NINETEENTH ANNUAL AMERICAN ZOETROPE SCREENPLAY COMPETITION
Many thanks to all who entered the 2021 American Zoetrope Screenplay Competition. We appreciate the opportunity to read such innovative work.
From nearly 2,000 submissions, Judge Francis Coppola and the Zoetrope staff honored the following scripts.
Winner:
A More Certain Light by Elizabeth Corbett (New York, NY)
Finalists:
Holdout by Stephen Bell and J. Brett VanderMale (Venice, CA)
Halfway to Heaven by Carmine Bicchetti (West Hollywood, CA)
The Bigger They Lie by Jim Bishop (Melbourne, Australia)
Covers (Pilot) by Steve Coulter and Travis Smith (Atlanta, GA)
Soot by Stephen Curran (London, England)
Thicker Than Blood by Kenneth Gildin (Los Angeles, CA)
Eastern Son by Y. S. Kim (Martinez, CA)
Powell and Pressburger by Owen Nicholls (Norwich, England)
Tender Outcast by Douglas Soesbe (Palm Springs, CA)
Semifinalists:
Grunt Work by Sal Bardo (Los Angeles, CA)
I-SELF by Dan Bronzite (London, England)
The Reluctant Oracle by Philip Buckley (Melbourne, Australia)
(True) North by H. F. Crum (Los Angeles, CA)
The Tutor by Sasha Higgins and Ethan Maniquis (Venice, CA)
When Broken Glass Floats by Chanrithy Him (Portland, OR)
Gristle by Heidi Hornbacher (West Hollywood, CA)
White Walls (Pilot) by Natalie Lemle (Boston, MA)
Salt Along the Tongue by Parish Malfitano (Sydney, Australia)
A Family Farm by Sean Mannion (Longmont, CO)
Mother Truckers by Lila McLaughlin (Los Angeles, CA)
Wita by Mitchell Montgomery (San Francisco, CA)
Black Sun by Richard Rowley (Willow, NY)
No Weddings and a Funeral by Patricia Serrano Chungsathaporn (Brooklyn, NY)
Another Sunrise by Lee Shamberg (Chicago, IL)
Quarterfinalists:
Good Fences by Joe Amato and Kass Fleisher (Normal, IL)
Unintended Consequences by Irina Bragin (Los Angeles, CA)
True Point of Beginning by John Burdeaux (New York, NY)
Our Days in the Silver Palace by May-lee Chai (San Francisco, CA)
Golden Age by Jon Davis (Woodinville, WA)
Sinaloa City by Phoebe Eaton (Santa Monica, CA)
Marty, Nothing Will Ever Be the Same by Matthew Handal (New York, NY)
The Doppelganger Suite by J. R. Jarrod (Burbank, CA)
Silky Sullivan by Stephen Krespel (San Francisco, CA)
The Coward of Hickory County by Julia Maddox (Jackson Heights, NY)
Chastely Prepared by John Murphy (St. Helena, CA)
Nice Restaurant (Pilot) by Dorothy Nguyen (Bayonne, NJ)
Scratch by Matt Ocks (Brooklyn, NY)
Movie Palace by Max Radbill (South Pasadena, CA)
Neptune Rising (Pilot) by Maxie Rockymore (Minneapolis, MN)
Medium Raya (Pilot) by Adam Sandel (San Francisco, CA)
Don’t F*%k with Estelle by Ruth Sinanian (New York, NY)
A Fragile Heaven by Patrick Skehill (Orange, CA)
Just One Inch by Georgette Skolnick (Los Angeles, CA)
Jew Boy (Pilot) by Michael Sladek (Brooklyn, NY)
The winner will receive the grand prize of $5,000.
The winner and nine finalists will be considered for representation by the agencies CAA, Circle of Confusion, Energy Entertainment, Exile Entertainment, the Gersh Agency, ICM, Oasis Media Group, the Radmin Company, UTA, and William Morris Endeavor. Their scripts will be considered for option and development by the production companies American Zoetrope, Anonymous Content, Cats & Dogs Productions, Double Hope Films, Forward Movement (an ARRAY Company), Fox Searchlight, Groundswell Productions, Icon Films, IFC Films, Jean Doumanian Productions, Lionsgate, LIT Entertainment Group, Lleju Productions, Number 9 Films, Oasis Media Group, Pretty Pictures Productions, Roserock Films, Sony Pictures Classics, Verisimilitude, and Working Title Films.
The 2022 American Zoetrope Screenplay Competition will open on June 1; for details, please visit the website this summer. To receive updates by email, please write us at [email protected].
Thanks again, and all good wishes for your writing!