Creative writers in the art of screenwriting are in for a good time as Nollywood Screenwriting Contest 2022, organised by Aforevo, is set to reward a star prize winner with N1,000,000.
The Lawrence Onuzulike-led Nollywood Screenwriting Contest 2022, in partnership with Aforevo, is calling for submission of ”the first 20 scenes from your (screen) script” as part of the criteria for the contest. Submission ends on February 23, 2022 while winners will be announced on March 4, 2022. Screenwriters are advised to visit www.nollywoodscreenwritingcontest.com or submit scripts to submit@nswcnigeria.com which must include the names, telephone, and email addresses. Participation is free and open to all Nigerians.
Prize jury for Nollywood Screenwriting Contest 2022 includes Clarion Chukwura, Segun Arinze, Victor Ohai and Yinka Ogun. While the best screen writer will walk away with N1,000,000, two runners-up will receive N500,000 and N300,000 respectively, plus over 100 consolation prizes of Aforevo t-shirts and face caps. Beyond the N1,000,000 prize money for the star prize winner, the winning script ”will be made into a blockbuster Nollywood movie (and the writer) will be given a one-year scriptwriting contract with Aforevo”.
The organiser, Onuzulike, in a telephone interview said he has been in Nollywood for some 25 years, and felt challenged to hold the contest, so as to raise the profile of screenwriters and to place them where they truly belong, as important components of the film industry deserving of stardom like their counterparts.
”This is something I’ve been wanting to do since,” Onuzulike, who said he just returned after taking a break from the industry, told our reporter, ”I’ve been in Nollywood 25 years. Most of the attention goes to actors, producers and directors and not much for writers. So, I want to shed light on the important roles writers play in Nollywood. So many of them are so talented but they end up wasting away, because there is no encouragement for them. There’s desperation among many of them. Sometimes, they call to tell me, ‘just produce my script, don’t even pay me’; they can carry about a script about for months or even years with no one noticing. It shouldn’t be so. We need to encourage writers without whom there is no film or Nollywood.”
Onuzulike said the total package for the project is a tidy N10 million that includes production of the winning script, adding, ”the winning script will be shot into a blockbuster movie. When we see good scripts, even if they don’t win, we will buy and produce them. So, this is a good time for screen writers to pitch in and have their voices heard. We want to make screen writers stars that they truly are!”
Nollywood Screenwriting Contest 2022 is endorsed by the major bodies in Nollywood that include Directors Guild of Nigeria (DGN), Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), Association of Movie Producers (AMP) and Screen Writers Guild of Nigeria (SWGN).
