I could not be more thrilled to have HBO Max & Deadline reveal this news. 2022 winner Matt Thomas’ pilot Debbie is on its way to the small screen, packaged by Finish Line. Huge Congrats to Matt. We’re all very excited. Enter the right competition, you just might get a tv show made.

Every writer has heard of the note "show, don't tell". There is, of course, room and purpose for both in storytelling. Telling handles pace. If every single detail in a piece were shown rather than told, the writing would collapse under its own weight, be exhausting to read with no sense of which moments actually mattered. Everything would have received the same dramatic, scene-level treatment. Showing handles weight. The moments that are supposed to matter, the emotional turn, the decision, the loss, those are where showing earns its keep. Those are the moments where you want the reader doing the work of arriving at the feeling themselves, rather than simply being informed of it. Latecomer Submissions open.

I want to thank all the writers who have entered Finish Line year after year. Now in our 11th season, it's a pleasure to see how so many of you have learned, changed and grown in your writing. When you're writing the right script, seeing the improvement is really beautiful.

Write to free yourself Write to express yourself Write to explore yourself Write to challenge yourself Write to challenge the oppressive systems Write to grieve Write to document Write to leave your mark Write because you can Write because it is your right Write because it is art Just write.

Ordinary person in extraordinary circumstances.

PLEASE RT! If you were given a discount a few months ago because you placed in another competition, there are about 2.5 weeks left in this season's Finish Line Comp, so please enter. If you have placed in a comp this year & want a discount to enter Finish Line, please let us know! AFF, Shore, Page, etc...As always, we are looking for great pilots, screenplays & short film scripts!

It's almost irrelevant if I am interested in the subject matter of script you are writing. It does matter if I care about the theme and the character development. If I can relate in some way to your characters and what they're suffering through and learning, you're on the path to doing good job, regardless of other issues with the script.

PLEASE RT! If you were given a discount a few months ago because you placed in another competition, there are about 2.5 weeks left in this season's Finish Line Comp, so please enter. If you have placed in a comp this year and want a discount to enter Finish Line, please let us know! AFF, Shore, Page, etc...As always, we are looking for great pilots, screenplays & short film scripts!

I've been reading many pilots lately that need a lot of work structurally. Remember, this is one of what you hope will be 5+ years of a series. Pacing and structure can be different for different genres but in general you don't want to give away too much in the first episode. In fact, withholding information can be the engine of the show. A strong pilot sets up the central puzzle regardless of genre, plants a few fair clues, develops main characters in action and ends on a turn that makes viewers want episode two.

Getting closer to the end of this year’s Finish Line Script Competition. Latecomer Submissions open! finishlinescriptcomp.com

You have to block out the noise. You have to invest in yourself. You have to do your research. You cannot believe any hype. Verify. Focus on yourself and creating an undeniable piece of material. The only way to make it is to get your script read by as many people as possible.

"Be yourself. Find your style, your way; find the border and cross it, or else you'll be lost, or even worse, boring. Don't forget what you really want to say. There is no recipe. The recipe is you". Bela Tarr

One of our 2023 winner's script had been optioned by a major prod co., with the head of company set to show run. The champion of the project left the company recently. Is that the end of this project from almost 4 years ago? Nope, we're now out to two new showrunners. A lot of the top competitions out there only hang around for a few months or a year to see what they can do to help their writers. We're in it for the long haul. Great material doesn't have a shelf life.

Some Industry Pros include: Echo Lake Ent. Netflix CAA NBC Universal Shondaland Heroes & Villains Gersh Imagine Ent. Temple Hill HBO Artists First and many, many more.... LATECOMER SUBMISSIONS OPEN NOW finishlinescriptcomp.com