Round 2 Premise/Prompt: Your PROTAGONIST'S allies have turned on him (or her.) His reputation is now in tatters, largely due to his own screw-up -- which has been magnified and broadcast by the ANTAGONIST. Write the scene in which the protagonist tries to win the allies back. The scene should include a heartfelt mea culpa. You may use any setting, era or characters in addition to the ones indicated, as needed. Remember: Is your scene 5 pages or less? Is it in PDF, .rtf or .doc format?    Good luck!!!

Dear Cyberspace Open Entrant, Congratulations to the Top 100 plus ties – 130 entries in all – who have made the list of quarterfinalists.  If you did not receive a score, please see below.   FYI, the delay in your receipt of this message until today is due to our attempts to accommodate the 15% of entrants who didn't submit on time, who submitted in a wrong format, or who submitted without identifying themselves.   Quarterfinalists:  Click or scroll down to "Round 2 -- How To Enter" below. Here is the list of quarterfinalists *A parenthetical (2) after a name means two of the entrant's scenes advanced. Adam C. Marshall Adam Knight AJ Nseir Alan Lavender Alasdair McMullan Aled Ordu Annie Wood Audrey Webb Benjamin Wheelock Bob Comenole Brandon Peterson Brett Weaver Brian Henry Brice Parker Carrie Lynn Certa Cathy Freericks Cathy Kitinoja Chris Dragicevich Chris Sullivan Chris Todd Christelle Rall Christopher Canole Christopher J. Valin Christopher M. Kelley Colleen Kennelly Connie Williams Craig Ouellette Craig Strahorn Cristina Mojica Dan Levinson Dan Parkhurst Daniel Meyers Dave Fogerson David Ivy David Larson David Poulshock David Zorn Debra Montoya Dennis Teigeler Dorieann Ni Chorragain (2)* Doug Peake Douglas A. Raine Dylan Brann Elizabeth Saas Erica Spates Gail Moss George Agnew George Thomas Jr. George W. Bigelow Gillian White Greg Blessing Jake Goldman James McCabe & Joseph Bomba Jared Shapiro Jennifer Bonner & Kathleen Rose Jesse Knight Jim Henry John Harden Jonathan Tsang Jonathan Vermeer Joshua Ades Joshua Traywick Justin Sabestinas Karen Veazey Kari Ciardi Karl Peter Smith Kathylynne Somerville-Chorik Kevin Denelsbeck Kevin Johnson Kevin Thomas Roy Kieran McGowan Kimberly Nunley Lennox Alfred Lisa and Neil Orint Lisa Herman-Gagnon Lisa Scott Luke Kalteaux Marilyn Campbell Mark E. Poole Mark J. Francisco Mark McCracken Marty Stack & Steve Edwards Mary Ratliff Matthew Ballen Matthew Fleck Matthew Rigdon Melissa McCracken Melody Boudreaux Michael Greene Melody Gillette Michael Sheriff Monica Sagaser Monika Scott Natalie Hope MacMillan Nathan Green Pamela Rodeheaver (2)* Patricia Blanquies Patrick Campbell Patrick Murray Patti Newler Peter Besson Peter Sherman Phillip Gates Ramona Lynn-Goldberg Raymond Ussery Regina Partee Robert Tuscani Ron Silva Ryan Zernec Sae Sae Norris Sam Littenburg-Weisberg Samuel Clark Sarah McGrail Savannah Thomas Scott Balthazard Scott Noack Scott W.Moss Sean Leonard Skyler Caleb Stephanie Bramson Stewart Stafford Tannis Watkins Timothy Marvel Tom Weber Torye Anthony Travis Chesney Trevor Mayes Trish Cole (2)* Victoria Pilkington & Lorrie Sheehy William Berezansky William Flannigan William Hamlin Zach Keifer Zachary Ziemba Hollwedel Round Two -- How To Enter: 1. The scene premise is posted above 2. You have until 9 AM Friday Oct. 2, 2009 to finish and submit your scene.   Please note: Unfortunately, we learned the hard way that we must strictly enforce the rules.  In Round 1, we spent a great deal of time trying to accommodate entrants who failed to submit an accepted, readable file format, with a cover page that included their email addresses.  That caused judging to be delayed.  We are not going to waste our time in Round Two due to entrants' failures to observe the simplest of the contest rules.  You must: Submit in Microsoft Word ".doc" format or Rich Text format (".RTF") or in Adobe PDF.   If you submit in any other format, you will be disqualified.   Check your file!  Open it with Word or Adobe Reader to make sure it is readable before sending it.  If the file arrives unreadable, we will not ask you to re-send it. Your entry will be disqualified. The file MUST have a cover page with your name(s) and email address(es).  It must be the the first page of the scene file, not a separate file.   You do not need you order/account number in this round.  But to repeat, you must provide your name(s) and email address(es) on the cover page, which must be the first page of the file.  Submit on time.  We're sorry, but no  extensions this time.  If the upload function does not work (that is, if you do not see this confirmation page after you submit --  http://screenwritingexpo.com/csopen.success.html -- then immediately email your scene to this email address: submit@creativescreenwriting.com.  You are encouraged to submit to the email address as a backup even if you do get the "success" screen.  With only 130 entries to sort out in Round 2, we can handle duplications.   Name the file according to this format:  firstname.lastname.ext. That is--  The filename must be one of these (depending on file type):                                     firstname.lastname.pdf                                     or                                     firstname.lastname.rtf                                     or                                     firstname.lastname.doc   You do not need your order/account number in the filename in this round. Do not send a file in any other format.  DO NOT send a Microsoft  Word 2007 .docx file.  DO NOT send a Microsoft Works (.wps) file.  Do not send a screenwriting program's native format.  Do not save the file in an unacceptable format, then rename the extension. (That does not work.  It will be unreadable.)  Send only in .pdf, .rtf, or .doc format.  If you don't know how, it is your job to learn (and not by asking us.  Would you ask a paying producer how to save in ".doc" format?)  Being able to send a file in the format a producer wants is pretty basic to being a screenwriter.   To Submit Your Scene: Go to http://screenwritingexpo.com/writingtournament.2009.html#upload We suggest also emailing it to:  submit@creativescreenwriting.com A Message From Contest Manager Jim Cirile, President of CoverageInk.com: I just wanted to congratulate every one of you guys who put yourself out there for this tournament. You were put into a pressure cooker under deadline, and by and large you all kicked butt. Especially considering how many scenes we got, it's amazing how many folks scored in the 80s and 90s. That's a testament to the sheer talent out there. Regardless of whether you made it to the top 100, you should all be damn proud of yourselves for challenging yourself like this and delivering on a deadline. Ultimately, we hope this has been a learning experience. Many of you have gotten your first taste of feedback with this little exercise. Use it well! Avail yourself of all the learning resources out there like Creative Screenwriting magazine, books, writing groups and classes and of course screenplay analysis services like our own. Remember, screenwriting is a collaborative art form (as much as that sometimes sucks.) The best way to bulletproof both yourself and your material is to absorb knowledge like a sponge. Be a student of the industry! My hat's off to all of you. See you at the Expo! Jim Cirile Founder, CoverageInk.com Cyberspace Open Coordinator

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There are four possible reasons why an entrant might not have received a score:

1. We did not receive an entry.  

We did not receive a scene from about 12% of all entrants. There are two possible reasons:

               (a) Scene never sent.  Judging from email responses from contestants, most of  those who signed up, but whose scenes were never received, did not submit.  

               (b)  Sent but not received.  We have received emails from a few contestants who say they did send, and that they did receive the confirmation page from the upload site.  But we did not receive their scenes.  We do not know what could have caused this to happen. 

This system worked fine for well over 1,000 entries.  It appears that it did not work for a few.  The facts we do know seem to suggest a malfunction at the http://fileshare.com server.  Every test we did of this commercial FTP server did work.  This server is a company that offers this FTP upload system as its line of business. We have no control over its operations, nor any understanding of why it might not have worked if you received a confirmation screen.

Round 2 has started. We're sorry, but the only remedy available under these deadlnes is a refund.  We made this provision in the rules for this eventuality.  We deeply apologize to those whose scenes were not read, but we cannot stop the contest or change the deadlines now for scenes not received.

Resolution: due to the time constraints, we are forced to refund your payment if we did not receive a scene.  You may obtain a refund by writing to customer.service@creativescreenwriting.com

2. Defective, unreadable file or prohibited file format:

Both the rules and the instructions said explicitly that  the file had to be a Rich Text format “.RTF” file, or Adobe  PDF, or Microsoft  Word “.doc” file – and explicitly NOT a Word 2007 “.docx” file or the native format of a screenwriting software program. 

Some entrants sent files in the native formats of Final Daft or or Movie Magic Screenwriter, despite the instructions not to do so.  We DID read these files.  Some entrants sent empty files.  Some sent Microsoft Works “.wps” files. No one on our team of judges has Microsoft Works.  So these were not read.  Some sent .docx, which was expressly forbidden.  Like most people, our judges do not have Word 2007.    If you do have Word 2007, it is a common piece of advice to set it to save as “.doc” because so few people have Word 2007.  If you insist on blaming someone other than your own lack of computer savvy,  blame Microsoft, which created the ".docx" problem. 

Also some files were unopenable for reasons unknown.   One guess: in some cases, entrants may have saved in an unacceptable format, then simply renamed the extension.  (That does not work.)

Early in the judging, we contacted many submitters of wrong file formats, asking that they submit again.  This was a time-consuming process, and significantly delayed judging.  At the end, we had to abandon these efforts in order to finish the judging.   After that point, anyone who had not submitted a format meeting the rules was disqualified.    Some did resubmit in correct format in a timely manner.

Resolution: due to the time constraints, we are forced to disqualify you if we did not receive a format we could read by the 29th.  You may obtain a refund by writing to customer.service@creativescreenwriting.com

3. No cover page, no identification at all, or no email address on the cover page.

Again, the instructions were explicit.  The rules state:

“10) First page of submission must be a title page with writer's writers'  identity.  The submitted scene file MUST have as its first page a cover page containing ALL of the following information: (a)  the account number of the submission; (b)  the name(s) of the writer(s), one of which must be the name given in the shopping cart at the time of entry; and (c) the writer's or writers' email address(es), one of which must be the email address given in the shopping cart at the time of entry. ”

This was not advice or “please.”   This was a contest rule because it was necessary.

The scoresheet form used by judges requires that the judge input the writer’s email address in order to post a score.   Early in the judging, we contacted some entrants to fetch email addresses.  Like requesting new submissions from those who submitted uncacceptable file formats,. this was a time-consuming process, and significantly delayed judging.  At the end, we had to abandon these efforts in order to finish the judging.   After that point, anyone who did not provide an email address on the cover page was disqualified.  

We are compiling the list of disqualified entries.  So far, it is 55 entries. See below..

Resolution: due to the time constraints, we are forced to disqualify you.  We will issue refunds for all of these entries.  If you have questions, write to customer.service@creativescreenwriting.com

Disqualification List:

We are sorry that we have had to disqualify entrants.  However, in all but a couple of instances, the reasons were that the entry was never submitted by either upload or email, or that it lacked needed identifying information, or that the file was not readable.

Here is a partial disqualification list, by order number:

207981    no contact info 208014    no contact info 208194    no cover page 208529    no e-mail, not script format 208831    no cover page 209553    no cover page 209765    no email address 209957    unreadable .wps 210094    unreadable file format 210514    page 4 only 21061      no contact info 210959    no e-mail 211295    no contact info 212601    no cover page 212678    blank pdf (no content) 212837    no email address 213072    no contact info 213585    no contact info 213629    no contact info 213742    no email address 213906    will not open 214396    no email address 21527      no cover page 215312    no contact info 216218    no cover page 217769    no contact info 217825    no contact info 218032    no contact info

218358    no cover page 219482    no contact info 21953      no cover page 221024    no contact info 221365    no contact info 221882    cover page only-no content 222699    no contact info 223885    no contact info 224211    no cover page 224336    no contact info 224403    no cover page 225956    unreadable file format 226509    unreadable file format 226592    no email address 226647    no email address 226693    no contact info 227988    no cover page 227988    no contact info 228632    no contact info 229554    no contact info 229901    uploaded without title page 230371    no cover page 230668    no contact info 230668    no email address 231391    no cover page 231854    no contact info 232719    no email address

4.  We failed to route the scene to a judge.

So far, we have discovered one scene that suffered this fate. We notified the writer to watch for his score on Oct. 1.  A judge has been assigned to read it.  The score should arrive before the 5 PM start of Round 2.

If you did successfully enter but did  not receive a score, you are entitled to a refund.  We apologize if the error is ours, but the only available course of action due to the time constraints is a refund.  Contact: customer.service@creativecreenwriting.com.
Questions?  Direct them to: csopen@screenwritingexpo.com

Best wishes.

Bill Donovan
Executive Producer, The Screenwriting Expo

Jim Cirile,
President, CoverageInk.com