It doesn’t matter whether your film dream job is directing, writing or producing—if your goal is to break into the industry, it’s nice to have some help along the way. Luckily, the Producers Guild of America (PGA) is offering a leg up to aspiring producers with their 2012 PGA Producers Showcase (ProShow) competition. Developed in 2010 by the PGA’s International Committee and presented in conjunction with the Produced By Conference (PBC), ProShow encourages up-and-coming producers of international and domestic films to establish business relationships, co-develop projects and secure investments, thereby helping a new wave of moviemakers get their unique visions out into the world.

Producers are invited to submit a feature-length screenplay, packaged for theatrical release, by March 13th (early bird deadline), March 27th (regular deadline) or April 17th (late deadline). Ten finalists, to be announced on May 1st, will attend this year’s PBC—held from June 8-10, 2012 in Culver City, California—where they will meet face-to-face with some of Hollywood’s biggest financiers, studios and production companies. Nine of those finalists will receive a prize of $500, but to the Grand Prize winner will go the major spoils, in the form of $20,000 in cash and prizes.

“Each year, the Producers Showcase generates an impressive caliber of submissions from around the world, and we are looking forward to even more this year,” says Stu Levy, chair of the PGA’s International Committee and co-chair of ProShow. “I am excited that the Guild supports independent producers through ProShow… and that we continue to make improvements that will provide our finalists with even more ways to get their films made.”

Among the ProShow judges selecting this year’s finalists will be award-winning producers (and PGA members) Gary Goetzman (Mamma Mia!, “Game Change,” The Silence of the Lambs), Marshall Herskovitz (Blood Diamond, Traffic), Gale Anne Hurd (The Terminator, Aliens, “The Walking Dead”) and Paula Wagner (Mission: Impossible I, II and III, The Last Samurai), among many others. The Grand Prize winner, meanwhile, will be selected by financiers at PBC.
 
For more information about ProShow, and to enter the competition, visit www.producedbyconference.com/proshow.