Silver Screenwriting

Posts Tagged ‘quarterfinalists’

Here you go, everybody! The top 50 scripts of over 1,000 submitted. So this represents the top 5% and that’s quite an accomplishment! The 20 semi-finalists will be announced on August 1st.

———————————————

Abeyta, April & Kim Nunley – Super Ted

Amdahl, Joseph- A Boy in the Woods

Axelrad, David & Michel Plaxton – Machine Gun Kelly: The Real Story

Barlowe, John & Irin Evers – Miss Christmas

Bauer, Kristin – Edultery

Booth, Thom – Jaunt

Bowlden, Kelli – Venus Envy

Brown, Harold – Dewey and the Magic Library

Burningham, JR & Tess Ortbals – Terra Incognita

Cambria, Craig – Canaries

Catz, Sarit & Gloria Ketterer – Instant Karma

Cecchini, Ron – Blue Lady

Dilier, Matthew – The Sandbox

Donald, Mike – Cortex

Donald, Mike – Shadow Trade

Donnelly, Scott & Joe Douglass – Cows

Downs, Christine – The Jupiter Syndrome

Evans, Corey- Death’s Horizon

Farrand, Carol – Nobody in My Family Has Sex

Fass, Rick- Love Erasers

Figel, Rich – The Doll

Fortune, Jules – Better Than Broadband

Headley, Jason & Michael Tumino – Seniors

Hoover, Stephen – Buried South of Galatians

Hoover, Stephen – Ghosted

Hoover, Stephen – To Live, Press 1

Luu, D.N. – Faithful

Jackson, Ryan – Fix

Knutson, Forrest – Samurai High

Lammey, David – Shotgun Wedding

McCoy, Michael – Under the Rising Sun

McMinn, Dave – O Boy

Moore, Sherry Lynn – Hunting Season

Nolan, Tom – The Quick Way Home

Puterbaugh, Joseph – The Jack Johnson Story

Ridone, Steve – Colby on the Potomac

Rosen, Jane – Ancestral

Sayle, Allie & Liz – Troublemakers

Sheehy, Rich – The Intake

Simpson, R. Ian – Paraplizzle

Spiegelman, Bruce – IsiS

Stein, Christopher – Moment of Conception

Shyu, Tony – Macau Twilight

Stirling, Bruce – The Embalmer’s Apprentice

Wasserman, Daniel – Stowaways

Watson, Robert Keith – Bank Robbing for Dummies

Wiggins, Joseph – Amsterdam XXX

Wolfe, Celeste Chan – Spotnik

Tze Yun, Sun – The Sun Rises East

Zakalik, Marc – Drumadoon

Now, a word to those of you who didn’t place. Why god, why? you might be asking yourself right now. There were two of three reasons your script didn’t move up to the quarter finals and they are (broadly speaking) a) your script had significant format, spelling and language usage problems b) your first ten pages were not entertaining, the genre wasn’t clear and the tone was all over the map and c) subjectivity.

Now a small (but loving ) slap on the wrist and weird pattern I will note: this year, the scripts that didn’t make the cut were far worse than the scripts that didn’t make the cut last year. The scripts that made the cut, however, were far better. I have no idea why this is but the scripts that are moving up to the next round are going to be VERY tough to judge. I have my eye on about ten or twelve that I particularly like but on the other hand, I read one that was SO excellent for the first seventy five pages – great, right? – and then tanked out with a confusing, illogical, lazy ending.

So the real judging begins now. Can you write opening pages that engage, that are professional, that entertain and intrigue? Can you write with the proper format and without eight (YES, true story) pages of action lines first? Great. That makes you a quarterfinalist. Let’s see what you quarters can show us beyond that. This is where the going gets much tougher.

Good luck to you all and for those who didn’t make the cut here but did somewhere else, don’t forget subjectivity is at play here, so don’t be too downhearted. As I am wont to say, until they invent the Read-a-tron 5000, you have to make do with live humans who have experience and background reading scripts.  If you didn’t place anywhere else, take this as a sign that you are completely NORMAL and just need to keep writing. Don’t take it too seriously or too personally. Every single person who took the time to enter and who tried his or her best is a winner in my eyes and if you’ve ever met me you don’t doubt the truth of that. Onward!

A

ALASKA SAAB STORY (comedy) by Clark Harding

B

BABY GIRL (dramedy) by Jennifer Babin
BET ON BLOOD (horror) by Patrick Barb
BLUE LADY (thriller) by Ron Cecchini
BURIED ON PAGE 8 (dark comedy) by Jennifer Harrison

C

CANARIES (thriller) by Craig Cambria
CHIMANA (romantic drama) by Paiman Kalayeh
CHRISTMAS CAROLE (comedy) by Heidi Bordogna
CRACKER JACK MAN (thriller) by Rich Sheehy

D

DJINN (horror) by Matthew Altman
DRAWING MARIA (drama) by Patrick Kadas

E

EMULSION (neo-noir) by Ryan Lewis
ENDOWMENT (drama) by Ian Samplin
ERASURE (thriller) by Michael Grebb
EVERLASTING (drama) by Brent Spencer

F

FERTILE ATTRACTION (rom-com) by Mariah Wilson
FIGURE 8 (thriller) by Bruce Glassman

G

H

HAIR TODAY (comedy/family) by Dennis Douda
HALFLAND (fantasy) by E. Arriaga
HEMLINES (comedy) by Rachel Parker
HERO QUEST (action comedy) by Joel Dorland
HOLMES (drama) by George Nicholis
HORROR COMIC (thiller) by Stephen Hoover
HUNTING PICASSO (Thriller) by Marlene Shikegawa

I

INUGAMI (thriller) by Rich Figel
IT’S A BIG TOP WORLD (comedy) by William Bienes

J

JACK THE RIPPER’S SISTER (thriller) by Robin Perry JASON (family) by James Khanlarian
JONESING (comedy) by Chris Hansen JUAREZ (action) by Scott Keiner

K

KITTY LOVE (dark comedy/thriller) by Julie Ransom
KOALAS ON BIKES (family) by Sam Gray

L

LIFE AMONG THE RUINS (heist thriller) by Anthony Fisher

M

MEADOWLANDZ (drama) by Moon Molson
MECHANICSVILLE (drama) by Chris Thornton and Jason Thornton
MILLIE AND DANIEL (drama) by Reid Waterer
MY BROTHER MICK (drama/thriller) by Kim Nunley

N

NINJA COWBOY (comedy) by Sean Hartofilis

O

OFFRAMPS (comedy) by Patrick O’Riley
ONE NIGHT STAND (horror) by Ian Coyne
OUTNUMBERED (thriller) by Gary Buglass

P

PIXEL GARDEN (drama) by Odin Ozdil
PLUS SIZE (comedy) by Jacob Roman

Q

R

RAEFORD’S GRILL (drama) by David Meyer
RAINDROP SKETCHES (neo-noir) by Kevin Parnell
REVENGE IN THE RED PALACE (drama) by Amy Quick Parrish (repeat)
RUN FOR YOUR LIFE (drama) by Melissa Goetz

S

SEASON OF MISTS (drama) by Kevin Brodie
SEEKING SAMARKIND (drama) by Felipe Cagno
SHIFT (thriller) by Kodjo Akeseh Tsakpo
SIMPLER (comedy) by Surita Parmar
SWIRLY (comedy) by Earl Bench

T

THE BASEMENT (drama) by Scott Shackleford
THE COOL KIDS (thriller) by Cliff Zimonowski
THE DEATHS OF ARCHITECTS (drama) by Nasar Abich, Jr.
THE FRATERNAL ORDER OF WANNABES(drama) by Bill Hawkins
THE FUNERAL ESCORT (comedy) by Michael Comstock
THE GREAT AMERICAN LOSER (dramedy) by Jess DiGiacinto
THE GREY (family) by Garth Pappas
THE HAPPINESS EXPERIMENT (dramedy) by Alex Darrow
THE OTHER GUY (rom-com) by Jae Yu
THE WARRIORS OF WESTGATE (drama) by Michael Harriel
THE WINE RUNNER (romcom) by Wenonah Wilms
THE WONDER (comedy) by Gregory Abbey

U

UNGRATEFUL DEAD (dark comedy) by Mark Roberts
UPGRADE (sci fi) Louis Rosenberg

V

VIKTOR (action-thriller) by Matt Wheeler

W

WAY TO THE CAGE (drama) by Richard Michael Lucas
WHAT’S DUE (thriller) by Keith Watson
WHEN IN LIMBO (thriller) by Adam King
WITHOUT CONSENT (drama) by Roberta Pleczenik

X

X-RAY AND THE SNEAK (comedy) by John Plunkett

Y

YOU AND ME (drama) by Casey Fenton

Z

123

360 DEGREES OF UNCONSIOUSNESS(drama) by Antwan Ward

A

A Soldier’s Honor, Mike Scherer
All The King’s Horses, Richard Huber
Another Time, Another Place, Skip Berry
Apricot Harmony, John Killeen
Aurelious Rising, Paul Cooper
Away Games, Michael Cheung

B

Bad Rap, Mark Grisar
Bananafish Sandwich, Kevin O’Malley
Battle Mountain, Kristine Hurst
Blood Money, Michael Eging
Blood Snow, Adam Hong
Blowback, Jeff Travers
Body Work, Haik Hakobian
Bridie Molloy, Daniel Donnelly
Bull’s Eye, Tamara Farsadi
Business or Pleasure, Sara Zofko

C

Chapman, Justin Owensby
Christmas 1914, Robert Milius
Cross My Heart…, Rich Sheehy
Cul-De-Sac, Galen Young D

Devil Of Sorrow, Robert Lewis
Devil’s Due, Neil Cumbria F

Family First, Patrick Barb
Feed the Monster, Rob Rex
Felix the Flyer, Christopher Canole
Fort Miserables, Leonard Lawson
Freebird, Hilary Graham
Free Skate, Caitlin McCarthy E

G

Garbo’s Last Stand, Jonathan Miller
Ghoul, Kelly Parks H

Hanging On, Matthew Kaplan
Hate Day, David Kempski
Head Games, Scott Marengo
Hunger, Michael Hogan I

In God’s Name, John Killeen
In Trust, Justin Owensby
Influence, Dov Engelberg J

Jam the Flow, Galen Young

L

Lights on the Lake, Jason Tucker
Loss of Innocence, Eric Gaunaurd
Lucifer’s Bounty, R.D. Wright

M

Marry Me, Daniel Korb
Mr. Unlucky, Tony Nichols O

P

Phantom Noise, Yvette Bou
Powder Brown, Philip Dorr Q

Qumran, Mike Scherer R

Red Card, P Montgomery
Relative Terms, Deborah Stenard
Revived, Jennie Von Eggers
Running Gun, Mike Bencivenga S

Salt and Light, Natalie Zimmerman
Scavengers, Diana Kemp-Jones
Scent of Jasmine, Israela Margalit
Scents of Justice, James Albert
Searching for Ernie, Ron Vigil
She’s Got A Way, Elise Stempky
Shooting Bambi, William Goins
Sisters in Arms, Barry Leach
Sleeping With the Lutefisk, Wenonah Wilms
Sliding Into Home, Rich Sheehy
Snilderholden’s Jungle, Jennifer Thomas
Something For Me, Juan Sebastian Jacome
Sonny Takes to Peru, Mark Hammer
Soulmating, Christopher Bosley
Stakeholder, Stephanie Branco
Stolen Sky, Dan Fabrizio
Stuck on Love, R.J. Berens
Stupid Love, Steven Zelman
Swing, Christie Havey-Smith T

The 6, Brandon Vega
The ABCs of Mr.D, Alex Darrow
The Adventures of Zara Zancón in Cactus Canyon, Amy Quick Parrish
The Bermuda Prawn, Patricia Semler
The Bottomless Puzzle, Patrick Daly
The De-Haunters, Bryan Bagby
The Devil in Saint Nick, Christopher Burns
The Doll, Rich Figel
The Fire Store, Allen Colombo
The Friendliest Evil Clown Around, Michael Pauly
The Goddess, Rafael De Leon Jr.
The Hinge, Vining Wolff
The Knuckleballer, Michael Murphy
The LAM of God, Drew Langer
The Magic of Merin: Inside the Lamp, David Kiez
The Nazi Method, Matthew Grant
The Nutcracker, Connie Tonsgard
The Orchard, Diane Stredicke
The Placeholder, Amy Neswald
The Price of Vengeance, Patrick Hoeft
The Prisonaires, Mike Freeman
The Saxon, Nigel Grant
The Spinning Wheel, Natashia Saunders
The Terminals, Matt Umbarger
The Tooth Fairy, Michael Hogan
The Warrior Within, Nicholas Wright
Through The Grapevine, Shequeta Smith
Through the Night, Edward Martin III
To The Sea, Elizabeth Robinson
Tool, G.T. Field
Tooth Lake, Richard Topping
Truthies, Carlo DeCarlo
Turnabout, Mike Scherer
Turning Annie, Bruce Stirling
Twilight, Sebastian Moretto U

Unity, Eugene Langlais
Unsigned: The Feature, Christopher Wasmer
Utopia, Kevin Norman W

Wait For Me, Brantley Black
White Niggers in the Woodpile, Paul Van Zyl
World Wide Web, Jason Arnopp
Wrocklage, Stephen Daniels

Y

Yard Sale, Irin Evers