Mentor Profile: Kristin Overn
PAGE AWARDS EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, PRODUCER, AND STOWE STORY LABS MENTOR KRISTIN OVERN ON CREATING THE LAUDED PAGE INTERNATIONAL SCREENWRITING AWARDS
By Marian Cook
How do you create one of the most successful screenwriting competitions to recognize emerging talent in the film industry? Well, PAGE Awards Executive Director, Producer, and Stowe Story Labs Mentor Kristin Overn knows the answer to that.
After graduating from Northwestern University and working in theater in Chicago and Minneapolis for several years, Kristin moved to LA at the encouragement of her friends who believed she would be great in development. And they were right. Kristin’s experience developing plays, working with playwrights, and co-authoring and directing plays translated well to the big screen. After a couple of introductions by her Northwestern classmates, Kristin landed her first job in film as an assistant in development at Davis Entertainment. There, she read scripts and wrote coverage, until she shifted to working with individual writers and indie productions, holding roles such as line producer, production manager, and producer.
Then in 2003, she founded the PAGE International Screenwriting Awards: a global, annual screenwriting competition that bridges the gap between new writers and Hollywood producers, agents, managers, and studio executives.
Kristin explained, “What I saw working in independent production and development was that there were a lot of people in the business looking for great new projects, but they had a really hard time finding them because they didn’t have a pipeline or a big staff of readers.” She continued, “So what I realized was that a great service for everybody would be to run a de facto development department in the form of a competition where writers could submit their material and get it read by industry professionals in search of new scripts.”
This system has continually proven to be successful as many of today’s top new screenwriters and television writers have come through PAGE— Bill Dubuque of Ozark, Steven Canals of Pose, and Brooke Roberts of The Flash are just a few. But what specifically sets PAGE apart from other screenwriting competitions is how it’s structured.
Rather than creating a single pool of submissions, PAGE separates scripts by genre, ten in fact: seven feature genres (action/adventure, comedy, drama, family film, historical film, science fiction, and thriller/horror), short film scripts, TV drama pilots, and TV comedy pilots.
“It’s very unfair if you’ve written a little indie drama and you’re competing against this big action/adventure script. How can you even compare the two? So, we broke it down by genre and we were one of the first competitions to do that. I think this is one of the best ways to evaluate scripts, and also makes it easier for producers to find the material they’re looking for,” Kristin stated.
Aside from its structure, PAGE is also unique for its judges, approach to material, and care for its screenwriters. “Our judges are working professionals in the industry—I don't think you get everywhere. And we have a real emphasis, and have since the beginning, on accepting scripts internationally. Our judges are looking for great stories from all around the world. And they appreciate all different types of diverse material,” Kristin said.
“We also offer feedback designed to help writers develop their projects, to be really constructive, to delve into what the writer is searching to create, to make it better, and help execute it in the best way possible so they can sell their script,” she continued. For many PAGE contestants, this is one of the best aspects of the competition. PAGE also has a system in place where their screenwriters can submit rewrites, after having taken into consideration the judges’ feedback, thereby forging mentorship relationships between its screenwriters and judges.
And for a lucky few, there also comes recognition (with three winners in each category) and a grand prize of $25,000. “But of course, the biggest prize for writers is the chance to get signed by an agent or manager, to get optioned, to get your movie produced, or get staffed on a TV series, and a lot of our winners end up having that happen for them,” Kristin explained.
However, what Kristin always likes to remind screenwriters is to know your strengths and weaknesses, run your concept by a few people to make sure it's fresh and special for its genre, and that no matter the results, you’re still a winner.
“I think everyone who enters is doing something is great for themselves, and they should pat themselves on the back for completing a script and for having the courage to submit it. And however far it goes in the contest, that’s not the be all, end all. Just one great rewrite can make all the difference,” Kristin said.
She continued, “I always encourage people to enter more than one contest. Be picky about the ones you enter, but enter several if you possibly can because you’re going to get different reactions from different places. It’s all about who is reading your script.”
It’s this care for screenwriters and the craft of screenwriting that led Stowe and PAGE to form a partnership many years ago. Annually, PAGE sponsors two Quarter-finalists to attend the labs. This past year, the PAGE fellows were Elena Perez for Undertow and Suzanne Griffin for The Sensualist, with honorable mentions Kendra Arimoto for Before I Disappear and Vijay Ilankamban for Brown & Yellow. Kristin explained, “I think we’re perfectly in alignment in terms of our focus on developing new writers, helping writers take their work to the next level, and bringing them to the attention of Hollywood or wherever in the world they're attempting to sell it.”
She continued, “I've been to Stowe. I've had the opportunity to see how the labs work. I think it’s an incredible experience and I’m thrilled to be able to send a couple of writers there because I think the experience is just invaluable.”
Marian Cook is a former journalist, Stowe Story Labs staff member, and current USC student pursuing an MFA in directing. She’s been published over a dozen times, covering topics from local news to federal healthcare legislation. Although she loves the world of journalism, having done documentaries on a range of topics from plastic surgery to segregation in the church, her real passion lies in narrative film. She one day hopes to be a writer-director and tell strong, female-led stories, especially that of Latinas. When she’s not filming, she likes to explore, listen to blues and jazz, brush up on her French, and absorb everything science fiction related. Learn more at http://mariandcook.weebly.com/. At Stowe Story Labs, Marian assists with all aspects of operations, writes for the newsletter, and assists with research and writing to support fundraising and communications about programs.
