ***MADE OUT TO COVERAGE INK***
• SASE (if you want your script returned)

Then send to:

Writers on the Storm Screenplay Competition

c/o Coverage Ink

3717 S. La Brea Ave. #106-522

Los Angeles, CA 90016

All submissions will be judged by a panel of hand-picked, experienced industry readers. Our judges read for a large variety of production and management companies, agencies, and Coverage Ink.

That's not what we're about. Our readers read professionally for production companies, agencies, management companies, and other screenplay analysis services. If they were dishonest, they'd be weeded out pretty quick. The movie industry actually has little tolerance for this sort of behavior, because lawsuits are just not worth the trouble. Legitimate companies would also rather buy or option a script they like rather than rip it off and face crippling lawsuits and bad publicity.

That said, you should always make sure your work is copyrighted and registered with the WGA as well as copyrighted through the U.S. Copyright Office. Remember, WGA registration gives you scant legal protection, whereas a copyright bears weight. You can register your script online at www.wga.org.

Keep in mind that many screenplay ideas are similar, and Coverage, Ink. is not responsible for scripts with similar storylines. This happens in Hollywood all the time, because there are a quarter million writers all cranking out spec scripts at any given time.

Quarterfinalists will be posted here on the website and our blog on or before September 9th, 2011. Semifinalists (top 50) will be posted on the website by October 5th. Top Ten Finalists will be announced by October 31st, and the winner will be chosen no later than November 21st, 2011.

Check out the PRIZES page.

No problem. Just use the contact form on the menu above and send us an e-mail.