Competition to Write a Story Outline
For a Mini Drama/Soap

We are pleased to announce a very exciting competition by Phaebus Media Group.

Phaebus are in the early stages of producing a mini drama/soap opera for an English Language educational programme and have asked The Writers Bureau to run a competition for story outlines. 

We thought this was a great opportunity for Writers Bureau students and E-zee Writer subscribers to have a go at a professional brief.

BRIEF

OBJECTIVE
A mini drama/soap series across 12 episodes, each approximately 5 minutes long, to introduce new learners to the English language.

AGE GROUP
It is aimed at the 16-30s age group so please ensure all content is appropriate to the target audience.

RESTRICTIONS ON PRODUCTION/BUDGET IMPLICATIONS

The drama will consist of 12 episodes of approximately five minutes long.
The 12 episodes will be filmed over five days.
The cast should consist of four to five main characters with incidental characters appearing in specific episodes.
To ensure the shooting schedule can be met the number of locations needs to be limited.
As this may be distributed internationally  the content should be avoid: sex, nudity, religious or political statements or points of view and other content that may be offensive to particular religions or cultures.

REQUIREMENTS

So, in no more than 1000 words you need to submit:

• a story outline for each episode
• character outlines and their relationships towards one another
• details of location setting/s

The successful candidate will receive a credit on the final product and have the opportunity to see some of their piece being filmed.

HOW TO ENTER

Please send your entry as a word document attachment saved in rich text format(.rtf). Please put ‘Minidrama’ in the subject line and send your entries to production@phaebus.co.uk.

COMPETITION RULES

1. There is no limit on the number of entries competitors may send.

2. Each entry must not exceed 1000 words and must be typed using double line spacing.

3. Each entry must be supplied via email with the competitors contact details.

4. Only work matching the brief will be considered.

5. Copyright will be held with Cambridge University Press and the author must agree to global distribution rights in perpetuity.

6. Entries cannot be returned to contestants so please keep a copy.

7. Receipt of entries will only be acknowledged by return email. Only successful entrants will be notified individually of the competition result. A general notification will be published.

8. Entries that do not comply with the rules will be disqualified.

9. The competition is open to all including current employees of The Writers Bureau.

10. Judges will be:

• Steve Bettridge – Phaebus Media Group
• Emma Cheetham – Phaebus Media Group
• Nick Robinson – Cambridge University Press

Phaebus reserves the right to change the judges without notice.

11. Judges decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into.

The Closing Date is Tuesday 7th September 2010

All winners will be notified by 30th September 2010.