Yes, I perfectly understand your descriptive line:
“THE CHEVY burning rubber. New Mexico dead ahead.”

I like that style as well, short and to the point.
In fact, I recommend it. I have probably 50 posts or so instructing writers to be brief! From me, you get congratulations on your success there.

Most real industry people don’t want lengthy prose, they just want a quick image to understand what is going on.

Problem is, every reader will have their own personal style and grammar rules by which they abide. We cannot please everyone, that is for sure, and it only takes one person to make a huge roadblock for us; so it is good to strive for the happy mid-zone at the beginning of our careers.

To be safe, maybe you could in the future write complete sentences so that no reader stumbles, something like “The Chevy burns rubber. New Mexico is dead ahead.” It’s not the same stylistic feel, but close, and it would be easier read by everyone and grammatically correct. To be very clear, I would also add, “The Chevy flies past the New Mexico state line sign.”

Once you get a big hit, then you can write however you want, right? (Well, not really, you will ALWAYS have to deal with feedback.)

I’d say, stay true to yourself and to your own unique style, which is excellent, but also be open-minded to a little bit of change to get you where you want to go so that you connect with readers and the audience.

Best of luck. Sounds like you are doing great.

To the Creative World Awards (CWA) Screenplay Competition’s credit, they give lengthy and specific notes (extra cost), the most I’ve ever received in competition. Feedback includes specific reference to your work filtered through a point-based system rating overall story, character, quality of dialogue and commercial potential, among others.

Despite receiving solid marks in these categories, my overall score was brought low (and I was bumped out of competition) by what the reader called my “downfall…poor grammar.”

My descriptive text was sighted, i.e.

THE CHEVY burning rubber. New Mexico dead ahead.

As a former journalist and a twice-optioned screenwriter who’s worked intimately with industry pros, this was a staggering charge.

Even more galling, the reader attributed these “errors” to my failure to proofread! Had the reader scanned most contemporary, produced screenplays, they would have learned that screenplay text is not always prosaic, but often fractured and pithy for effect.

Kudos for CWA for making good on their promise to give detailed feedback. But they get the major stink face for hiring at least one reader unfamiliar with the format.

KBD

When considering entering contests, one must weigh: What is the reward? What is the cost to me? Do they adhere to their own guidelines with dates and rewards?

Thanks.

The impossibly high fees to go college after high school is one of the most tragic things to happen to the people of the USA. As it becomes more difficult to afford a degree, you will see many more self-made self-taught men and women achieve success… and clearly, as we are beginning to see, a lot of civil unrest for the mismanagement of government funds.

No, you don’t have to go to film school to enter screenwriting competitions.

Most screenwriting competitions are for anyone, although, for some contests in the USA, you might have to be an American citizen.

Usually, only the competitions put on by the universities themselves require that you are a student at that university.

Just read the RULES of each writing competition. Education is usually not one of them.

Best of luck to you.
J