FEATURE SCREENPLAY COMPETITION 2024 WINNERS
Winner: The Age of Revenge (written by Jason H. White)
A brilliant young girl dedicates her life to scientific discovery in order to wreak vengeance worse than death on those who murdered her family.
1st Runner up: WiLL (written by Ryan Hughes)
To collect his unknown, biological father’s inheritance, a mentally unstable conservation technician is sent across the America south’s “Bible Belt”, leading to disturbing discoveries and a chance at self redemption.
2nd Runner up: Zombies at Tiffany’s (written by Samantha Lee Howe)
'Breakfast At Tiffany's' meets 'Shaun of the Dead' in a Victorian Steampunk New York.
SHORT SCREENPLAY COMPETITION 2024 WINNERS
Winner: PANDORA, INC. (written by Joe Lueben)
A devoted father risks losing his family when an uncanny AI product arrives at his home and begins to seduce him.
1st Runner-up: THE BONEYARD (written by M. r. Fitzgerald)
After receiving numerous letters from a prison inmate, a renowned children's author agrees to meet him for a conjugal visit.
2nd Runner-up: ST. GEORGE AND THE DRAGON (written by Stuart Alan Creque)
A young boy has an unlikely protector from the monsters in his bedroom.
FEATURE SCREENPLAY COMPETITION FINALISTS 2024 (alphabetical order)
Sundown Trail (written by Luke Asa Guidici)
In a post-apocalyptic world where toxic mushrooms have made the air deadly to breathe, a timid boy must learn to trust a thieving bandit in order to save his dying father..
Bento Box (written by Brian Elliott Feinberg)
Basque terrorists invade an isolated Oregon boarding school on Christmas Eve, threatening to release a next-generation nerve agent into the Portland water supply if their financier is not released from US custody..
The Last Peace (written by Daniel Bodenmann)
When the dysfunctional family Donahue is trapped in a weird tradition of a little village, they have to team up and take extreme measures to fight the local pastor and escape the bloody place..
The Script, A Celtic Horror Tale (written by Lynn H. Elliot)
A mysterious young, Irish girl insists a literary agent read her work—one of their lives depends on it!.
Stan the (Wolf)Man (written by Justin Scott)
A rookie documentary crew roll into the small semi-rural town of ‘Iron Falls’ in Michigan’s upper peninsula to make a film about Stan who claims he is a werewolf. They are sceptical until a series of grisly discoveries suggest Stan could be telling the truth, all will be revealed at the next full moon….
StarRiders (written James Patrick Rodriguez)
An alien family escapes to Earth with their newly hatched egg. Guardian Priests from their home planet follow them and attempt to take possession of the egg. Texas Rangers and art thieves become involved in a three way tug of war for the egg..
The Broken Fellowship (written by Samuel T Weston)
In their final summer before college, three friends grapple with unresolved conflict against the epic backdrop of their LARP game.
SHORT SCREENPLAY COMPETITION FINALISTS 2024 (alphabetical order)
Another Shadow (written by Andrew Oleson)
After a night out at the bars, Josh gets pulled over by a dangerous police officer.
Damned (written by Lukas Anderson, Elio Andres)
When a father fails to remove his ankle monitor, his parole officer chases his tracked location, but when a demon disrupts his getaway, the father invites a violent, two-pronged chase.
Dust (written by Kareline Castor )
When a Dust Bowl refugee seeks shelter in an isolated homestead, the massive dust storms become the least of his worries after the eccentric homeowner is not what he seems.
Henry’s Stare (written by A.M. Vasquez)
After her stalker goes missing and is presumed dead, Violet McBride's dreams suggest that he may still be alive, threatening to shatter her newfound peace.
How to Get Popular in High School (written Randy Zuñiga)
Mr Big Hands (written by Annabel Maclean)
A four-year-old girl is haunted by a malevolent supernatural entity emerging ominously from toilets, turning her innocent encounters with bathrooms into terrifying ordeals.
Norval Meets the Outer Gods (written by Dale Nicholls)
Deadpan horror short hosted by the ghost of Orson Welles. A schlubby supermarket cashier moonlights as an emissary for malicious space gods. When he botches a simple sacrifice, the gods get angry. Very angry.
$elf-Checkout (written by Jonathan Riles)
A shopping trip leads to a life-altering transaction with a self-checkout machine.
Tempting Fate (written by Terry Luke Podnar)
A man in a bar uses extreme measures attempting to escape death when he encounters the Grim Reaper, who follows the man at every turn.
The Sucker (written by Cassady Maddox Booth)
Mark’s share house has a room for rent, but the most suitable applicant is a goth chick who gives him the heebie-jeebies. With the housemates out on a milk run, Mark is all alone in the house and hanging for a drink when a thunderstorm, a power out, and his spooky nemesis arrive out of the dark, turning his night around and leaving an unexpected impression.
FEATURE SCREENPLAY COMPETITION SEMI-FINALISTS 2024 (alphabetical order)
The Age of Revenge (written by Jason H. White)
A brilliant young girl dedicates her life to scientific discovery in order to wreak vengeance worse than death on those who murdered her family.
Alterated (written by Karinthal McCray)
After a man is kidnapped, mutated, and left for dead, he becomes a violent mutant that is potentially contagious, as well as vengeful and it is up to his girlfriend to either help cure him or kill him.
Bad Lands (written by EXO Books)
A young black cavalry officer joins General Custer just before battle only to find out the hard way that war really is hell.
Champagne Friday (written by Thom Hilton)
As Halloween approaches, a group of queer Portland schoolkids begin to have visions of ghostly apparitions.
Cling (written by Aaron Warner)
David DeGrandis has issues: a narcissistic pop-psychologist father, a mother lost to suicide, and a troubled dating history for which he’s never been held to account. But when he brings his current “partner” to the seaside town of his childhood, they face the creeping, slithering, monstrous family secret lying beneath all his worst impulses.
Clown Freaks (written by Michael Dugan)
A van full of teenage missionaries breaks down at a remote Clown College, but at this funhouse the jokes on them because these hideous, insidious jesters are actually serial killers hiding behind their funny face grease paint.
Correct Weight (written by Kenneth Ross MacKenzie)
Career Criminal Steven James Forbes finds himself in a bit of bother once more, with undercover cops pursuing him, while other villains from the Titians Outlaw Motor Cycle Gang, try to move into his territory.
The Curse of Greed (written by Karinthal McCray)
Nelson is an elderly man that has more wealth than health on his side. As if that isn’t bad enough, Nelson’s three spoiled and entitled daughters always acted more as rivals than sisters. The housekeeper is sickened by the greed and entitlement. After feeling like the family is undeserving, she puts brutal curses on each of them.
Ego Death (written by Rollyn Rose Crows)
Experience Ego Death like never before by following Victor Van Vellaseff’s spiritual journey through space and time, accompanied by a squeaky gurney. Jam packed full of non-stop action, and told in epic rhyming verse, this movie may just be a trip you don’t want to miss out on.
Familiar Realm (written by Jose Montalvo)
Set in a 1980s blue-collar neighborhood on the skids, an unwittingly deceased musician, guided by Death personified as Tina, navigates a purgatorial limbo, confronting his past and seeking redemption on a surreal journey towards the next realm.
The Flames of Fornax (written by Jinx Larratt)
In search for her lost brother, a hot tempered mercenary travels to the heart of a desert, to a city that is slowly drowning in ash, where her obsession with the giant forge at the city's centre tests how far she's willing to go to satiate her curiosities.
The Foot Fetisher (written by Randy Zuniga)
GINGERS!! (written by Nick De Luca)
A group of college kids are the only thing stopping one redhead, driven mad by a lifetime of discrimination, into turning all the world’s population into GINGERS!!
Greenman (written by Don Stroud, Winter Mead)
A rising young rock star strikes out for a remote country in search of inspiration, only to discover that she has been called there by a centuries-old horror that threatens to use her gifts to end her life and take over the world.
The Guy’s Nuts (written by Max Lehman)
In a small New England college town, a PhD biology candidate, Chester, is studying genetic code to domesticate wildlife by starting with the creature he fears most, the squirrel. Though he is a man of science, Chester can't be convinced otherwise that squirrels are after a particular pair of nuts, his testicles.
Hellster Inc (Written by Matthew David Rafferty)
Hellster Inc-a low budget horror about an underground society of cannibals that has existed for over three hundred years. Mr. Hellster, who has captured fifteen-year-old Romeo Washington’s older brother, runs them. Romeo joins forces with a tough thirteen-year-old girl to save his brother and bring down their society.
How We Really Won the Space Race (written by Zach Jansen)
When the head of NASA realizes landing on the moon is unlikely, he enlists a filmmaker friend to help manufacture the event. Unfortunately for NASA, that friend is shlock movie man Edward D. Wood Jr.
Husband Daycare (written by Zack R. Smith, Andrew Miller)
In a world gone mad, wherein the young women are perpetually braless, gender pronouns are plentiful, and Taylor Swift has a stranglehold on the popular culture, middle-aged, middle-class men are completely coming apart emotionally. Enter “Juniper” Gen Zampa - one of Rochester’s most prominent purveyors of fine spirits and the new proprietor of Husband Day Care. A distillery where emotionally stunted men can find the safety, support, and structure they so desperately need. A satire.
The Kāmohoaliʻi Encounter (Halawai) (written by Phil James Garthright)
ALI"I and his early period island family and village are fascinated by what they call out as their "Shark God" that initially seem to be no more than fantasy, but are actual events told in modern folklore of what turns out to be a sentient alien trying to make contact.
LA PARCA (written by Miguel del Campo)
When a struggling documentarian fails to finish his film about the process of death in Mexican culture, he returns to Los Angeles to gain more funding only to discover he’s been cursed to become the new Grim Reaper.
The Meat Eaters (written by Danny Howell)
Paul is a college freshman and manager of a fast food place. He has his hands full with his slacker friends and ex-girlfriend, but finds himself way in over his head when he falls for the new girl, who entices him into a strange cult that eats an addictive "living" meat. She must sleep with him in order to make him a permanent cult member; and it's up to his friends to rescue him before that happens.
Mo Vaugn Fights the Devil (written by Richard William Hoffman)
Cooper, a ten-year-old boy with big dreams, lives with his mother at a motel on the outskirts of Area 51. When an ominous man pays the motel a visit, he makes a wager with Cooper that sets off a series of violent and cosmic events.
My Elvis (written by John Burdeaux)
An Elvis impersonator and his girlfriend stop at an abandoned gas station on the way to a gig and realize that Elvis himself had passed through in 1956... leaving in his wake a heartache and a horror.
My Uncommon Brain (written by TD Heetderks)
When lured to attend an elite off-world academy to solve a cosmic-wide health crisis, a most-brilliant student, sought for her freakish grey matter, battles for humankind’s survival along with her newly created biobotic-angels—against an unworldly maniac and his mystifying systems of power and control.
The Obsidian Mirror (written by Adam Deierling)
Messages from beyond lead a teenage boy on the hunt for an object of great power.
Pocketful of Mondays (written by Lindsey Morrison Grant)
A highly sensitive woman living above her adopted parent's appliance store has her life turned upside down when she learns the two children she was told were stillborn may still be alive and that her recurring childhood nightmare of aliens landing in her backyard and abducting her parents may have some truth to it.
Porcelain (written by Christine Makepeace)
Amid rising bills and domestic squabbles, an aimless 20-something’s latest grind turns deadly when she starts selling haunted dolls as a side hustle.
Rescue Eddie (Written by J.R. Spaulding, Jr.)
As a mild-mannered nursing assistant slowly transforms into a zombie, he discovers that becoming one the undead might not be so bad after all.
The Resurrection Symphony (written by Stephanie Mark)
A modern rendition of ancient Greek play Antigone. A woman tries to bury her transgender sister and conflicts with her transphobic parents over the funeral. Meanwhile, we see the final days of her sister's life before her death.
Revival (written by Abby Selden)
After a house fire leaves an over-achieving college student with terrifying visions, she agrees to let her sister perform an exorcism. But the girls soon realize some forces are darker than the demonic.
Sex on the Wrong Brain (written by Ard Falten)
When Lulu Lopez finds the key to Earth’s survival she thinks it's a sex toy. It's also a ray gun. Soon she’s on the run and up to her ears in sex zombies, alien hunters, and the king of talk radio, her nemesis since the third grade.
Shades Awake (written by Steven H Grindeland)
In the not too distant future, the lines between virtual and reality, between lies and truth, blur. The lives of two religious leaders become intertwined in a battle with an ancient evil.
Shadows of Love (written by Rathan Krueger)
A corpse photographer and a brooding heiress have a sapphic romance that's as loving as it is complex.
The Simulation Can Affect Reality. Reality Can’t Affect the Simulation (written by Ian Baaske)
Skinned (written by Carlos Perez)
A young director uses the cast of his horror film as bait to help him capture a pair of serial killers who murdered his parents; however, things go awry when the female lead in the film learns of his plan and decides neither she or the rest of the cast will used for his personal vendetta.
Stupid Dead Boy (written by Alex Vickery-Howe)
Three high school friends plot to drug and humiliate an unfaithful boyfriend, only to discover his dead body instead.
Witching Hour (written by Alex Vickery-Howe)
Four misfit teenagers discover they are descended from an ancient line of witches and destined to battle an evil warlock, in a sleepy seaside town where being different is dangerous.
SHORT SCREENPLAY COMPETITION SEMI-FINALISTS 2024 (alphabetical order)
A Day in the Neighborhood (written by Andrew Ryan Stussie)
A young boy is challenged by his older sister to get an autograph from a beloved children's show host. He quickly discovers that the man is more than he appears to be. After being forced into a life or death decision involving him and his sister, he is able to convince his sister to briefly cover up the horrific event that happened to the two.
The Cactus Creek Cantina (written by Stuart Long)
A bounty hunter travels the old west in pursuit of mystical creatures. On his way to Tartarus Texas he stops off at the Cactus Creek Cantina for a pail of beer and encounters a nest of vampires.
Dream Apnea (written by Erik Paul Larson)
A young mans experiences in a dream are repeated in real life, terrifying him.
Far and Duvet (written by Tim Troemner)
Feel Better (written by Mel Hornyak)
A young professional in New York City goes to extremes to get rid of a supernatural stain that keeps reappearing in his apartment.
Hotel Del Charro (written by Jason Von Godi, Dylan Silvers)
A woman awakens in a locked hotel room with no memory of how she got there. When alarms sound and the television broadcasts an impending nuclear attack, she assumes things can’t get any worse. She’s wrong.
The Job Interview (written by Pierfranco Allegri)
Early 2000s. Italy. Father Romath is a priest that barely survived the Rwandan Genocide, and escaped to Italy to study psychology: the man, in the middle of a crisis of faith, now believes that God and the Devil are merely concepts, that the human mind is capable of harboring both heaven and hell.
Kindness Coins (written by M.r. Fitzgerald)
A budding artist orders a Muse Bot named Camille to inspire him. Little does he know that the more she learns...the harder she is to control.
The Magic Mechanic (written by Justin M Carter)
In the frozen wasteland walks one of the greatest monuments ever conceived: The mobile city called Icelation. Taji helps a fellow mechanic back to the town before it leaves deeper into the wasteland. On his way back through The Drifts, he finds Kawlah, the unfortunate soul who fell overboard of the walking city, freezing in the snow.
Mr. Perfectly Ok (written by Sofi Dawalibi)
Vanessa, a deeply hopeless romantic woman, is getting married to the man of her dreams. Let's call him Mr. Perfectly Ok. She's announcing her engagement to her friends, whilst putting him on a pedestal, that's when he walks in.
Orange Pulse (written by William Clark, Grace Clark)
After losing her father to a failed uprising, Pearl, a 17-year old farmhand, takes it upon herself to steal a priceless painting in the Lord's Manor to save her sick mother; only to find the large building empty - but for one man.
Pod Fifteen (written by Philip Harris)
A tortured space pilot fights spirits and his past as he tries to get his beleaguered transport ship and its cargo of the dead to a sacred burial planet.
Psychopathic Killers (written by Susan May Thomas)
A suspect Kaan Kartal has been brought into the Redcliffe Police Station for questioning on recent Murders of six young girls, labelled the Clothesline Killer. Detective Wayward is leading the investigation. Little does Wayward know, Police Sergeant Murphy Banks is hiding a dark side and Kaan is not who he seems. The station is under attack by these two Psychopaths, who manage to slip through Wayward's fingers in a puff of smoke.
Trick-or-Treat (written by Carlos Perez)
A malicious young man receives a nasty payback on Halloween.
Up on the House Top (written by Janet L. Loftis)
Two step-sisters spend their first Christmas Eve together fighting, instead of the more important task: baking cookies for Santa.
Your Husband was a Good Man (written by Jamie Alvey)
The bereaved wife of a teacher who died prematurely resorts to ritualistic magic to resurrect her beloved husband. The results have unintended bloody consequences.