Emerging Screenwriters Suspense Screenplay Competition |
2023
Seeking horror, thriller, mystery or crime stories that instill fear or genre-bending dramas that leave readers laughing, terrified or shaking.
Placement
Genre
Format
Representation Status
Grand Prize Winners
Grand Prize Winner
Feature
· Thriller
· 90 Pages
A cop, with a heart condition and death wish, must fight his way through an asylum overrun by its criminally insane inmates to get to his daughter’s killer.
Millsboro, DE
Richard Garry graduated from Santa Clara University with a degree in psychology. He was a special education teacher. Richard specializes in thriller and horror screenplays. He won the 2023 Emerging Screenwriters Suspense Competition with his script Running the Asylum. The same script was a finalist in Stage32 Action/Thriller Screenplay Competition. ...
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Finalists
Baker's Dozen
Finalist
Unknown
Action
No logline available.
Bullet Drop
Finalist
Unknown
Action
No logline available.
Heart of Stone
Finalist
Unknown
Action
No logline available.
Relocation
Private
Finalist
· Action
No logline available.
Los Angeles, California
I've always been fascinated by how much our perspectives and beliefs shape our reality. And everyone's story has value. There are lessons we can learn from all life experiences, and I love giving voice to both light and shadow in my work as a writer.
The Greenbriar Ghost
Private
Finalist
Feature
· Thriller
· 76 Pages
A charismatic predator nearly gets by with murder until a ghost reveals with chilling accuracy the true manner of his wife's demise. Incredibly, based on a true story. ISA Emerging Screenwriter's Suspense Competition (2023): Top 10 Finalist. Award-winning, produced screenwriter.
Dallas, Texas
Sarah left a career as an executive speech writer and communications strategist for a Fortune 5 company to stay home with children and care for elderly parents. She feels there are important stories that need to be told and that cinema is the ultimate canvas.
The Guardians
Finalist
Unknown
Action
No logline available.
The Scam
Private
Finalist
TV Script
· Thriller
· 19 Pages
When a straight-laced immigrant software engineer is forced into the world of telescamming to pay back his debt with the mafia, he discovers he has a talent for it – and maybe even a shot at the American dream.
London, Kensington, GB
Chelsea is an award-winning writer with a focus on underrepresented perspectives. Upcoming projects focus on game-changing women in history and coming of age tales of differently abled heroes.
Finalist
TV Script
· Drama
· 63 Pages
A big-shot silent film director wages a publicity campaign to curb the growing calls for government censorship in the industry, leading to a murder where everyone in Hollywood is a suspect. Based on a true story.
New York, NY
An actor and screenwriter, Nate grew up in Connecticut going to college for History and Anthropology. Upon graduation he decided to use his two degrees and move to New York City to pursue his dreams of acting and writing. He loves writing about what makes people tick and discovering connections between today and decades past.
Semifinalists
Semifinalist
TV Script
· Drama
· 45 Pages
The life of a first time female D.C. Head Chef’s and her journey through the misogynistic and crazy world of the kitchen, all while on her pursuit for culinary greatness.
No bio available.
Semifinalist
Feature
· Horror
· 85 Pages
An abusive drifter, and a young blind woman become caged prisoners at a bed and breakfast in small-town northern California, where the drifter’s violent, predatory actions prior, push a group of malicious locals to seek vengeance.
Los Angeles, CA
Award winning screenwriter/actor/editor/film director, founder of gothpop music project Imitate Invertebrate; founder and apparel designer for the small e-commerce business LostScorpion/LostScorpion Apparel.
Executive Producer on ‘In Search of Darkness: 1990-1994,’ The Thing Expanded,' and 'In Search of Darkness: 1995-1999.'
Recently served...
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Semifinalist
Feature
· Thriller
· 98 Pages
Two police detectives attempt to solve a series of murders which reflect numerous social issues that are causing society to buckle under pressure.
Cambridge, MA
No bio available.
Semifinalist
TV Script
· Horror
· 54 Pages
A woman who goes to great lengths to contain her past, despite the constant gaslighting from her estranged family, creates a "Room" that becomes a physical manifestation of her trauma, all while taking on vigilante acts to right what she sees as wrongs.
Redondo Beach, CA
Tammy's unique personal experiences have inspired her to create genre projects with thought-provoking themes. She has worked for high profile individuals, including an Academy Award winning producer. A Writer/Director/Producer with a BFA in Film/TV from NYU (Tisch), Tammy specializes in horror, fantasy, sci-fi and comedy. Her horror short films ha...
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Semifinalist
Feature
· Thriller
· 103 Pages
A malignant slime mold, a frantic drunk, and a stack of missing person's cases may have more to do with each other than small town sheriff Eric Lonnergan would care to admit.
No bio available.
Semifinalist
Feature
· Horror
· 93 Pages
A bloodthirsty maniac terrorizes a group of teenagers trapped inside a "haunted" car wash.
New York, New York
I'm a screenwriter.
Semifinalist
Feature
· Thriller
· 99 Pages
A detective struggling with early onset dementia discovers that his brother has been murdered, and must do what he can to find the killer before too much of his mind slips away to solve the case.
Camarillo, CA
Half man, half orange gorilla, half math genius, Red Davis specializes in telling stories about those who live on the fringes. The weirdos, freaks, geeks, fish outta water, the redheads that really suffered after the South Park ginger episode debut. Red uses comedy and historical/ other worldly settings to bring out parables of modern society in his...
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Semifinalist
TV Script
· Drama
· 56 Pages
When dark, satanic forces arrive in New York, a Russian psychic must partner with a beguiling young man to find the courage she needs to conquer the evils that lay ahead.
Astoria, NY
Mike Bencivenga is an award winning writer/director/producer in theater, film and TV. He wrote and directed two feature films, LOSERS IN LOVE and HAPPY HOUR, both of which had theatrical releases. He's a produced playwright having written 10 full length plays. His comedy, BILLY & RAY, was directed by the legendary Garry Marshall. In TV Mike has won ...
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Cold Readings
Semifinalist
Unknown
Action
No logline available.
Semifinalist
TV Script
· Action
· 53 Pages
Jack and Charlita Edivan, an outlaw married couple, take on white supremacist militias, sex traffickers, and the Dixie Mafia in the Southeast/Mid-Atlantic region.
"Sons of Anarchy" and "Hightown" meets "Out of the Furnace" and "Lawless".
LA, California
Born in New York on September 26th, 1986, Greg Beck’s been writing screenplays for 15-years and for the last 6 years has found writing gigs either on original scripts or script consulting. He was a finalist of the 2017 Austin Film Festival’s AMC Pilot competition along with over a dozen other competition placements and wins. His writing is “vividly ...
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Semifinalist
Feature
· Thriller
· 104 Pages
Reality comes apart when a homeless woman investigates a series of bizarre suicide murders in New York City.
Los Angeles, CA
After graduating in Film and TV from the University of Westminster, Simon produced at BBC World Service Television, Channel 4, The World Bank and produced multiple shows for ABC, PBS, Discovery, Vh1, Oxygen, Bravo, and Friends of the Earth. He has written numerous award-winning screenplays and plays and is currently developing several full-length pl...
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Death's Door
Semifinalist
Unknown
Action
No logline available.
Demon in the Mountain
Semifinalist
Unknown
Action
No logline available.
Semifinalist
TV Script
· Thriller
· 52 Pages
A detective with a checkered past investigates a bizarre murder in a quirky Northern California town and soon realizes that unraveling Emerald Valley's secrets is the key to solving the case.
Los Angeles, California
Sal draws on his experiences as a social activist and educator to write stories that reflect vital and timely cultural themes. He writes entertaining stories with compelling and complex characters whose flaws and conflicts are universally relatable.
"FREQUENCY" was inspired by the stranger-than-fiction "Kenneth, what's the frequency" incident tha...
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Every Other Animal
Semifinalist
Unknown
Action
No logline available.
Semifinalist
Feature
· Thriller
· 96 Pages
After the accidental death of her patient, a young nurse finds herself blacklisted and out of work. That is, until she's approached by a detective with a unique job offer: become the caretaker for a murder suspect who may be faking his Alzheimer's.
Denver, CO
Finance guy who likes to write scripts.
Semifinalist
Feature
· Horror
· 87 Pages
Four struggling amateur ghost hunters believe they've caught their big break when they are invited to stay and film at a rural haunted house. Are they willing to die for their big break?
Cincinnati, oh
Zachary’s writing arises out of his experiences growing up in a small Appalachian town and then his move to the inner city. Poverty and class struggle pervade throughout both regions and this builds the core of Zachary’s storytelling and how the grit and grime of life can cultivate beauty.
Semifinalist
Feature
· Thriller
· 116 Pages
During the Revolutionary War, a young mother and sworn pacifist quarters three British soldiers while her husband is away fighting in the Colonial army. Although they begin as well-mannered house-guests, they soon become oppressive captors, forcing her to fight back to defend her family.
Midlothian, VA
No bio available.
Semifinalist
Feature
· Thriller
· 98 Pages
A Wall Street trader with a knack for game theory fakes his own death on 9/11 to escape the wrath of a vicious mob boss. After 20 years, he's drawn out of hiding to save the family he left behind, culminating in a deadly confrontation and shocking sacrifice.
Chicago, Illinois
An MBA who can do improv, Justin wrote a book on innovation, studied improvisational comedy at the Conservatory at Chicago’s famed Second City, and received his MBA from Northwestern's Kellogg Graduate School of Management. When he's not screenwriting, Justin is an avid composer and musician, year-round bicycle commuter, and damn fine dancer (though...
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Night in Fog
Private
Semifinalist
· Action
No logline available.
Neurodiverse screenwriter currently in the Pacific Northwest, member of Northwest Screenwriters Guild.
Semifinalist
Feature
· Thriller
· 89 Pages
When a womanizer discards the wrong woman, his life is turned into hell while she seeks vengeance.
Porto, PT
In just 2 years, as an amateur but dedicated screenwriter, Carlos wrote 11 scripts (features, shorts, pilots) earning 7 accolades.
He attended some courses and workshops related with writing, directing and dubbing; published 3 multi-genre tale books and created a comedy animated web-series.
Professionally, Carlos is a software engineer but loves c...
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Semifinalist
Feature
· Thriller
· 100 Pages
In a run down section of South Pasadena tragic events involving a young drifter, a homeless girl and a sadistic cop are explored through each character’s perspective to reveal the hidden truth of what happened and why.
Astoria, NY
Mike Bencivenga is an award winning writer/director/producer in theater, film and TV. He wrote and directed two feature films, LOSERS IN LOVE and HAPPY HOUR, both of which had theatrical releases. He's a produced playwright having written 10 full length plays. His comedy, BILLY & RAY, was directed by the legendary Garry Marshall. In TV Mike has won ...
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Semifinalist
Feature
· Horror
· 100 Pages
A Twain adventure/horror on the Mississippi River where teen rivals join forces to fight amphibious beasts who poach humans and struggle to rescue family even as the military searches for the monsters for their own mysterious reasons.
St Louis, Missouri
Last year winner of Missouri Storytellers for a Mark Twain horror. A retired lead family caseworker who loves to write sexy film noir and entertaining creature features with an underbelly of humor. Written over ten features which have won and placed in numerous contests. A film noir featured on The Black List and a horror/comedy pilot pitched to a m...
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Semifinalist
Feature
· Drama
· 115 Pages
Obsessed with a mysterious stone altar hidden in the woods, two young ranch girls discover they have unlocked a gateway to the afterlife.
Nashville, Tennessee
Matt's passion for science fiction inspired his first film LUNOPOLIS, a found-footage thriller featured on Netflix and Hulu. His scripts have been honored in competition, including grand prize at CINEQUEST in 2021, and as writer/director of the 2023 tv series WILD KINGDOM he continues his pursuit of storytelling in a variety of unique ways.
Semifinalist
Feature
· Thriller
· 78 Pages
An ex-cop dodges criminal charges in the town she had worked, only to get caught up in controversy in another when the opportunistic thieves she accuses, turn up dead.
Towson, MD
Richard Geiwitz is known for working with cult horror director Don Dohler on three projects, including: "The Alien Factor" 1978, "Fiend" 1980 and "Nightbeast" 1982.
He has completed 30 features, shorts, pilots and treatments for which he has earned over 380 contest laurels. His comedy crime script, "Through a Glass Ceiling, Darkly" was a Seco...
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Semifinalist
Feature
· Thriller
· 88 Pages
Expelled from college, a young woman drives west. 24 hours later she finds herself in a motel room with a gun in her hand, a dead body on the floor, and a sheriff forcing her toward a showdown with the law, a murderous rapist, and her old self.
New York, NY
Creative director of award-winning design studio RDA/NY.
Semifinalist
Feature
· Horror
· 100 Pages
When a werewolf claims his town as its new hunting ground, an inexperienced half-Diné sheriff must hunt down the beast before it slaughters everyone.
Capistrano Beach, California
Joseph Murillo is a horror writer with an M.F.A. in Screenwriting from CSU Northridge. In 2022, his horror/sci-fi script, The Colony, won Best Sci-fi Feature at the HorrOrigins Film Festival. A proof of concept was produced for his horror script, Cryptids, for winning the Reno-Tahoe Screenplay competition in 2023. Most recently, his horror/fantasy s...
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Semifinalist
TV Script
· Drama
· 60 Pages
When a homicide detective suffers traumatic brain injury, his recovering brain begins to solve crimes by collecting evidence and slowly painting a picture of the crime on canvas with great artistic skill.
Providence, RI
Duncan is a professional film and television actor, as well as an award winning screenwriter and producer. A graduate of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst where he majored in accounting and minored in theater, Duncan works as a professional actor in film, television, stage, and can be seen in such films as "The Judge," “Mystic River,” “R.I...
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Taoist Report
Private
Semifinalist
TV Script
· Comedy
· 67 Pages
Jean's plan of starting a new life as a small business owner with her fiancé is put in jeopardy when her father asks her to take on the family profession, Master of a thousand-year-old Demon-hunting Taoist order, to pay off the family's debt.
Jersey City, NJ
Delighted to make your acquaintance! I am an experienced Taiwanese writer and screenwriter, with eight of my books published across Mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan.
My writings serendipitously caught the attention of Hong Kong director Stanley Tong thirteen years ago, which not only directed me toward the thrilling path of screenwriting but...
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Semifinalist
Feature
· Thriller
· 105 Pages
In rural Appalachia, a destitute father joins forces with a tenacious young mother to rescue their children from a sadistic backwoods cult that has terrorized the region for over a century.
Paul Sheridan is an award-winning screenwriter of elevated thriller, horror, and sci-fi films intended for a wide audience. A lover of pulp novels and genre flicks from an early age, his work typically centers on working-class protagonists forced to confront the terrifying and seemingly impossible.
Semifinalist
Feature
· Thriller
· 100 Pages
As a series of murders begins, a rookie cop teams up with a powerful good witch to take down an unstoppable force of evil, which is orchestrating the killings, before it claims more lives and the detective's own fate is sealed.
No bio available.
Semifinalist
Feature
· Thriller
· 103 Pages
When a teenage mother commits suicide after being thrown out of an apartment on Christmas Eve, the hard-nosed Tennessee sheriff responsible for the eviction embarks on an obsessive and dangerous quest to find her missing infant daughter.
New London, Connecticut
Lonas won the Grand Prize in the Story Pros 2018 International Screenplay Contest with his script, Southern Blood. Born in Clarksville, Tennessee, he served eight years in the U.S. Navy before becoming a full-time factotum.
Semifinalist
TV Script
· Thriller
· 66 Pages
A single mother trying to keep a roof over her head joins forces with a troubled detective investigating human trafficking ... and together they discover a dark supernatural secret behind the real-life horrors...
Overland Park, Kansas
Director and Storyboard artist on Marvel's Hit-Monkey, FXX's Archer, as well as The Vampire Diaries and Black Lightning.
The Lowest Deep
Semifinalist
Unknown
Action
No logline available.
Semifinalist
Feature
· Sci-fi
· 120 Pages
A well-known history professor battles to survive when a time warp pulls him into the body of a World War 2 French resistance fighter; in an alternate universe, where Nazi forces are powered by alien technology.
Fort Lauderdale, FL
A.J. Ferrara is a multi-optioned screenwriter based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. A.J recently completed two write-for-hire projects; a drama television pilot for a proposed series titled L'America, based on the best selling book by Joseph Orazi - and the feature drama, Mama Dallas.
A.J. is represented by Alexia Melocchi at Little Studio Films.
...
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Semifinalist
Feature
· Horror
· 99 Pages
A grieving mother’s heart and mind are tormented by a deadly supernatural curse as she investigates the suspicious suicide of her son.
London, GB
I'm a British screenwriter with a background in digital marketing for the film and TV industry.
In addition to my Coverfly accolades:
- Emerging Screenwriters Award: Suspense - Semi-finalist
- BAFTA Rocliffe New Writing Competition - Shortlist
- BBC Open Call/Drama Room - Reached the final 27 from over 4000 applicants
Semifinalist
Feature
· Thriller
· 95 Pages
A Palestinian father and an Israeli army officer must work as a team to stop the Palestinian's youngest son from becoming a suicide bomber like his older brother.
Moraga, California
Stuart is a native of the San Francisco East Bay and attended UC Berkeley. Growing up with The Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits shaped his love of horror and science fiction, and raising three children gave him an appreciation of fantasy.
Semifinalist
TV Script
· Drama
· 52 Pages
When an FBI ledger of federal secrets turns up, a young mailman wrestles with his PTSD as he comes out of witness protection to take down the organized crime family who murdered his parents.
Mount Washington, Kentucky
My search for meaning and connection led me to escape into the cinematic world found on the television set in my living room. Coming from a single-parent background without a father figure, I would often relate to the gritty character arcs of Tony Soprano and Michael Corleone. This frequently led me to explore what these characters would look like i...
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Winter Solstice
Private
Semifinalist
Feature
· Thriller
· 75 Pages
The longest night of the year just got a little longer. During a snow storm on the Winter Solstice, the employees of a convenience store are being stalked by a mysterious man in a pick-up truck.
Averill Park, NY
No bio available.
Semifinalist
TV Script
· Fantasy
· 32 Pages
After a traumatic accident gives a 14-year-old the ability to communicate with ghosts, he and the ghost of his best friend collaborate on helping other spirits with their unfinished business, but their exploits risk unearthing a gruesome town secret the sheriff does not want exposed.
Sciota, PA
Inspired to write for young audiences, Audrey Hackett completed two screenwriting mentorships with a professional script consultant and an MFA in Children’s Literature. One of her TV pilots was a semifinalist in the 2020 Creative Screenwriting Unique Voices Screenplay Competition and a quarterfinalist in the 2021 PAGE Awards. Audrey moonlights as a ...
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Quarterfinalists
#DevilsCourt
Quarterfinalist
Unknown
Action
No logline available.