Announcing the Finalists of This Quarter’s ‘The Inciting Incident’ Screenplay Challenge2 min read

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Earlier this year, Sinema Media, a consultancy and project management company focused on film and media initiatives, kickstarted The Inciting Incident, its inaugural screenplay challenge, in partnership with casting agency Hello Group, acting school Method Acting Asia, publishing house Epigram Books and online interactive and fundraising platform Premise, with Tempest as a prize partner of this quarter.

The prizes for this quarter are:

First Prize	– S$200 cash prize – A Kirin – Monarch – PBT – Cherry MX Red Keyboard from Tempest (worth S$149) – A spot to attend a Fundamentals of Acting workshop by Haque Centre of Acting & Creativity (worth S$100) – 300 Silver Coins Package for use on Premise – In addition, casting agency Hello Group will be sponsoring a one-week casting package (worth S$3000) to go towards the production of the winning entry as a short film.
Second Prize	– S$150 cash prize – A spot to attend a Fundamentals of Acting workshop by Haque Centre of Acting & Creativity (worth S$100)
Third Prize	– S$50 cash prize
The Premise Award	– Production of one minute project pitch video (worth S$417) – Creation of digital marketing assets (worth S$278) – 100 Gold Coins Package for use on Premise (worth S$139)
	In addition, all winning screenplays will be published in a collection by Epigram Books at the end of the competition.

This round saw contestants submitting an original screenplay in English for a 3 – 5 minute short film based on the quarterly genre of comedy. In total, the challenge received 73 submissions for its first edition.

For this round, our panel of industry professionals are:

Kamil Haque, Founder, Haque Centre of Acting & Creativity
Philothea Liau, Managing Director, Hello Group
Ray Pang, Founder, Premise
Chng Ying Tong, Producer, The Flying Kick Asia

Together, they have narrowed down these entries to ten finalists based on the criteria of form and craft, creativity, and producibility. 

In alphabetical order, our ten finalists are:

Chicken Feat by Niesa Marie Gequillo Luib
Consolation Prize by Tan Wei Ting
Cough Cough by Claire Tay Ming-Gui
Cut! by Taufiq Rozaini
Fertility Treatment by Chung Ming See
Secret Valentine by Muhd Afiq Bin Aris
Stop at Two by Jamie Issac Tham Wai Mun
The Golden Ass by Li Shin Ho
The Lost Bet by Sharon Phuah Swee Choo
You, Next by Kung Hak Yee

This round’s winners will be announced at a special livestreamed show on 18 March 2020, along with a jury panel discussion to talk about the importance of good scriptwriting in the different fields of the film industry, from producing to directing and acting.

Follow Sinema.SG’s Facebook page to keep up to date with the livestream, as well as the announcement of the details of next quarter’s screenplay challenge in the coming months.

Also, keep an eye out for the next three rounds of The Inciting Incident: Sinema Screenplay Challenge.