Winner Special by Jay Cundiff & Kyle Jorgensen Runner-up Watershed by Matthew Poisson
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Winner Modelville by Emily Fairweather Emily Fairweather is an actress and screenwriter from the North East of England. She graduated from Northumbria University with a BA Hons degree in Media Production and went on to complete her classical acting training at Drama Studio London. Emily has acted for both stage and screen, including guest roles in BBC's 'Doctor's' and has made semi-regular appearances in ITV's 'Emmerdale' and 'Coronation Street', as well as roles in a number of short films and theatre productions in both the North East and in London. She has been writing for TV and Film for almost three years and her first short film '108 Hours Missing' was screened at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival, as part of their Short Film Corner. She currently has a 6 x 60 TV Comedy Drama, 'Serial Kleaners' and a short film 'Nan', in development for 2019. She enjoys creating funny and flawed female characters, dark comedies and stories with a fantasy or hyper-realistic twist to…
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Hollywood typically slows down for the holidays in December, and 2018 was no exception. To start things off: Ivan Reitman’s The Montecito Company and Tristar Pictures picked up the spec comedy The Best Friends. Chad Kultgen and Amy Rhodes’ script is described as a high-concept, meta romantic comedy. Lionsgate, The Picture Co., and Khalabo Ink Society are teaming up for Anthony Jaswinski’s horror spec The French Quarter Will Not Be Spared, which sets a vampire story during Hurricane Katrina. Endeavor Content snagged Peter Begler’s spec Wolf Country. The story follows a female cop as she tracks down a convicted fugitive, a former lawman who happens to be her father. Finally, Khalabo Ink Society and Twentieth Century Fox acquired Danny Segal and Isaac Schamis’ comedy The Guysmaids. Other script sales: - David Marshall Grant and Dan Savage are set to adapt Michael Ausiello’s book Spoiler Alert: The Hero Dies for Focus…
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Let’s start things off with a slew of projects picked up by J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot: an untitled time travel story written by Ben Shiffrin; The Steps, Blair Butler’s twist on the possession genre; an untitled female-driven horror allegory by An Emmy for Megan’s Megan Amram; Courtney Hoffman’s The Seven Sisters of Scott County, which is about moonshining; a sci-fi romance Only the Lonely written by Dylan Meyer and Peter Glanz; and the “Clerks for a new generation” Everything Must Go, written by Lisa McQuillan and Logic, who is also set to star. (Whew!) Other, non–J.J. Abrams script sales include: - Legendary Pictures and The Gotham Group picked up Juel Taylor and Tony Rettenmaier’s near-future ByAll, which follows the aftermath of a post-LAPD Los Angeles. - BuzzFeed Motion Pictures, Rideback, and New Line Cinemas are teaming up for the supernatural horror Dear David. Written by Mike Van Waes, the movie…
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SCREENPLAY Action/Adventure Waitress #2 by Nathan Patton - Winner Nathan Patton didn’t grow up in a rural Arkansas town, population 85--he grew up on the outskirts of that town. That seclusion led to a lot of time spent inside his imagination, writing and drawing his own comic books, or acting out unmade Indiana Jones sequels in the woods behind his house. He’s still waiting to grow up, but he did eventually get a job, doing some work in the comics field, and working as a freelance journalist and weekly political cartoonist before eventually deciding to get his MFA in Writing. He’s a Michener Fellow at the University of Texas at Austin, where he lives with his wife (who loves him) and dog (who tolerates him). His feature script, Greenwood, came in fifth place in the 2018 LAUNCH Million Dollar Screenplay contest and was a semifinalist in the 2018 Austin Film Festival.…
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Director Scott Speer (Midnight Sun) is set to helm Script Pipeline finalist and Recommend writer Greg Wayne's dark romcom S21. Catapult and Needle's Eye producing. Speer has also directed I Still See You and Step Up Revolution. This will be Greg's first produced feature film. He previously won the Script Pipeline First Look Project with his comedy pilot Ad Game and has placed as a finalist and received a Recommend on numerous other screenplays and pilots, working closely with Script Pipeline development execs. From Greg: "Script Pipeline gives the best notes. Whenever I'm struggling with a project, their staff never fails to provide feedback that elevates the story. They take their commitment to Recommended writers, contest winners, and finalists incredibly seriously, and do an amazing job of getting those scripts out into the world."
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Universal Pictures, along with Michael De Luca Productions, Immersive Pictures, and Crazyrose, has optioned Anthony McCarten’s untitled spec based on John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s relationship. Ono is set to produce, and Jean-Marc Vallée (Wild, Big Little Lies) will produce and direct. Warner Bros., Safehouse Pictures, and LBD Productions have picked up Brad Desch’s rom-com spec Wink. Inspired by producer Tory Tunnell’s own experiences, the story is a Cyrano de Bergerac–like tale of what happens when someone takes over their mother’s social media profiles. Jared Cowie’s spec You Are Leaving The American Sector has found a home with Parallel Films. The Cold War spy thriller follows a young CIA officer in West Berlin who uncovers a plot that could send the world into nuclear war. Finally, Voltage Pictures has acquired Tenfold by Allan Ungar. The action spec follows a man who avenges his estranged, soon-to-be-wed daughter’s death. Ungar will also…
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September was a lighter month for script sales, but here’s a bunch of notables: - Halle Berry will direct and star in Bruised, written by Michelle Rosenfarb, about a disgraced female MMA fighter. Thunder Road Pictures and Entertainment 360 are producing. - Playing House stars/creators Jessica St. Clair and Lennon Parham sold an untitled comedy pitch to Universal. Gina Rdoriguez is attached to star. That’s all we know about it, but St. Clair and Parham are amazing so of course we had to mention it. - Sony picked up Simon Rich’s (Man Seeking Woman) Sell Out. The story, based on Rich’s New Yorker novella, is a a Rip van Winkle-style comedy in which immigrant falls in a vat of pickles in 1918 and is perfectly preserved in the brine for a hundred years. Seth Rogen is set to produce and star. - Blackmaled Productions has picked up Real Talk, written…
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Hollywood is starting to feel the affects of Crazy Rich Asians’ amazing box-office performance, and several projects with Asian-American or Polynesian leads were picked up in the second half of August. (It’s long overdue, but hey, we’ll take it.) Seven Bucks Entertainment, Flynn Picture Company, ImageMovers are teaming to produce The King, with New Line Cinema distributing. Written by Randall Wallace, the spec is a biopic of King Kamehameha, who was the first to unite the Hawaiian Islands. Dwayne Johnson is set to star, Robert Zemeckis to direct, and both will produce. New Line also picked up Singles Day, a romantic comedy spec written by Lillian Yu. The plot is mostly under wraps, but it’s based on a Chinese holiday described as the anti–Valentine’s Day in which singles celebrate being unattached. And finally, Elyse Hollander’s untitled music spec found a home at Fox 2000. The story follows an Asian American…
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July was a slower month for script sales. David M. Crabtree's script Plane has found a home at Mandalay Pictures. The thriller follows a traveling salesman who is trapped alone in a small airborne plane after the pilot dies. John Moore (Behind Enemy Lines, A Good Day to Die Hard) is set to direct. Twentieth Century Fox is moving forward with the comedy Stoned Alone, an adult version of Home Alone that follows a stoner who misses his flight and must deal with thieves inside his home. Kevin Burrows and Matt Mider are on the script, based off an idea from Fox's Matt Reilly. Ryan Reynolds will produce, and Augustine Frizzell will direct. Screen Gems and Brownstone Productions have picked up Savion Einstein's comedy Superfecundation, which is a rare situation that occurs when twins have two different fathers. Elizabeth Banks and Max Handelman will produce. Makeready, Hillman Grad Productions, and De La Revolución Films will produce Lena Waithe's crime…
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Off the Menu, written by Script Pipeline Screenwriting Competition finalist Jen Goldson, was released in early 2018. Industry partner Jay Silverman (Girl on the Edge), who directed the romcom, picked up the project in 2015. Silverman and producer Bethany Cerrona were introduced to Goldson by Script Pipeline execs. "Off the Menu came about 100% due to Script Pipeline," Goldson said. "I was a finalist in the 2015 Screenplay Competition and attended their writer/industry event. There were a lot of producers there, but I remember Matt Misetich steering me toward Jay Silverman and Bethany Cerrona, saying they would appreciate my work--and they did! We soon had a meeting where I pitched the script, and boom: Jay offered to option the script right then and there, promising to make it. A year later, Jay, my director, was very true to his word, and we wrapped what I hope is a warm and funny film." Starring Santino Fontana…
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Winner Lord Birthday Presents: How to Appear Normal at Social Events by Mike Langer & Trevor Worley (based on the property by Chad Murphy) Runner-up SIOC by Sharon Chen
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Winner The Princess by Sylvia Borges & Craig Behenna Runner-up Rocket Girl by George D. Morgan
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Amblin Partners and Neal Street Productions have picked up Sam Mendes and Krysty Wilson-Cairns’ spec 1917. Mendes will direct the WWI drama and co-produce with Pippa Harris. Platinum Dunes and Tyler Perry Studios are bringing Ryan Belenzon and Jeffrey Gelber’s spec I Am Yours to Paramount. The project is described as thriller in the vein of Fatal Attraction. Writer Emilia Serrano had two of her comedy specs optioned: The Throwdown and an untitled quinceañera project. The Throwdown follows two Latina American cousins as they fight over a family restaurant they inherited and found a home with Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions. Meanwhile, her quinceañera project follows a 30-year-old woman who brings her family on a work trip disguised as a “double quinceañera” because she missed her first and found a home with 26 Keys Productions and Pascal Pictures. Noah Hawley and Amy Pascal will produce. J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot preemptively picked…
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Heidi Nyburg followed up her top 10 finalist placing in Script Pipeline's TV Writing Competition with a win in the 2017 Script Pipeline First Look Project for her pilot Silicon Curve. The series is loosely based on the story of her mother working in the male-dominated 1970s Silicon Valley. Soon after her win, the pilot garnered attention from producers and managers. She writes both features and TV material. You’ve worked in entertainment for a while, but what made you jump into screenwriting? If by "for a while" you mean directed a few shorts and produced a feature in college, then yes, I am clearly an industry veteran. The truth is I started late, I did things backward, got the job first, then went to college. I have always loved writing, and while working as an analyst at Netflix, I took a weekend TV writing class at a community college in Cupertino. I…
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