Two writers. Two months. One-on-one with Jonathan Hirschbein.

Submit your feature or TV pilot. Every writer who enters gets written coverage, read and written by a professional human reader. No AI. Two are chosen for a paid two-month online residency (March 21 - May 21, 2027), with WGA screenwriter Jonathan Hirschbein, working on their script until it's ready to go out.

• Entry fees: Early $55 through December 15, 2026; Regular $65 from December 16, 2026 through January 10, 2027; Late $75 from January 11 through January 31, 2027 (11:59 PM ET). Coverage included with every entry.
• Early deadline December 15, 2026. Regular deadline January 10, 2027. Final deadline January 31, 2027, 11:59 PM ET. Coverage delivered by early March 2027. Results announced by March 15, 2027.
• A two-month online residency (March 21 - May 21, 2027), one-on-one with Jonathan, with a $1,000 award for each resident.

What the two residents get

• A $1,000 award, paid during the residency
• Six one-on-one sessions with Jonathan, March 21 to May 21, 2027
• Jonathan's notes on your revised draft
• Guidance on a pitch package (logline and one-sheet), with access to BlockReel's pitch deck tool
• Your project featured across BlockReel and the BlockReel Journal
• A short call with Jonathan for all five finalists

How is the resident award paid?

Each resident receives $1,000: $500 when the residency begins and $500 when it's completed. US residents will be asked for a W-9; international residents for a W-8BEN.

Sharpen your draft before you submit

• Subtext Writing: Making Dialogue Mean Two Things at Once
• Visual Writing: Converting Emotion into Playable Action Lines
• Exposition Without Info-Dumps: The 7 Clean Methods
• Stakes Engineering: Escalation Patterns That Drive Narrative
• Antagonist Design: Engineering Pressure Systems for Narrative Depth
• Table Reads: How to Run Them and Extract Usable Data

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