Despite the fact that it's never been easier to make a movie, budding filmmakers continue to find that it's never been harder to actually get their movie seen. Digital technology has democratized the filmmaking world to the point where anyone with an iPhone can make a feature film worthy of a global audience,  but there's never been so much competition for eyeballs and attention.  And if Kickstarter has taught us anything, it's that the field is even more crowded at the pre-production stage, and that even the best ideas need some outside help. If it's never been more possible to make a film on your own, it's also never been more helpful to make a film with the support of a major production company.

But The Weinstein Company wants to help you out. As the grand prize of their awesome new "Master Storyteller" contest, the people behind huge recent films like "Django Unchained", "Lee Daniels' The Butler" and "Silver Linings Playbook" are offering one talented winner the opportunity to have their pitch or film treatment read by one of the company's Development Executives. Not buried at the bottom of a stack of unsolicited scripts or skimmed by an intern, but genuinely and carefully read by one of the few people capable of actually transforming your idea into a major feature-film. And by the time your pitch is crowned the winner, The Weinstein Company will be paying very close attention, as your idea will have been one of five finalists chosen by a sponsored judge on the merits of its creative vision, its originality, and the viability of the idea as the germ of a movie that could actually be made. While the contest naturally doesn't guarantee that The Weinstein Company will develop the winning pitch, this is nevertheless an incredibly rare opportunity to get your foot in a door that seems to be closing more and more every year.

Eligible submissions must be written treatments between 200 and 1,000 words in length, describing the premise and plot of your proposed film. The pitches have to be completely original ideas that have never been publicly published or submitted to any prior contests.

Visit The Weinstein Company's Facebook page or NextMovie's Facebook page to enter.  The contest closes at 11:59 A.M. (EST) on October 3rd, so start writing! Good luck to all, and we hope to be reviewing your film and reporting on its Oscar campaign in the near future.