Amazon Studios has awarded $1 million to Rob Gardner for his test movie, 12 Princesses–“family friendly musical tale about a love-struck farm boy in a magical world.” Follow this link to watch the 12 Princesses test film.
In addition, Matthew Gossett won Amazon’s $100,000 best script award for Origin of a Species, “a thriller about an ex-cop facing the greatest obstacle of his life.” Follow this link to read the script for Origin of a Species. Every year the studio collects scripts and test movies from aspiring filmmakers, rewarding the best work with annual prizes.
Here’s more about the program, from the release: “Amazon Studios first launched in November of 2010, since then the Amazon Studios community has submitted more than 700 test movies and 7,000 scripts. In the last year, 39 scripts, test movies and trailers were highlighted in contests and awarded more than $1.9 million in cash prizes. Additionally, Amazon Studios recently attached prominent producers to three projects discovered through the community to help further their development process.”
Sideways director Alexander Payne and Sundance Film Festival director of programming Trevor Groth judged the best test movie category. Inglourious Basterds producer Lawrence Bender, The Da Vinci Code screenwriter Akiva Goldsman and Warner Bros. Pictures executive vice president of production Courtenay Valenti judged the best script category.
