“I think it was more like a litmus test of, where is the script? How would it be received? With this script, I was a quarter finalist in some competitions, and this was obviously the most exciting, the winning… I just wanted to really put my best foot forward, and with this script, I was like, okay, I actually feel like I’m confident and ready,” says Maia Mulcahy, Grand Prize TV winner of the 2024 Final Draft Big Break Contest.

In this episode hosted by screenwriting career coach Lee Jessup, Final Draft Big Break Contest 2024 Grand Prize winners Laura Kroeger and Maia Mulcahy talk about working in the industry, writers’ groups and mentors, and the ups and downs of submitting to and winning a respected screenwriting competition.

Laura Kroeger won the Feature Film category for her dramatic feature script “Bigger in Texas,” which follows a wealthy woman in Texas who loses everything and, with a partner, blackmails powerful men by exploiting a real law in Texas that limits the amount of sex toys a person can own. 

Maia Mulcahy won the TV category for her half-hour comedy “Fountain of Ruth,” which follows an older couple in a special retirement community after the wife gets de-aged but the husband opts out at the last minute, and are now faced with this big new challenge in their relationship.

Kroeger says, of the value of screenwriting contests for someone who lives outside of LA:

“For me, I don’t live in LA, and so my way into the industry had to be different. I knew that contests were going to be a big part of me being able to demonstrate that I had ability when I didn’t necessarily have the network, or the ability to run into somebody at the supermarket or a bar or restaurant, and make those connections. So, I did use contests. I use them judiciously. I did a lot of research on what contests were worthwhile. Both their prize packages as well as their reputation. So if I placed in them, maybe if I didn’t quite win them, that would still mean something in the industry.”

To hear more, watch the podcast.