SCREENPLAY
Action/Sci-fi
Goodnight Jonathan by Theo Wanderydz – Winner
Theo has always been an adventurer and thrill seeker – but grew up in a small town in Sweden where nothing comes about. Instead, he created his own adventures in his backyard – waving sticks around like elven swords or lightsabers. Those stories still exist today, but as he grew older, he learned that the pen was mightier than the sword… (stick).
His first introduction to filmmaking came after he was robbed at 12-years-old, and the established filmmaker Ruben Östlund decided that the crime would make a great film. A few years later PLAY (2011) premiered around the world, and Theo got to see one of his real-life stories come alive on screen. However, it would take a few years before he wrote his first feature, but luckily that screenplay earned him a spot at the National Film & Television School in London, from where he graduated early last year.
He was immediately hired by the film company Film i Väst, where he currently works as a script reader and dramaturge, while writing in his free time. He strongly believes that, if you want to become a great writer, there is no better film school than reading and analyzing other screenplays.
Theo is drawn to epic, suspenseful stories rooted in genre and the mainstream, with big hearts and deeper questions at the core. Whether he’s taking his audience to new planets, facing them off with serial-killers in the Scandinavian wilderness, or have them hunt for revenge across the American frontier – he’s determined to create emotional and enduring stories that movie-lovers want to discuss, dissect and revisit several times after they’ve experienced them.
Ambrosia by Alexander Vargas – Runner-up
Comedy
Race: The Movie (It’s About Race) by Bret Raybould & Cristian Duran – Winner
On the Lam by Adrienne Arno & Kal-El Bogdanove – Runner-up
Drama
The End by Brian T. Arnold – Winner
Brian T. Arnold is a screenwriter, actor, and director. His feature screenplays have won the Tracking Board Launch Pad Competition, Best Thriller and Best Drama in the Script Pipeline First Look Competition, and Best Thriller in the Shore Scripts Competition. He’s also placed in the Top 50 of the Nicholl Fellowship and the Top 20 of the Roadmap Route One Screenplay Competition, and he’s been featured on the Hit List and the Young & Hungry List.
Open Houses, a comedic web series that Arnold co-wrote, produced, and starred in, was featured on Funny or Die, Comedy Cake, and Stareable. All episodes are available at http://www.openhousestheseries.com.
Arnold studied improv and sketch comedy at Upright Citizens Brigade and The Groundlings, wrote and performed for the sketch team Hot Lunch at iO West, and wrote for the CBS Diversity Sketch Comedy Showcase.
You can also see him in the background of various movies and tv shows, trying not to pull focus.
Arnold was born and raised in Bluefield, West Virginia and studied Broadcast Journalism at Concord University. He currently lives in Los Angeles and is trying his best.
River Kings by Penn Javdan – Runner-up
Horror/Thriller
Friend of the Show by Brian T. Arnold – Winner
Brian T. Arnold is a screenwriter, actor, and director. His feature screenplays have won the Tracking Board Launch Pad Competition, Best Thriller and Best Drama in the Script Pipeline First Look Competition, and Best Thriller in the Shore Scripts Competition. He’s also placed in the Top 50 of the Nicholl Fellowship and the Top 20 of the Roadmap Route One Screenplay Competition, and he’s been featured on the Hit List and the Young & Hungry List.
Open Houses, a comedic web series that Arnold co-wrote, produced, and starred in, was featured on Funny or Die, Comedy Cake, and Stareable. All episodes are available at http://www.openhousestheseries.com.
Arnold studied improv and sketch comedy at Upright Citizens Brigade and The Groundlings, wrote and performed for the sketch team Hot Lunch at iO West, and wrote for the CBS Diversity Sketch Comedy Showcase.
You can also see him in the background of various movies and tv shows, trying not to pull focus.
Arnold was born and raised in Bluefield, West Virginia and studied Broadcast Journalism at Concord University. He currently lives in Los Angeles and is trying his best.
Pieces by Stephen Tronicek – Runner-up
TV PILOT
Half-Hour
The Town Guard by Millie Holten – Winner
Millie is a Canadian/Australian screenwriter, comedian, and dork for all things genre. In 2020, she won the Script Pipeline First Look Project and was shortlisted for the Australian Writers’ Guild John Hinde Award
A Bachelor of Screenwriting (Honours) graduate of the Victorian College of the Arts, she partook in script coverage internships at Ruby Entertainment and The Australian Children’s Television Foundation over 2018 & 2019. For her work over the degree, she was awarded the VCA Creative Journey Award, ‘Out of The Frying Pan’ Mentorship, and Moving Clickers Film Society Film and TV Award.
She’s written comedy projects for a good while, including the sickly scripted podcast The Candyman (2021). Upon release, the six-part series reached the Apple Podcast Fiction Charts in Australia, The United States, and South Africa. She was also a writer and script editor on The Undergarment Odysseys — an online sketch series nominated for ‘Best Australian Spotlight’ at Melbourne Webfest 2020.
In response to her live comedy shows, Millie has been dubbed one of the “comedy stars of tomorrow”(Squirrel Comedy). Another review noted her “face that most comedians would kill for” (The Dialog), but she doesn’t want to unpack that one as much.
Millie’s writing prioritizes ‘fun’ above all else, and she’ll always be chasing the high of watching Pirates of the Caribbean for the first time. More of her work can be found on www.millieholten.com
The Bestorcist by Jessica Kane – Runner-up
Hour
Tenure by Ronald Eltanal – Winner
Ron Eltanal is a Filipino-American professor-turned screenwriter. After a BA at Williams College and MFA at USC, he directed or edited films that screened at Sundance, Cannes and Torino. He left LA to help build a fledgling film school in Chicago, but got trapped by the golden handcuffs of tenure. Now, he writes dramedies to connect with people through screens over the most profound themes and the crudest punchlines.
While grateful for the day job that pays his mortgage, he dreams of trading the soul-killing meetings of academia for a friendly writer’s room in Hollywood. Winning Script Pipeline First Look and fellowships at the IFP Episodic Lab and TorinoFilmLab are helping him to escape.
Deadshot Girls by Heidi James – Runner-up