The Atlanta Film Festival is proud to announce the Semifinalists in the 2020 Screenplay Competition. Chosen from just shy of 1,300 submissions, these screenplays represent the top 10% of all entries, moving forward in our feature film, television pilot, and short film categories.

These gifted screenwriters are competing for once in a lifetime mentorship opportunities to help hone their screenplays and plan the next steps in their careers.

Congratulations to these amazing authors, and wish them well as our programming team narrows this list down to finalists and then this year’s winners!

Feature Screenplay Semifinalists

Akashi-あかし  — Mayumi Yoshida

Ana  — Jacob Cullen

Anya's Eye  — Carlton Proctor

Art Appreciation  — Jennifer Titus & Mark Provencher

Back to Me   — Ora Yashar

Battle Cries  — Karen Walker

The Beautiful Dark  — Erik Gernand

BIN  — Asad Farooqui

Borderline  — Joe Bonito

Breast is Best  — Erika Robel

A Brown Coat  — Rochelle Potkar

Burning in Water   — Caleb Samples

The Company We Keep  — Suhashini Krishnan

Conscious Recoupling  — Josh Jacobs

The Dark Cookie  — James Thomas Gilbert

The Duchess of Criminality  — Timothy Cheyefsky

Foxed  — James Stewart

Fracture  — Eliot Routh

The Gateway Drug  — Ana Worrel & Amy Frances Wright

The Ghosts of Le Griffon  — Nicole Ramberg

Goat Island  — Nathan Cabaniss

Got Your Back  — Katy Dore

The Heeler  — Darcy Lueking Bahensky

Henrietta  — Harry Aspinwall

I.R.L. In Real Life  — Justin Shelton

In Too Deep: The Brian Futz Story (A Long Lost 80's Movie)  — Zack R. Smith & Andrew Miller

Incarnations  — Albert M. Chan

Know Your Body  — Ariella Carmell

The Lease of Nature  — Anderson Boyd

Mayfair  — Patrick John Ford

Mine  — Blaire Baron & Scott Fifer

Mint  — Drew Guajardo

Monster(s)  — Aidan Largey

Mother-Daughter  — Tricia Lee

My Brother's Keeper  — Joshua Schorr

My Father's Murders  — Michael Salomon

Northridge  — Patrick Pfupajena

Not Half Anything  — David Gray

Old Dad  — Jim Harkins

Old Dogs and Still Waters  — Avi Glick

On the Black  — Kristen Mack Klebenow

The Oughthousers  — Ari Krause

Over Here  — Glen Craney

Pandemonium  — Michael Douglas

Pastor Dash  — Pearse Lehane

Pick Up Sidney  — Natalie Higdon

The Pinch  — James Raynor

Project Fog  — Adva Reichman

The Rat and the Bluebird  — T.E. Strong

Retreat  — Jono Mitchell, Alexander Baxter, & Madison Hatfield

The Rites of Salem  — Michael McCoy

A Seeping Wound  — Darryl Wimberley

Shepherd One  — Cameron Young

The Shtick-up  — Val Bodurtha

Skepticon  — Cameron Young

Skin Deep  — Cierra Lockett

The Sons of May  — Donna McNeely Burke

Spindle City  — Daniel Earney

Surgeon Hong  — Paul Gross

They Went On  — Anthony Gilmore & Drew McCoy

A Town Called Nowhere  — Peter Mahaffey

The Waiting Room  — Alex May

Walks the Buffalo  — Larry M. Baer

Where Teardrops Fall  — Jesse Mays Robinson

Zero Legacy  — Izzy and Vic Vic Vaughan

Pilot Screenplay Semifinalists

Apache  — Cameron Barsanti

As American as Fortune Cookies  — Hua Shang

Barrio - El Niño  — Charlie Gandez

Bea Rose  — Natalia Temesgen

Birdsong  — Jennifer Dunn

The Breaching  — Wendy Young

Carpetbaggers  — Matt Thomas

Chloe Bowe  — Craig Reynolds

Conundrum Integrated  — Micah Paisner

Division 34  — Eyas Shanaah

Double Dads  — Jessica Burnett

Eterna  — Scott Simonsen

Faith Breaker  — Sam Alper

Futurelink  — Jason Gilmore

In the Gutter  — Christine Burright McGuigan

Jersey Rican  — Ashlei Hardenburg

Kindly Metal Mother  — Kurtis Theorin

La Madrina  — Adam Santa María

Laughing to Keep from Crying  — Jane Barr

The Line  — Jeff Bower

Lost in the Flood  — Sean Collins-Smith

On the Verge  — Yair Karlberger

The Paisley Witch Trial  — Julia Campanelli

Pangea  — T. C. Smith

Pony Up  — Caroline Mungo

Pound Foolish  — Susan Feingold

Pure  — Erika Hakmiller

re.Form(ed)  — Johnny Gilligan

Red Flag  — Suzanne Slack-Smith

The Sensualist  — Suzanne Griffin

Stayers  — Teddy Gilmore & Mat Dann

That Sister Thang  — Lindiwe Mueller-Westernhagen & Dale Winton

The Unvarnished Tales of the Green Fairy  — Jacob Cullen

A Version  — Asad Farooqui

Westphall  — Keith St. Lawrence

Short Screenplay Semifinalists

All You Want to Know  — Laurel Kulow

Business of Ferrets  — Will Berry

Chemo  — Marcus Julius

The Chocolate Kandinsky  — Suzanne Griffin

Conscience  — Brandon Kelley

The Cricket  — Gabe Berry

Deadsitting  — Gabriel Meyers

Definitely Not a Monster  — Brea Angelo

Divinity  — Nelson Downend

Downballot  — John Goshorn

Dreamcatcher  — Shaun Radecki

Dunked  — John Bickerstaff

Evelyn in 7  — Kasia Kowalczyk

Everyday  — Ryan Dellaquila

Fantasy Chat  — Mindy Fay Parks

Genie  — Paul Frank

Greg the Puddle  — Shaun Radecki

Haint  — Gabriela McNicoll

Hawk Bells  — Kristian Mercado

I-106  — Luis Bou

Kid Midnight  — Mychal Sargent

Laika  — Kate Balsley

Man of Style  — Deirdre Brenner

Pigskin  — Susan Polk

Possum  — Lyndal Simpson

Quarry  — Nell Ovitt

Say Yes  — Gabe Berry

Squished  — Shaun Radecki

Until the Last One Falls  — Gabe Berry

Youth in a Casket  — Hannah Aslesen