by Suzanne Herrera-McCullough, WGA

On any given day, my conservative guess is that 30,000 scripts are actively out on “the marketplace” looking for production financing, option deals, and green lights. Another 100,000 are languishing unfinished by frustrated hopefuls with no idea of how to complete what they’ve started.

In any given year, tens of thousands of scripts are submitted to the more prestigious screenplay competitions in a somewhat desperate hope for professional recognition. The problem is that 99% of those competitions have zero relationship with the film or television business in either New York or Hollywood (which is where the majority of film & TV entertainment product is created, let's face it...with apologies to Austin, Nashville, etc.).

Standing head-and-shoulders above those so-called “script contests” run by online entrepreneurs with zero industry or writing expertise, The Santa Barbara International Screenplay Awards is perhaps the one competition boasting professional Hollywood Industry judges devoted to discovering the best writing out there. (Full disclosure: I'm a co-founder of this competition. My motivation was simple: to give aspiring screenwriters meaningful professional feedback and guidance as they pour their efforts into building a serious professional screenwriting career.)

So what exactly do the judges at Santa Barbara look for in terms of writing? They're looking for the fundamental elements common to all successful, marketable screenplays:

1. A clear concept. This is the first thing that producers, directors, agents, and even the best actors will respond to. The reality is that your actual writing  is secondary to your story concept. What is your script about and why do we care? If you can conceive of a way to tell your story well-framed in a marketable concept, most of your work is done.
2. Believable, relatable characters. Every story involves, to one degree or another, conflicts among people. People in particular circumstances. The more memorable and distinct, the better your characters, the greater your conflicts, the more engaging your script.
3. A story told with dramatic structure (even if it’s a comedy). The narrative art form is all about three-act structure. Beginning, middle, end. If your script fails at any of those critical points, nobody will stick around for the denouement and your screenplay fails.
4. Readability and economy of writing. This is often the Achilles’ Heel of new writers, who want to explain every setup and every line of dialogue. While a screenplay is essentially a blueprint for a film to be produced, getting to that point requires approval by people who first read your script. Overly technical commentary or anything that impedes the reader’s appreciation of your concept-structure-characters will hurt your chances in the marketplace. Be entertaining.
5. Industry standard formatting. A diversion from what the professional reader expects to see in terms of how your script lays out on the page is an immediate red flag and will promptly prejudice the reader. Poor formatting = uninformed amateur. Proper formatting is awkward at first, but easy to master. Master it or fail at the starting gate.These elements are not beyond the reach of anyone with serious screenwriting ambitions. But screenplays are not simply “ideas” or intuitively written. The best way to find out whether or not your script is ready to take to the marketplace is to get a response from experienced professionals who have demonstrated mastery of the elements outlined above.If you're not already an established, accredited writer or producer, that kind of actionable professional feedback is difficult (if not impossible) to get. But the judges at the Santa Barbara International Screenplay Awards are working hard to level the playing field for serious writers with sincere ambition.

My suggestion is a simple and sincere one: if you've got a screenplay or TV script you really believe in, get it into their hands now.