I submitted a screenplay to Scriptapalooza today. See scriptapalooza.com. The first deadline is Friday the 5th. The real deadline is April 15. I think first prize is $10,000, but the main thing is that real Hollywood industry people read all the scripts, so even if I don't win the contest, I might still have my screenplay optioned or bought and made into a movie.

My submission is called Slight Detour. [Ended up being called Operation Detour.] The novel/novella version, available here, was panned by one brother (harshly, but I don't care) and one sister; given faint praise by my wife and her sister; and actually liked by my Dad and another sister.

Almost forgot, I also submitted that version to Amazon's Breakthrough Novel Award competition last month, but didn't even make the top 1000 submissions. :)

When I saw that all of the judges were women, I knew I didn't have a chance. My story is geared toward guys, regular guys, not intellectuals and especially not pseudo-intellectuals (like that brother). So, I reworked it a little bit, especially the beginning, changed things around, added/deleted here and there and, voilà, it's a screenplay!

I don't expect it to win, I'm just hoping to get noticed (in a good way). They don't announce winners until August 15, so I'll probably have completely forgotten about it by then. :)

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