2023 Semi-Finalists


In order to choose the Grand Prize and Honorable Mention winners for Screenplay Festival, there are three rounds to the competition. In the first round, every script is read by at least three judges and rated regardless of genre. The screenplays with the highest ratings move on to the second round!

The most frequent question we get asked is, “What percentage of scripts make it through the first round?”  This year, the Semi-Finalist screenplays listed below represent the top 40% of entries that we receive.

We appreciate everyone’s hard work and would again like to congratulate everyone for their great writing!

Semi-Finalists

Movie: Action / Adventure

133 by Robert D Holloway
A Call To Arms by Julian Poulter
A Need For Something New by John T. Frederick
Berlin Snatch by Jack B. DuArte
Britt Johnson by Peter Bloomquist
Brothers Blood by Virginia Travers, CV Herst, Scott Amour, Clayton Shuster
Closer to The Sun by Sara Althani
Diversion by Robert Isabella
Enchanting the Sea by Zachary Van Eyck
Epicenter by Luke Swanson
Heroes and Villains by Timothy Burgess, John Burgess
Hobey by Tom Mackie
If You See Me by Vanesa Stoynova
King of Blades by Paul Hikari
Magic Man by Robert Isabella
Moksha by Saurin Lakhia
Nobody’s Heroes by Michael Alan Elliott
Old Friends by Robert Isabella
Pardou by lacy mcclory, Duane Mcclory
Philander by Danny Darren
Ryder’s Escape by Rich Duisenberg
Sixgun Saint by Warren Lane
Spiralmind by Benito F Perez, Jackson J Smith
Tardigrades In Space by Jonathan Anderson
The Pickleball Killer by Jim Carroll
The priory of Sion by Cazebon-Taveau Cazebon-Taveau Cazebon-Taveau
The Rifle Brothers by Brett McKay Prieto
The World Turned Upside Down by Dennis O’Flyng
Thief Architec Gendarme Politician by Michael David Sollars, Geoffrey Durand Sollars, Eric Gerard Sollars

Movie: Comedy

A Midsummer Night’s Play by Eric MacKinnon Johnson
Altitude Extreme by GEOFFREY CARLSON
Beyond Romeo by Aaron Fitzgerald
Blood Money by Dominic Flanagan
Brem & Me by Kevin Edward Corrigan
Concrete Steps to Love by Vincent Carrier
Down At The Val by Neil Goodchild
Eating Rhode Island by Lawrence Thelen
EcoAgent Man: Endangered is my middle name by Thomas f Ballard
Good News Gary by Chad Hutson
I’ll Be Doggone by Robert Cole
Ka-Razy, Man! by Harry F Kelley
Lola Kish and the KKK by Leigh Hunt
Love in the Time of Coronavirus by Emilio Santín
Love In The Time of Covid by Dennis Manuel
Love Me X 3 by Erin Elizabeth Keefer
Me’n Gus by Leslie Flannery
Mom by Jordan Champagne
Mutiny in Munchkinland by Kurt St. Angelo
Playing Hero by Warren Lane
Rock On by Bill Rutkoski, Dan Karlok
Satan Minded by Clayton Dudzic
Sex On the Wrong Brain by Ard Falten
Shelter by Janna Jones
Skating On Thin Ice by Bob Canning
The Devil Wears Flannel by TK Sheffield
The Littlest God by Barry Steven Kohl
The Miracle of Place Royale. by Christophe Lourenco
The Resurrectionists by Duncan Putney
Under Done by El Brazil
Wildwood by Damon Fabbo

Movie: Drama

(I’ll Never Find) Another You by Michael Elliott
A City Clean and Good by Dan Worthen
A Letter to Sakharov by Andrew Crane
A Siren’s Sweet Whisper by Fred G Stemme
Anna Incognito by Laura Preble
Ball of Fire by Sean Coleman
Before the Dust Returns by Adam Peditto
Borrowed Breath by Leigh Hunt
Call Me Thor by Jamie Campbell
Cosmos Black by Eliot Cooper
DeliKateSSen by Richard Atkins
Devotion by Leon McConnell
Emma Who? by Laura Edmundson
Gold by Marcus Gorman
Learning To Be Human by John T. Frederick
Like Him by Brian McGrath
Look at It This Way by Danae Clark
Lost Puppies – A Story of the Ukraine by Charles Harper
Lyman: The Movie by Anne Johnstonbrown
Manongs by Keone & Mari Madrid
Paradise Destroyed by Robin Neil Chambers
Peace So Sweet by Sarah Lawrence
Replacement by Borys Shusterman
Reunion at Red Paint Bay by George Harrar
Ryder’s Escape by Rich Duisenberg
The Green Mill by Michelle Taubman
The Life of Cockroaches by Gillian Croft
The Wreck of the Frolic by Colleen Smith
True Luck by Peter Andrews
Victory Disease by Andrew TePas

Movie: Thriller/Horror

A Patriot for Ivanov by C.L. McGinnis
Asimetrica by Shubhanjan Das
Bento Box by Brian Elliott Feinberg
Carnevil by Anthony Cross
Chateau Sauvignon by David M. Night Maire, Adam T. Wolfe
Dark Destinies by Warren Lane
Hello. by Sophia Lee
Home of the Dead by Rod Tipton
Kurwick’s Daughter by Timothy Richardson
Margo and the Monster by Don Famularo
Near Death by Jonny William Hodgetts
Ombre by Kevin Brunner
Reality Game by Greg Lyon
Receiver by Clayton James Dudzic
Rev by Jay K McGrath
Rough Cut by Mitchell V Slan
S-21 by Kylee Q Robinson
Scratch by Cedrick Nichols
Silent Cry by Kevin Richard Enners
Spiralmind by Ben Perez
Stupid Dead Boy by Alex Vickery-Howe
The Devil’s Chair by Warren Lane
The Dive by Andrew Essig
The Terror at Tierra de Cobre by Michael Merriam
Time, Space & the Poet – Part Two by John Turner
Time, Space, And The Poet by John Turner
WiLL by Ryan Hughes
Witching Hour by Alex Vickery-Howe

Television: Half Hour Script

Always Something by Courtney Slusser
AnHedonia by Lucky Bailey
Bender by Vic Paul
Film Or Be Filmed – Pilot by Alexander Green
Gwthyr, Cian, and Ninlil Unlimited. by Mark Andrew Pogodzinski
Hoof & Horn by Kevin Brunner
I Loved Him In The City by Tanille Edwards
Intimacies: Pilot by Gerald C Wood
Lemonlight by M. Rowan Meyer
Locked Up: The Fish by Ronald D. Smith
Our Lady of Mercy by Jean-Paul Morselli
The Black Paintings by Finn Weatherstone
The Gang Gets Diverse by Jordan Champagne
The Sessions by Alexander Julian III
The Spotlights by Nick Lane & Nate Lane
The Unified Field Theory of Love by Jacque Williams
TINU by Nirali Shastri
Whatfor Sheriff by James Charleston
When No One Else Beieved by Ron J Tripodo

Television: One Hour Script

1999 by Gerald Teaster, Allison Lee Craft
A Lost Lady by Holly Swenson
A Place in the World by Michael Stern
Aisle of Arsara by Jess Carlyle Palmer
Amy (Sort Of) by Peter Podgursky
Crossing The Border by Sherrod Tunstall
Dead Sheep by Karren Winchester
Desert Star News by Robert Alan Haus
Desire Not the Night by Daniel Jack Foster
DOWNWINDERS by Mark Donnell
Gemini by Alex Vickery-Howe
Gilligan’s Island Of The Dead by Jerry Kokich
Life Through the Lens by Chad Hutson
Mrs. Ashby by Jesse Millward
New Cardiff by M. Rowan Meyer
Norwich by Hisonni Mustafa
Paladin by Mark Andrew Pogodzinski
Redemption by Mark Andrew Pogodzinski
Slay It! ‘They Say You Die Twice’ by Janine Pecenkova
Still’s Life by Duncan Putney
The Combat Art Collective by Baron Rotza
The Enclave by Mercury Gustaveson
The Fusion Affair by Martin Bernard Foley
The Lambda Factor by Dimple Patel Desai, Antony Guilianti
The Mind’s Eye by Gabriel Meyers
The Orphans by Johnny Galvan
The Scripts of Virtue by Jairaj Singh Walia
The Stylite by Shane Hallawa
Watchlist by Alex Vickery-Howe
Wench by Aaveen Marandi, Tommy Miller