2021 Screenplay Award Finalists

Jason is a writer and filmmaker best known for his short genre work, which has been awarded and screened around the world and featured in outlets from Short of the Week to The New York Times. In addition to his creative work, he is popular indie film advocate, called "a kind of indie prophet" by

Hi! I'm currently a student at DePaul University's School of Cinematic Arts working towards a BFA in Film & Television with a concentration in Comedy Filmmaking. My aspirations are to be a writer-director in the film industry while also gauging personal interest in stand-up and sketch comedy. My

Jon Plant was born in Sheffield in the North of England, spending much of his later life in and around London. He exhausted ambitions to be a pastor, teacher, lawyer, architect, journalist and marine-biologist before completing a master’s degree in chemistry. In his early twenties, Jon finally

Film has always been a passion for Karan dating back to growing up in his late Grandfather’s video shop. His Grandfather's love for film became his passion. Initially working with MADE from 2016; a charitable organization with an overall vision to contribute to reducing discrimination against BAME &

Eduardo Macchiarelli has a superpower that can bring together more than two decades of experience as an Author and Branded and Unique Content Director for major broadcast networks such as Fox, TWDC, and D+ and the brilliantly unique Neuro Queer outlook that Gino, his 14 yr. old son with Asperger

Despite writing her first award-winning script at 16, Caledonia's writing career didn't take off until she was inspired to write a TV series based on her time as a homeless street fighter in Oakland, CA during the Ferguson Riots of 2014. Now that her days of fighting Neo-Nazis and Crips are over

Nick’s writing journey was unusual. Invited onto the set of a high profile TV show, he witnessed the power of storytelling and was completely hooked. Nobody was more surprised by this than him, and in the last two years he has written a novel (placed 2nd in a national competition), a short story

Nick’s writing journey was unusual. Invited onto the set of a high profile TV show, he witnessed the power of storytelling and was completely hooked. Nobody was more surprised by this than him, and in the last two years he has written a novel (placed 2nd in a national competition), a short story

Emily is a NYC-based writer who loves a good story and is fascinated with the psychology and sociology behind why people do the things they do. She likes cats, drag, tacos and most importantly, TV.

A 2020 Women in Film mentee, Lindsay's a novelist and TV scribe from Greta Gerwig's hometown. You can find her kvetching about the weather and whether it’s too cold or, oh...her Jewish neuroses is showing. She's read every YA/Romance book, thinks musical theater is food for the soul, and

Monica has loved storytelling from the time she was a young child. As a mother to 8, she especially likes to write fantastical stories with a coming of age element and comedies. She has followed a twisted path in her career to realize her love of storytelling. Beginning as PA, then associate

Mark is an award winning screenwriter who enjoys writing action/horror/fantasy/comedy scripts. He is working on turning two of his screenplays into graphic novels. There will always be some humor in everything he writes because laughter tends to make everything a little bit better.

Mark is an award winning screenwriter who enjoys writing action/horror/fantasy/comedy scripts. He is working on turning two of his screenplays into graphic novels. There will always be some humor in everything he writes because laughter tends to make everything a little bit better.

Graduating cum laude in neuroscience from Princeton University might seem like a strange way to start a career as a screenwriter and actor, but it was all part of Katie's master plan. Utilizing her specific knowledge of human behavior, she writes dark comedies that explore the nuanced, funny, weird

Michael Lucid is an LGBTQ comedy writer for film and TV. He was a story developer for "Drunk History" on Comedy Central, and a sketch writer for the CBS Diversity Showcase. He also worked for 5 years as a comedic web series writer/producer for World of Wonder (producers of the Emmy-winning "RuPaul's

Oliver has been an Assitant Director on a number of independent features. He was most recently Second Assistant Director on the feature film Heart Of Hope. He is currently in the Unit Team on an undisclosed HBO/Apple TV wartime drama.

Kay Smith-Blum, a recovering retailer, writing in Seattle, was named Woman Business Owner (NWWA) of 2013. Smith-Blum is also a former President of the Seattle School Board and co-authored the “Every Man, Every Woman” series published by Schurman Fine Papers. She has written two novels of historical

Alex Balassa is an Award-winning content creator/producer/director with 25+ years of experience in the entertainment industry. Well-versed in all aspects of international film and television production. Highly- skilled team leader who contributed to hundreds of projects, specializing in Latin

Tim Fitzharris wrote, produced and directed A Far Away Life, a coming-of-age feature shot on location in the Philippines. See the trailer: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=a+far+away+life). He has written and photographed 25 books on landscape photography for diverse publishers worldwide

I was born in Seattle but raised in North Carolina since I was eight. I started work on the novel when I was nineteen while living in Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina. The novel developed into a series as I continued to develop the plotlines and characters. When not writing, I work as a welder in

Shane Walsh-Smith's scripts won nine contests in 2020 and 2021, and placed as finalists in over thirty-five more. He's a lifelong writer, a furious scripturient for whom fiction is the prism through which he understands the world and himself. Shane has written professionally in many forms, and might

Brittany Ramjattan is a New York-based writer, filmmaker, and photographer. She prefers to use the term “storyteller” to describe her profession and completely acknowledges that she’s pretentious for this decision. While her MFA from Stony Brook University is in Television Writing, she's most

I am an Irish LGBT author/screenwriter and full-time development assistant with over 7 years experience in the film and TV industry. I live for writing genre; mainly psychological thrillers, metaphorical horror, and grounded sc-fi, but am also drawn to comedy and gritty kitchen sink drama. Ryan

Rob has worked in law enforcement for over 20 years. He discovered his passion and talent for writing by accident. After completing his first screenplay, he received overwhelming positive feedback for his unique ability to describe scenes and create action sequences. He continues to hone his skills

Great stories fuel my life.

Originally an influential epistemologist, Sandy spent three years working with survivors of domestic abuse, and learned how valuable storytelling can be in helping people to understand complex emotional issues. He wrote a short film campaign for the charity Women's Aid, and became a professional

Michael Greenwald has never taken the traditional path. After college, he spurned a pharmaceutical sales job to move, sight unseen, to Los Angeles. He spent seven years working multiple production roles at Jimmy Kimmel Live and Black Entertainment Television. He now lives in Scottsdale, Arizona

Born in Tehran, Tina Gharavi is a BAFTA-nominated, award-winning TV and film showrunner and director initially trained as a painter in the United States later studying cinema in France. Her debut feature, I Am Nasrine, a coming of age story of two teenage Iranian refugees, was nominated for a BAFTA

Retired from the US Army in 2010 and having led nearly 200 combat missions, Dave pulls from his military experiences and life traumas to develop the characters for his stories. Hooligans is a testament to one of his deployments to Iraq in 2006 during a spike of sectarian violence and chaos while the

A Russian born living in the US, I am a data engineer by trade and have worked in tech for the last 10 years. I tend to focus on stories that echo the issues that I am facing personally.