Announcing our Dirty Dancing Creator's Contest!

Hey Episode Creators,

I am very excited to announce our next creators contest! This contest is in partnership with the iconic film DIRTY DANCING. In addition to being featured in the app, one Grand Prize Winner will have a chance at a very special prize!

~ Dirty Dancing ~

The original Dirty Dancing tells the story of Baby and Johnny - two lovers from different backgrounds brought together for the summer at Kellerman’s Resort in the Catskills. To enter the contest we want you to put a modern day spin on this classic love story.

The specific guidelines for this contest are a bit more complicated than previous contests so be sure to read everything below carefully!

Official rules and regulations HERE.

THE GRAND PRIZE: In addition to being featured on a Contest Shelf in the app, one Grand Prize winners will also be awarded an all-expenses paid Trip for two to Hollywood and get to participate in a special, day long Episode Writer’s Lab hosted at Lionsgate studios!!!

  1. This contest is open to all Episode Creators, aged 13+ from the US, Canada and the UK. However, to be eligible for the Grand Prize, you must be at least 18 or older AND be a resident of the United States. Please read the complete contest entry rules and guidelines found here.

  2. Your story should be a re-telling of the 80’s classic movie Dirty Dancing with your own spin. You must use the characters Baby and Johnny. You must also include at least one dance scene. You can use any of these premade dance sequences or create one of your own. More than one dance scene is encouraged.

  3. As part of the entry process you must share a screenshot from your story on Instagram using the hashtag #DirtyDancingOnEpisode (exactly as it is shown here). We need to be able to see your post so make sure you follow Episode and that your post is public. If we can’t see your post, your entry is not valid.

  4. In addition to posting the screenshot mentioned above, you must completely fill out this Google form after you publish your story. Be sure to include the link to your social media post as well as your story URL. Your story URL is visible in the address bar of the web browser you use to access the Writer’s Portal and your script page. It should look something like this: https://www.episodeinteractive.com/write/story/My_Awesome_Story. (<- this part is very important, many, many people send the incorrect link).

  5. Your story must have “DD” in the title. Stories without “DD” in the title will be disqualified. You must format your title like this - “DD: Love in the Catskills”. This will help readers search for your story and identify it as a contest entry.

  6. The submission window is 8 weeks for this contest. Your story must be published between Noon Pacific Time on Tuesday, June 5th and no later than 11:59pm PST on Tuesday, August 7th, 2018.

  7. You may NOT use or re-title a previously published story. This must be a new and original work that has not previously been published to Episode or another platform. Spin offs and sequels are not allowed.

  8. If you are an official Episode Director or Partner you may enter the contest, but only with original work outside the scope of your contract with us.

  9. You must write in Limelight Style. However, you can write in Cinematic style or in a combination of Cinematic and Spotlight styles. Your dance scenes must be in Cinematic style.

  10. Be sure that your story follows our content guidelines and is suitable for a PG-13 audience. Because this is such a big contest with an amazing prize we have to be super strict about our content guidelines. Even one violation can mean that your story will be disqualified from the contest and removed from the app. If you have any doubts or questions about whether elements of your story break our Content Guidelines please contact the Episode Review team here. We are happy to help you with ANY questions you might have!

  11. Winners are determined based on highest levels of reader engagement, rubric score and fit to contest theme.

  12. There is no length requirement for this contest. You must have at minimum 3 complete chapters to publish and enter.

  13. Remember to allow at least 3 business days prior to the contest deadline for your backgrounds, overlays and story cards to be processed. This means you should plan on submitting them no later than July 25th. You may not add art, overlays, backgrounds or story covers to your entry after the entry deadline passes.

Winners from this contest will be announced on August 24th, 2018. We will announce one Grand Prize winner as well as showcase the top stories in a special Dirty Dancing shelf in the Episode app!

Happy writing!

Love,

The Episode Team

Update: Thank you for bringing to our attention that there were some missing animations. We’ve fixed this so that they’re now able to be found. We had to leave out “pp_perform_opening” as there are reasons that cannot be released. Since we can’t make it available we’ve removed it from the template. Here’s a list of the animations and which models they work on:

Female
sing_dance_energetic_pointup_loop
sing_dance_energetic_doublepoint_loop
walk_sing_backward_loop
walk_sing_energetic_loop
sing_loop_rear
dance_drop_it
dance_sway_loop_rear
sing_dance_shimmy_loop
sing_armsdown_loop_rear

Male
dance_tiptoes_strikepose
dance_backup_energetic_loop
walk_sing_backward_loop
sing_loop_rear
sing_armsdown_loop_rear

Update (7/25) We’re updating our Rules and Regulations for the contest to reflect the changes made to the dates for the contest. You can see this by clicking on the link for the Rules and Regulations listed in this post. You can also find the update Rules and Regulations here.

37 Likes

This sounds really exciting but I wouldn’t be allowed to go to hollywood… I’m not 18 yet and I don’t live in the USA… and I’ve never seen the film :joy:

21 Likes

Same…
Never saw the film, I am not 18 and I definitely don’t live in U.S :joy::joy:
So I am not entering…
But good luck to everyone that enters :grinning::grinning:

9 Likes

Wikipedia lol.
I have seen it but it’s been a loooong time.

10 Likes

Probs not gonna enter

1 Like

I’m only not yet 18 and live in the Uk and planning a new story

2 Likes

Interesting :thinking: I know I don’t have time for this, but I’ll probably end up trying ~

5 Likes

I almost watched Dirty Dancing.
My dad found an old VHS tape of it in a Japanese second hand goods shop and assumed it was either dubbed into Japanese or had Japanese subtitles, so he bought it for $3 and gave it to me.

Except it wasn’t Dirty Dancing, it turned out to be a mislabeled porno. Cue many elaborate but failed plans to discreetly get rid of the tape without my parents finding out what they’d accidentally done.
Suffice to say, I’ve still never seen the movie so I also won’t be entering this contest :joy:

54 Likes

Maybe I’m wrong, but it seems like not a lot of us have actually seen this movie (at least those of us on the forums). It’ll be interesting to see if people actually watch the movie for this contest, or just google the plot and go from there.

13 Likes

Not 18 and never watched/seen the movie. Lol.

2 Likes

Well, it’s a classic and I think everyone has the time to watch the film if they haven’t yet.
I’m a little worried about how all the stories may end up being similar. Hopefully, the participating authors will find that unique spin!

16 Likes

Wow!!! It sounds damn interesting. Can’t win the grand prize as I am not living in US. But, I guess it’s fine. Still an intriguing concept. Edit: So, you can’t enter if you aren’t from US. Lol.

5 Likes

BOI why the same plot? :cry:

10 Likes

And is only for US and UK residents :stuck_out_tongue:

4 Likes

Oof we have to use premise people Issa no for me

6 Likes

That’s okay all my favorite actors are either retired or dead :no_mouth:

I still don’t understand it, how do we write the same thing with a plot twist?

9 Likes

Imagine reading through everyone’s entries and getting tired of reading the same plot over and over and over again.

61 Likes

What if you’re from Canada and wanted to collab with someone from the US. Would that take us out of the running for the grand prize?

4 Likes

This is basically a directing competition, seems unfair to me.

9 Likes

I can’t wait to read the entries!

4 Likes