Canterbury Christ Church University, in partnership with the production company Fresh Film, is hosting the Undiscovered Gems screenplay competition through its Faculty of Arts, Humanities, and Education. The goal of the competition is to create a five-page screenplay for a short film; this year’s theme is “A Day in the Life of.”
The guidelines do not impose any restrictions on the chosen genre, provided that the narrative aligns with the theme; however, it is an absolute requirement that the work meet the industry’s standards for professional presentations. The evaluation criteria include the originality of the story, the strength of the characters, the quality of the dialogue, attention to detail, and overall entertainment value.
Fresh Film is a prestigious advertising production company and BAFTA award winner—an award presented by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts—with offices in the United Kingdom, the United States, Thailand, Singapore, and the Czech Republic, where Richard Carter-Hounslow, a graduate of Canterbury Christ Church, serves as a producer.
The three best screenplays were awarded the opportunity to receive personalized feedback from Richard Carter-Hounslow, who has produced numerous commercials and short films. The winner also received a £100 gift card from Amazon and three exclusive one-on-one mentoring sessions with Carter to delve deeper into the submitted screenplay or another creative project.
Twenty screenplays were submitted to the contest, from which an initial shortlist of the top 10 was selected. Carter had the difficult task of choosing the three winning finalists from among them.
For Victoria, taking part in this project was a great opportunity. It took her a long time to develop the idea. "I found the experience really enjoyable, and it helped me practice writing scripts, because we had to meet industry standards," she reflects.
Her favorite genre is fantasy—whether in books, movies, or video games—so she knew from the start that she was going to choose that path, since, she says, it’s the one she feels most comfortable with.
Under the theme "A Day in the Life of," he wrote a fantasy story with a touch of comedy.
When asked what it means to her that a leading figure in the audiovisual industry like Richard Carter-Hounslow has chosen her work and reflected on it, Victoria says: "It was very exciting to learn that he read my story and liked it. His feedback helped me feel more confident in my abilities and validated. "
""Participating in this contest gave me an incredible opportunity to continue growing personally and professionally, and to gain more confidence," she concludes enthusiastically.