Seeking aspiring and established filmmakers!

The Meth Project, a large-scale prevention program dedicated to reducing teen Meth use, is currently seeking submissions for a national 30-second commercial competition.

The winner of the competition will receive $20,000 and join the elite company of Academy Award-winning directors Darren Aronofsky, Wally Pfister, and Alejandro González Iñárritu- all of whom directed past Meth Project “Not Even Once” commercials. The winning video will be central to Meth Project outreach and seen by millions of viewers beginning October 2016.

Examples of past Meth Project commercials:
Aronofsky: http://bit.ly/1NSh7c7
Iñárritu: http://bit.ly/1PkP337
Pfister: http://bit.ly/20tVBag

What: The Meth Project is seeking entries for a 30 second commercial featuring the theme “Life or Meth.”

Who: Aspiring and established filmmakers are encouraged to create a commercial for consideration.

Where: The contest is open to anyone living in the United States, with additional prizes and competitions are being held in: Colorado, Montana, Idaho, Georgia. See below for more information on state prizes.

When: Entries will be accepted February 15, 2016 through May 31.

Winners: The Meth Project will select the 10 best candidates based on the criteria below, and showcase the filmmakers and their commercials during an exclusive panel being held at Series Fest in Denver, Colorado (www.seriesfest.com). The 10 commercials will then enter an online-voting competition during July 2016 to further narrow the selection down to three finalists. A winner will then be selected by our celebrity panel and announced September 1, 2016.

Submission: All entries must be submitted through FilmFreeway. See Rules and Agreements below.

PLEASE NOTE THAT ALL COMMERCIALS MUST END WITH THE METH PROJECT LOGO FOR STANDARDIZATION. THE LOGO ZIP FILE CAN BE DOWNLOADED HERE FOR YOUR INCLUSION: methproject.org/methcontest

ANY SUBMISSION OVER 30 SECONDS WILL AUTOMATICALLY BE DELETED.

Judging and Selection:
Upon entry, all commercials are screened and approved by The Meth Project. Commercials will be judged based on the strength of the following criteria: Cinematography, Screenwriting, Sound, Acting, Editing, Originality, and the thematic integration of “Life or Meth”. Once submitted, each applicant will be competing nationally in an online contest through filmfreeway.com.

Grand Prize:
$20,000 and national acclaim with widespread digital and cable TV viewership of selected video

Additional prizes and competitions are available in the following states:
Colorado: $2,500 prize to the best commercial created by a Colorado filmmaker and travel to Series Fest for 2 people (announced June 6)
Montana: $2,500 prize to the best commercial created by a Montana filmmaker and travel to Series Fest for 2 people (announced June 6)
Idaho: $2,500 prize to the best commercial created by a Idaho filmmaker and travel to Series Fest for 2 people (announced June 6)
Georgia: $2,500 prize to the best commercial created by a Georgia filmmaker and travel to Series Fest for 2 people (announced June 6)

Rules & Terms
CONTEST RULES
1. The Meth Project Commercial Contest is jointly organized, operated, and owned by Colorado Meth Project, Georgia Meth Project, Idaho Meth Project, and Montana Meth Project. These entities shall be referred to, for purposes of this Contest, as “the Contest Organizers” or “the Meth Project States.”
2. The Meth Project Commercial Contest is open to participants 13 years of age and older. Only one entry per person/team is allowed. Each entry may only be submitted once.
3. To qualify for consideration in the Meth Project Commercial Contest, it must be evident that participant(s) put forth a good faith effort to produce a quality submission demonstrating thought, planning, and creative effort.
4. Entries must contain a clear anti-Meth message.
5. Participants may register as a group of up to a maximum of four individuals. Each group must have a designated leader (13 years of age or older) who is responsible for registration and securing parental permission for each member of the group under 18 years of age. The group leader will receive and will be responsible for the distribution of prize money to the group.
6. Entries must be wholly original content created by the participant(s) and cannot incorporate or include anything, in whole or in part, that is owned or was created by any third party or that would require the consent or permission of any third party. Entries must not infringe upon the copyrights, trademarks, rights of privacy, publicity, or other intellectual or other rights of any person, and must not violate any law.
7. Entries must be received by the date and time specified. For purposes of these rules, receipt of entry occurs when FilmFreeway’s server records the entry information. Entries that are incomplete, garbled, corrupted, or unintelligible for any reason, including but not limited to, computer or network malfunction or congestion, are void and will not be accepted. The Contest Organizers are not responsible for lost, late, misdirected, damaged, stolen, altered, garbled, incorrect, incomplete, or delayed entries, and is not responsible for problems related to technical malfunctions of electronic equipment, computer online systems or providers, computer hardware or software failures or for any other technical problems which may limit a participant’s ability to participate in this contest.
8. Entry constitutes permission (except where prohibited by law) to use each participant’s name, city, state, likeness, image, and/or voice for purposes of advertising and promotion in any and all media now or hereafter known, in perpetuity, without additional compensation, notification, permission, or approval.
9. Entries must be submitted through FilmFreeway.com.
10. All interpretations of rules will be determined by the Contest Organizers and all such decisions shall be final. The Contest Organizers reserve the right to disqualify any entry for any reason, in their sole and absolute discretion.
ASSIGNMENT OF RIGHTS
Submission of an entry by a participant (whether an individual or a team) constitutes an acknowledgement and agreement that all writings, other works of authorship, and improvements conceived, developed, or otherwise made by the participant in connection with the contest, alone or with others, whether prior to or following the date hereof, and relating to the contest, whether or not subject to copyright or patent protection (“Developments”) shall be the sole property of the Contest Organizers, to be used by the Meth Project States for any and all purposes which these four states, in the determination of their respective boards of directors, see fit. Submission of an entry constitutes an agreement by the participant to assign to the Meth Project States all of their right, title, and interest throughout the world in and to all such Developments, including in any copyright, patent, or trademarks rights incorporated therein, without any further obligation or payment on the part of the Contest Organizers in respect of such Developments. Submission of an entry constitutes an agreement by the participant that during and after the participant’s participation in the contest, the participant agrees to execute any documents necessary to perfect the assignment of such Developments to the Meth Project States and to enable the Meth Project States to apply for, obtain, and enforce any intellectual property rights worldwide on such Developments, without further consideration. Without limiting the foregoing, submission of an entry constitutes an acknowledgement by the participant that all original and copyrightable works of authorship by the participant, whether created alone or jointly with others, made in connection with his or her participation in the contest, are and shall be owned solely, completely, and exclusively by the Meth Project States, and all such works and all rights, including copyrights, in them throughout the world shall be and are hereby assigned or transferred completely and exclusively to the Meth Project States, to be used by the Meth Project States for the reduction of first-time Meth use in each or any of the four named Meth Project States: Georgia, Colorado, Idaho and Montana. Submission of an entry constitutes an agreement by the participant to irrevocably designate the Meth Project States as the participant’s agent and attorney-in-fact to do all lawful acts to obtain copyrights and patents and otherwise enforce the Meth Project States’ rights as discussed in this paragraph. Submission of an entry constitutes an agreement by the participant to waive any and all moral rights or rights of attribution in any Developments created by the participant.
ADDITIONAL CONDITIONS
1. The contest is not open to immediate family members of contest judges or of employees of the Contest Organizers.
2. The prizes awarded may constitute income under applicable federal, state and local tax laws and winners shall be solely responsible for payment of any and all taxes which may be due with respect to the acceptance of the prize.
3. The winning Commercial is not guaranteed to be used on Meth Project licensed merchandise or in connection with any other Meth Project goods or materials.
4. The Contest Organizers reserve the right to permanently disqualify and remove from submissions any entry that violates the letter or spirit of these rules.
5. By entering the Meth Project Commercial Contest, each participant (or a child participant’s parent or guardian, in the case of a child under the age of 18) warrants and represents that the Commercial is the participant’s (or the child participant’s) sole and original work product and they agree to indemnify and hold harmless the Contest Organizers and their directors, officers, employees, trustees, agents, attorneys, and their successors and assigns from and against any and all damages and expenses of any kind (including reasonable attorney's fees, costs and litigation expenses) arising out of any claim or cause of action related to the creation and/or display of participant’s Commercial and/or the entry or participation in this contest by participant, and the reproduction, use, publication, display of participant’s Commercial, including but not limited to, indemnification for any copyright, trademark, right of privacy, right of publicity, or other intellectual property claims or actions brought by others, or any damages claims or other causes of action brought by third parties for actions related to or arising from the creation, display, reproduction, use or publication of the Commercial or participant’s participation in the contest. Participant, and his/her parents or guardian (if contestant is under 18) hereby release, discharge, indemnify and hold harmless the Contest Organizers, their directors, officers, employees, trustees, agents, attorneys, and their successors and assigns from and against any and all other claims, demands, damages, causes of action, losses, liabilities, injuries or obligations, direct or indirect, known or unknown or any kind, nature or description whatever, which an adult contestant, or a child contestant's parents, guardians, heirs, executors, successors or assigns may have or claim to have against the Contest Organizers, their directors, officers, employees, trustees, agents, attorneys, and their successors and assigns arising out of the creation and display of the Commercial and from participation in the contest, including but not limited to, distribution of prize money and/or any future use of the Commercial.
6. By submitting an entry, each contestant and his/her parent or legal guardian agree that they have read, understand, and will comply with these official rules.

Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Rose Roser

    I have to agree with Ryan Ao's review: Zero communication, and no record of any winner. There is also no website to check updates. It's a great concept executed poorly. I hope they do it again, but in a more organized manor that at least respects the filmmakers enough to communicate with them.

    September 2016
  • Ryan Ao

    I would give this only 3 stars as there's lots of room for improvement on the communcation end. 1) i was unclear that we were not chosen 2) i was notified through a filmfreeway email months after I submitted and months after the finalists were chosen that I had been "qualfied"...which I though meant I was chosen. after much confusion, and a plane ticket to the film festival panel bought and luckily refunded i was able to finally hear from the director of this festival that he apologized for this miscommunication and blamed it on filmfreeway for it being a "new system" for them to use. So apparently the Meth Project needs to get more familiar with the way FilmFreeway works so as not to confuse the entrants. 3) i never was able to find out the winner of the contest or even track down anywhere on the internet who won it. weird.

    September 2016