Screenwriting Contest Results

Winner Parishad Peter Haig Peter Haig is a writer/director based in Los Angeles, California, who received his M.F.A. in Film & Television Production from USC’s School of Cinematic Arts (SCA). After spending two years in law school, Peter decided his passion resides in writing and storytelling. Through the vehicle of film, Peter found an outlet to explore unique personal experiences and connect with audiences. Since graduating from SCA, Peter has earned recognition from the Academy Nicholl Fellowships, NBC’s writers on the verge, the Cinestory Foundation, and the Austin Film Festival. He has been a Finalist in the ISA Fast Track Fellowship, the ScreenCraft Screenwriting Fellowship, and the WeScreenplay Feature Contest. Most recently, Peter won the Script Pipeline Screenwriting Competition for his war drama Parishad. Runner-up #FreeBritney Mishki Vaccaro Mishki Vaccaro is a film and television writer splitting her time between Los Angeles, Toronto and Costa Rica — come visit, seriously,…

2021 Winner Cauliflower Daniel Jackson Daniel Jackson is a screenwriter whose most recent script, Cauliflower, won the Grand Prize in the 2021 Script Pipeline Screenwriting Competition. He’s currently a Senior Staff Writer for Thrillist, where he covers film, television, and music. As a journalist, he’s written for XXL, CMJ, Spin, and Esquire.com. He earned a BFA in Dramatic Writing from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. He lives in Los Angeles. Runner-up Kony 2012 Austin Hall & Zach Visvikis Austin Hall and Zach Visvikis are a Los Angeles-based filmmaking duo whose work has screened at the Bath Film Festival, Austin Film Festival, and Tribeca. Together they directed music videos that received over two million views on YouTube. They both graduated from NYU Tisch in 2019. Austin is currently getting his MFA in Screenwriting at USC, while Zach is getting his MFA in Ass-Kickin’ from the School of Kickin’…

Winner Killing Che by Alexander Vargas Alexander was born and raised in Miami, Florida—a mutt of Cuban and Swedish upbringing (his parents met on a dare, which may or may not be his next feature). Less than a month after graduating from the University of Miami almost 10 years ago, he took the plunge across the country to Los Angeles to pursue screenwriting. Not knowing where to start, he landed an internship at several production companies while tutoring kids on the weekends. Eventually, the stars aligned for an assistant position at a talent management company where he cut his teeth covering scripts for clients. He went on to other production companies and continued to plow through the weekend read, covering as many scripts as possible. He credits doing coverage as the single most helpful tool in learning how to write screenplays. He stayed inspired and motivated thanks to his supportive…

Winner Visitation by Helen Gaughran Helen Gaughran grew up in Dalkey, Co. Dublin, Ireland–the tiny hometown of James Joyce and George Bernard Shaw (who have also enjoyed modest writing success). There, she attended a castle-convent where she was taught Latin, discipline and a love of literature by nuns who could easily have played Bridge professionally. She graduated from an Irish university you’ve never heard of and moved to San Francisco, where she worked as a waitress until she won a green card in the lottery. (God bless America!) She proceeded to squander her good fortune by working in a raft of ad agencies, where she picked up a One Show pencil and a Clio (along with the urge to write something more personal and meaningful). Helen has written three other feature screenplays: Pop Psychology, The Patriot Test and The Domina Effect. She also won an all-Ireland medal for math at…

Winner Junior by Peter Malone Elliot Peter Malone Elliott is an award-winning screenwriter and playwright hailing from the great state of Virginia. Growing up in a house with a New York Times best-selling author, Peter always knew he wanted to write. Inspired by Scorsese’s The Departed, he firmly decided on writing for film, television, and theatre, realizing that visual storytelling, and the unique exploration of character that it allows, was something that excited him to no end. After graduating magna cum laude from Loyola Marymount University with a B.A. in Screenwriting and a minor in History, Peter focused his writing pursuits on crafting period dramas and character-driven crime drama/thrillers. In addition to winning the 2018 Script Pipeline Screenwriting Competition, Peter has, among others, been a semifinalist in the ScreenCraft Pilot Launch Contest, and a Quarterfinalist in the Nicholl Fellowship. In 2018, his proof-of-concept short film, Ziggy’s Will (which he wrote, starred in, and…

Grand Prize Winner Getaway by Joshua Paul Johnson & Jamie Napoli Joshua Paul Johnson is a writer, director, and sound editor working between Los Angeles and Albuquerque. In 2014 he wrote the screenplay for the short film Tomorrow, which has screened at 27 festivals worldwide. It won the Audience Award for Best Overall Short Film at the 17th FilmOut San Diego LGBT Film Festival, the Audience Award at the Women and Minorities in Media Film Festival, as well as the Best Student Film Award at the Desperado LGBT Film Festival. He won the Best Editing Award at the 2014 Women’s Independent Film Festival for his work as co-editor on the documentary Wheels: An American Dream (dir. Sara Joe Wolansky) as well as the award for Outstanding Achievement in Sound at the 2016 First Look Film Festival for the DGA award winning short The Lost City of Tomorrow (dir. Auden Bui.) Recently, he completed a…

Grand Prize Winner Cinderella Must Die by Matteo R. Bernardini & Penelope Chai Matteo R. Bernardini was born in Milan, Italy, 32 years ago. He studied American literature at the Università Statale, Milan and has a Masters in Screenwriting from the University of the Sacred Heart, Milan. He worked as entertainment critic for the news website IlSussidiario.net and wrote a weekly column for the national newspaper Pubblico. He has been a staff writer on TV documentaries and variety shows, which have aired on both RAI and Mediaset national networks. He has written for the network TV drama Agrodolce and the cable sitcom Talent High-School. In 2011 he followed Australian director Anna McGrath to her homeland (she knows about it, don’t worry–she even married him) and has been living there ever since. There, he started writing features. His first feature script won first prize in the Italian screenwriting competition at the Fiuggi…

– Grand Prize Winner – Militia by Henry Dunham Detroit native Henry Dunham is a Los Angeles-based writer/director. After attending Michigan State University as an English major, he moved to Los Angeles to intern at various production companies including Mandeville, Mosaic, Atlas Entertainment, and directly under producers Charles Roven and Andy Horwitz. Parlaying his natural ability for storytelling into working as a script reader, then consulting on numerous projects, he began writing his own original material, then wrote, directed, and produced the short film The Awareness. Once accepted to shortoftheweek.com, it became one of the highest rated sci-fi short films on the site and was featured on over 20 filmmaking blogs, including Vimeo ‘staff pick’, io9.com, Aintitcool.com, and Geek tyrant. The short later premiered on opening night of the Brussels International Film Festival Leuven. After winning the 2015 competition, Henry signed with industry partner Madhouse Entertainment, later getting picked up by UTA. His winning…

Grand Prize Winner – $20,000 Hexen by Alex Ross Runner-up – $1,000 Externally Yours by Elizabeth Rogers Finalists Animal Heist by Aneesh Chaganty & Sev Ohanian Blood Milk by Amy Levy Black Ox by Joe Halstead Dead River Girl by Morris Long Dreamaholics Anonymous by Romi Moondi Finndale by Lloyd Ohls Freeze by Soloman Gray The Friend Zone by Aaron Marshall Hunter’s Moon by Adam Slutsky & Mark Rogers Monster by Erik Schill Patient 36 by Hank Hoffman Tehran by Alex Fazeli The Memory Sphere by Kevin Sluder The Scoundrels Club by Jeff York The Shift Manager by Matt Tassone & John Ott Unwritten by Kurt Conety Valedictorian by Jimmy Mosqueda Will Gardner by Max Martini

Grand Prize Winner Cutting Numbers – Morgan von Ancken Runner-Up Deadmen – Haji Outlaw Finalists Arctic Circle by Daniel Ragussis The Artist Formerly Known as John Smith by Christian Heinze Brood X by Michael Okon Butterfly Children by Melanie Schiele The Cause of it All by John Cruz / Mark Dormitorio The Colony by Kevin Sluder Compliance by Matt Bozin Cricket by Alissa Dean  Demain Je Me Tue by Pierre Chance Dickens and Isabella by Callie Lane The Gentle Apocalypse by Adam Cosco Holy Mackerel by Glenda Ganis Paganini by John Dymale Priscilla by Dennis Luu Satan in Arkansas City by R. J. Daniel Hanna Space Cadet by Nived Ravikumar / Ben Stebor Under Angels by Jace Daniel White Line Fever by Kevin Jones

Grand Prize Winners Hold Up! by Jason Kaleko  Red Hats by Michael Toay / Travis Mann The Synth House Wife by Jason Vaughn Totaled by Andy Demsky Finalists 19 Floors by Lee Brandt / Christopher Lawrence Banking on Betty by Eugene Scala Bookworm by Sharon Clark Bowl Breakers by Thesy Surface DumDum by James Abrams Jesse James vs. Jack the Ripper by Alasdair McMullan Natureboy by Brett Wagner Night Witch by Tom Stein Superstition by Kevin C Jones The Alumni by George Nicholis The Highwayman by Dale Pitman / Glenn Benest The Hitman’s Cookbook by Ben Phelps / Gabriel Dowrick Twin Cities by Marc Conklin Underground by Paul Connor / Josh Chesler Vital Signs by Peter Floro Wreckless by Andrew Eisen

Grand Prize Winners  Brick Henry is Your Country by Ian McWethy Granite Falls by Matthew Bozin Henchman by Tyler Burton Smith I’ll Sleep When You’re Dead by Marc Samson Finalists  A Child of Our Time by Robert Bowden A Whisper Against the Madness by Ricky Staub / Dan Walser Becoming Cinderella by Brooke Buffington / Maddy Curley Dark Beauty by James K. Watts False Sense by Craig Cambria Fiend by Jeff York Fifty-Nine Lost by Lynn Betts Into this World by Jyoti Chopra Lost Stones by Craig Weeden Shed by Dennis Widmyer / Kevin Kolsch The Architect by Darren Murtha The Guardian by Nicol Eilers The Lackey by Alex Koehne The Protester by Taylor Marshall-Green Unrequited by Kevin Jones V Dogs by David Pollard

Grand Prize Winners Henry the Second by Tripper Clancy Madness by Teresa Lo Prom Queen by Debbie Chesebro & Tyson Fitzgerald Second Born by David Jagernauth Finalists The 49th Day by Craig Peters Black Friday by Greg Ernstrom Bread Route by Amanda Ronconi & Jeff Wiens Dangerous Waters by Matthew Altman & David Matalon Freud by Daniel Ragussis Horror Comic by Stephen Hoover Jenna’s Gone by Russ Meyer Niger Delta by Jordan Breen Precious Cargo by Max Adams Re/Surfacing by Susan Chiu Sleeping Beauty by Anthony Boland Tesla by Steve Hull & James Stuart The Big Screen by Sarah Rassoul The Physicist by Teresa Lo The Source by Nisso Cohen Yeah, I Blew Up the Internet by Michael Ashley & Charles Borg

Grand Prize Winners Blind Spot by Randall Greenland Deserted by Ziba Shadjaani Lycan or Not by Frank Reavey The Eleven by Troy Taylor Finalists Alien Skin Boots by Matt Lutz Belle Starr by Cynthia Pullham Black Tide by Kevin Jones Denny Delivers by Sean Fallon & Charlotte Barrett Djinn by Matthew Altman Eden by Tom Zmiarovich Forsaken Hero by Dave Long Honor Among Thieves by Matt Allen Inheritance by Jeannette Manning & Joseph Yuan InvisiBill by Jason Carreiro Iron Horses by Tony Zavaleta Neland Circle by Charles Borg The Eleven by Troy Taylor The Stakes by Philip Gardner The Winery by Richard Guimond Trial and Erin by Larry Shulruff Wake Up by Gordon Smith

Grand Prize Winners A Mate for Lonesome George by Sharon Clark Freebird by Hilary Graham Neither by Christian Heinze Shrapnel by Evan Daugherty Finalists Alpha Male by Spanner Spencer A Revolution in Urination by Christian Heinze Beckwourth by James K. M. Watts Drill Queen by Andrea Seybold & Kate Wharton Hidden by Noah Ruderman His Fair Lady by Russell Bryan Sommers Honor Bound by Michael Amato In the Garden of the King by Paul Ian Johnson Maid of Dishonor by Sophia Trone Palestine by Suzan Flamm The De-haunters by Calvin Field & Bryan Bagby The D Line by David O’Donnell The Stacks by Edward Cound The Tollbooth Operator by Christian Heinze The Well by Julie Anne Wight