We are thrilled to announce the three grand prize winners of the second annual Write/LA screenwriting competition. In alphabetical order, the winners are:
The 2019 Write/LA Grand Prize Winners
Nick Alverson – CHICAGO PIZZA | half hour pilot
After a beloved co-worker dies in the line of duty, a hot-shot pizza delivery crew faced with the biggest order of their lives must get in their gas-guzzling clunkers, fire up the pizza oven after-burners, and prove that the most important ingredient in a pizza… is teamwork.
Paula Dixon – THE TRUE STORY OF THE SS REX | half hour pilot
In 1938, a self-made millionaire and his gutsy right-hand woman team up to run a gambling ship off the coast of Los Angeles.
Clint Williams – FREEDOM FORT | feature, historical action/adventure
Two runaway slaves escape to a fort abandoned by the British and start leading daring raids in search of one man’s wife, but their hope for a new beginning shatters when US troops attack. Based on true events.
Congratulations to Nick, Paula, and Clint! These talented and dedicated writers will come to LA for two days of masterclasses followed by the invite-only Grand Prize Live Read event at Raleigh Studios on December 7.
Congratulations are also in order for the wonderful writers who reached the semifinalist and finalist level in this year’s competition. Below please find the titles and loglines for each writer’s advancing script. We look forward to celebrating many of these writers at the Grand Prize Live Read!
The 2019 Write/LA Finalists and Semifinalists
Carrie Anderson – ON WATER | feature, true drama – FINALIST
Robbed of her Olympic dream by cancer, a rowing champion meets an African American boy who wishes he could try the sport she loves and together they take on Philadelphia’s establishment to create a rowing club for inner-city kids. Based on a true story.
Sabrina Besla – ANGRY JUNE | hour pilot
June Stone has anger management problems – living life through her manic, psychotic, sinister id hasn’t helped. Her twisted view on reality becomes much worse when she inherits the family business: the biggest record label in America.
Pedro Bonano – WOLF MOTHER | feature, horror comedy – FINALIST
A pair of brothers working the same drug bust must protect the city and save their relationship when the drugs turn out to be a serum used to raise a powerful werewolf.
Joe Brukner – KHAN | hour pilot
In the wake of his shocking death, Genghis Khan’s illegitimate favorite daughter faces off against his heirs as they battle for control of his empire.
Sarah Casey – ARRANGEMENTS | hour pilot – FINALIST
A death-obsessed tomboy grows up above a small-town Kentucky funeral home run by a controlling widow and her recovering-alcoholic sister in law — who’s secretly in love with her.
Michael Corleone – I SEE YOU | half hour pilot – FINALIST
After stumbling into an outgoing but completely invisible woman, an introverted college student reluctantly agrees to help her unravel the secrets behind her mysterious circumstances.
Justin Moran – RUST | hour pilot – FINALIST
While scraping out a living in the asteroid belt, a crew of hard-luck miners happen upon an old shipwreck that catapults them into the path of bounty hunters, terrorists, and a massive mining conglomerate set on keeping old mistakes buried.
Matthew Neff – SIGHT SINGING | half hour pilot
Two clueless yet confident college A Capella singers navigate their way through auditions, rehearsals, kidnapping, manslaughter, and other everyday hijinks.
Craig Peters – THE MYTHICAL GOLDEN TROUT | feature, comedy
When a cash-strapped family camping in the Sierras discovers a huge nugget of gold, they’re forced to flee into the wilderness to evade the local police chief and his posse of clueless misfits who will stop at nothing to steal it from them.
Tom Santos – EXPATRIADOS | hour pilot
After the occupation and dissolution of the US, an American refugee living in Mexico investigates the disappearances of her fellow expatriados — all the while battling haunting memories of her journey to the border.
Sai Saripella – BURGERS AND BIRYANI | half hour pilot
A liberal-minded couple elope to California and start their family, but years later, their home becomes the site of a cultural tug-of-war when the wife’s traditional Indian parents move in.
Delraj Takher – CONVERSATIONS WITH THE NIGHT DEMON | feature, mockumentary
A documentarian finds himself at the center of a deadly game of one-upmanship when his intended subject — the feared but dull Midwest Strangler — and a sophisticated new serial killer vie for his attention.