2016 Launch Pad Pilot Competition Winners Announced
This is the moment we’ve all been waiting for. The Tracking Board is proud to announce our 2016 Launch Pad Pilots Competition Grand Prize Winners, as well as the winner of our Lee Stobby Entertainment Guaranteed Signing prize and our three Pilots Competition Mentorship winners.
With 24 of this year’s writers now signed, and more than 160 since the Launch Pad Competition began just three years ago, we’re incredibly thrilled to present the pilots our judges deemed the best of the best. This year, we received over 1,500 scripts that spanned every genre from an incredibly diverse pool of writers from all over the globe, giving us our most competitive group of pilots in the three years of this competition. We are so proud of those who have come through our competition and gone on to establish promising careers in the industry and excited to usher in the next wave.
All three of our Overall Winners this year are female writers, each of whom created incredible stories featuring unforgettable characters. From laugh out loud comedy to darkly realistic dramas, this year’s Launch Pad Pilots Winners all tackle our modern world from different angles while showcasing the powerful and unique voices of these remarkably talented writers.
Our 2016 Pilots Mentors, Anslem Richardson, Andy Heriaud and Kaitlin Kelly, have selected three fantastic writers and will guide them as they get their scripts ready, share tips and strategies on pitching and choosing their next project, and insight on how to navigate a newly minted career in Hollywood.
Last but not least, Lee Stobby of Lee Stobby Entertainment has selected the winner of our Guaranteed Signing prize!
Thank you again to all who participated in this year’s competition. Now we present to you our winners, their scripts and their loglines from our 2016 competition.
Overall Winner
Alma Mater
Jenny Deiker
BROADCHURCH meets PRETTY LITTLE LIARS
A psychiatrist and former student of a prestigious boarding school in Wales comes back to help the students deal with their grief over an apparent suicide – and begins to suspect that the school she loves may be hiding an even more disturbing mystery.
Drama Mystery Thriller
Agent: Gersh | Noah Jones
Manager: Artillery Creative | Tom Carter
Winner
Top Drama
Mother, The
Laura Bensick
RECTIFY meets THE KILLING
Thirteen years after being accused of, and accepting the guilt for, murdering her daughter during an episode of postpartum psychosis, a woman who is released back into the world sets out to regain the trust of her family and live a normal life. But when she discovers evidence that may prove she never committed the crime, she begins to question her own sanity, and whether she can trust those around her.
Drama Mystery Thriller
Agent: UTA | Amanda Burnett, Charles Ferraro, Greg Iserson
Manager: Think Tank Management and Production | Tom Drumm
Winner
Top Comedy
#1 Fan
Annabel Seymour
30 ROCK meets POPSTAR: NEVER STOP NEVER STOPPING
Twenty years after embarrassing herself by proposing to her pop star crush on live TV, a businesswoman’s life is thrown for a loop when the bankrupt singer shows up on her doorstep.
Comedy
Agent: Available for Agents
Manager: Artillery Creative | Tom Carter
Winner
Guaranteed Signing Winner
Adrift
Titus Heckel
BATTLESTAR GALACTICA meets THE EXPANSE
On a planet where the only source of sunlight and heat is produced by artificial “orbs” controlled by corporations, debates of religion, politics, and fear erupt into violence after an orb is destroyed, leaving all life fighting to see another day.
Drama Action Sci-Fi
Agent: Available for Agents
Manager: Lee Stobby Entertainment | Lee Stobby
Guaranteed Signing Top 25
Mentorship Winners
California’s Gone
Jack Bentele
CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND meets HOUSE OF CARDS
When the entire state of California mysteriously vanishes into the Pacific Ocean, the government attempts to keep the details secret, an effort complicated by the sudden disappearance of the President and the revelation that we may not be alone in this universe.
Drama Sci-Fi
Agent: Available for Agents
Manager: Available for Managers
Mentor Program Top 25
Mahogany Hall
Ashley Charbonnet
THE KNICK meets BOARDWALK EMPIRE
A house of mixed race prostitutes in turn of the century New Orleans must fight for survival as politics and murder knock at their door.
Drama Crime Period
Agent: Available for Agents
Manager: Available for Managers
Mentor Program
Nightmare
Lance Wayne
A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET meets THE MATRIX
A team of researchers attempt to use virtual reality technology to help patients confront their debilitating nightmares, but find that there are even more powerful forces at work in the world of dreams.
Drama Horror Sci-Fi
Agent: Available for Agents
Manager: Available for Managers
Mentor Program
Top 5% Of All Entries
(Listed Alphabetically)
#1 Fan
Annabel Seymour
30 ROCK meets POPSTAR: NEVER STOP NEVER STOPPING
Twenty years after embarrassing herself by proposing to her pop star crush on live TV, a businesswoman’s life is thrown for a loop when the bankrupt singer shows up on her doorstep.
Comedy
Agent: Available for Agents
Manager: Artillery Creative | Tom Carter
Winner | Best Comedy Top 10
40 Elephants
E.S. Dahl & Kay Tuxford
PEAKY BLINDERS meets THE CATCH
After leaving her fiance, a naive woman joins an all-female gang of thieves led by the daughter of a ruthless ringleader in 1920s London, aspiring to reinvent herself and help earn the seductive independence women briefly glimpsed during World War I.
Drama Crime Period
Agent: Available for Agents
Manager: Available for Managers
Top 10
Addicted
Melissa Cassera
GREY’S ANATOMY meets LOVE AND OTHER DRUGS
A recovering sex addict who lands a job as a pharmaceutical rep not only discovers how scandalous the industry is, but discovers her new partner is the man who made her an addict in the first place.
Comedy Drama Medical
Agent: Available for Agents
Manager: Bellevue Productions | Jeff Portnoy
Top 50
Adrift
Titus Heckel
BATTLESTAR GALACTICA meets THE EXPANSE
On a planet where the only source of sunlight and heat is produced by artificial “orbs” controlled by corporations, debates of religion, politics, and fear erupt into violence after an orb is destroyed, leaving all life fighting to see another day.
Drama Action Sci-Fi
Agent: Available for Agents
Manager: Lee Stobby Entertainment | Lee Stobby
Top 25
Alchemists, The
Amanda Keener
THE MAGICIANS meets HARRY POTTER
The disappearance of a young girl’s parents causes her to attend a boarding school, where she meets two mysterious Alchemists and discovers she has powers of her own.
Drama Fantasy
Agent: Available for Agents
Manager: Available for Managers
Honorable Mention
Alibi Man
Richard Hays & Robert Ingraham
WHITE COLLAR meets THE AMERICANS
A man who makes a living disguising himself and providing false alibis for criminals finds himself at the center of a murder investigation of one of his clients, with both an FBI agent and the victim’s family looking to track him down.
Drama Crime Thriller
Agent: Available for Agents
Manager: Available for Managers
Top 75
Alma Mater
Jenny Deiker
BROADCHURCH meets PRETTY LITTLE LIARS
A psychiatrist and former student of a prestigious boarding school in Wales comes back to help the students deal with their grief over an apparent suicide – and begins to suspect that the school she loves may be hiding an even more disturbing mystery.
Drama Mystery Thriller
Agent: Gersh | Noah Jones
Manager: Artillery Creative | Tom Carter
Winner | Best Overall Top 10
And We’re Back
Nick Fanego
CASUAL meets THE COMEBACK
When she is fired from her own show after turning 50, America’s former #1 daytime talk show host enlists her children to help her reclaim her stardom and husband – both of which were stolen by younger women.
Comedy
Agent: Available for Agents
Manager: Available for Managers
Top 75
Are You Fucking Kidding Me?
Joe Toto
THE REAL O’NEALS meets MODERN FAMILY
A family on the verge of divorce attempts to maintain normalcy when encountering their wild relatives for Christmas dinner.
Comedy
Agent: Available for Agents
Manager: Available for Managers
Honorable Mention
Arkham, Mass
Andrew Aguirre
PENNY DREADFUL meets TRUE DETECTIVE
A string of mysterious disappearances plagues a small New England town in the 1930s, prompting an investigation by a journalist with something to prove, a professor with something to hide, and a young man who just might be the key to the strange goings-on of Arkham, Mass.
Drama Period Supernatural
Agent: Available for Agents
Manager: Available for Managers
Top 75
Arma
Giovanni Porta
BLOODLINE meets THE SOPRANOS
A Miami hotel owner whose business is struggling finds out that his wife is secretly a major arms dealer.
Drama Crime
Agent: Available for Agents
Manager: Mosaic | Prince Varughese
Honorable Mention
Assistants Anonymous
Morgan Thompson
GIRLS meets THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA
Three young adults try to pursue their dreams in Hollywood while working as assistants for their horrible bosses.
Comedy
Agent: Available for Agents
Manager: Available for Managers
Honorable Mention
Baptiste
Jenny Deiker
TRUE BLOOD meets BLOODLINE
After the death of her estranged family, a lawyer inherits a bed & breakfast in the Louisiana bayou, as well as the responsibility of performing the dark magic that protects the community.
Drama Horror Supernatural
Agent: Gersh | Noah Jones
Manager: Artillery Creative | Tom Carter
Top 50
Barbarians
L.A. Townsley
VIKINGS meets CLASH OF THE TITANS
In the course of completing his labors, a disgraced Hercules comes to the hidden city of the Amazons, where the influence of the gods and a struggle for political power has made war imminent.
Drama Fantasy Period
Agent: Available for Agents
Manager: Available for Managers
Top 50
Bloodstone
Erik Bernard & Lyndon Tait
HELL ON WHEELS meets DEADWOOD
In the 1850s, three sets of travelers converge on the San Francisco gold rush in search of their fortune.
Drama Period
Agent: Available for Agents
Manager: Available for Managers
Honorable Mention
Bluegrass
Richard Barbour II
JUSTIFIED meets UNDERGROUND
After the murder of a conductor on the Underground Railroad, an abolitionist runs for City Marshal of Louisville in order to assist in getting escaped slaves to the North.
Drama Period
Agent: Available for Agents
Manager: Available for Managers
Honorable Mention
Blunkhills, The
Hollis Ludlow-Carroll
WE’RE THE MILLERS meets BROOKLYN NINE-NINE
A group of mismatched FBI agents go undercover as a perfect family in order to gain access to criminal masterminds living in a luxury gated community.
Comedy Crime Spy
Agent: Available for Agents
Manager: Available for Managers
Top 25
Born Classified
J.R. Smith & Nicholas Fox Robbins
THE X-FILES meets MANHATTAN
In the 1950s, a woman who worked on the Manhattan Project is recruited to join a team investigating extraterrestrial phenomena.
Drama Period Sci-Fi
Agent: Available for Agents
Manager: Circle of Confusion | Daniela Garcia-Brcek
Honorable Mention
Broomstick Cowboys
Mike Revenaugh
THE LEAGUE meets EDDIE THE EAGLE
After a devastating marriage proposal rejection, a down-on-his luck man decides that the best way to get his life back on track and prove his worth is to return to the sport he exceled at in his youth – curling.
Comedy Sports
Agent: Available for Agents
Manager: Available for Managers
Top 10
Bus League Knocks
Mary Cardenas
FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS meets EVERYBODY WANTS SOME!!
A diverse group of baseball players fighting for a shot at the majors find themselves in the wild and cutthroat world of the minor leagues, navigating crazed fans, corrupt coaches, and backstabbing teammates as they travel from city to city fueled by little pay, little sleep, and big dreams.
Drama Comedy Sports
Agent: Available for Agents
Manager: Available for Managers
Top 25
California’s Gone
Jack Bentele
CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND meets HOUSE OF CARDS
When the entire state of California mysteriously vanishes into the Pacific Ocean, the government attempts to keep the details secret, an effort complicated by the sudden disappearance of the President and the revelation that we may not be alone in this universe.
Drama Sci-Fi
Agent: Available for Agents
Manager: Available for Managers
Top 25 Mentorship Winner
Children, The
Michael Aloyan
RESURRECTION meets THE LEFTOVERS
Thirteen children from the Greater Seattle area go missing on the same day, only to return two weeks later having aged over 10 years.
Drama Sci-Fi
Agent: Available for Agents
Manager: Renee Missel Management | Renee Dmity
Honorable Mention
Cosmo
Roger Porter
MAD MEN meets SEX IN THE CITY
Four years after leaving her husband, one woman’s attempt to secure L’Oreal products for her burgeoning beauty salon ends up launching a cosmetic industry revolution in 1960s New York.
Drama Period
Agent: Available for Agents
Manager: Available for Managers
Top 75
Creator Code
Michael Raymond
CHILDREN OF MEN meets MR. ROBOT
A scientist researching the cure for a devastating plague discovers that his unborn child might hold the secret to a cure, but he must hide from the evil corporation profiting from the disease.
Drama Sci-Fi
Agent: Available for Agents
Manager: Available for Managers
Honorable Mention
Dark Forest
Xander Bernstein
THE STRAIN meets WORLD WAR Z
Two American doctors, who’ve traveled to the Congo to investigate an unidentified and rapidly spreading outbreak, find themselves trapped in a war-torn region where two teenaged brother may have unleashed an ancient evil.
Drama Horror Supernatural
Agent: Available for Agents
Manager: Available for Managers
Top 50
Daybreaker
Phil Singleton
BATTLESTAR GALACTICA meets SUNSHINE
After the disappearance of the Sun, what’s left of humanity survives due to a spaceship that provides light and heat to the Earth, which a small group of astronauts must protect at all costs.
Drama Sci-Fi Thriller
Agent: Available for Agents
Manager: Available for Managers
Top 10
Dead Beat, The
Tye Lombardi
SLEEPY HOLLOW meets X-FILES
After inheriting an estate from a relative she never met, a Boston detective travels to New Orleans to discover why this house was left for her, who this relative was, and why the locals believe there is something supernatural at play.
Drama Crime Supernatural
Agent: Available for Agents
Manager: Available for Managers
Top 75
Denmark
Robbie Robertson
HOUSE OF CARDS meets HAMLET
A young soldier returning home from World War II to attend his murdered father’s funeral discovers that not only has his uncle usurped his father’s seat in the Senate, but that he may have played a part in the murder itself.
Drama Mystery Period
Agent: Available for Agents
Manager: Available for Managers
Top 75
Devil’s Broker, The
Matthew Kennedy
LUCIFER meets RAY DONOVAN
A man who sold his soul to the Devil 150 years ago, becoming his broker in the process, is starting to have a crisis of faith, and now must dissuade those looking to make the same deal in an attempt to win his own soul back.
Drama Supernatural
Agent: Available for Agents
Manager: Green Room | Nick Leicht
Top 75
Diary Of A Sociopath
Valerie Brotski
DEXTER meets THE LAST MAN ON EARTH
A woman whose sociopathic ways are starting to get out of control moves to a one-person tourist trap town in an attempt to escape her deadly impulses. But when the only other inhabitant suddenly dies, and tour buses start rolling in, she realizes she may have set herself up for the perfectly murderous circumstances she was trying to avoid.
Comedy Dark Comedy Drama
Agent: Gersh | Noah Jones
Manager: Available for Managers
Top 25
Do Again
Nathan G. Sellers
17 AGAIN meets HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER
When a man is given the chance to restart from the beginning with all of the knowledge of the life he left behind, he decides to chronicle his high school adventures as he attempts to right the wrongs of his past, often with hilarious results.
Comedy Drama Fantasy
Agent: Available for Agents
Manager: Available for Managers
Top 75
Domestic
Alan Wartes
HOMELAND meets SPOTLIGHT
After being coerced into working for the CIA, a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist finds himself at the center of a dangerous conspiracy to destroy America from within.
Drama Mystery Thriller
Agent: Available for Agents
Manager: Available for Managers
Top 50
Dusklands
Devin Conroy
THE KILLING meets LONGMIRE
After a high-ranking member of the tribal council is found dead of an apparent suicide, a reservation detective investigates what she believes could be murder at the hands of the new oil company consuming the lands around them.
Drama Crime Mystery
Agent: Available for Agents
Manager: Available for Managers
Top 50
Everleigh
Michael Kujak
BOARDWALK EMPIRE meets CHICAGO
In the debaucherous vice district of turn-of-the-century Chicago, two sisters who operate one of the most famous and exclusive brothels in the world fight to empower their girls while keeping their business alive in a city where corruption runs rampant.
Drama Period
Agent: Available for Agents
Manager: Available for Managers
Top 50
FACTs
Alexis Perkins
SPY meets THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA
When the CIA calls, you listen – even if it’s to leave your acclaimed job as a Broadway costume designer to help dress secret agents in the less-than-glamorous CIA costume department.
Comedy Spy
Agent: Available for Agents
Manager: Available for Managers
Top 50
Fairy Tale Crimes
Megan Bacharach
ONCE UPON A TIME meets THE HEAT
A sullen, no-nonsense cop is forced to team up with bubbly rookie Elle (Cinderella), to solve crimes in a town made up of all the heroes, villains, and supporting characters of traditional fantasy tales. Their first case: the death and potential murder of hard drinking Sleeping Beauty.
Comedy Drama Parody
Agent: Available for Agents
Manager: Available for Managers
Top 25
Firehouse Dogs
Phil Singleton
AIR BUD meets CHICAGO FIRE
Rescued from a horrible fire as a puppy, a Golden Retriever who aspires to join the world-famous canine unit of his city’s fire department finally gets a chance to show his courage to the team when a building in his neighborhood catches fire.
Comedy Animated Children
Agent: Available for Agents
Manager: Available for Managers
Top 75
First Man, The
Matt Jordan
THE WEST WING meets CHUCK
Since 1902, a hyper clandestine intelligence agency known as the First Lady Initiative has worked in total secrecy protecting the nation. For over a century, the responsibility has been passed down from First Lady to First Lady – and now to Henry Jeffries, former President and America’s “First Man.”
Comedy Action Spy
Agent: Available for Agents
Manager: Available for Managers
Top 50
Flight Risk
Valerie Brotski
MANHATTAN meets APOLLO 13
In the 1960s, two elite female pilots become embroiled in a secret NASA program which seeks to determine whether women are capable of becoming astronauts.
Drama Period
Agent: Gersh | Noah Jones
Manager: Available for Managers
Honorable Mention
Focus
Heidi Nyburg
MAD MEN meets MASTERS OF SEX
A single mother fights to balance a complicated family life and a male-driven industry when she decides to team up with an engineer to secretly create a revolutionary new microchip processor in the 1970s.
Drama Period
Agent: Available for Agents
Manager: Available for Managers
Top 75
Forbidden City
Victoria Rau
MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA meets HOUSE OF CARDS
On her quest to become the Empress of China in the 19th century, we follow a young woman as she rises from the life of a poor village girl struggling to survive, to a concubine fighting to protect her family, to a wife struggling for respect, to a leader her country was not ready for.
Drama Period
Agent: Available for Agents
Manager: Available for Managers
Top 10
Frankie Saves The World
Christine McVie
THE MIDDLE meets BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER
After going out of her way to save an innocent bystander, a recently widowed and rebelliously immature mother of two finds herself struggling to balance her quest for a lazy lifestyle with that of this whole supernatural good versus evil secret society thing she got dragged into. Oh, did we also mention she may also be the only person who can save us from the apocalypse?
Comedy Drama Supernatural
Agent: Available for Agents
Manager: Available for Managers
Top 25
Free Skate
Caitlin McCarthy
MAKE IT OR BREAK IT meets BLACK SWAN
After an injury ends a young figure skater’s dreams of Olympic glory, forcing her to join the world of professional ice shows to pay the bills, she not only discovers how cutthroat the circuit can be, but that it may be the only place that can offer her another shot at going for gold.
Drama Sports Thriller
Agent: Available for Agents
Manager: Available for Managers
Top 25
Game, The
Justin Jacobs
MR. ROBOT meets THE 100
With the promise of a technical revolution like none we’ve ever seen, more than 200 video game fans are invited to take part in the largest virtual reality experience ever created. But when the truth of the world is exposed, and deadly consequences start to take hold, the line between what’s real and what’s not begins to blur.
Drama Sci-Fi Thriller
Agent: Available for Agents
Manager: Artillery Creative | Tom Carter
Top 75
GILFs
Kristen Bartlett
BROAD CITY meets THE GOLDEN GIRLS
After her husband’s death, a grandmother escapes her retirement community and moves with her best friend to New York to experience the wild youth she missed out on during her 50-year marriage.
Comedy
Agent: Available for Agents
Manager: Available for Managers
Top 50
Global
Jim Goode & Scott Hawthorne
EAGLE EYE meets THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW
After ten of the wealthiest people on the planet reveal they’ve created a drug that will grant immortality, the Government’s investigation into it not only reveals that the creation of this drug will destroy the earth, but that the newly anointed Ten may no longer care.
Drama Sci-Fi Thriller
Agent: Available for Agents
Manager: Available for Managers
Top 75
GM
Thomas Leupp
MONEYBALL meets ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT
A young, idealistic general manager takes over a failing major league baseball club being run by an incompetent and ridiculous family.
Comedy Sports
Agent: Available for Agents
Manager: Available for Managers
Honorable Mention
God Killer
Jordan Dale
ROME meets THE LAST KINGDOM
As the druids of ancient Britain prepare to crown a new ruler, they have a vision of the man who will one day be their king: a soldier in the approaching army, who happens to be the Centurion who pierced the side of Jesus Christ. Two wars are coming: the battle for the throne and the battle for Britain itself.
Drama Fantasy Period
Agent: Available for Agents
Manager: Available for Managers
Top 50
Going Reno
Elizabeth Quinn
BOARDWALK EMPIRE meets BETTER CALL SAUL
In 1930s Reno, a woman looking for a divorce discovers her husband has found a way to cheat her out of everything she owns, but instead of running back to an old life she never truly loved, she decides to reinvent herself in a city that still honors its frontier roots and vices.
Drama Period
Agent: Available for Agents
Manager: Available for Managers
Top 50
Highgate
J. Elizabeth Martin
PENNY DREADFUL meets THE PRESTIGE
In Victorian London, a young woman is targeted by a satanic cult for powers she doesn’t understand, while her magician brother tries to save her with the help of a vampire and his crew.
Drama Period Supernatural
Agent: Available for Agents
Manager: Available for Managers
Honorable Mention
How Jane Austen Ruined My Life
Teresa Warner
AWKWARD meets UNDECLARED
A Jane Austen-obsessed freshman navigates her new college world while trying to figure out how not to be in love with her best friend.
Comedy Drama
Agent: Available for Agents
Manager: Available for Managers
Honorable Mention
Inquisition
Stephen Haynes
THE TUDORS meets GAME OF THRONES
During the Spanish Inquisition, a group of devil worshippers threatens to overthrow the fragile regime of Queen Isabella, who, having denounced witchcraft as imaginary, must now deal with the Catholic Church’s call for a witch-hunt, her people’s call for safety, and the enemies who have infiltrated all aspects of her new government.
Drama Period Supernatural
Agent: Available for Agents
Manager: Available for Managers
Top 50
Ithaca
Mike De Caro
ROME meets HOUSE OF CARDS
After twenty years of war and exile, Odysseus returns to find his kingdom stolen from him, his people turned against him, and his name now a crime to utter. In order to survive and reclaim his throne, he must navigate the corruption, politics, and violence of a world that replaced him.
Drama Adventure Period
Agent: Available for Agents
Manager: Available for Managers
Top 75
Lady Mercy
Eli Samuel
GREY’S ANATOMY meets SIX FEET UNDER
Haunted by the death of her daughter, a recently divorced doctor explores the depths between life and death as she opens a revolutionary euthanasia clinic – allowing terminally ill patients to die with dignity, and her to rediscover her own passion for life.
Drama Medical
Agent: Available for Agents
Manager: Available for Managers
Top 10
Long Shot, The
Tom Carter
VEEP meets PARKS AND RECREATION
When the corrupt Lieutenant Governor and inept Governor of South Carolina get into a heated political race, the woman who manages the Governor’s mansion decides she’s going to run against both of them.
Comedy Political
Agent: Available for Agents
Manager: Available for Managers
Top 50
Low Lives
Alyssa DiMari
DON’T TRUST THE B**** IN APARTMENT 23 meets ENTOURAGE
When two siblings are threatened with losing their luxury apartment and the lazy lifestyle to which they’ve become accustomed, they set out to join a celebrity entourage, but find the only person willing to help them is their nerdy former classmate who became an overnight tech millionaire.
Comedy
Agent: Available for Agents
Manager: Tantillo Entertainment | John Tantillo
Top 25
Loyalty
James L. Head
THE SOPRANOS meets THE DEPARTED
The son of one of New York’s biggest crime bosses does double time as a CIA agent, but his delicate balance comes under threat when the NYPD decides to send a young officer undercover to take the family down.
Drama Crime
Agent: Available for Agents
Manager: Available for Managers
Honorable Mention
Madisons, The
Nora Nolan
ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT meets CASUAL
After the death of their father, four dysfunctional siblings, whose individual lives are in shambles, discover that in order to inherit the family’s wealth they have to live in the family beach house together for an entire year.
Comedy
Agent: Available for Agents
Manager: Available for Managers
Top 75
Mahogany Hall
Ashley Charbonnet
THE KNICK meets BOARDWALK EMPIRE
A house of mixed race prostitutes in turn of the century New Orleans must fight for survival as politics and murder knock at their door.
Drama Crime Period
Agent: Available for Agents
Manager: Available for Managers
Mentorship Winner
Mother, The
Laura Bensick
RECTIFY meets THE KILLING
Thirteen years after being accused of, and accepting the guilt for, murdering her daughter during an episode of postpartum psychosis, a woman who is released back into the world sets out to regain the trust of her family and live a normal life. But when she discovers evidence that may prove she never committed the crime, she begins to question her own sanity, and whether she can trust those around her.
Drama Mystery Thriller
Agent: UTA | Amanda Burnett, Charles Ferraro, Greg Iserson
Manager: Think Tank Management | Tom Drumm
Winner | Best Drama Top 10
Move On
Jordan Toronto & Matt Toronto
NEW GIRL meets GHOST
A year after her ex-husband’s death, a socially awkward woman who is finally ready to date again comes to discover that not only can she now see her dead husband, but that he will do anything in his power to keep her from finding true love.
Comedy Supernatural
Agent: Available for Agents
Manager: Available for Managers
Top 10
New York Nation
Judith Lutz
SCANDAL meets SUITS
A New York neighborhood attempts to fight gentrification by invoking centuries-old maps that suggest they may never have been incorporated into the United States at all.
Drama Political
Agent: Available for Agents
Manager: Available for Managers
Honorable Mention
Newsperson
Michael Drake
THE NEWSROOM meets THE OFFICE
An aging reporter must search for new employment after the prestigious paper he’s worked at for years closes down. When he ends up at a clickbait website, he’s hell bent on reporting stories that matter, whatever the cost.
Comedy
Agent: Available for Agents
Manager: Available for Managers
Honorable Mention
Nightmare
Lance Wayne
A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET meets THE MATRIX
A team of researchers attempt to use virtual reality technology to help patients confront their debilitating nightmares, but find that there are even more powerful forces at work in the world of dreams.
Drama Horror Sci-Fi
Agent: Available for Agents
Manager: Available for Managers
Mentorship Winner
Noize, The
Marcus Reeves & Ronke Idowu Reeves
NEWSROOM meets STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON
In the mid-90s, a successful young writer trying to launch a new music magazine focused on the rise of hip-hop finds her personal life, and the life of the magazine, threatened by the turbulent world and times she sets out to cover.
Drama Music
Agent: Available for Agents
Manager: Available for Managers
Top 50
One American’s Odyssey
Erik V Wolter
THE MAN IN THE HIGH CASTLE meets GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD LUCK
Drama Period
Agent: Barry Perelman Agency | Barry Perelman
Manager: Available for Managers
Honorable Mention
One Way or Another
Ben Feuer
ALMOST FAMOUS meets VINYL
A young journalist in the 1970s follows an up-and-coming punk band with enough drama to make both themselves and her famous.
Drama Music Period
Agent: Available for Agents
Manager: Available for Managers
Honorable Mention
Otter Space
Nicholas K. Lopez & Russ Nickel
ADVENTURE TIME meets FIREFLY
A ragtag group of animal space travelers set off in their ship to restore order to the universe.
Comedy Animated
Agent: Available for Agents
Manager: Available for Managers
Honorable Mention
Parole
Thomas Leupp
COMMUNITY meets THE ODD COUPLE
After getting out on parole, a former hotshot hedge fund manager finds himself forced to work a minimum-wage job alongside a group of wacky screw-ups at his brother’s failing deli.
Comedy
Agent: Available for Agents
Manager: Available for Managers
Top 75
Phantasmagoria
Julia Cooperman
PENNY DREADFUL meets GHOSTBUSTERS
In Victorian London, a team of charlatans pass themselves off as paranormal investigators, only to find real supernatural forces suddenly working against them. Now, using everything they’ve have been pretending to know, and a little magic of their own, they must fight back against the encroaching spiritual revolt.
Drama Period Supernatural
Agent: Available for Agents
Manager: Available for Managers
Top 75
Physical Education
Nandita Seshadri
FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS meets AWKWARD
After being passed over for the position of head football coach, a female PE teacher teams up with a disaffected yet highly skilled Muslim girl to help her infiltrate the football team, and prove once and for all that girls can not only coach, but play, a male-driven sport.
Comedy Sports
Agent: Available for Agents
Manager: Available for Managers
Top 50
Pico-Union
Michael Flores
SIN NOMBRE meets THE WIRE
Three siblings escape from civil war in El Salvador and try to make it in Los Angeles. Two decide to start an organized crime syndicate, while the other searches for news of the husband she left behind.
Drama Crime
Agent: Available for Agents
Manager: Available for Managers
Honorable Mention
Public Relations
Melinda Maerker
RAY DONOVAN meets THE GOOD WIFE
After handling their Oscar-winning mother’s out of control scandal, two sisters, one a lawyer and one a stay at home mom, launch a PR firm to tackle the manipulative world of publicity and politics that today’s social media and TMZ-fueled world has become.
Comedy Drama
Agent: Available for Agents
Manager: Available for Managers
Top 50
Rabbit Warren, The
Vivian Tse
CHILDREN OF MEN meets ORPHAN BLACK
In a world obsessed with synthetic body enhancements, there exists a singular pure human, rumored to be the key to humanity’s salvation. The quest to capture or save this young girl ignites a struggle between governments, warlords, and the few who wish to protect her.
Drama Sci-Fi
Agent: Paradigm | Matt Snow
Manager: Mosaic | Dawn Saltzman, Langley Perer
Top 75
Rachel III
Danielle Evenson & Heather Huntington
EASY A meets ELECTION
When eccentric, back-brace wearing loner Rachel realizes she’ll never win over the cool kids on her own, she schemes to take over the student council and force them to love her, even if a few accidents need to happen to those running against her.
Comedy Teen
Agent: Available for Agents
Manager: Sheree Guitar Entertainment | Sheree Guitar
Top 10
Reader’s Group Guide
Amelia Sims
MY SO-CALLED LIFE meets THE O.C.
A group of hyper-intelligent and overly ambitious freshmen struggle to adapt to the shark-infested waters of a high school magnet program, where their daily lives are filled with bloated expectations, a vicious rumor mill, and the never-ending competition to be the best.
Drama Teen
Agent: Available for Agents
Manager: Available for Managers
Top 25
Reconstruction
Sarah Kraus
MERCY STREET meets NORTH AND SOUTH
A revisionist history that sees a post-Civil War Confederacy on the brink of dissolving and forced to elect a female president, who not only sets out to broaden their horizons, but to lead a coalition of women and former slaves to rebuild the nation.
Drama Period War
Agent: Available for Agents
Manager: Available for Managers
Top 75
Red Rivers
Helen Truong & Naomi Baum
THE X-FILES meets TRUE DETECTIVE
When a skeptical NYPD detective is transferred to New Orleans, he finds himself forced to team up with a local woman with a history in voodoo to investigate a series of ritualistic murders. But as the case starts to unravel, they find their clues leading them deeper into something even the strongest occult believer can’t imagine.
Drama Crime Supernatural
Agent: Available for Agents
Manager: Available for Managers
Top 50
Rental
Adam Beal
THAT 70S SHOW meets BREAKING BAD
With his video rental shop failing and eviction imminent, a father must fall back on the life of crime he thought he’d left behind.
Comedy Drama
Agent: Available for Agents
Manager: Available for Managers
Honorable Mention
Riker
Christopher Lee
HOUSE meets HOW TO GET AWAY WITH MURDER
A renowned criminology professor enlists a team of graduate students to help crack the cases police have failed to solve. But one criminal he can’t – or won’t – catch just may be the person closest to him.
Drama Crime Thriller
Agent: Gersh | Frank Wuliger, Mark Hartogsohn
Manager: Heller Highwater Productions | Peter Heller
Top 50
Rooted
Adam Schneider
BLOODLINE meets SIDEWAYS
When her estranged family’s winery is threatened by financial ruin, one woman comes home to help her family stay afloat, but upon her return she unearths a decades old mystery that will not only threaten the family business, but the foundations of the family itself.
Drama
Agent: Available for Agents
Manager: Available for Managers
Top 50
Rules Of Business, The
Gary Comerford
SILICON VALLEY meets GREY’S ANATOMY
When the three partners of a fast-expanding tech company disagree on the direction they should take, can their company, let alone their friendships and relationships, survive the internal bickering, corporate espionage, and blackmailing that threaten to break it apart?
Drama
Agent: Available for Agents
Manager: Available for Managers
Top 75
Sam O
Samuel Oh
FRESH OFF THE BOAT meets DEAD LIKE ME
After a successful brain tumor removal takes him out of classes for an entire year, a teen now tackles the hardest task of his life: high school. Coping with social anxieties, making new friends, and trying not to become the class loser are rough enough, but factor in that he may or may not be seeing the Grim Reaper every day, and well, it’s going to be a tough year.
Comedy Drama Teen
Agent: Available for Agents
Manager: Available for Managers
Top 50
Secret & Confidential
Ben Maraniss
THE AMERICANS meets TRUE DETECTIVE
In 1976, federal agents investigate the murder of a key witness to the Watergate scandal, but as they interview three other key witnesses, the interweaving tales unearth a series of classified government missions, partnerships between the CIA and the mob, and a secret assassination plot coordinated by the President of the United States.
Drama Period Thriller
Agent: Available for Agents
Manager: Available for Managers
Top 75
Serpent Under’t, The
Stephen Simpson
GAME OF THRONES meets HOUSE OF CARDS
Playing out as a prequel to Shakespeare’s classic, a young Scottish nobleman named Macbeth is told that, through the dark arts of murder, treachery, and deceit, he will rise up to become king.
Drama Period Supernatural
Agent: Available for Agents
Manager: Energy Entertainment | Brooklyn Weaver
Top 75
Shrink Proof
Stephen Potts
GREY’S ANATOMY meets IN TREATMENT
The newly appointed Chief Psychiatric Resident of St. Christina’s Hospital struggles to make her mark as she battles to earn the respect of her privileged and self-obsessed colleagues, keep her marriage together, and try to keep her life from falling back into the impoverished world she left behind.
Drama Medical
Agent: Smart Talent (UK) | Kelly Marshall
Manager: Available for Managers
Top 50
Siena
Ariadna Martinez
ASSASSIN’S CREED meets THE BORGIAS
In 13th century Siena, a secret society of well-trained vigilantes keeps the city safe, but the arrival of the Holy Roman Emperor signals the beginning of an internal plot to bring down the city they love.
Drama Action Period
Agent: Available for Agents
Manager: Available for Managers
Top 50
Snark
Jay Riedl
UNREAL meets NEWSROOM
To keep their careers, the staff of a gossip news site must suppress what little conscience they have to run the most ruthless stories they can find, because the more despicable the content, the higher the view count.
Comedy Dark Comedy Drama
Agent: Available for Agents
Manager: Echo Lake Entertainment | Chelsea Benson, Dave Brown, Zadoc Angell
Top 25
Socio-Pam
Rowan Wheeler
DON’T TRUST THE B**** IN APARTMENT 23 meets NIGHTCRAWLER
With the help of her sociopath support group, a proud sociopath attempts to use her position as a local news reporter to advance the cause of sociopaths everywhere, but runs into problems when she starts to experience these stupid little things called… emotions.
Comedy
Agent: Available for Agents
Manager: One Entertainment | Greg Weiss
Top 25
Son Of The Dragon
Steven Jon Whritner
DRACULA meets GAME OF THRONES
With a journey that begins in the 1400s, as he is sent away to live with the enemy as part of a tribute to the Ottoman Empire, this is a look at the politics, wars, love, betrayals, and bloodlust that would one day forge the man we’d come to know throughout history as Vlad The Impaler, or more commonly – Dracula.
Drama Period
Agent: Available for Agents
Manager: Available for Managers
Top 25
Sugartown
Amanda Toye
FARGO meets BREAKING BAD
A small town is thrown into chaos when a corrupt pain management clinic causes an epidemic drug problem.
Drama Thriller
Agent: Available for Agents
Manager: Protocol | Mike Vanderhei
Honorable Mention
TARR
Gregory Bernard Hirshland
TRUE DETECTIVE meets THE X-FILES
A cop looks back on an unsolved case of missing twin girls in Juneau, Alaska when one of the girls mysteriously shows up over a decade later… still alive.
Drama Crime Supernatural
Agent: Available for Agents
Manager: Available for Managers
Honorable Mention
Third World Royalty
Melanie Maras
FRESH OFF THE BOAT meets ENTOURAGE
A Hollywood publicist who is ready to take her relationship with her boyfriend to the next level has her life overturned when her ridiculous family arrives from Indonesia, broke and needing a place to stay.
Comedy
Agent: Available for Agents
Manager: Available for Managers
Honorable Mention
Threads
Dorothy Pecoraro Bertram
HOMELAND meets QUANTICO
After a deadly terrorist attack takes place on American soil and brings his department under fire, the Director of Homeland Security looks into his daughter’s new Muslim boyfriend, unaware that the real threat is his own son, who ISIS may be recruiting.
Drama Thriller
Agent: Available for Agents
Manager: Available for Managers
Top 75
Undertow
Linda Ge & Travis Reilly
THE SOPRANOS meets REVENGE
Four Chinese-American siblings are thrust into the world of organized crime after the death of their kingpin father. As they struggle to maintain control of the family business, they find themselves facing threats from the FBI, their extended family, and possibly one another.
Drama Thriller
Agent: Available for Agents
Manager: Available for Managers
Top 25
Unity
Lindsay McRae
BRAVEHEART meets THE SCARLET LETTER
In the bloody wake of the Battle of Dunbar in 1650, a group of Scottish prisoners and two English women who narrowly avoid execution are sent to Boston to work as indentured servants. Upon arrival, they are met with harsh conditions, tragic decisions, and an introduction to a new world that is no longer their own.
Drama Period
Agent: Available for Agents
Manager: Available for Managers
Top 75
Unplanned
Joanne Lee
VEEP meets KNOCKED UP
A conservative pundit has to remain a staunch voice representing her party as she struggles with her mother’s Presidential campaign, an affair with a liberal Senator, and an unexpected pregnancy – all of which test her political, moral, and ethical ideals in an ever-changing world.
Comedy Political
Agent: APA | Amanda Hacohen, Nathan DeRemer
Manager: Available for Managers
Top 50
Valedictorian
Jimmy Mosqueda
ELECTION meets PRETTY LITTLE LIARS
At an elite high school where academics are everything, a 17-year-old girl schemes to become Valedictorian after the suspicious death of her boyfriend, the former number one student.
Comedy Drama
Agent: Available for Agents
Manager: Energy Entertainment | Angelina Chen, Brooklyn Weaver
Top 75
Welcome To Last Chance
Keith Storrier
FARGO meets IN PLAIN SIGHT
In a small town populated with criminals in Witness Protection, a soon to be in-over-his-head Sheriff decides to take justice into his own hands, setting off a series of murders, an FBI investigation, and a residential backlash threatening to remind him of who his neighbors really are.
Comedy Crime Drama
Agent: Verve Talent & Literary Agency | Abram Nalibotsky
Manager: Available for Managers
Top 50
Whale Of A Time
Brandon Beck
RICK AND MORTY meets PINKY AND THE BRAIN
After accidently swallowing a Nazi scientist and his time machine, a good-natured whale obliviously agrees to travel through time to further the plans of the Third Reich, with humorous and unexpected results.
Comedy Animated
Agent: Ideal Talent Agency | Lauren Hoffmeier
Manager: Available for Managers
Top 75
Widows
Laura Bensick
DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES meets REVENGE
When four women all lose their husbands in one night to mysterious accidents, the seemingly unconnected widows come together to investigate the deaths and prove their innocence. But, in the process of becoming new BFFs over martini hour, come to discover that one of them may be responsible for their husband’s deaths after all.
Drama
Agent: UTA | Amanda Burnett, Charles Ferraro, Greg Iserson
Manager: Think Tank Management | Tom Drumm
Honorable Mention
Work Release
Patrick Connelly
THE MILLERS meets ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT
A man’s carefully organized life is disrupted when his irresponsible father is released from prison and assigned to a work release program at his son’s job. Now, after spending his entire life rebelling against him, he must accept his father for who he is, or send him back to prison for the rest of his life.
Comedy
Agent: Available for Agents
Manager: Gravity Squared Entertainment | John Beach
Top 25
Announcing the Top 10
The Top 10 Finalists Announced.
Now six months since this competition opened, and almost two months since we announced our Top 75, it’s time to take a look at out Top 10 Finalists for this year’s competition.
With 24 of this year’s writers now signed, and more than 160 since the Launch Pad Competition began just three years ago, we’re incredibly thrilled to present the pilots our judges deemed the Top 0.5% overall, and will now began voting on to decide who will become our Overall, Drama, and Comedy Winners.
Top 10 Finalists this year include six dramas, and four comedies brought to us by nine female writers, four male writers, and three writing teams overall.
With a mix of mystery, sci-fi, fantasy and war, slackers, empresses, gangs and more, with stories of love, death, hope and fear, first dates, rejections, engagements and husbands returning as ghosts even though they definitely died in quicksand last year. From England to China, small towns to space, high schools to battlefields, kingdoms and lakes, with teachers and doctors, students and thieves, mothers and daughters, curlers and creeps, we are proud to present to you the 2016 Launch Pad Pilot Competition Finalists!
(Scroll below for the Top 25, or to see the Top 50, or Top 75 continue to the bottom of the page)
#1 FAN
Annabel Seymour
30 ROCK meets POPSTAR: NEVER STOP NEVER STOPPING
Twenty years after embarrassing herself by proposing to her pop star crush on live TV, a businesswoman’s life is thrown for a loop when the bankrupt singer shows up on her doorstep.
Comedy
40 ELEPHANTS
E.S. Dahl & Kay Tuxford
PEAKY BLINDERS meets THE CATCH
After leaving her fiance, a naive woman joins an all-female gang of thieves led by the daughter of a ruthless ringleader in 1920s London, aspiring to reinvent herself and help earn the seductive independence women briefly glimpsed during World War I.
Drama Crime
ALMA MATER
Jenny Deiker
BROADCHURCH meets PRETTY LITTLE LIARS
A psychiatrist and former alum of a prestigious boarding school in Wales comes back to help the students deal with their grief over an apparent suicide and begins to suspect that the school she loves may be hiding an even more disturbing mystery.
Drama Mystery Thriller
BROOMSTICK COWBOYS
Mike Revenaugh
THE LEAGUE meets EDDIE THE EAGLE
After a devastating marriage proposal rejection, a down on his luck man decides that the best way to get his life back on track and prove his worth is to return to the sport he exceled at in his youth: curling.
Comedy Sports
DAYBREAKER
Phil Singleton
BATTLESTAR GALACTICA meets SUNSHINE
After the disappearance of the Sun, what’s left of humanity survives due to a spaceship that provides light and heat to the Earth, which a small group of astronauts must protect at all costs.
Drama Sci-Fi Thriller
FORBIDDEN CITY
Victoria Rau
MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA meets HOUSE OF CARDS
On her quest to become the Empress of China in the 19th century, we follow a young woman as she rises from the life of a poor village girl struggling to survive, to a concubine fighting to protect her family, to a wife struggling for respect, to a leader her country was not ready for.
Drama Period
LADY MERCY
Eli Samuel
GREY’S ANATOMY meets SIX FEET UNDER
Haunted by the death of her daughter, a recently divorced doctor explores the depths between life and death as she sets out to open the first ever euthanasia clinic: opening the doors for terminally ill patients to die with dignity, and hoping to rediscover her own passion for life.
Drama Medical
MOTHER, THE
Laura Bensick
RECTIFY meets THE KILLING
Thirteen years after being accused of, and accepting the guilt for, murdering her daughter during an episode of postpartum psychosis, a woman who is released back into the world sets out to regain the trust of her family and live a normal life. But when she discovers evidence that may prove she never committed the crime, she begins to question her own sanity, and whether she can trust those around her.
Drama Mystery Thriller
MOVE ON
Jordan Toronto & Matt Toronto
NEW GIRL meets GHOST
A year after her husband’s death, a socially awkward woman who is finally ready to put herself out there again comes to discover that not only can she now see her dead husband, but that he will do anything in his power to keep her from finding true love.
Comedy Supernatural
RACHEL III
Danielle Evenson & Heather Huntington
EASY A meets ELECTION
When eccentric, back-brace wearing loner Rachel realizes she’ll never win over the cool kids on her own, she schemes to take over the student council and force them to love her, even if a few accidents need to happen to those running against her.
Comedy Teen
Announcing the Top 25
The Top 25 Semi-Finalists Announced.
With over 156 writers signed, 51 projects set up, and 21 writers staffed since we began our competition, we’re thrilled to introduce you to the next batch of contenders for this year’s Pilot Competition.
This year’s Top 25 is made up of 13 dramas and 12 comedies, written by 10 men and 19 women (including 4 writing teams) who hail from the U.S., Canada and Scotland, and collectively deliver us stories filled with hope, despair, engagements, deaths, aliens, sociopaths, fairytales, sci-fis, vampires, empresses, high school, adulthood, ice-skating, baseball and believe it or not… curling.
(Scroll below for the Top 25, or to see the Top 50, or Top 75 continue to the bottom of the page)
#1 FAN
Annabel Seymour
30 ROCK meets POPSTAR: NEVER STOP NEVER STOPPING
Twenty years after embarrassing herself by proposing to her pop star crush on live TV, a businesswoman’s life is thrown for a loop when the bankrupt singer shows up on her doorstep.
Comedy
40 ELEPHANTS
E.S. Dahl & Kay Tuxford
PEAKY BLINDERS meets THE CATCH
After leaving her fiance, a naive woman joins an all-female gang of thieves led by the daughter of a ruthless ringleader in 1920s London, aspiring to reinvent herself and help earn the seductive independence women briefly glimpsed during World War I.
Drama Crime
ADRIFT
Titus Heckel
BATTLESTAR GALACTICA meets THE EXPANSE
On a planet where the only source of sunlight and heat is produced by artificial “orbs” controlled by corporations, debates of religion, politics, and fear erupt into violence after an orb is destroyed, leaving all life fighting to see another day.
Drama Action Sci-Fi
ALMA MATER
Jenny Deiker
BROADCHURCH meets PRETTY LITTLE LIARS
A psychiatrist and former alum of a prestigious boarding school in Wales comes back to help the students deal with their grief over an apparent suicide and begins to suspect that the school she loves may be hiding an even more disturbing mystery.
Drama Mystery Thriller
BLUNKHILLS, THE
Hollis Ludlow-Carroll
WE’RE THE MILLERS meets BROOKLYN NINE-NINE
A group of mismatched FBI agents go undercover as a perfect family in order to gain access to criminal masterminds living in a luxury gated community.
Comedy Crime
BROOMSTICK COWBOYS
Mike Revenaugh
THE LEAGUE meets EDDIE THE EAGLE
After a devastating marriage proposal rejection, a down on his luck man decides that the best way to get his life back on track and prove his worth is to return to the sport he exceled at in his youth: curling.
Comedy Sports
BUS LEAGUE KNOCKS
Mary Cardenas
FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS meets EVERYBODY WANTS SOME!!
A diverse group of baseball players fighting for a shot at the majors find themselves in the wild and cutthroat world of the minor leagues, navigating crazed fans, corrupt coaches, and backstabbing teammates as they travel from city to city fueled by little pay, little sleep, and big dreams.
Drama Sports
CALIFORNIA’S GONE
Jack Bentele
CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND meets HOUSE OF CARDS
When the entire state of California mysteriously vanishes into the Pacific Ocean, the government attempts to keep the details secret, an effort complicated by the sudden disappearance of the President and the revelation that we may no longer be alone on this planet.
Drama Sci-Fi
DAYBREAKER
Phil Singleton
BATTLESTAR GALACTICA meets SUNSHINE
After the disappearance of the Sun, what’s left of humanity survives due to a spaceship that provides light and heat to the Earth, which a small group of astronauts must protect at all costs.
Drama Sci-Fi Thriller
DIARY OF A SOCIOPATH
Valerie Brotski
DEXTER meets THE LAST MAN ON EARTH
A woman who realizes her sociopathic ways are starting to get out of control moves to a one-person tourist trap town in an attempt to escape her deadly impulses. But when the only other inhabitant of the town suddenly dies, and tour buses start rolling in, she realizes she may have accidently set herself up in the perfectly murderous setting she was trying to escape in the first place.
Comedy Dark Comedy Drama
FAIRY TALE CRIMES
Megan Bacharach
ONCE UPON A TIME meets THE HEAT
A sullen, no-nonsense cop is forced to team up with bubbly rookie Elle (Cinderella), to solve crimes in a town made up of all the heroes, villains, and supporting characters of traditional fantasy tales. Their first case: the death and potential murder of hard drinking Sleeping Beauty.
Comedy Drama Parody
FORBIDDEN CITY
Victoria Rau
MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA meets HOUSE OF CARDS
On her quest to become the Empress of China in the 19th century, we follow a young woman as she rises from the life of a poor village girl struggling to survive, to a concubine fighting to protect her family, to a wife struggling for respect, to a leader her country was not ready for.
Drama Period
FRANKIE SAVES THE WORLD
Christine McVie
THE MIDDLE meets BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER
After going out of her way to save an innocent bystander, a recently widowed and rebelliously immature mother of two finds herself struggling to balance her quest for a lazy lifestyle with that of this whole supernatural good versus evil secret society thing she got dragged into. Oh, did we also mention she may also be the only person who can save us from the apocalypse?
Comedy Drama Supernatural
FREE SKATE
Caitlin McCarthy
MAKE IT OR BREAK IT meets BLACK SWAN
After an injury ends a young figure skater’s dreams of Olympic glory, forcing her to join the world of professional ice shows to pay the bills, she not only discovers how cutthroat the circuit can be, but that it may be the only place that can offer her another shot at going for gold.
Drama Comedy Sports
LADY MERCY
Eli Samuel
GREY’S ANATOMY meets SIX FEET UNDER
Haunted by the death of her daughter, a recently divorced doctor explores the depths between life and death as she sets out to open the first ever euthanasia clinic: opening the doors for terminally ill patients to die with dignity, and hoping to rediscover her own passion for life.
Drama Medical
LOW LIVES
Alyssa DiMari
DON’T TRUST THE B**** IN APARTMENT 23 meets ENTOURAGE
When two desperate yet entitled siblings are threatened with losing their luxury apartment and the lazy lifestyle they’ve come to love, they set out to join a celebrity entourage, but find the only person willing to help them is their nerdy former classmate who became an overnight tech millionaire.
Comedy
MOTHER, THE
Laura Bensick
RECTIFY meets THE KILLING
Thirteen years after being accused of, and accepting the guilt for, murdering her daughter during an episode of postpartum psychosis, a woman who is released back into the world sets out to regain the trust of her family and live a normal life. But when she discovers evidence that may prove she never committed the crime, she begins to question her own sanity, and whether she can trust those around her.
Drama Mystery Thriller
MOVE ON
Jordan Toronto & Matt Toronto
NEW GIRL meets GHOST
A year after her husband’s death, a socially awkward woman who is finally ready to put herself out there again comes to discover that not only can she now see her dead husband, but that he will do anything in his power to keep her from finding true love.
Comedy Supernatural
RACHEL III
Danielle Evenson & Heather Huntington
EASY A meets ELECTION
When eccentric, back-brace wearing loner Rachel realizes she’ll never win over the cool kids on her own, she schemes to take over the student council and force them to love her, even if a few accidents need to happen to those running against her.
Comedy Teen
READER’S GROUP GUIDE
Amelia Sims
MY SO-CALLED LIFE meets THE O.C.
A group of hyper-intelligent and overly ambitious freshman struggle to adapt to the shark-infested waters of a high school magnet program, where their daily lives are filled with bloated expectations, a vicious rumor mill, and the never-ending competition to be the best.
Drama Teen
SNARK
Jay Riedl
UNREAL meets NEWSROOM
To keep their careers, the staff of a gossip news site must suppress what little conscience they have to run the most ruthless stories they can find, because the more despicable the content, the higher the view count.
Comedy Drama
SOCIO-PAM
Rowan Wheeler
DON’T TRUST THE B**** IN APARTMENT 23 meets NIGHTCRAWLER
With the help of her sociopath support group, a proud sociopath attempts to use her position as a local news reporter to advance the cause of sociopaths everywhere, but runs into problems when she starts to experience these stupid little things called… emotions.
Comedy
SON OF THE DRAGON
Steven Jon Whritner
DRACULA meets GAME OF THRONES
With a journey that begins in the 1400s, as he is sent away to live with the enemy as part of a tribute to the Ottoman Empire, this is a look at the politics, wars, love, betrayals, and bloodlust that would one day forge the man we’d come to know throughout history as Vlad The Impaler, or more commonly: Dracula.
Drama Period
UNDERTOW
Linda Ge & Travis Reilly
THE SOPRANOS meets REVENGE
Four Chinese-American siblings are thrust into the world of organized crime after the death of their kingpin father. As they struggle to maintain control of the family business, they find themselves facing threats from the FBI, other members of the family that want them out, and possibly from one another.
Drama Thriller
WORK RELEASE
Patrick Connelly
THE MILLERS meets ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT
A man’s carefully organized life is disrupted when his irresponsible father is released from prison and assigned to a work release program at his son’s job. Now, after spending his entire life rebelling against him, he must accept his father for who he is, or send him back to prison for the rest of his life.
Comedy
Announcing the Top 50
| Project | Written By |
|---|---|
| #1 Fan | Annabel Seymour |
| 40 Elephants | E.S. Dahl & Kay Tuxford |
| Addicted | Melissa Cassera |
| Adrift | Titus Heckel |
| Alma Mater | Jenny Deiker |
| Baptiste | Jenny Deiker |
| Barbarians | L. A. Townsley |
| Blunkhills, The | Hollis Ludlow-Carroll |
| Broomstick Cowboys | Mike Revenaugh |
| Bus League Knocks | Mary Cardenas |
| California’s Gone | Jack Bentele |
| Dark Forest | Xander Bernstein |
| Daybreaker | Phil Singleton |
| Diary of a Sociopath | Valerie Brotski |
| Domestic | Alan Wartes |
| Dusklands | Devin Conroy |
| Everleigh | Michael Kujak |
| FACTs | Alexis Perkins |
| Fairy Tale Crimes | Megan Bacharach |
| First Man, The | Matt Jordan |
| Forbidden City | Victoria Rau |
| Frankie Saves the World | Christine McVie |
| Free Skate | Caitlin McCarthy |
| GILFs | Kristen Bartlett |
| God Killer | Jordan Dale |
| Going Reno | Elizabeth Quinn |
| Inquisition | Stephen Haynes |
| Lady Mercy | Eli Samuel |
| Long Shot, The | Tom Carter |
| Low Lives | Alyssa DiMari |
| Mother, The | Laura Bensick |
| Move On | Jordan Toronto & Matt Toronto |
| Noize, The | Marcus Reeves & Ronke Idowu Reeves |
| Physical Education | Nandita Seshadri |
| Public Relations | Melinda Maerker |
| Rachel III | Danielle Evenson & Heather Huntington |
| Reader’s Group Guide | Amelia Sims |
| Red Rivers | Helen Truong & Naomi Baum |
| Riker | Christopher Lee |
| Rooted | Adam Schneider |
| Sam O | Samuel Oh |
| Shrink Proof | Stephen Potts |
| Siena | Ariadna Martinez |
| Snark | Jay Riedl |
| Socio-Pam | Rowan Wheeler |
| Son of the Dragon | Steven Jon Whritner |
| Undertow | Linda Ge & Travis Reilly |
| Unplanned | Joanne Lee |
| Welcome To Last Chance | Keith Storrier |
| Work Release | Patrick Connelly |
Announcing the Top 75
2016 Launch Pad’s Top 75 Pilot Scripts!
(All scripts are listed alphabetically by title.)
| Project | Written By |
|---|---|
| #1 Fan | Annabel Seymour |
| 40 Elephants | E.S. Dahl & Kay Tuxford |
| Addicted | Melissa Cassera |
| Adrift | Titus Heckel |
| Alibi Man | Richard Hays & Robert Ingraham |
| Alma Mater | Jenny Deiker |
| And We’re Back | Nick Fanego |
| Arkham, Mass | Andrew Aguirre |
| Baptiste | Jenny Deiker |
| Barbarians | L.A. Townsley |
| Blunkhills, The | Hollis Ludlow-Carroll |
| Broomstick Cowboys | Mike Revenaugh |
| Bus League Knocks | Mary Cardenas |
| California’s Gone | Jack Bentele |
| Cosmo | Roger Porter |
| Dark Forest | Xander Bernstein |
| Daybreaker | Phil Singleton |
| Dead Beat, The | Tye Lombardi |
| Denmark | Robbie Robertson |
| Devil’s Broker, The | Matthew Kennedy |
| Diary Of A Sociopath | Valerie Brotski |
| Do Again | Nathan G. Sellers |
| Domestic | Alan Wartes |
| Dusklands | Devin Conroy |
| Everleigh | Michael Kujak |
| FACTs | Alexis Perkins |
| Fairy Tale Crimes | Megan Bacharach |
| Firehouse Dogs | Phil Singleton |
| First Man, The | Matt Jordan |
| Focus | Heidi Nyburg |
| Forbidden City | Victoria Rau |
| Frankie Saves The World | Christine McVie |
| Free Skate | Caitlin McCarthy |
| Game, The | Justin Jacobs |
| GILFs | Kristen Bartlett |
| Global | Jim Goode & Scott Hawthorne |
| God Killer | Jordan Dale |
| Going Reno | Elizabeth Quinn |
| Inquisition | Stephen Haynes |
| Ithaca | Mike De Caro |
| Lady Mercy | Archie Panjabi & Eli Samuel |
| Long Shot, The | Tom Carter |
| Low Lives | Alyssa DiMari |
| Madisons, The | Nora Nolan |
| Mother, The | Laura Bensick |
| Move On | Jordan Toronto & Matt Toronto |
| Noize, The | Marcus Reeves & Ronke Idowu Reeves |
| Parole | Thomas Leupp |
| Phantasmagoria | Julia Cooperman |
| Physical Education | Nandita Seshadri |
| Public Relations | Melinda Maerker |
| Rabbit Warren, The | Vivian Tse |
| Rachel III | Danielle Evenson & Heather Huntington |
| Reader’s Group Guide | Amelia Sims |
| Reconstruction | Sarah Kraus |
| Red Rivers | Helen Truong & Naomi Baum |
| Riker | Christopher Lee |
| Rooted | Adam Schneider |
| Rules Of Business, The | Gary Comerford |
| Sam O | Samuel Oh |
| Secret & Confidential | Ben Maraniss |
| Serpent Under’t, The | Stephen Simpson |
| Shrink Proof | Stephen Potts |
| Siena | Ariadna Martinez |
| Snark | Jay Riedl |
| Socio-Pam | Rowan Wheeler |
| Son Of The Dragon | Steven Jon Whritner |
| Threads | Dorothy Pecoraro Bertram |
| Undertow | Linda Ge & Travis Reilly |
| Unity | Lindsay McRae |
| Unplanned | Joanne Lee |
| Valedictorian | Jimmy Mosqueda |
| Welcome To Last Chance | Keith Storrier |
| Whale Of A Time | Brandon Beck |
| Work Release | Patrick Connelly |
THE NEW STANDARD FOR SCREENWRITING COMPETITIONS
Since the very beginning, the goal of the Launch Pad Competition has always been to discover, recognize, and launch careers for writers who showcase the voice, talent, and passion for a career in Hollywood. After three successful years, we’re thrilled to have more writers signed, more projects set up, and more writers making names for themselves from our Launch Pad Competition than any other competition in the world!
Three Years – 114 writers signed, 37 projects set up, 13 writers staffed, 3 bidding wars, and appearances on every single annual “best of list” since.
When you become part of the Launch Pad Community you become part of the family, and we work tirelessly with every writer to map out the first steps in each of their individual careers. We’re here to help and to be there for every scenario, question, or opportunity that arises from the competition. From individual introductions, meetings, calls, or prep, our community of mentors, alums and professionals are here to help you launch your career!
See What Executives, Writers and Managers Say about the Launch Pad Pilot Competition
The Launch Pad Competition has demonstrated a track record that’s unrivaled among screenwriting competitions. They’ve personally led more writers to being repped in 2 years than most competitions can manage in 10 years. If you’re serious about becoming a writer, breaking in, and launching a career in this industry this is the place to start!
— Daniel Vang
Manager, Benderspink
As Editor of Script Magazine I’ve explored every contest out there, not only for myself but also for my writing community. When I heard what the Tracking Board was doing for writers, I had to toss my own script in the ring. I was immediately blown away with how much effort the TB team puts into matching writers with executives. For the first time in my 10-year writing career, I feel like someone has my back.
— Jeanne Bowerman
Semifinalist, 2014 LPFC
In a world flooded with competitions that lead to nothing, these guys at TB have exploded onto the scene with one of the most valuable, high level and effective contests that’s ever existed. Every major agency has signed someone, and almost every major studio has already bought scripts from the competition, and that’s speaking from experience. This contest is a game-changer!
— Michael Pruss
Senior Vice President, Scott Free
OUR BEST CONTEST ADD-ONS EVER!
With help from our partners and mentors, we have put together the best competition add-ons that we’ve ever had. Taking advantage of our add-ons helps to put any writer ahead in their careers.
GUARANTEED SIGNING
WITH LEE STOBBY ENTERTAINMENT
For the 2016 Pilots Competition we are very proud to announce our partnership with manager Lee Stobby, owner of Lee Stobby Entertainment. This year he will sign and represent at least one writer from our competition! Securing representation is a vital first step in launching a career in Hollywood, and that’s why we want to be sure we’re providing you every opportunity to get ahead of the curve. Lee is one of the best on-the-rise managers in Hollywood. Just this past year his client earned top honors on the 2015 Black List for his script Bubbles, which also placed second on the 2015 Hit List. In addition, his clients have placed on every major year-end list including the Hit List, Young & Hungry List, Blood List, and Black List. A long time judge of the Launch Pad Competitions, Lee brings his industry experience and relationships from across the industry that has helped break countless young writers and put them on the fast track for success. We know this year will be without exception.
MENTORSHIP
Last year we launched our first ever Mentorship Program, which proved to be a big success. So this year we’re bringing it back with some fresh faces. In just 3 years we’ve had an extraordinary run of talented writers who have come through the Launch Pad and immediately begun careers, sold shows, and landed on hit series. This year we are happy to bring in two alums from our 2014 competition, Andy Heriaud and Kaitlin Kelly, who shortly after appearing in the Launch Pad Competition saw their pilot get set up and quickly move towards production. Also joining our program this year is Anslem Richardson who has sold shows to CBS, Timberman-Beverly, staffed on the TNT Network series Agent X, and is currently developing an original one hour-drama with HBO. The mentor program will focus on three elements – getting you and your script ready, tips and strategies on pitching and choosing your next project, and insight on how to navigate a newly minted career in Hollywood.
FEEDBACK NOTES
At half the price of Development Notes, Feedback Notes provide you with the chance to know what our professional readers thought about your pilot. We are giving you an inside look at what is standardly a ‘behind the curtain’ process. Were the characters relatable? How was the dialogue? Did the story make sense?
Aaron Kaplan
Abby Glusker
Adam Kolbrenner
Aengus McLoone
Alex Creasia
Brooklyn Weaver
Chase Northington
David Park
James Engle
Jarrod Murray
Katie Cates
Le’Ander Nicholson
Lee Stobby
Lily Safran
Marissa Fine
Michael Kolodny
Noah Jones
Sammy Montana
Sukee Chew
Tom Carter
Varun Monga
Wilhelmina Ross
Zac Frognowski
Zac Simmons
