Diverse Voices is a screenplay contest and lab that strives to encourage stories that are told from perspectives that are often underrepresented in Hollywood today. This includes writers of color, women writers, writers with disabilities, writers over 40, writers in the LGBTQ+ community, and any other voices that have historically been ignored by Hollywood.
This season, the Diverse Voices competition is expanding to an in-person Screenwriting Lab experience in Los Angeles with the first ever Diverse Voices Lab. Four winners will be flown out to LA for mentorship and meetings with industry professionals.
Currently Closed. Please signup for an alert when then next season opens below.
Deadlines and Fees
Opens – Jan 15th, 2019
Announcements
Semifinalists – November 15th, 2018 – Top 100
Finalists – December 15th, 2018 – Top 25
Winners – January 15th, 2019 – Grand Prize and Category Winners
Giving Back
Founded by Ava DuVernay, Array is an independent film distribution and resource collective comprised of artist advocacy organizations, maverick volunteers, and rebel member donors worldwide. Their work is dedicated to the amplification of independent films by people of color and women filmmakers globally.
Check out our 2018 Jury
Daniela Garcia-Brcek
Daniela is a manager at Circle of Confusion, which is best known for producing the mega hit THE WALKING DEAD. Clients have also worked on features like GET OUT and SPIDER-MAN as well as TV hits like GAME OF THRONES and BLACK-ISH.
Diana Mendez
Diana Mendez is an extremely talented TV writer who has worked on the shows ROSEWOOD and RIZZOLI & ISLES.
Jermaine Johnson
Jermaine Johnson is an executive at Zero Gravity Management, whose clients have worked on features like PULP FICTION and JUMANJI and television shows like STRANGER THINGS and AMERICAN HORROR STORY.
Jesse Atlas
Jesse Atlas is a writer/director known for amazing short-form content like RECORD/PLAY and LET THEM DIE LIKE LOVERS. His works have been official selections at festivals like Sundance, LA Film Festival, Fantastic Fest, and Tribeca Film Festival. Most recently, Jesse co-founded the Autonomika Story Lab to help emerging filmmakers find their voice and vision.
The Diverse Voices Screenwriting Lab Experience
Past winners have signed at Gotham Group, Heroes and Villains, and Industry Entertainment. Check out more successes here.
The Grand Prize Winner and the First Place Winner in each category will be flown to Los Angeles and put up in an iconic LA Hotel for a Diverse Voices Four-Day Screenwriting Lab. The Lab will include hands-on development with industry executives, WeScreenplay staff, writers, and each other. It’ll also include meetings with executives and managers about the writers, their career, and their projects in development.
Beyond that, the winners’ work will be strategically sent to producers, agents, and managers with whom WeScreenplay has a relationship. All Finalists will be publicly recognized through our website and e-mail lists.
Distribution
Winners receive strategic distribution to WeScreenplay’s contacts with Producers, Agents, and Managers. We don’t just cold email your script out to everyone, we send only to the people who are actually looking for projects like yours. This includes folks from:
Throughline
Mar Vista Entertainment
Think Tank
Foremost
Smart Entertainment
Ugly Duckling
Muraviov Company
Oriah Entertainment
Abaca Films
Little Big Shot
MPE
Abundant Media
Full Auto Films
Tilted Pictures
Valleywood Entertainment
Picture Lab Entertainment
Urban Way
High Five
Bellevue Productions
Barry Perleman
Dahooma
Destiny Pictures
Management SGC
Cross Creek Pictures
Playback Motion
Citizen Skull Productions
Capital Creations
Super Vision Entertainment
Eminent Pictures
Sixth Sense Productions
Kailey Marsh
Echo Lake
Film Star Pictures
Taylor Lane
House of 4 Films
Church Hugger
Itchy Productions
Mutressa
Envoy Pictures
Cartel Pictures
Avva Pictures
OBB Pictures
Bad Hat Harry
Nasser
Go East Media
Barry Katz Entertainment
Stobby Entertainment
Boulder Light Pictures
JuVee Productions
Generate LA
Paper Street Films
Darius Films
Cinterra Pictures
Red Entertainment
Mosaic Entertainment
The Fyzz
Jittery Monkeys
Please note: All finalists will be asked to answer in roughly 250 words how their voice or experience represents a new and diverse perspective for Hollywood.
How to contact us
You can contact us with anything related to script coverage or this contest and we'll get in touch with you as soon as possible.
Contact Us