Now that I have your attention, check this out:
REMINDER: DEADLINE IS DECEMBER 15th. PLEASE FORWARD THIS INFO TO YOUR OTHER WRITER FRIENDS. THANKS!
SCI-FEST: The 1st Annual Los Angeles Science Fiction One-Act Festival is now accepting submissions of one-act plays that deal with sci-fi themes. The festival’s producers are David Dean Bottrell, Lee Costello and Michael Blaha. The festival (currently scheduled to open in Los Angeles in May, 2014) will consist of two evenings of rotating one-act plays. Each evening will contain four to five one-acts ranging in length from five to twenty minutes. Because we are producing under the AEA 99-seat small theatre plan, we will only be able to offer a small fee to license the one-acts. However, it is our intent to secure the best venue possible to put the majority of the money raised into the physical production and promotion of the festival.
If you would like to submit something, here are a few guidelines:
- The deadline for submissions is December 15, 2013
- The running time of your script needs to be 5-20 minutes. 20 minutes is the absolute maximum running time. We are primarily seeking 10 minute plays. Shorter is better.
- The material has to work as a theatre piece. Pulling a scene from a screenplay or pilot probably won’t work unless you can adapt it.
- The story structure doesn’t have to resemble a “Twilight Zone” episode (although that’s an excellent format). It can be as “out there” as you like. It just has to work dramatically on stage.
- We will have the best directors and design team we can assemble, so feel free to challenge them. However, keep in mind that this is live theatre so we cannot compete with TV and film when it comes to massive special effects. That said, we will definitely be able to do video projections and are reaching out to some fantastic make-up / prosthetic artists.
- In our experience, the best stage material in this genre asks the audience to use it’s imagination. When writing, consider the power of lighting and sound to create events (off-stage and on) and in some cases to generate entirely new worlds.
- Even though the material is short, please make sure that it delivers both suspense and a surprise of some kind.
- The story doesn’t have to occur in the future or on some alien world. Some of the best sci-fi stories occur in simple commonplace situations that suddenly become bizarre and threatening.
- Although the bulk of the plays will probably be dramatic, we are definitely open to both serio-comic and comic material.
- It’s our goal to assemble as many different types of Sci-Fi material as possible. Here are some subjects (and sub-genres) that we’re interested in: genetic modification and mutation, global climate change, war (both on and off the surface of the earth), video games & gaming, Japanese sci-fi, aliens, spacecraft, space travel, colonization, overpopulation, scientific & medical experimentation and ethical issues, iconic locations like Roswell & Area 51, comic books, graphic novels, fantasy, time travel, black holes, period pieces, cryptids, meteors, intergalactic treaties and politics, conspiracies, justice, alternative worlds, undiscovered dimensions and mind-bending adventures. Surprise us! Here’s a fun link that might inspire some ideas: http://myscienceacademy.org/2013/01/03/27-science-fictions-that-became-science-facts-in-2012/
We sincerely look forward to reading any 5-20 minute material you (or your colleagues) send to us. For now, send your submissions to DavidDeanBottrell@gmail.com and please put the word “SUBMISSION” in the subject line. Again, please be aware the final slate of one-acts will not be announced until late December or January of next year.
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