@babajayne It might be clever, but it's not a climax or a resolution. The story breaks down to an aging actress wants to reclaim her youth, so she finds a witch who transforms her into a vampire. She nows kills people to keep her youth. Traditionally speaking, that isn't a complete story. With the judges emphasizing over and over the importance of story, it stands to reason they could explain what they mean by story. There's nothing inherently wrong with Team Llama's pitch, but it's more of a character sketch or a backstory. This happened, so this is why the character is the way she is. It's intriguing, sure! It would make a fun character bio in the Sims, even. I'm not suggesting these people need to make the Sims equivalent of Les Miserables, but shouldn't the stories feel more like a Pixar short? And if the judges are going to focus on the stories so much, shouldn't there be some clear standard to which the stories should aspire? To me personally it just gives off the impression that a bunch of people are judging a competition of which they are not professionals in the field. I want judges who can convince me that they will accurately assess the artistic potential of a piece - I don't want to watch what feels like a soccer referee overseeing a tennis match saying "I like how you hit the ball out of court, but next time could you hit it more to the left?".
