SCREENPLAY FINALISTS 2018
Birdie by Janeane Bernstein
After the death of her father, Gwen is determined to follow in his footsteps, despite having lost her leg in an accident and pushed everyone away. Competing against her cousin, Michelle, in a National Skateboarding Championship, Gwen attempts to defy the odds with the help of some unlikely allies.
Black Sheep by Shirley Edward
Lee-vee ventures out on her own when she must choose between staying in the US or going back to Haiti with her family — overbearing baptists. She discovers her freedom and love of music.
The Blue Eye: Akrotiri by Annie Spiczak
Annie gets recruited for special ops during her Army training. On a mission, her identify gets compromised, and after leaving special ops, she gets ID’d by another spy that wants to see her dead. She is set up for a murder she didn’t commit, and must be saved by her team of special ops.
Born in LA: Dolls and All by Marlene Sharp
Marlene returns home from LA after failing to become a famous actress. She desperately tries to get a spot on the movie set, but her family and friends make it all difficult.
Breaking Faith by Jocelyn Jones
Faith balances the turmoil of her past and present with seaking peace and power of her body. She is a cut-throat defense attorney, but she knowingly gets bad men back onto the street. She spends her time trying to right that wrong.
Flying Bird’s Diary by Melissa Tantaquidgeon
Beaten by her schoolteacher and shunned by her peers for speaking her language and perpetuating her people’s ancient stories, young Flying Bird uses her writing, storytelling skills, and longevity to catapult her people’s dying Native American language and culture from the 19th c. into the 21st.
Follow Me by Aviva Dove-Viebahn & Brittany Fonte
As Elizabeth announces her mayoral candidacy, her life takes multiple turns as she discovers her boyfriend (who wants to get engaged) is cheating on her, and after they break up, he goes out of his way to derail her candidacy. A toddler flirtation leads her back to Sam, a romance with potential, but her failed date with another woman causes drama, both with Sam and her mayoral run.
Girl Gone Greek by James Collins
Desiring travel and adventure, Rachel takes on a job that will send her to Greece to teach English. The rigorous course challenges her not only to learn and teach, but also to grow up. She decides to try and get a coveted promotion that will lead the department.
In the Valley of Shadows by Kathy Smith
Alex and Devan are forced to join together for a mission to protect a source that has infiltrated the Russian backed group in Georgia. Their team gets betrayed and attacked, but they make it out alive with their captive safely transferred to the CIA.
The Indestructible Light of Rose Lewis by Melissa Vitello
Rose is left alone when her mother, a drug addict, falls in the woods and becomes unconscious. No one can touch her or they immediately die. Sasha is a social worker sent to investigate and star the process of putting Rose into the system, but Sasha doesn’t expect Rose to run off after her mom commits suicide by touching Rose. Sasha and her cop ex-boyfriend, Jeremy, tracks Rose bak at her house and discovers Rose’s secrets that lie Roses’ rapist to Sasha’s missing sister.
Legacy by Jodi Levitan
Both separated from their spouses, Leo and Lacey reconnect and fall in love, but the distance between them makes their relationship harder to manage. It’s worse when Lacey’s husband returns and wants to stay married and her son struggles with his alcoholic boyfriend.
The Reset Button by Jennifer Rapaport
Kate is finally getting taken seriously at work and is up for a promotion and her daughters are grown (almost in college), but then she finds out that she is pregnant. She has to choose between keeping the baby and starting over, or ending the pregnancy and getting on with her life.
TV PILOT FINALISTS 2018
02 by Dorothee Kocks
There is a murder lurking around the elderly reservation killing off any ancient to balance out the 02 levels. The world’s Oxygen has been depleted and only Antarctica is left fueled by a machine. Technology has advanced so that people can live decades longer, so once someone turns 90 they must leave the utopian continent for one of the reserves. Keira and Henni are set on different paths to unmask out the murderer.
Afterlife Anonymous by Michael M. Kezele
Justine, a reaper, fails to get Shawn to his light in time, so he is forced to be a ghost and haunt his apartment. Alex then moves in, and after a head injury, he can see Shawn and other ghosts. Shawn persuades Alex to help some ghosts.
Converted by Dana Quercioli
Andy must face his childhood monsters that tried to convert him straight.
Dominion Street by Rachel Grissom & Sara Linton
Emily is a dominatrix, and has to find out how to get a pissed off Senator from sabotaging her life and family so he can physically dominate her.
Fake News by Melissa Francis
Cate’s production team are in a frenzy as they try to figure out what their competing team has for their surprise White House interview that will top theirs.
Greek Surf by Jeanmarie Fenrich
Cali returns to UCSC to teach as a favor to her mentor, but her past catches up with her quickly when she sees her mom and ex-boyfriend that led her to leave her life without looking back. Upon her arrival, a suicide leads the FBI to believe that she is a target that someone’s trying to financially ruin.
Jaded Sisterhood by Molly Driscoll
Betrayed by her mother’s sorority, Harper and her two friends, Maya and Natara set out to create an app that will mark a crime on campus. This frames the leader of the sorority for spiking Harper’s drink and staging a drunken scene, which would disqualify Harper from being accepted into the sorority.
Legacy “Paradise Lost†by Kellen Hertz
When a bizarre crime at prestigious CABOT UNIVERSITY revises interest in a savage decades-old murder there, MEM BOYLE (a disgraced ex-city homicide detective turned college cop) finds herself investigating campus crimes of both past and present.
Lisa at Large by Andrew Mandapat
Lisa gets hired for a floundering production company, and lets lose at a party celebrating one of their alumni’s mayoral candidacy. She becomes a overnight sensation which leads her boss to give her a segment.
Relative Understanding by Amy Santos
In one night, Renee must manage the arrival of her ornery mother, who just got kicked out of her nursing home for selling fake prescription meds, and her brother, failure at his latest venture, all the while taking care of her precocious daughter and autistic son.
Three Sisters by Jen Gutierrez
A family drama that follows the lives of three sisters in New York City, as their paths weave in and out of each other, only to collide head on after learning the truth that one of the sisters is not who they think she is.