Competition Regulations

1) The 2016 Latin America-US Screenplay Treatment Competition is organized by the Latin American Training Center-LATC, with support by the School of Communication of the University of Miami, the Miami-Dade College, the National Association of Latino Independent Producers-NALIP, the Miami-Dade County Office of Film and Entertainment, the Ibero-American Federation of Film and Audiovisual Producers-FIPCA, Final Draft Screenwriting Software, GrayRobinson, P.A. and the Miami International Film Festival. Focused on cross-border themes, the competition aims to encourage co-productions of feature films (fiction or documentaries) between Hispanic (Spanish-speaking) Latin American countries and the US, and to promote location shooting in two or more countries, as well as to help new writers find success in today’s highly competitive film and entertainment industries.

2) The competition is open to filmmakers and screenwriters, over 18 years of age, with a university degree in any field, whose work has not yet been produced. The participant must be a citizen or permanent resident of either the US or a Hispanic Latin American country (does not include Brazil).

3) The participant may only compete individually. Collective participation, or the co-authorship of the treatment for the purposes of this competition, will not be allowed.

4)  Only 1 (one) treatment, in English or Spanish, will be accepted per participant. The treatment must not have been submitted to any production company for negotiation and/or production, nor previously awarded a prize in similar competitions. Treatments accepted to participate in the Competition may only be negotiated with production companies at the conclusion of the competition.

5) Persons directly related to the members of the Selection Committee may not participate in this competition. “Persons directly related” refers to individuals who have relatives up to the third degree, as well as current working and/or contractual ties.

6) The application period begins on March 14, 2016 and concludes on April 29, 2016. In the event that 50 qualified applications are received from US and 50 from Hispanic Latin American countries before the deadline, the application period will end at that time.

7) The Competition will consist of three phases, as follows:

PHASE 1 – THE APPLICATION:

  • The Competition application form may be downloaded from the LATC website at Application Form;
  • Participants will send to the Coordinator of the Competition, Mr. Tiago Elídio, LATC Project Manager, at latc@gmail.com, the following documents (The email “subject” must be identified as “2016 Latin America-US Screenplay Treatment Competition”):
  1. The completed application form, scanned;
  2. Scanned photo ID (driver’s license, passport page or Cédula de Identidad);
  3. A script treatment, in Spanish or English, in the following format:

– File format: Word.doc;
– Up to 3 pages, numbered;
– Formatting: Times New Roman; Size 12; 1,5 Line spacing;
– Upper, lower, left and right margins: 2,5 cm.

  • The participant whose application does not contain all of the required documentation in accordance with the previous items will be eliminated from the Competition.
  • Each applicant will receive an email confirming receipt of the application and indicating if it is complete. Participants will have 48 hours to provide missing information.
  • Only the first 50 qualified and completed applications from US, and the first 50 from Hispanic Latin American countries will be accepted.
  • After all documents are checked and validated, the corresponding treatments will be sent to the Selection Committee.

PHASE 2 – THE INITIAL SELECTION:

8) The first 100 treatments validated by the LATC will be judged by 2 representatives of LATC, utilizing a ranking system according to the criteria below:

  1. Is the subject or theme suitable to the medium (fiction feature film or documentary)?
  2. Is the story line creative, original and/or innovative?
  3. Does the treatment offer real potential to become a full script and film?
  4. Do the subject and story line offer potential for showing in exhibitions/festivals?
  5. Would the subject or theme be of interest for commercial theatrical and/or television distribution?
  6. Does the subject have potential for co-production between a Hispanic country from Latin America and the US?
  7. Does the subject or theme offer potential to be filmed in US and Hispanic countries in Latin America, and is it consistent with the cross-border theme of the Competition?

9) Based on the criteria above, 2 representatives of LATC will select the top 20 screenplay treatments from US and the top 20 from Hispanic Latin America.

PHASE 3 – THE FINAL SELECTION:

10) After the first selection, the evaluation of the top 20 treatments from each region will be performed by a Selection Committee composed of:

  • One representative of the School of Communication of the University of Miami
  • One representative of the Miami-Dade College,
  • One representative of the National Association of Latino Independent Producers-NALIP;
  • One representative of the Miami-Dade County Office of Film and Entertainment;
  • One representative of the Ibero-American Federation of Film and Audiovisual Producers-FIPCA;
  • One representative of the Miami International Film Festival;
  • One representative of LATC.

11) The Selection Committee will utilize the same criteria indicated above for the first selection. The decisions of the Selection Committee shall be final. LATC is not responsible for the decisions of the Committee.

12) The first-place winning screenplay treatment from one Hispanic Latin American country and the first-place winning screenplay treatment from the US, will each receive a U$500 cash award from LATC, toward development of the screenplays, and a Certificate for digital download of Final Draft screenwriting software. In addition, the three finalists from US and the three finalists from Hispanic Latin American countries will receive a copy of the LATC publication “Latin American Cinema Today: The Director’s Perspective”.

13) The winning treatments will also be made available by LATC to independent production companies in the US and Latin America, through its agreements with production organizations and others, for possible acquisition, development and/or production. The timing and form of making the treatment available to production companies will be determined by LATC. Any and all negotiations between screenwriters and production companies are private, between the authors and production companies. LATC will not participate in such negotiations, nor obtain any commercial rights derived from the treatments.

14) The results of the Competition will be announced on June 17, 2016 (tentative), in press releases of the sponsoring organizations, on the LATC website and by other means to be determined by the co-sponsors and LATC.

15) Participation in the Competition implies full acceptance of the terms and conditions of the Competition and the present Regulations, selection process and the selection criteria.

16) Any questions or issues related to administration of the Competition will be resolved at the sole discretion of LATC.

17) General questions should first be directed to Tiago Elídio, Coordinator of the Competition. Milton Vescovacci of GrayRobinson, P.A. will also be available to answer general legal issues.

18) By the simple fact of participation in this Competition, participants accept and agree that the LATC, its directors, employees, assignees, licensees and/or contractors, as well as the co-sponsors and jury members, shall not be liable for any loss or damage arising from participation in the Competition or the acceptance and/or use of the awards received through participation in this Competition, as well as derivative of any external problems or Force Majeure that may preclude participation on any of the dates in this Competition, including but not limited to, problems with telephone lines, communication problems, software and/or hardware problems, problems Internet access, etc.

19)  LATC reserves the right to modify or change the present Regulations, in order to ensure the proper administration of this Competition. LATC also reserves the right to temporarily or definitively suspend this Competition, in the case of Force Majeure, or any other reasons which justify it. As such, LATC will publicly report its decision to suspend the Competition, and the reasons to support that decision.  Decisions by LATC on any issues relating to these Regulations shall be final.

20) The awards of this Competition will be non-transferable.

21) Participants who fail to sign the application form are automatically excluded from this Competition. Participants who may defraud or evade the Regulations will also be excluded from this Competition, at the discretion of LATC and the Competition co-sponsors.

22) The winners of the Competition automatically transfer to LATC, without cost and for indeterminate period, the right to use their names, image and voice, for the purposes of publicity of any aspects of this Competition.

23) Communications to participants will be made via email.

24) Each participant states and ensures that the material provided as part of the application does not violate the copyright or any other rights of any third party, and exempts the LATC, as well as the co-sponsors and jury members, of any related claims that may arise on the subject.

25) Located in Rio de Janeiro, the Latin American Training Center – Centro Latino-Americano de Treinamento e Assessoria Audiovisual – is a regional media training and audiovisual consulting firm focused on professional development of the new generation of filmmakers and other audiovisual professionals in Latin America. LATC specializes in creative training programs for audiovisual content producers based on new-technology business models. LATC also offers consulting services for audiovisual projects and film commissions, including project development and packaging, co-production orientation, identification of appropriate funding sources, as well as international representation.

LATC is affiliated to: CILECT – Centre International de Liaison des Ecoles de Cinéma et de Télévision (Brussels), IFTA – Independent Film & Television Alliance (Los Angeles), IFP – Independent Filmmaker Project (New York), NALIP – National Association of Latino Independent Producers (Los Angeles), EGEDA – Entidad de Gestión de Derechos de los Productores Audiovisuales (Madrid), Cesnik, Quintino e Salinas Advogados (São Paulo), Cowan, Debaets, Abrahams & Sheppard Law Firm (New York) and the Américas Film Conservancy – AFC (Los Angeles).

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