BEST SCENE SCREENPLAY READINGS
The "best scene" take from features and TV pilots of winning screenplays.
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COMEDY Festival Best Scene: The Favorite Haunt, by Edward Hicklin
With a bond formed from their shared love of scary movies, a group of young boys discover an abandoned mansion whose secrets surpass those of any film.
CAST LIST:
Narrator: Elizabeth Rose Morriss
Hobo #1: Steve Rizzo
Hobo #2: Sean Ballantyne -
Winning COMEDY Festival Best Scene: LETHAL WEAPONS, by Adam Hopwood
Disillusioned with his day job as an engineer, Ken Hammer fights to be accepted in the offbeat world of professional swordsmithing.
CAST LIST:
Narrator: Hannah Ehman
Ken: Geoff Mays
Forwoman: Val Cole
Hr Woman: Elizabeth Rose Morriss -
LA LGBTQ+ Festival Best Scene: REQUIEM FOR A BANTAMWEIGHT, by Enrique Berumen
Bantamweight boxer Alfonso 'Panama' Brown, the first Latin American world champion, gains fame and fortune while living a torrid love affair with poet Jean Cocteau in 1930's France; until the Nazis goose-step into Paris.
CAST LIST:
Narrator: Val Cole
Cocteau: Geoff Mays
Al: Steve RIzzo -
Winning ACTION/ADVENTURE Festival Best Scene: Scapegoat, by Richard Geiwitz
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.
CAST LIST:
Narrator: Hannah Ehman
Cervantes: Val Cole
Markie: Elizabeth Rose Morriss -
Winning ROMANCE Festival Best Scene: MAPLE GROVE, by Richard Telesca
An old-fashioned love story where in 1953, the lives of two people in search of true love and happiness seem to be headed in opposite directions until they come together in the little town of Maple Grove and discover that everything in life happens for a reason.
CAST LIST:
Narrator: Val Cole
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Winning CRIME/MYSTERY Festival Best Scene: CONCEPTUS, by Brian Herskowitz
Homicide Detective Laura Drummond, a survivor of a brutal assault in her youth, must track down a serial killer that's tied to her past.
Writer Statement
CONCEPTUS is currently a 5-star reviewed novel on Amazon. The story began as a screenplay, and then when Covid was in full swing, I expanded ... -
DIVERSITY Festival Scene: Injustice! Ex Parte Crow Dog, by Christopher Manydeeds
Injustice! United States vs Tribes is a TV anthology series about Federal Indian Law in dynamic US Supreme Court decisions. The series will address how the United States and Tribes decided the course of history through a hostile court system. Ex Parte Crow Dog is about a why the Federal governmen...
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DRAMA Festival Best Scene: Paths We Lead, by Sandon Yahn (interview)
An aspiring screenwriter who struggles to support his family becomes successful after he uses a mysterious writing software that alters reality. But, with that comes a price that he never imagined he'd have to pay.
CAST LIST:
Narrator: Kyana Teresa
Richard: Steve Rizzo
Brad: Geoff MaysG...
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ANIMATION Festival Best Scene: BREAKDOWN: UFO, by Noel Quick
AAA for UFOs
CAST LIST:
Narrator: Hannah Ehman
Lorz: Geoff Mays
Bigfoot: Shawn Devlin
Fllrp: Kyana Teresa -
LATINO Fest: El Cuento De Mi Papa (The Story of my Father), by Alejandro Lalinde
When a naive D.A.C.A. single young father gets unexpectedly deported to a country he’s never been, he must at all costs journey back illegally despite crooks and cartels and a desolate rugged desert to reunite with his estranged daughter before his family is ultimately separated.
CAST LIST:
Na...
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ROMANCE Festival Best Scene: Astral Flames, by Nicolas James
A lonely, yet content young woman helps navigate a connection-deprived young man through the astral dimension while trying not to be detected by an ominous spirit.
CAST LIST:
Narrator: Hannah Ehman
Chase: Sean Ballantyne
Violet: Kyana Teresa -
Thriller/Suspense Festival: HENRY'S STARE, by A.M. Vasquez
After her stalker goes missing and is presumed dead, Violet McBride's dreams suggest that he may still be alive, threatening to shatter her newfound peace.
CAST LIST:
Narrator: Sean Ballantyne
Violet: Kyana Teresa
Rachel: Hannah Ehman
Ben: Shawn Devlin -
TV Festival Best Scene: PALADIN, by Mark Andrew Pogodzinski
Paladin is a gun for hire in the new west in 1800. His current task is to collect Caleb Barnes and deliver him to justice. The Barnes Gang attacked a wealthy ranch, killing several people and burning the house to the ground. Paladin kills the gang with little difficulty, taking time to explain to...
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Fantasy/Sci-Fi Festival Best Scene: THE GOD MACHINE, by Michael J Bowler
Using an antique machine, a grieving boy hopes to apologize to his deceased mother, but instead unleashes an interdimensional being that wreaks havoc in San Francisco. With the aid of his detached father, some friends, and a tough female detective, he determines to stop the creature, even at the ...
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SCI-FI/FANTASY Festival Best Scene: Mysterious Island, by Don Thompson
https://www.nextpixprods.com/
https://www.instagram.com/nextpixnyc/CAST LIST:
Narrator: Shawn Devlin
Lisa: Kyana Teresa
Laura: Hannah Ehman -
LGBTQ+ Festival Best Scene: The Xenakis Family, by Spiro Skentzos
A mid-career stop-motion animator struggles balance his work with his family's demands to run their restaurant.
Narrator: Julie Sheppard
Greg: Shawn Devlin
Theo: Steve Rizzo
Marvin: Sean Ballantyne -
LGBTQ+ Festival: Good Pussy: The Anatomy of a Crazy Cat Lady, by Bree Wyrd
When a suicidal comedian is involuntarily hospitalized by her family, her ride-or-die drag queen BFF, and her unorthodox psychiatrist devise a plan to break her out, recover her eight cats, and help her to discover her reasons to live.
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WILDsound Festival Best Scene: Snail Miller Criminal Confessions, by Tony Faria
Introducing "Snail Miller: Criminal Confessions," a razor-sharp satire that takes a hilarious jab at the world of crime-solving television.
Follow the adventures of SNAIL MILLER, Toronto's most unorthodox serial killer tracker, as he spearheads the RCMP's groundbreaking Victims Confessions Unit....
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DIVERSITY Festival TV Best Scene: THUNDERSTORM, by Maria Mathis (interview)
This eight-episode limited series is about the turbulent life, death, and afterlife of Henry "Stormy" O'Dell, a biracial escaped slave with paranormal abilities. Set in Gold Rush California, Henry's mission is to stop a serial killer as he struggles to avoid forfeiting his soul to a demon who has...
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DIVERSITY Best Scene Reading: FOLKTALE, by Donald Holmes Lewis, Ziggy Dantzler
When four young siblings spend a summer weekend at their grandmother’s home in the projects of Pawtucket, they listen to ghostly stories from the past but find themselves trapped in a dangerous and mysterious folktale of their own... with a fortune in slave trader gold at stake that can save the ...
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DIVERSITY Festival Best Scene: BUMBLEFUCK, by Lindsay Heiman (interview)
Stuck in bumblefuck nowhere and pressured by her family to join a campaign she morally opposes, an angsty teen (who's seen too many heist movies) plans a covert operation to sabotage her stepdad’s run for office.
Think Kelly-Anne Conway’s daughter, Claudia. A Gen Z teenager known for outwardly s...
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TV Festival Best Scene: DIE: Deadly Invisible Enemies Series, by Harold L. Brown
A renowned computer security expert loses everything when security is breached at the highest level of government and he enters an invisible underworld trading state secrets to the highest bidder.
http://www.storychaser.com/
Narrator: Val Cole
Joe: Steve Rizzo
Kevin: Geoff Mays
Wayne: Sean B... -
FAN FICTION Best Scene STAR WARS: REVELATIONS, by Darius Gerard Clar (interview)
MAZ OJAL, a corrupt business tyrant, discovers large amounts of Kyber Crystal deposits and sets out to gather the find, using slaves in the process. A 90 year old YODA, his son DAGO, and other villagers are captured and enslaved to mine the Kyber. During a dispute, Dago is slain by one of the gua...
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COMEDY Festival Best Scene: SAVE THE DATE, by Nick Pappas
On the eve of his sister's lavish wedding, a meek guy in desperate need of a date meets the woman of his dreams who agrees to accompany him, but when she's subsequently kidnapped by her lawless and vengeful ex-boyfriend, he must find the courage to rescue her if he wants to save her life and his ...