MTRCB sponsors scriptwriting contest

MANILA, Philippines - The Senior Citizen Committee of the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) is sponsoring a scriptwriting contest centered on empowering senior citizens.

Scriptwriters may opt to choose young people as the main characters of the story but their lives have to be intertwined with the elderly. In addition, the story should highlight the significance of the elderly to the family, community and the society as a whole. Top three entries will be chosen with the top entry getting P30,000. Second and third place entries will get P20,000 and P10,000, respectively. The MTRCB may later help find producers of the winning full-length screenplay as film or as movie for TV.

The scriptwriting contest is open to all Filipino citizens (currently residing in the country) aged 18 and above. Board members of the MTRCB, including their immediate family members or relatives to the second degree, are not allowed to join the contest. 

The following are the entry submission requirements: (1) A contestant may submit only one entry each of a full-length screenplay on the theme of empowering senior citizens, not to exceed two hours; (2) the entry should be written in spoken Filipino (Taglish allowed), double-spaced, clean and legible, on 8 1/2” x 11” bond paper, and with one-inch margin on all sides; (3) entries must not bear neither the author’s real name nor a pen name on any page, only the title of the full-length screenplay; (4) instead of a pen name, the entries will be numbered; (5) entries must be accompanied by a notarized affidavit that states that the script is original and owned by the contestant, and has never been published or produced in film or on TV nor has it been previously awarded in any contest. It should not have been or should not be submitted to another contest of more or less the same period of time; and (6) entries should be enclosed in a sealed envelope, with an accompanying affidavit bearing the title of the screenplay, the author’s real name, address and contact numbers. A three- to five-sentence bio-data should also be included.

Entries may be snail-mailed, courier-ed or submitted in person at the MTRCB office at 18 Timog Ave., Quezon City, and must have one hard copy. Online submissions may be e-mailed to [email protected].

Deadline for submission is Aug. 31, 5 p.m.