Savannah has become one of the Southeast’s most distinctive filming destinations — yet until now, it stood alone among major creative hubs without a centralized screenwriting competition. While cities like Atlanta, New York, and Los Angeles each host established script contests that identify emerging writers, Savannah had no equivalent platform.
The Savannah Screenplay Awards (SSA) was created to fill that gap.
Founded by writer and entrepreneur Malcolm A. Sullivan, the competition aims to elevate Savannah from a beautiful filming location into a true screenwriter-centric city — one that develops, celebrates, and highlights the voices behind Georgia’s future films and series.
“Every major film hub in America has a centralized screenwriting competition except Savannah,” said Sullivan. “I came here to write screenplays and was surprised to find that, despite the productions and festivals, there was virtually no infrastructure for someone who wanted to become a working scriptwriter. The Savannah Screenplay Awards exists to change that.”
Submissions for SSA’s inaugural 2026 season are now officially open as of October 8th on their home site ssawards.org and at filmfreeway.com/
