Los Angeles, CA – June 2, 2025: Horror fans, sharpen your pens (or sacrificial blades) — Killer Shorts Season 7 is officially open for entries. The contest is now accepting submissions of both short horror screenplays and prose stories, with a final deadline of December 31, 2025.
While major competitions like WeScreenplay, ScreenCraft, Tracking Board — and platforms like Coverfly — have vanished into the fog, Killer Shorts continues to thrive — a rare constant for emerging genre writers.
“If screenwriting contests were a horror movie, Killer Shorts is the Final Girl. You can’t kill us that easily,”
says Contest Director Alison Parker.
A Killer Addition: Tananarive Due
This season, award-winning author, screenwriter, and professor Tananarive Due (Twilight Zone, The Reformatory) joins the Killer Shorts jury. Known for her sharp storytelling and commitment to emerging voices, she’ll help select this year’s most terrifying talent — alongside fellow juror and friend Melody Cooper (Two Sentence Horror Stories).
They join returning horror icons and producers like Gregory Nicotero (Creepshow), John Zaozirny (Bellevue Productions), Gigi Saul Guerrero (Culture Shock), Julian Terry (Don’t Peek), and Barbara Crampton (Re-Animator), among others.
Still Open to Short Stories
Back again this year: Killer Shorts’ category for short horror fiction. Writers can submit stories or screenplays, each judged by top genre professionals. It’s part of the contest’s broader mission to spotlight new voices in horror — recognizing that producers are hungry for original IP in any form.
This Year’s Theme: Folk Horror
Season 7’s tagline — Submit or Be Summoned — sets the tone for a chilling new chapter. The haunting artwork teases a folk horror theme that may — or may not — begin to manifest more deeply as the season unfolds. Keep your eyes open, your offerings ready, and your scripts sharp.
Prizes & Perks
Finalists get more than bragging rights — they receive industry exposure, access to managers and producers, and the chance to win the custom Skull Typewriter Trophy, hand-sculpted by FX artist Tyler Green (SyFy’s Face Off).
Past winners have landed reps, sold scripts, and joined rooms — all after placing in Killer Shorts.
“Winning is always the goal, but even placing in Killer Shorts opens so many doors. If you want to be a better horror screenwriter, there’s no other contest that compares.”
– Phillip Dishon, Season 6 Winner
Key Dates:
- 🌕 Early Deadline – Aug 1: The First Script is the Purest
- 🔥 Regular – Oct 3: The Fire Grows Hungry
- 🌒 Late – Dec 5: The Script Demands Blood
- 🌑 Extended – Dec 31: Past the Threshold, the Price Increases
Submissions accepted at KillerShorts.com, FilmFreeway, and Network ISA.
So light the candles, shut the cursed book, and write your way into horror history.
Submit or Be Summoned.
Follow @KillerShorts on X, Bluesky, Facebook, Discord and Instagram.
