EXCLUSIVE: Stage 32 is launching a Global Screenwriting Contest Hub, bringing together dozens of writing competitions from around the world into one place including Oscar and BAFTA-qualifying contests.
The move comes with screenwriting website Coverfly set to shut down in a few weeks’ time, and Stage 32 has hired a trio of former Coverfly employees to oversee the new hub.
The Global Screenwriting Contest Hub will pool together on Stage 32 the Oscar-qualifying HollyShorts Film Festival Screenplay Contest, BAFTA-qualifying Manchester Film Festival Screenplay Contest, PAGE International Screenwriting Awards, Palm Springs Diversity Screenplay Contest and dozens others, according to Stage 32, which said the hub “provides screenwriters with a seamless, centralized platform to discover and submit to the world’s most respected competitions with access and discoverability the overall goal.”
Overseeing the platform are ex-Coverfly employees Geoffrey Faugérolas, who most recently served as Senior Manager of Development at Coverfly, Mitch Lusas as Chief Technology Officer, who served as Chief Operating Officer of Coverfly, and Nate Witty as an Engineer, who served as a Web Developer for ScreenCraft, Script Lab and Coverfly.
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Stage 32 has a network of more than 1.3 million members around the world who connect, pitch, and take webinars and classes.
The platform is run by CEO Richard Botto, who said: “For the last 14 years, the Marketplace on Stage 32 has helped thousands of film and television creatives get discovered and forge careers. As a WGA screenwriter myself, I know firsthand the challenges of finding respectable and reputable screenwriting contests. The Global Screenwriting Contest Hub cuts out the noise and allows writers to not only find the most highly regarded contests, but also those that fit the genres they write in.”
Botto added that, “for the contest owners, they will now have exclusive access to the 250,000 screenwriters on Stage 32 as well as our entire member base of 1.3 million creatives and professionals.”