Our competitions keep getting bigger year after year, and this year’s feature competition surpassed all of our expectations. We are truly floored by the level of quality in the screenplays submitted to this year’s competition and could not be more excited to introduce the winners to the industry.
We want to thank our industry judges and partners for their hard work in making these selections, and we also want to thank all of our entrants for trusting us to read your scripts.
After months of reading, we are now proud to announce our Overall Winner, Top Comedy Winner, Top Drama Winner, Romark Entertainment Guaranteed Option Selection, Recon Literary Guaranteed Signing Selection and the four Launch Pad Mentorship Selections.
Congratulations to our winners and to all of our finalists. If you’re looking to view all Top 100 finalists from this year’s competition, you can find the complete list on Coverfly here. Want to receive a notification when the next season opens? Sign up for reminders via Coverfly here.
Overall Winner
HOT GIRL SUMMER by Michelle Askew
EIGHTH GRADE meets FARGO
A 13-year old girl who is convinced she isn’t cool or beautiful becomes a drug mule in order to feel more badass.
Comedy Coming-of-Age Crime
Overall Winner
Top Comedy
DEADASS by Samuel Josephs
BOOKSMART meets OCEAN’S 8
A senior girl bands together with her best friends to win an annual game at their prestigious school that pits everyone against each other in the quest for high school glory.
Action Comedy Teen
Top Comedy
Top Drama
WILLFUL BLINDNESS by Sean Malcolm
THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO meets BLACK MIRROR
Desperate to save an old friend who faces execution thanks to facial recognition technology, an ambitious reporter goes undercover to expose the Silicon Valley startup whose tech is responsible, only to find himself trapped in a deadly head game with its brilliant CEO.
Drama Thriller
Top Drama
Romark Entertainment Guaranteed Option Selection
HANDY MAN by Teddy Schenck
DISTURBIA meets FARGO
When he comes to believe that the handyman he has hired to fix up his apartment may be standing him up, a paranoid new father gets in over his head seeking revenge, resulting in a dangerous feud.
Thriller
Top 100 Romark Entertainment Guaranteed Option Selection
Recon Literary Guaranteed Signing Selection
HAVEN by Hannah McCarthy
UNBELIEVABLE meets GOOD WILL HUNTING
When the school tries to shut down the student-run sexual assault hotline that saved her life, a college senior fights to keep it running, and finds that she can’t do it alone.
Drama
Top 100 Recon Literary Guaranteed Signing Selection
Mentorship Program Selections
Mentorship Selection – Barbara Stepansky
THE ALICE SOLUTION by Emily Redinbo
HIDDEN FIGURES meets THE IMMORTAL LIFE OF HENRIETTA LACKS
The true story of a pioneering Black female scientist who discovered a cure for leprosy in order to save her childhood best friend and was forgotten to history when her work was stolen.
Biopic Drama Period
Top 100 Mentorship Selection – Emily Redinbo
Mentorship Selection – Colin Bannon
A WAR ON TERROR by Peter Haig
THE HURT LOCKER meets THE RITUAL
After being ambushed by a group of Taliban insurgents, a handful of American soldiers wake up trapped in a mysterious, purgatorial room. Unbeknownst to them, their fate becomes tied to an Afghan grandmother & granddaughter fighting back against the Taliban, bent on freeing souls from this hellish fate.
Action Horror Thriller
Top 50 Mentorship Selection – Peter Haig
Mentorship Selection – Lamar Woods
POPULAR by Marley Schneier
VICE meets GAME CHANGE
The true story of how political consultant Lee Atwater got George H. W. Bush elected in 1988 using racist and populist tactics, unknowingly changing the future of presidential campaigns.
Biopic Drama Period
Top 100 Mentorship Selection – Lamar Woods
Mentorship Selection – Leon Chills
WEST WOMEN by Wilandrea Blair
THE HATEFUL EIGHT meets TRUE GRIT
After her daughter is brutally killed by a notorious gang, a God-fearing widow gathers an untrained posse of other African-American women in her deadly quest for vengeance across the Wild West.
Period Western
Top 50 Mentorship Selection – Leon Chills
