Scriptwriting Incubation Programme (SIP)

Scriptwriting Incubation Programme (SIP) aims at identifying and nurturing local screenwriting talent to help incubate quality screenplays, thereby enhancing the quality of Hong Kong film productions. The Government has reserved a total funding of more than $8 million for implementation of SIP.

A good screenplay is indispensable to a successful film production. Through the SIP, the Government provides cash prize as an incentive, with an aim to encourage screenwriters and would-be screenwriters to join the profession and produce quality screenplays.

The SIP is held in the form of a competition with multiple phases. At the final phase, a maximum of 10 final winning screenplays will be selected. Other than that, to enhance the element of training, professional mentoring will be provided to applicants.

• Phase One: Interested parties should submit applications together with the synopsis and logline. A maximum of 50 submissions will be shortlisted, each of them will be awarded a prize of $30,000.
• Phase Two: Shortlisted candidates should submit the treatment. Up to 25 submissions will be shortlisted at this stage, each of them will be awarded a prize of $80,000 and will enter the next phase of the competition.
• Phase Three: Shortlisted candidates should submit a full screenplay at this stage. A maximum of 10 final winning screenplays will be selected and the winning parties will be invited to attend a presentation forum to meet with potential investors to increase the chance of obtaining market investment in adopting their screenplays for commercial film productions.
• Phase Four: After the winning parties participating in the presentation forum, the final winning screenplays will each be awarded a prize of $300,000. Cumulatively, a final winning screenplay will be awarded a total amount of $410,000.

During the competition process, seminars will be arranged with experienced screenplay writers sharing techniques of writing treatments and screenplays. There will also be dedicated one-on-one coaching to assist the applicants in perfecting their screenplays.

The application period was from 15 August 2020 to 14 October 2020. Around 1 550 applications were received, which is encouraging.

Assessments of all three phases of the SIP were completed. 10 screenplays were selected as winning screenplays in the final phase of the SIP.