The Deadline Has Been Extended to June 14th!

Year six is here, and the competition that has led to more signings, success stories and careers than any other writing competition in the world is now underway. With more than:

• 400 signings
• 140 projects set up
• 61 writers staffed
• 6 bidding wars

WHAT MAKE US DIFFERENT FROM THE REST?

Our focus has always been on discovery and elevation. The reality is, the majority of the writers working in Hollywood today got their start with a writing competition. While it’s impossible to discover every great writer every year, we go to great lengths to ensure those who make any finalist rounds with us are given attention far beyond a blog post. We not only advocate for all of our finalists, and work closely with them to fine tune loglines, bios, and additional works, but we also feature all of our finalists in our high regarded Launch Pad Alum Booklets, our “Best Scripts of the Year” lists, our industry released Announcements, and via our partners we also include them in the end of year Spec Book, Hit List and Young & Hungry List.

Additionally, we work with every finalist to prepare you for what comes next - whether representation meetings, pitch meetings or generals. Preparing a series bible for your TV pilot, crafting your additional works for interested reads, and navigating the series of meetings that inevitably follow. We track every read received through the competition, and we share all of this info with you along with the way, so you know who’s reading, and can gauge how far your work truly is going. And, as our end of competition and end of year lists go out to the more than 25,000 industry members we work with, as well as to our exclusive panel of former partners and judges, we’ll work with you to be sure you put your best foot forward every step of the way.

By utilizing our deep relationships within the industry we’ve not only become the only competition that continually features Studio Presidents and Agency/Management Company Partners as judges, but the only one that has also formed exclusive partners with people such as Ridley Scott, Michael De Luca, Roy Lee, Joel Silver, Jeremy Garelick, Adrian Askarieh, as well as companies Artillery Creative, Bellevue, Echo Lake, Endgame Entertainment, Energy Entertainment, ESA, Fourth Wall Management, Good Fear Film Management, Heroes & Villains, Inkshares, Lee Stobby Entertainment, Oil & Cattle, Paradigm, UTA and WME - all of whom have previously committed to guarantee to option material or sign writers out of our competitions.

Additionally, we continually shake up our judges pool, carefully selecting the judges we feel will best represent each competition, all the while ensuring a consistent balance of hot-newcomers and seasoned veterans. And, as you’ll see from this years list of phenomenal judges, not only do we work diligently to ensure our judges make up a creative mix of representatives who can sign writers and executives who can acquire projects, but we always work to include those who’ve had great success with our Launch Pad writers before.

Aaron Lipsett - Heroes & Villains Entertainment

• His client list has brought in 5 award wins and over $478.4M at the domestic box office.
• His clients have worked on projects like Into the Badlands, Swagger, St. Vincent, Raven’s Home, and Step Up: High Water.
• Hero & Villains is currently producing 50 Dates in 50 States, Bushido, Look Who’s Sleeping with Your Wife, and Tracker.

Adam Kolbrenner - Lit Entertainment Group

• With his newly minted Lit Entertainment Group, Adam continues to be one of the top managers in the industry.
• From 2018 alone, 6 of his clients landed on the Hit List, 3 on the Black List, and 2 were named to the Young & Hungry List.
• Represents writers such as Justin Marks (The Jungle Book), Ed Ricourt (Now You See Me), and Dave Andron (Snowfall).
• Has signed numerous Launch Pad Alumni in previous years including Aaron Sala (The Beast) and 2018’s Feature Comp Eric Cross (T).

Adrian Garcia - Recon Literary

• Has had clients appear on the Hit List, Black List and/or Young & Hungry List every year since 2014.
• Has signed multiple Launch Pad writers, including Eric Koenig, who went on to sell his Launch Pad script Matriarch to Paramount amidst a multiple studio bidding war.
• With an eye toward discovering new voices, Garcia has launched the career of almost a dozen Launch Pad writers since the competition began. 

Andrea Dimity - Pannon Entertainment 

• Represents Launch Pad writer Pete Barry, who sold his Launch Pad script Marian to Sony with Margot Robbie attached to star.
• Represents multiple Launch Pad writers and writers who have appeared on the Hit List and Young & Hungry List.
• Along with Executive Producing Thunder Road’s Burn Run, Andrea’s credits include Viral Viral and the upcoming Whale Talk.

Andrew Child - Vertigo Entertainment

• Vertigo Entertainment has produced such films as the latest adaptation of Stephen King’s “It”, The Boy, Run All Night, The Departed, The Woman In Black, The Grudge, How To Train Your Dragon, and many more.
• Andrew is currently serving as Executive Producer on the 2018 Black List script Cobweb, as well as the Production Executive for Yuba and Delilah Dirk and the Turkish Lieutenant.
• His previous credits include The Lego Batman Movie, Death Note, and The Lego Ninjago Movie.
• Vertigo Entertainment has previously served as a Launch Pad exclusive partner and has optioned multiple scripts from the competition over the past few years. 

Ben Neumann - Kaplan/Perrone Entertainment

• Represents Sarah Jane Inwards (Jellyfish Summer) & Kevin Rice (Born to Be Murdered). 
• Kaplan/Perrone was named top management company in 2018 with nine clients landing on the Young & Hungry list, eight projects on the Hit List and seven on the Black List.
• Notable clients of Kaplan/Perrone include Joe Lawson (BoJack Horseman), Kelly Fremon Craig (Edge of Seventeen), Henry Gayden (Shazam), David Callaham (The Expendables) and many more. 
• Kaplan Perrone has signed multiple Launch Pad Writers since the competitions began in 2013.

Brooklyn Weaver - Energy Entertainment

• One of the top spec selling managers in Hollywood, he has sold multiple Launch Pad pilots, features and manuscripts since the competition began. 
• His clients include Rob Liefeld (Deadpool), Brad Ingelsby (Run All Night, Out of the Furnace), Mark Mallouk (Black Mass).
• His clients have created the hit TV series’ Reverie and Extant (Mickey Fisher) as well as Bates Motel (Anthony Cipriano).
• Has had clients on the Black List, Blood List, Hit List and Young & Hungry List every year since 2014.

Dash Aiken - Romark Entertainment

• Romark Entertainment has been involved in three of the seven Launch Pad bidding wars, having previously set up Marian at Sony with Margot Robbie and Donald De Line, Matriarch at Paramount with Douglas Wick, and Tranquility Base at Fox with Ridley Scott.
• Romark is currently developing the Launch Pad television projects Kill Creek with Scott Derrickson at Showtime, and Mr. & Mrs. American Pie with Laura Dern at Platform One.
• One of the most prolific management and production companies, Romark clients are also developing projects at AMC, UCP, Endgame, Sony, Blumhouse, Vertigo Entertainment, Pacific Electric, Assemble Media.

David Boxerbaum - Verve

• One of the top spec selling agents of all time, he has also been one of the top two best-selling individual agents every year of the past decade. 
• Recently moved from Paradigm to become a partner at Verve, where he has signed and sold multiple Launch Pad writers and scripts.
• Has been behind 3 of the 6 bidding wars in the Launch Pad's history, most recently selling Launch Pad writer Pete Barry's Marian to Sony with Margot Robbie set to star.
• Has had writers on the Hit List, Black List, or Young & Hungry List every year since 2013.

Jake Wagner - Good Fear Content

• Has signed more Launch Pad writers and set up more Launch Pad projects than any other manager in town. 
• Most recently set up John Wikstrom’s Launch Pad winning script AMA, which also appeared on the Hit List, Black List and Young & Hungry List with Assemble Media.
• Represents Evan Daugherty, writer of Snow White and the Huntsman, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Divergent.
• Has had numerous writers appear on the Hit List, Young & Hungry List and Black List for 2018.

Jeff Portnoy - Bellevue Productions

• One of the best spec-selling management companies in town, Bellevue has consistently appeared toward the top of every major end of year list for the past three years.
• Had four or more clients appear on the Hit List, Black List and Young & Hungry List each of the past three years. 
• Previously set up Launch Pad writer Aaron Sala’s Launch Pad script The Beast with H Collective.
• Bellevue is producing the upcoming Madonna biopic Blonde Ambition for Universal as well as the horror film Eli with Intrepid Pictures.

Jon Huddle - Fourth Wall Management

• Huddle's clients Jonathan Goldstein & John Francis Daley are the writers of Horrible Bosses, Vacation, and Spiderman: Homecoming.
• His other clients have written such films as Keanu, Beauty and the Beast, Huntsman: Winter's War, Fist Fight and Grown Ups.
• His clients have been staffed on such shows as Rick & Morty, Kevin (Probably) Saves the World, Agents of SHIELD, Greenleaf, The Goldbergs, Saturday Night Live and more.
• Has signed multiple Launch Pad writers during his time as an agent at UTA and as a manager at Fourth Wall.

Julian Rosenberg - Circle of Confusion

• Julian reps Michael Dougherty (Godzilla: King of the Monsters), Matthew Sand (Ninja Assassin), and Brian McGreevy (The Son) to name a few.
• Circle of Confusion clients include Adam F. Goldberg, creator of The Goldbergs, Anthony Jaswinski (The Shallows), Gary Whitta (Rogue One), Jon Spaiths (Passengers, Doctor Strange, Prometheus), and the Wachowskis (Cloud Atlas, Sense8).
• Circle of Confusion produces both The Walking Dead and Fear the Walking Dead, as well as the upcoming Amazon series Daisy Jones & The Six.

Kailey Marsh - Brillstein Entertainment 

• Recently joined Brillstein Entertainment Partners, following the successful launch of her own Kailey Marsh Media.
• Her clients are staffed on multiple upcoming Netflix series including The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, The Haunting, and Daybreak.
• Represents Jeff Howard, writer of such horror films as Ouija, Before I Wake and Oculus as well as Nick Simon, the writer/director of horror films The Girl in the Photographs and The Pyramid.
• Has had clients appear on several end of year best of lists including the Hit List, Black List, Blood List and Young & Hungry List.
• Is the founder and curator of the annual Blood List - featuring the best horror scripts of each year.

Kassee Whiting - AGBO 

• Recently named Vice President of Development at the Russo Brother’s new company AGBO.
• AGBO is currently in production or development on a number of high profile projects including 21 Bridges, The Legend of Ochi, Canary, Dhaka, and Mosul amongst others.
• Company recently did a deal to oversee and develop several MGM classics for today’s market.

Lee Stobby - Lee Stobby Entertainment

• Not only signed the first ever Launch Pad feature and pilot winners, but has since signed more than seven Launch Pad writers over the years, and has set up their work or seen them staff on shows for places such as Netflix, HBO, Fox, Chernin entertainment, Romark Entertainment, Anonymous Content and Endgame Entertainment to name a few.
• Represents clients such as Isaac Adamson, whose spec Bubbles topped the 2015 Black List and Hit List and currently has Taika Waititi set to direct. 
• Clients have written for such shows as Stranger Things, Superstore, CSI: Cyber, and The Middle.
• Has had clients appear on most every end of year list such as the Black List, Blood List, Hit List and Young & Hungry List each of the past four years.

Leif Lillehaugen - Endgame Entertainment

• Company previously produced the films The Discovery, Come Sunday, Snowden, Self/Less, Looper and Freeheld, amongst others.
• Previously acquired the Launch Pad winning script Winter from writers Andy Heriaud and Kaitlin Kelly.
• Is currently developing the television adaptation of Looper, the new season of the Netflix series Last chance U, and a currently untitled series with Netflix.

Luke Maxwell - 3 Arts Entertainment

• 3 Arts clients are staffed on such shows as Empire, Stan Against Evil, The Flash, Saturday Night Live, and Survivor’s Remorse.
• 3 Arts produces such TV series as Better Things, Insecure, The Good Place, Baskets, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Silicon Valley, The Mindy Project and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.
• 3 Arts represents creative such as Aziz Ansari, Amy Poehler, Bo Burnham, Hannibal Buress, Issa Rae, and Jenny Slate amongst others.
• 3 Arts produced such movies as Rough Night, 13 Hours, Unbroken, Edge of Tomorrow and the upcoming Call of the Wild.

Melissa Graf - Makeready

• Makeready has a multi-year distribution deal with Universal Pictures.
• The company is producing Sam Taylor-Johnson's next film A Million Little Pieces and is developing Five Faces of Maria for director Francis Lawrence.
• Makeready also has multiple TV series in development, including East of Jingletown at TNT and They Can't Kill Us All at AMC, and recently acquired the sci-fi short story The Appearance in a six-figure deal.

Michael Chung - Verve

• Formerly of UTA, Chung has worked with several Launch Pad writers both before and after transitioning to Verve, including Launch Pad Alum Carver Gray.
• Verve was the top agency of 2018, landing 18 writers on the Hit List, 14 on the Young & Hungry List and 12 on the Black List.
• Verve agents have signed more than a dozen Launch Pad writers, including Aaron Sala, Alanna Brown, Eric Gross, Brian T. Arnold, John Wikstrom, Liz Kerin, Pete Barry and Sarah Jane Inwards, amongst others.
• Verve clients include Colin Trevorrow and Derek Connolly (Jurassic World, Safety Not Guaranteed), Brian K. Vaughn (Under the Dome, Lost), Kimberly Peirce (Boys Don’t Cry) and Michael Arndt (Little Miss Sunshine) amongst others.

Rachel Reznick - Weed Road

• Headed by writer/producer/director Akiva Goldsman, Weed Road has produced more than 20 films, including The Dark Tower, King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, Lone Survivor, Hancock and I Am Legend.
• Company recently oversaw the Transformers writer’s rooms, with the first film to come out of the process being the box-office hit Bumblebee.
• On the television front, Weed Road produced the hit DC series Titans, and is currently in development on the Fox series 100 Days Without Fear.

Raquelle David - Elevate Entertainment

• Raquelle represents Jovanka Vuckovic, one of the writer/directors behind the anthology horror film XX and director of the upcoming Riot Girls.
• Elevate’s clients include Taylor Sheridan, Academy Award-nominated writer of both Sicario and Sicario: Day of the Soldado, Wind River, and Hell or High Water.
• Elevate’s client Corin Hardy, who wrote and directed The Hallow, The Nun, and is currently working on the remake of The Crow.

Rebecca Feuer - Scott Free

• Ridley Scott and his Scott Free production company have acquired more individual Launch Pad projects than any other company, picking up feature, pilot and manuscript winners from previous competitions.
• Scott Free was the first company to set up a Launch Pad script in a multiple studio bidding war for Daniel Turkewitz's Tranquility Base.
• Company has been behind multiple critical and commercial hits, including The Martian, Blade Runner and Blade Runner 2049, All The Money In The World, Murder On The Orient Express, Black Hawk Down, Gladiator, and all of the films from the Alien Franchise.
• Scott Free produces such television series as The Good Fight, The Terror, The Man in the High Castle and Strange Angel.

Tom Carter - Artillery Creative

• His clients have written for networks like NBC, HBO, TNT, USA, CBS, FreeForm, and on shows that include TIMELESS and CHICAGO PD.
• Has previously signed several Launch Pad feature and pilot writers including Annabelle Seymour, David Hoffman, Devi Gowni, Jenny Deiker and Migizi Pensoneau.
• He is producing the upcoming adaptation of Octavia E. Butler’s Hugo and Nebula Award-winning book DAWN with Ava DuVernay attached to produce.
• He is also producing the adaptation of true crime thriller BURN for Anonymous Content with Mahershala Ali set to star and client Frederick Kotto set to write.

Varun Monga - ESA

• He has had numerous writers appear on the Black List, Hit List and Young & Hungry list in previous years. 
• Has signed multiple Launch Pad Alumni, including A Giant Named Andre writer John J. Halligan and Woe to the Wicked writer Chris Dennis.
• ESA clients have worked on hit shows such as Mr. Robot, House of Cards, Game of Thrones, Vinyl, Boardwalk Empire, Extant, Ray Donovan, Under the Dome, Black Sails, The 100, and more.