NYC Midnight Short Story Challenge

NYC Midnight is an organization that runs competitions geared toward discovering talented new filmmakers and storytellers.  I first learned of them from the dynamic film making duo of Julie & Jessica [King is a Fink] (follow them on Twitter for awesome indie tips).  They had entered the Screenwriter’s Challenge (here’s their post about it) and had very good things to say about the competitions in general.

What peaked my interest was their Short Story Challenge.  A 2 round competition, the first lasting 8 days to write about a randomly assigned genre and subject.  If you made it to the second round you’d have 24 hours to complete another assignment (same for everyone), then the top four places win cash prizes.

As much as I enjoy writing I had never entered a contest before. With solid feedback from King is a Fink and the allure of an unyielding deadline, I decided to take the plunge.

When the 1st Round assignment rolled into my inbox my first words were "OH SHIT".  Here’s what it was:

• Genre:    Spy
• Subject:  A news anchor

Crap on toast.  I’ve NEVER read a single spy book (even though I’ve seen TONS of films) and the only thing that came to mind with the subject was Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy.  I was totally screwed.  On top of that Life™ did its I’m going to eat up all the free time you thought you had routine, so stop me if you’ve heard this one before….

4 hours before the deadline I’m hunched over my computer furiously banging away at the keyboard (with my elbows of course) hoping to spin gold out of turds.  Surprisingly the story didn’t totally suck. Unsurprisingly I submitted it with 5 minutes to spare before the deadline. 

Whether or not it gets me to the 2nd Round my little tale deserves a couple more drafts and eventually will be sent out to markets.  I expect to get a confirmation email on my submission within the next day or two and after that, who knows when they’ll pick the winners of the first round.  So until then all fingers and toes are crossed (damn near braided).

ANYONE ELSE ENTER THIS CONTEST OR HAVE WRITING CONTEST STORIES TO SHARE?

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