BEST SCENE SCREENPLAY READINGS
The "best scene" take from features and TV pilots of winning screenplays.
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Fan Fiction Best Scene: DOCTOR WHO "The Prodigal Heist", by Jessie S. Hymowitz
In this episode of Doctor Who, The Doctor and her friends are caught in the middle of a museum heist, but the perpetrator is a familiar face to the Thirteenth Doctor. But who is she?
CAST LIST:
Narrator: Shawn Devlin
Jen: Val Cole
Ryan Sinclair: Geoff Mays
Yasmin Khan/: Allison Kampf -
ASIAN Festival Best Scene: TARAKI, by Robert Salter
An Air Force Pararescue commando battles an organized crime syndicate who killed his sister and is hunting his niece. Taraki Gil, a deadly hand-to-hand fighter trained at a very young age by a Filipino martial artist, is recalled from combat duty in Syria to return to Las Vegas by a Red Cross mes...
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Action/Aventure Fest Best Scene: PATHFINDER DOWN, by Thomas Anthony Brannagan
She’s an emotionally damaged agent with a dilemma. Find a downed airman behind enemy lines, then decide whether to become his saviour or his assassin.
CAST LIST:
Narrator: Val Cole
Paisley: Geoff Mays
Madelaine: Hannah Ehman -
LGBTQ+ Festival Best Scene: BARNABY AND BELLA, by Georgina Boeheim
Lonely curmudgeon Gerald has his life turned upside down with the unexpected arrival of his five-year-old orphaned grandson Barnaby following the death of his estranged daughter. But Barnaby, who likes to wear dresses and be called Bella, challenges all of Gerald's bigoted limitations to an extre...
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Winning TV Spec Screenplay: NIGHT COURT "Abby vs The Lawbot" , by Corey Taft
CAST LIST:
Narrator: Val Cole
Abby: Hannah Ehman
Dan: Steve Rizzo
Proseuction-Bot: Sean Ballantyne
Defense Bot: Andy CampGet to know the writer:
1. What is your screenplay about?
It's a spec script of Night Court on NBC. The episode that I wrote is about Judge Abby Stone, a sympatheti...
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SCI-FI/FANTASY Best Scene Reading: SAND - Part I "Burial", by Rhyess Nash
Summary: After Nefret goes missing, it puts Mazim's place in the war in doubt, but despite his family's safety, he won't leave without Nefret, which leads him to face horrifying consequences.
CAST LIST:
Narrator: Val Cole
Mezut: Steve Rizzo
Layla: Hannah Ehman -
GREEN RUSH, by Matt Gallagher script reading - Crime/Mystery Festival winner
Out of work actors in LA plan a robbery of a marijuana dispensary in the middle of Covid lockdown.
CAST LIST:
Narrator: Val Cole
Corey: Steve Rizzo
Blake: Shawn Devlin
Patty: Julie SheppardGet to know the writer:
1. What is your screenplay about?
The plot is a heist of a dispensary dur... -
BEST Scene Reading: The Walking Wounded, by Andrew Cahill-Lloyd
CAST LIST:
Narrator: Sean Ballantyne
Donna: Hannah Ehman
Dawn: Julie Sheppard
Noah/Monty: Geoff Mays
Levi/Ian: Steve Rizzo
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BEST Scene Reading: The Hollow Earth, by Kenneth James
In the late 19th century, a young scientist embarks on an epic journey to a hidden, fabled land -- and to the darkest recesses of his own psyche.
CAST LIST:
Narrator: Hannah Ehman
Palmer: Geoff Mays
Sheppard: Steve Rizzo
Reed/Taylor: Sean Ballantyne
Bradshaw: Andy Camp -
LGBTQ+ Festival Scene: THE PLANT THIEF, by Norm Fassbender, Katherine Holowach
Summary: Bellus and Invictus are royal siblings, Bellus the more inquisitive and caring and Invictus the rebellious and conniving sibling. Their mother has been missing, which their father forbids questions about, and she begins to explore whether her mother’s theft of a flower–a Draco Lily–could...
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LA LGBTQ+ Festival Best Scene: BEGIN THE BEGUINE, by R.A. Modro (interview)
Two families from different eras, one White and one Black, are inextricably linked by a violent family legacy and a historic home that holds a haunting secret. The story unfolds across two timelines, intricately weaving their lives together through violence, love, acceptance, and the discovery of...
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HORROR Festival Best Scene: STAG NIGHT, by Wenzler Powers (interview)
When Ian reluctantly plans a bachelor party for his awful college friends, confronting his past demons transforms into a desperate bid for survival when a group on their party bus has a very different definition of raising hell.
CAST LIST:
Narrator: Sean Ballantyne
Alex: Hannah Ehman
Ian: Geof... -
COMEDY Festival Best Scene: Moonwalking, by Jillian Smart
When her parents demand rent money, Annie gives her dream of becoming a Michael Jackson Impersonator one last go, putting the threads of her personal relationships at risks as she hip-thrusts all the way to the top.
CAST LIST:
Narrator: Sean Ballantyne
Frank: Steve Rizzo
Annie: Hannah Ehman
Ma... -
COMEDY Festival Best Scene: IT'S A MAD MAD MAD MAD SCRIPT, by Dale A Brandenburg
It's a story about a guy trying to write a movie script.
CAST LIST:
Narrator: Julie Sheppard
Pepe: Sean Ballantyne
Margarita: Hannah Ehman -
SCENE: Game of Thrones "The Rains of Castamere", by Anthony Hyatt (interview)
The iconic GAME OF THRONES ‘Red Wedding’ episode in the style of PARKS AND RECREATION: While a recently divorced wedding planner attempts to engineer the perfect day, a self-conscious groom tries desperately to discover who he is marrying, all while the realm’s most famous conflict mediator striv...
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COMEDY Festival Best Scene: The One Hit Wonder, by Bob Dawson
When his one and only hit song from the 80s unexpectedly becomes a viral hit on social media, a washed up rock and roller finds his family life turned upside down.
CAST LIST:
Narrator: Sean Ballantyne
Abby: Hannah Ehman
Grace: Julie Sheppard
Erin: Allison Kampf -
TV Festival PITCH Reading: DREAM STATE, by Helena Giersz, Christina Giersz
A young woman stumbling through the New York fashion world finds solace in her dreams and the relationships she cultivates within them, but when her dreams manifest in her real life she must contend with the discrepancies between flawed humanity and her subconscious perfection.
CAST LIST:
Narr...
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SCI-FI/FANTASY Festival Script: The Founders' Plot, by Frank Victoria
Wealthy man is bored with life, and even gambling doesn't give him an adrenaline rush. He plays poker with the devil for his soul.
http://www.frankvictoria.com/
CAST LIST:
Narrator: Elizabeth Rose Morriss
Mike: Steve Rizzo
Colonel: Geoff Mays
Josephine: Val Cole -
ACTION Fest Script: What Would Lombardi Say, by Patrick Cottington (interview)
A college football star is forced to deal with CTE as he prepares for a professional football career.
CAST LIST:
Narrator: Julie Sheppard
Harry: Steve Rizzo
Larry: Geoff MaysGet to know the writer:
1. What is your screenplay about?
This story actually focuses on CTE and its universal eff... -
COMEDY Festival Best Scene: BURDS, by Patricia Fuller, Elaine Brett (interview)
Burds follows Katie and her group of teenage girlfriends growing up in a shitty town in the West coast of Scottish during the 80s. The story is about their friendship, the hilarious shenanigans they get up and navigating one of the worst situations that a teenage girl has to deal with. The story ...
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COMEDY Best Scene Screenplay: DSP VS USA, by D. Sidney Potter
CAST LIST:
Narrator: Julie Sheppard
Sidney: Steve Rizzo
Selina: Val Cole -
THE ONE HIT WONDER. WILDsound Festival Best Scene. by Bob Dawson
When his one and only hit song from the 80s unexpectedly becomes a viral hit on social media, a washed up rock and roller finds his family life turned upside down.
CAST LIST:
Narrator: Steve Rizzo
Lily: Hannah Ehman
Pete: Sean Ballantyne
Grace: Julie Sheppard -
THE BIG W. TV Festival Best Scene. by Laurel Nicholson
When an undocumented worker has a vision of a murder, he can’t go to the cops. So he recruits a group of his eccentric drinking companions from a neighborhood bar, The Big W, to help stop the murder.
CAST LIST:
Narrator: Shawn Devlin
Pittman: Steve Rizzo
Willow: Hannah Ehman
Miller: Geoff ... -
7 YEARS AFTER. TV Screenplay Festival Scene. by Melissa Skirboll (interview)
Seven years after a religious-nationalist sect has taken over most of the country, as the last of the sanctuary cities begin to fall, a poet and her friends fight the forces of oppression.
CAST LIST:
Narrator: Steve Rizzo
Mischa: Hannah Ehman
Lili: Julie Sheppard
James: Shawn DevlinGet...