2015 Screenplay Competition Finalists Announced!

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The Atlanta Film Festival has chosen fifteen finalists for its 2015 Screenplay Competition! Representing five countries and seven states, the advancing screenplays have been selected from nearly 250 submissions. The top three, who will be announced later this month, will win a slot in the ATLFF Screenwriters' Retreat: a three-day immersive experience with three experienced screenwriters and their professional perspectives on how to develop, sharpen, and produce each screenplay. 

2015 Finalists:

  • "Crossings" by Fred Perry (Georgia)
  • "Dance of the Blessed Spirits" by Matt Pacini (California)
  • "Derek Dickens & The Dream" by Phil Valentine (Tennessee)
  • "Dream Girl" by Jo Mackerras (France)
  • "Grace" by Linda Lemberg & Jeffrey Allen Russel (Canada)
  • "In Berlin, By The Wall" by Anthony Fisher (New York)
  • "Killbook" by Pearse Lehane (England)
  • "No Man's Land" by Michelle Davidson & Jeffrey Field (Missouri)
  • "Permafrost" by Kevin Frech (New York)
  • "Rubber Room" by Doug Bost (New York)
  • "Straight Up" by James Sweeney (California)
  • "Thalatta Mountain" by Eric Betts (Texas)
  • "This Old Man" by Nicholas Oktaras (Australia)
  • "The Veil" by Andrea Stein (New Jersey)
  • "When The Devil's Loose" by Ben Watts (California)

2015 Screenwriters' Retreat Mentors:

  • Lanre Olabisi, a past Screenplay Competition winner (2009), is a writer/director and founding member of the New York Independent Film Collective.  His first feature film "August the First," screened in over 30 international film festivals including South By Southwest (SXSW) and Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, garnering top prizes at six festivals during its run and a nomination for an IFP Gotham Award. The 2015 ATLFF will host the world premiere of his second feature, "Somewhere in The Middle." Lanre received his MFA in Film Production from the City College of New York (CCNY) and currently teaches Screenwriting and Acting for the Camera at The New York Film Academy.
  • Michael Lucker is an acclaimed writer/director with twenty years experience creating film, television and animation. He began his career writing and directing television commercials in college in Boston. Soon after he landed in Los Angeles working in production on series for ABC, NBC, CBS and HBO before taking a job as assistant to Steven Spielberg at Amblin Entertainment on feature films Indiana Jones & The Last Crusade, Back To The Future ll & lll and Jurassic Park. He went on to work in creative affairs at Hollywood Pictures, helping develop the movies Crimson Tide, Terminal Velocity, Taking Care of Business and Straight Talk. He then went onto write movies for DreamWorks, Paramount, Disney, Fox, Universal and more, including “Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron,” which was nominated for the Academy Award for best-animated movie. Michael hosts a quarterly Screenwriter School and hosted 2014's ATLFF Screenplay Reading.
  • Robin Henry is a writer and comedian who loves to make people laugh. She's written for "The Queen Latifah Show," "East Los High," "The Rickey Smiley Show," and "House of Payne." Robin writes, directs and produces sketches for Sketchworks, the premier sketch comedy theater in metro Atlanta, and teaches introductory and advanced sketch writing. A co-founder of Joke Pony and “The Black Nerd Show,” Robin can be found performing stand-up comedy in Atlanta and Los Angeles.

The winners will be chosen by the month's end! Stay tuned!