Ultimate deadline: December 11, 2022.

Alter Echo
Short Script Contest

We are a script contest with a focus on forgotten literature, so we dedicate ourselves to adaptations (and not only) aiming to make old stories resonate with a new voice.

THE CONTEST

Sometimes a story speaks to you in words that seem like your own; sometimes it affects who you are and who you will become; other times, an old, unfamiliar tale that you would not have given anything to hits you in ways you did not anticipate.


If you are here it is because cinema is your medium, you have everything to prove and writing stories are your bread and butter.
We are a contest for screenplays adapted, inspired or influenced by literary texts and we want to offer you the chance to write a short film that draws its life from literature.
For this reason we thought of three ways to participate in the contest:

  • Unexpected Affinity
  • Perfect Match
  • Crucial Influence
You can choose whether to put yourself to the test by adapting a short story chosen by us, propose the short film adaptation of a piece you love, or write a short film inspired by an author who has influenced you.
What we ask is that you show us your expressive urgency, what moves you.

What we offer, instead, is a productive prize in case of winning the contest, and feedback for each project you submit.
We believe that urgency deserves respect and needs to be nurtured. So, regardless of the results of the contest, we’ll let you know what we think of your script and how we think it’s useful to rework it to bring it more into focus.

CATEGORIES

UNEXPECTED AFFINITY


We dedicate this section to the hidden stories.


We propose a story discovered and chosen by us that can talk to you. Not all stories are love at first sight, but sometimes in the unexpected you can find words that belong to you more than you think.
If you want to take on the challenge, we will be happy to read you!


The story that we ask you to adapt for this first edition is Il menuetto by Salvatore Di Giacomo.
You will find more info in the dedicated page.


PERFECT MATCH


This section is dedicated to the adaptation of a work of your choice.


Here is you to tell us what you like, what moves you, what resonated in you through that story.

A story doesn’t have to be original to be yours, what makes it so is your vision, your sensitivity, the images you build.

We ask you to send us the adaptation of the story that kidnapped you, as if you wrote it.

Rewrite it with your perspective.


CRUCIAL INFLUENCE


Here we dedicate ourselves to inspiration.


The one you feel every time you read the author  who lights your way like a beacon.
Maybe that’s part of why you write, maybe not. But if you’re here, it’s also because of that light.

Here we don’t ask you to write an adaptation, but we want to read the story you wrote thanks to the influence of that lighthouse.

A story of your own, without constraints, that represents your link with the literature that formed you.

Whatever your vision is, we want to read it.

AWARDS & PRIZES


A commission will select the ten best scripts for each category.

Subsequently, a jury composed of a heterogeneous group of experts in the film industry, will decide the winners, one by section, and will indicate the special mentions.

For the winner of each category there is a prize to support the production of the value of 500€.
The amount is made available by the independent production company Sisyphus on behalf of Alter Echo.

FEEDBACK

We will carefully evaluate all the scripts that arrive and send you personalized feedback.
For each story we will prepare a document organized in 3 points:
  • The strengths of your script
  • Its critical points
  • A tip on how to improve
Ours is an analytical approach: on each script, we evaluate its structure, the construction of the characters, the representation of the theme, the rhythm, the nature of the conflict.

We ask questions that help make the text less superficial and more focused on what it wants to tell.
To help you develop a more effective script, we want to stimulate questions in you that will lead you to more conscious and centered writing.