PlayGround Film Festival

Founded in 1994, PlayGround is the Bay Area's leading playwright incubator. Over the past eighteen years, PlayGround has identified and nurtured more than 170 of the Bay Area's best new writers, helping to develop over 600 original short plays and premiering 103 of these through PlayGround's annual showcase, the Best of PlayGround Festival. PlayGround is also the leading commissioner of new full-length works by Bay Area playwrights, with 34 full-length commissions completed since 2002 and 7 currently in development. Through the New Play Production Fund, PlayGround supports the premiere of new plays by local playwrights in partnership with Bay Area professional theatres..

In support of the these playwrights and to create additional opportunities for the Bay Area's best filmmakers, actors and technicians, PlayGround in association with Dances with Light is launching the inaugural PlayGround Film Festival. Applications for the creation of short films adapted from the 103 short plays premiered through the Best of PlayGround Festival will be accepted from local filmmaker-playwright teams through February 6. Six finalists will be announced on February 10 and each team will receive $1,500 in seed funding and a screening of the final films in May 2012 during the 16th annual Best of PlayGround Festival.

The Time Line
Competition Announced: January 9
Proposals Due: February 6
Winners Announced: February 10
Screenable Rough-Cuts Due: April 16
Finished Films Due: April 30
Best of PlayGround Festival: May 3-27 (screening dates to be announced)

For complete guidelines, click here.
For the press announcement, click here.

To read the eligible plays online, click here or on the appropriate image(s) below. To purchase a hard copy of any of the eligible scripts, click here. For a complete list of eligible plays/playwrights (including 26 not published in the Best of PlayGround series), click here. For more information or questions, email jim<at>playground-sf.org.