It's official: Danny's Toys is a winner!

Nine o'clock last night I came upstairs and checked my computer, as I had been doing all day, waiting for news about the 2007 PAGE International Screenwriting Awards in Los Angeles. The news was in and the news was good: my script DANNY'S TOYS won first place in the Short Film Category! It was given the gold prize, ahead of GROWING PAINS by Virginia Desmond and WINGNUT by Joseph Costa. More than 3400 scripts were entered in the overall contest, and these were winnowed down to the top ten in ten categories. To my complete surprise, DANNY'S TOYS has won its category.

So that was nice.

What do I get for winning, beside a smile you'll need a jackhammer to get off my face? Apparently the gold prize winners get $1,000 cash, promotional services with Script Marketplace, The InkTip Database and Players Marketplace Magazine, and gift certificates from The Writers Store, Office Depot and Amazon. Not sure how much use most of that will be, but a thousand bucks wouldn't go unloved, even at the current exchange rate. Beyond that? Bragging rights for a year, though I don't want to be a skite about it. [Skite - what a wonderful Kiwi word that is.]

It'd be great if somebody wanted to option DANNY'S TOYS, but I can't see my script ever being made. In my head it's a Tim Burton-esque stop motion animated film, like a shorter version of Corpse Bride or The Nightmare Before Christmas. There's not much of a market for those, not unless they run 80 minutes, have Tim Burton attached and Johnny Depp involved. But my win might help me secure representation and it'll look good on my writing CV.

There's a few people I need to thank for the success of DANNY'S TOYS. My screenwriting tutor James Mavor was a big help, questioning my choices and forcing me to examine my storytelling with rigour and smarts. The other second year part-time students on my screenwriting MA course, all of whom had comments and suggestions about the treatment when we workshopped it in class. Everyone else who read the script and offered feedback, particularly Danny Stack, Lucy, and Lianne. [Proof that paying professional script readers to assess your work does bring dividends.]

That's enough self congratulations and back slapping. I've got to write the synopsis for a Phantom comic script, learn four or five more pages of the play I'm rehearsaing at the moment and my 23 minute TAPS drama showcase script needs to be finished before the deadline of midday on Thursday. There's work to be done. Ron Shelton's wonderful script for Bull Durham says it best.

NUKE
I was great, eh?

CRASH
Your fastball was up and your curveball was hanging--in the Show they woulda ripped you.

NUKE
Can't you let me enjoy the moment?

CRASH
The moment's over.