It's hard to believe that next year is the 40th anniversary of Ridley Scott's Alien and Twentieth Century Fox are already planning the celebration. If you're a filmmaker and a fan of the Alien franchise, Fox and Tongal are teaming up to offer six filmmakers a chance to create an Alien short film, but the pitch deadline is quickly approaching:

From the Press Release: Twentieth Century Fox today announced it is joining forces with Tongal, an online creator network, to launch a campaign celebrating the legacy of the Alien franchise – but this time, fans will be driving the spaceship. In honor of Alien’s 40th anniversary, Twentieth Century Fox is seeking visionary super fan filmmakers to produce shorts set after the events of the original movie.

The “by the fans, for the fans” campaign asks filmmakers to create wholly original stories that draw on the elements that makes Alien uniquely Alien—from slow atmospheric buildups to badass female protagonists to “space truckers.” As part of the campaign, six fans will have the opportunity to work under FOX mentorship to craft their shorts.

“Alien has influenced an entire generation of sci-fi and horror filmmakers with its definitive style and ‘edge-of-your-seat’ storyline. Now, we’re giving fans the chance to put their own stamp on it,” said Beth Goss, Chief Brand Officer, Twentieth Century Fox Film. “Through this partnership with Tongal, we’re thrilled to give this next generation of filmmakers the opportunity to continue the Alien story with whatever chest-bursts and facehugs they see fit.”

Starting today, fans can submit their pitches by visiting Tongal.com/Alien. From this initial pool of pitches, eighteen filmmakers will be chosen to further develop their pitch with a visual treatment, pitch video and scripts. Then, six filmmakers will be selected by Twentieth Century FOX to bring their short to life.

“We’re thrilled to be working with Twentieth Century Fox on the anniversary of such an epic franchise and bringing that opportunity to our creator community,” said James DeJulio, Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer, Tongal.  The Tongal and Fox collaboration is a bullseye for us as we continue our work to empower creators to engage current and future fans around titles like Alien.”

Fans can learn more about the campaign by visiting Tongal.com/Alien

About Twentieth Century Fox Film
One of the world’s largest producers and distributors of motion pictures, Twentieth Century Fox Film produces, acquires and distributes motion pictures throughout the world.  These motion pictures are produced or acquired by the following units of Twentieth Century Fox Film: Twentieth Century Fox, Fox 2000 Pictures, Fox Searchlight Pictures, Twentieth Century Fox Animation and Fox Family.

About Tongal

Tongal has organized a new wave of talent for a new wave of channels. Powered by a global creative community and a proprietary technology platform, the company connects studios, networks and brands to creators around the world to develop video content and program every digital platform—from YouTube to SVOD. Tongal partners include National Geographic, LEGO, Mattel, Macy’s, NASA, Disney and NBCUniversal. The private company is headquartered in Santa Monica and is backed by Insight Venture Partners. More information can be found at www.tongal.com/business.