Contest & Awards Banquet

2026-27 Short Dramatic Film Script Contest
Deadline: February 1, 2027
The Video Club of Laguna Woods is looking for scripts for a 10-20 minute dramatic film
(may be a comedy, mystery, romance, etc.).

The selected script may be produced by the Video Club’s Short Films Project during 2027 for
broadcast on Village Television, possible submission to film festivals, streaming on YouTube, and
other distribution.

Seven such films have already been produced: “Write It Down” (2019), “What, You, Too?” (2021),
“The Hole in One” (2022), “Bowling Ball Debacle” (2023), “Seeking Online Adventures” (2024),
“Twilight Time” (2025), and “One Script/Five Genres” (a learning/recruitment experiment, 2026).
All of these films are (or soon will be) available for viewing on YouTube.com> Video Club of Laguna
Woods>Playlists>Short Dramatic Films.

CONTEST GUIDELINES
 Submission is open to residents of the Laguna Woods Village retirement community, Laguna
Woods, California, and members or past members of Village clubs.
 The script should be of interest to Laguna Woods residents, i.e., seniors.
 The script should use mainly 55+ actors and should be relatively easy to produce, using locations
within Laguna Woods Village as much as possible.
 The script must be original by the author, although retelling of old stories (e.g. Shakespeare, the
Bible, folklore, etc.) is permitted.

The author must be willing to give the Video Club of Laguna Woods written permission (license) to
produce and rewrite the script as we see fit. (The original script would remain the property of the
author.)
 To be broadcast legally, the script should not contain profanity or obscenity. The Federal
Communications Commission defines those terms to mean what would be seen as profane or
obscene in the community in which it is shown
 We encourage scriptwriters to think cinematically – to tell stories through juxtaposition of images,
through sound, lighting, and composition, in addition to telling stories through dialog.
 We encourage (but do not require) scriptwriters to submit their scripts in dramatic filmscript
format. For free scriptwriting software, visit https://nofilmschool.com/free-screenwriting-software.
The contest deadline is Monday, February 1, 2027

Parker, Kelly, Hale Take Top Awards at Banquet

From left, Roland Harrison, contest chair; Steve Carman, club president; Lucy Parker, 1st place winner; John Kelly, 2nd place winner; and Chuck Hale, 3rd place winner. Photo by Barbel Dagostino.
Winners of the Video Club’s Annual Short Video Contest were chosen February 24 by members attending the club’s 8^th annual “Academy” Awards Banquet in Clubhouse 2. They are Lucy Parker, first place, for her video “The Three Wishes”; John Kelly, second, for “Making A Demo for Woods Combo”; and Chuck Hale, third, for “The Trip Planner.” Fifteen members entered videos of 4 minutes or less in the contest, chaired by Roland Harrison; 10 entries were selected by the Video Acceptance Committee to be shown at the dress-up banquet, attended by 82 members and guests and chaired by Barbel Dagostino.

Selected still photos from the banquet are shown in the galleries below. All still photos from the banquet (by Tom Nash, Barbel Dagostino, Betsy Martin, Lucy Parker, and several guests) are now available to view and download online at Google Photos.

VIEW CANDIDS
https://photos.app.goo.gl/Xnu69mMlRdbsoAKJ3

VIEW PORTRAITS
https://photos.app.goo.gl/FNjjFT4V781tY91V2