Runway opens Big Pitch contest with $100K for TV shows that do not exist yet

• Runway opened a two-week Big Pitch Contest for "shows that don't exist yet," and runwayml's launch post runwayml's launch post put the prize pool at up to $100,000.
• The official contest page says entries are open to paid Runway subscribers, can be solo or team submissions, and are due May 4 at 10 a.m. ET, which runwayml's linked post runwayml's linked post points readers toward.
• According to the rules page and runwayml's announcement runwayml's announcement, the submission has to be a single 1 to 3 minute trailer made with Runway, with the official watermark included.
• Cristóbal Valenzuela's example post Cristóbal Valenzuela's example pitch showed the format Runway seems to want, a fake reality-show trailer pitched as "streaming soon on @runwayml TV."

You can read the full contest page, skim the official rules, and browse Runway Watch, the company site already hosting creator-made films and series-like projects. One early example, "Is It Poison?" from Cristóbal Valenzuela's example pitch, frames the whole thing like a finished greenlight package instead of a normal text pitch.

Runway framed the contest as a way to pitch the show you wish existed, with no studio gatekeeper in the loop.

The official page sets the structure in plain terms:

• Open to anyone on a paid Runway plan
• Solo and team entries are both allowed
• Submissions close May 4 at 10 a.m. ET
• Multiple trailers per person are allowed
• Total prizes reach $100,000

The money is top-heavy. The prize breakdown is $50,000 for first, $15,000 for second, $10,000 for third, $5,000 each for fourth and fifth, then $1,000 each for places 6 through 20.

The mechanics are tighter than the promo video makes them look.

The contest page requires a single video between 1:00 and 3:00, and anything shorter or longer is disqualified. All generative video has to be made inside Runway, entrants need an active subscription at submission time, and the final file has to carry the official contest watermark.

The same page also makes the IP line explicit:

• The work must be original and made specifically for this contest
• Previously published or previously submitted work is not eligible
• All characters and IP must be wholly owned by the entrant
• Audio is allowed, but only if the entrant has the rights
• The finished trailer has to be posted on X, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, or LinkedIn with #RunwayBigPitchContest

After that social post, entrants still have to submit a form with their title, Runway asset link, social post URL, and a short pitch description.

Runway did not wait for outsiders to invent the format. Cristóbal Valenzuela, Runway's CEO, posted one the same day.

Valenzuela's trailer, "Is It Poison?," is pitched as a reality show where contestants choose whether to drink from identical bottles, pass, or talk someone else into going first. In a follow-up, Cristóbal Valenzuela's contest riff he called the campaign "Runway's Big Pitch Contest For Shows That Don't Exist Yet, but that might exist soon."

That pairing matters because it turns the brief into a concrete format: not a deck, not a script sample, but a finished-feeling teaser that already behaves like a trailer, poster, and sizzle reel in one asset.

The "streaming soon on @runwayml TV" line in Valenzuela's trailer lands differently because Runway already runs Runway Watch, a showcase site filled with creator-made films like Get Me Out / 囚われて, Pounamu, The Critic, and 2026.

The existing catalog does not turn the contest into a commissioning pipeline by itself, but it does give the pitches a visible destination inside Runway's own media stack. The company is asking creators to submit show concepts in trailer form while already operating a branded viewing surface for AI-native work.