Paramount Pictures announces KNOW HIV/AIDS Short Screenplay Competition
Winning Screenplay will be produced on the Paramount Lot for air on Showtime Networks and mtvU
HOLLYWOOD, November 29, 2005 -- Paramount Pictures’ Chairman, Brad Grey today announced the KNOW HIV/AIDS Short Screenplay Competition to raise awareness about the epidemic and World AIDS Day. The competition offers undergraduate students at LA-area colleges and universities the opportunity to submit screenplays for a short film focusing on the impact of HIV/AIDS on young Americans. The winning screenplay will be produced on the Paramount lot and premiered on mtvU, mtvU Über – the channel’s broadband network at mtvU.com – and Showtime Networks. Paramount Pictures is part of the entertainment operations of Viacom Inc. The competition has been established as part of KNOW HIV/AIDS, a partnership of Viacom and the Kaiser Family Foundation.
The Grand Prize is a $7,500 award and the opportunity for the screenwriter to produce—along with a team of industry professionals/mentors—the winning entry on the Paramount lot. Two additional finalist entries will also be awarded $7,500. Seven others will be recognized as Honorable Mention Honorees. All winners will be announced on March 31, 2006.
Focusing on the impact of HIV/AIDS among young people in the U.S. today, competitors are required to tell one story in two different lengths: a 5 minute version, and a 15 minute version. The 5 minute short will premier on mtvU and mtvU’s broadband channel, Über. The 15 minute version will be shown on Showtime Networks. Both versions will make their debut on World AIDS Day, December 1, 2006.
Film industry and communications professionals from Paramount Pictures Corporation, Viacom Inc., the Kaiser Family Foundation, mtvU, and Showtime Networks Inc. will serve as judges. Entries will be evaluated for their creativity, effectiveness, adherence to the topic, factual accuracy, and production feasibility on the Paramount Lot, among other factors. Professional filmmakers will supervise the entire project while mentoring student participants.
The competition is open to students age 18 years and older registered as undergraduates in specific film and television departments at selected colleges and universities in the Los Angeles area: the California Institute of the Arts; the California State Universities at Fullerton, Long Beach, Los Angeles and Northridge; Chapman University; the Claremont Consortium of Colleges; Los Angeles Community College; Los Angeles Valley College; Loyola Marymount University; San Bernardino Valley College; the University of California at Los Angeles; and the University of Southern California. Eligible students must submit their entries at a designated point of contact at their school by 12:00 noon on Friday, February 3, 2006. Details on contacts can be found on the Official Rules posted on the contest website, www.knowhivaids.org/screenplaycontest.html .
“Paramount Pictures has a lengthy history of support for our local public schools,” said Brad Grey, “so it was a natural that our competition would include both private colleges and public schools in California’s higher education system—and not just UCLA, but also several local campuses in the California State University and the California Community College systems. Paramount employees are proud of the studio’s longstanding tradition of community involvement. Our staff has enjoyed developing the competition and we are all looking forward to working with the students on the winning production."
The competition is part of the KNOW HIV/AIDS initiative, which launched in 2003 and which combines the power of Viacom’s media brands and unmatched audience relationships with the public health expertise of the Kaiser Family Foundation to foster awareness about the disease and promote HIV testing and prevention. Every Viacom division is involved in the campaign, and has committed approximately $600 million in media value to date.
For further information about the details of the Competition, please refer to the contest website, www.knowhivaids.org/screenplaycontest.html .
About KNOW HIV/AIDS
KNOW HIV/AIDS combines the power of Viacom’s media brands and unmatched audience relationships with the public health expertise of the Kaiser Family Foundation to foster awareness of the disease and its prevention. Every Viacom division is involved in the campaign, and 123 messages have aired to date, totaling $600 million in media value. Many of the PSAs are offered rights-free and cost-free to other television or radio networks. Additionally, Viacom properties, including CBS, UPN, MTV, BET, VH1 and Showtime, have produced more than 46 television shows with HIV/AIDS themes seen by millions worldwide. The campaign targets areas of the world where Viacom has a concentration of assets, especially the United States and Europe, and it partners with other companies to focus on regions most affected by the disease. Outside of the United States, KNOW HIV/AIDS is branded Staying Alive, building on MTV International’s award-winning campaign of the same name, and encompasses the full range of Viacom’s international properties.
Through a joint effort of KNOW HIV/AIDS and the BBC World Service Trust, messages in seven languages are broadcast to 60 million people in Africa and the Caribbean. In Russia, the campaign has teamed up with Gazprom-Media, Russia’s largest private media holding, to help implement a cross-platform initiative on HIV/AIDS. KNOW HIV/AIDS is working in China with MTV and CCTV for a branded AIDS awareness campaign in the world’s largest country.
