NYC Midnight Ideas

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   Hi all,While we're all (im)patiently awaiting the judging of R2 entries, I thought a fun post might be a good distraction.  What suggestions do you have for this (or other/new) competition?

A few bouncing around my head:
What if all the group winners from G1/G2 won something? A t-shirt or coupon code for next year or something?  And maybe all the finalists? Gives them an extra little ooomph for doing so well.
What if, midway through R1, NYC Midnight threw in one extra random prompt that applied to EVERY group.  It doesn't have to be a major element, but it has to be included.  A document, a lie, the color red, etc.  Just a fun little twist.
(probably for a different comp, but...) What about everyone working from the SAME logline.  Make it ambiguous enough that you could stretch it into any genre.  Would be fun to see how writers would take "Fresh off a life-changing event, Mary prepares for a challenge of an entirely different level" and play with it.  Did Mary get divorced and is going to college?  Did she murder a politician and now is running for the vacant position?  
What about a mini-competition, where writers get 24 hours to write a 3-5 page screenplay.  All get uploaded then posted anonymously and get voted on and critiqued by the other writers and maybe a few judges.
OK, that's all.  Thanks for playing along.  Would love to hear others' ideas!!

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horrorshaun Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List NYC Midnight Addict Joined: 27 Mar 2024 Location: Arizona Status: Offline Points: 584	Post Options Post Reply Quote horrorshaun Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Topic: NYC Midnight Ideas Posted: 07 May 2025 at 2:54pm
	Hi all, While we're all (im)patiently awaiting the judging of R2 entries, I thought a fun post might be a good distraction. What suggestions do you have for this (or other/new) competition? A few bouncing around my head: What if all the group winners from G1/G2 won something? A t-shirt or coupon code for next year or something? And maybe all the finalists? Gives them an extra little ooomph for doing so well. What if, midway through R1, NYC Midnight threw in one extra random prompt that applied to EVERY group. It doesn't have to be a major element, but it has to be included. A document, a lie, the color red, etc. Just a fun little twist. (probably for a different comp, but...) What about everyone working from the SAME logline. Make it ambiguous enough that you could stretch it into any genre. Would be fun to see how writers would take "Fresh off a life-changing event, Mary prepares for a challenge of an entirely different level" and play with it. Did Mary get divorced and is going to college? Did she murder a politician and now is running for the vacant position? What about a mini-competition, where writers get 24 hours to write a 3-5 page screenplay. All get uploaded then posted anonymously and get voted on and critiqued by the other writers and maybe a few judges. OK, that's all. Thanks for playing along. Would love to hear others' ideas!!
	Scary Story Finals- Free Dresser. Must Pick Up Today.

Bellamarissa Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 24 Mar 2025 Location: Baltimore Status: Offline Points: 11	Post Options Post Reply Quote Bellamarissa Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 04 Jun 2025 at 3:32pm
	Love the idea of mini prizes for Rounds 1 and 2 - and I feel like there should be a better way to display the Top 5 and Honorable Mention screenplays from those rounds as well! Maybe somewhere on the website other than the master list? I was trying so hard to track down the other winners in my group (managed to find a few), but they're so fun to read and see what other people did with the prompts! This might just be me, but I would love if some of the feedback was also more generalized? Instead of "in this specific story, the characters should have done XYZ to make it better" (which is often a moot point considering a lot of decisions are made according to page limits), it could be more like "the screenplays that sell are the ones where the characters do XYZ, in the future consider adding XYZ aspects to make the story jump off the page more," or even, "make sure you do this formatting thing in the future if you're trying to get a screenplay in front of professionals." That might just be me wishing the feedback applied to more than just the screenplay at hand!

horrorshaun Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List NYC Midnight Addict Joined: 27 Mar 2024 Location: Arizona Status: Offline Points: 584	Post Options Post Reply Quote horrorshaun Report Post Thanks(1) Quote Reply Posted: 09 Jun 2025 at 11:33am
	yup great ideas!
	Scary Story Finals- Free Dresser. Must Pick Up Today.

Rae Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List NYC Midnight Newbie Joined: 29 Apr 2020 Location: Scotland Status: Offline Points: 99	Post Options Post Reply Quote Rae Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 02 Nov 2025 at 6:34pm
	Nice ideas!! Love the same-logline one. If someone set that up I'd love to take part.