2020 Atlanta Film Festival Screenplay Competition Quarterfinalists
The Atlanta Film Festival is proud to announce the quarterfinalists in the 2020 Screenplay Competition. Chosen from nearly 1,300 submissions, these screenplays represent those moving forward from our feature film, television pilot, and short film categories. Our writers are competing for once in a lifetime mentorship opportunities to help hone their craft and plan the next steps in their careers.
Congratulations to all the authors so far. Stay tuned as our programming team narrows this list down to semifinalists, finalists, and this year’s winners!
Feature Screenplay Quarterfinalists
Akashi-あかし — Mayumi Yoshida
Ana — Jacob Cullen
Ann's Secret — Nadira "Naz" Pankey
Anya's Eye — Carlton Proctor
Art Appreciation — Jennifer Titus & Mark Provencher
Back to Me — Ora Yashar
Bad Romance — Thada Catalon
Battle Cries — Karen Walker
The Beautiful Dark — Erik Gernand
Bedford Falls — Dashiell Finley (story by Dashiell Finley and Adam Dicterow)
BIN — Asad Farooqui
Bingo Night from Hell — David Piechowski
Blinker — Matthew Emery
Blue Comedy — Vincent Accettola
Borderline — Joe Bonito
Boundaries — Asad Farooqui
Breast is Best — Erika Robel
A Brown Coat — Rochelle Potkar
Burning in Water — Caleb Samples
Captain C! — John Paul Su
The City of Gale — Taylor Rankin
Claudia Decoded — Jeff Baker & Ryan Proffitt
CNTRL+P — Albert Letizia
The Company We Keep — Suhashini Krishnan
Compositions for the Young and Old — Michael Warmoth & Riley Warmoth
Conscious Recoupling — Josh Jacobs
The Dark Cookie — James Thomas Gilbert
Dog#9 — Lee Lawson
Drawing Dead — Quentin Ellis
The Duchess of Criminality — Timothy Cheyefsky
Electronic Sounds from a Still Heart — Finley Mulligan
Faster than Bullets — Pat Holden
Fire on the Mountain — Brady Brown
Foxed — James Stewart
Fracture — Eliot Routh
Fukushima, Arkansas — Nathan Patton
The Gateway Drug — Ana Worrel & Amy Frances Wright
The Ghosts of Le Griffon — Nicole Ramberg
Goat Island — Nathan Cabaniss
Godless Skies — Joshua David Harris
Got Your Back — Katy Dore
The Hammer — Jason Hunter
Hannibal, Missouri — Peter Buhl & Conor O'Farrell
The Heeler — Darcy Lueking Bahensky
The Hemingway Mystique — Christine Sneed
Henrietta — Harry Aspinwall
Hero of the Good Land — Logan Shaw
Hills of Gold — Lia Wang
I.R.L. In Real Life — Justin Shelton
Immortal — Robert Allaire & Natalie Metzger
The Impresario — Daniel Leventhal
In Nomine Dei — John Iadarola
In Too Deep: The Brian Futz Story (A Long Lost 80's Movie) — Zack R. Smith & Andrew Miller
Incarnations — Albert M. Chan
The Italian Lover — Suzanne Griffin
Italians Without a Cause — Lucia Braccalenti
Jocko — Derek Vitatoe
Karma — Tiffany Barker
The Keeper — Kevin Nelson
Know Your Body — Ariella Carmell
The Lease of Nature — Anderson Boyd
Lest We Forget — Laura Hamlet
The Light that Burns in Us — Claire Hampsey
The Limo Driver — Tejal Desai
Mad Rush — Manfred Lopez Grem (story by Christine Burright McGuigan & Manfred Lopez Grem)
Mayfair — Patrick John Ford
Men in the Water — Kathleen Caslin
Mine — Blaire Baron & Scott Fifer
Mint — Drew Guajardo
Monster(s) — Aidan Largey
Mother-Daughter — Tricia Lee
The Murder of Stanford White — Bartle Bull
My Brother's Keeper — Joshua Schorr
My Father's Murders — Michael Salomon
My Name Is Martin — Michael J. Hardy & Kenddrie Utuk
The Mystery Knight — Abril Carpio Marion
The Nerve to Try — Kima Brown
New York Scout Story — Erick Freitas
Northridge — Patrick Pfupajena
Not Half Anything — David Gray
Of Saints & Scholars — Amy Allen
Old Dad — Jim Harkins
Old Dogs and Still Waters — Avi Glick
On the Black — Kristen Mack Klebenow
Orwell's War — Lawrence Bogad
The Oughthousers — Ari Krause
Our Prestigious Faculty — Rani Deighe Crowe
Over Here — Glen Craney
Pandemonium — Michael Douglas
Pastor Dash — Pearse Lehane
The Persistence of Memory — Jas Shenstone
Pick — Bernhard Riedhammer
Pick Up Sidney — Natalie Higdon
The Pinch — James Raynor
Please, Anybody, But Not a Millionaire! — Larisa Vödisch-Nikitina
Project Fog — Adva Reichman
The Rat and the Bluebird — T.E. Strong
The Raving — Karl Gerhardt
Recoil — Robert Armanyous
The Reflection of a Tragic Lullaby — James Kirk
Retreat — Jono Mitchell, Alexander Baxter, & Madison Hatfield
The Rites of Salem — Michael McCoy
Rodolfo and Julienne — Mary Albanese
Second Summer of Love — Sherrelle Kirkland-Andrews
A Seeping Wound — Darryl Wimberley
Seraphim's Miracle — Jeremy Storey
Shepherd One — Cameron Young
Shores of a New Blood — Mark Schmitz
The Shtick-up — Val Bodurtha
Sint Holo — Michael Vincent Montgomery
Skepticon — Cameron Young
Skin Deep — Cierra Lockett
The Sons of May — Donna McNeely Burke
Spindle City — Daniel Earney
Surgeon Hong — Paul Gross
The Suspect is a Black Male — Alvoro Leite
They Went On — Anthony Gilmore & Drew McCoy
Tilt — Pearse Lehane
Torched — Dianna Zimmerman
A Town Called Nowhere — Peter Mahaffey
Under Walls — Kenneth Schreiber
Venor — Matt Nye
The Waiting Room — Alex May
Walks the Buffalo — Larry M. Baer
Welcome to Cleveland — Alexandra Gerrity Kern
West Point Wives — Ann Buchanan
Where Teardrops Fall — Jesse Mays Robinson
Xplore — Xavier Burgin & Thomas Wright (story by Woody McClain & Xavier Burgin)
Zero Legacy — Izzy Vaughan & Vic Vaughan
Zuleikha — Missy Malek
Pilot Screenplay Quarterfinalists
9 Will Fall — Lee Hayes
Alanna's Flowers — Tom Putnaerglis
Alpha — Nicolas Scroggins
Apache — Cameron Barsanti
As American as Fortune Cookies — Hua Shang
Barrio - El Niño — Charlie Gandez
Bea Rose — Natalia Temesgen
Beige — Phillip Reilly
Birdsong — Jennifer Dunn
Bitter Earth — Eric Pumphrey
Blood and Dreams — Suzanne Griffin
The Breaching — Wendy Young
Breaking Sad — Thomas Stroud
Brown Country — Asad Farooqui
Carousel Effect — Thomas F. O'Brien
Carpetbaggers — Matt Thomas
Chloe Bowe — Craig Reynolds
Conundrum Integrated — Micah Paisner
Curved — Sagar Vasishtha
The Disappeared Ones — Helmann Wilhelm
Division 34 — Eyas Shanaah
Double Dads — Jessica Burnett
Eterna — Scott Simonsen
Faith Breaker — Sam Alper
Futurelink — Jason Gilmore
The Grand Dictator — Beth K. Rehman
Grave Matters — Gus Avila
Hominine — Heather Farlinger
Hooked — Brittany Portman & Anthony Patellis and Rob Alicea & Scarlett Camargo
Hopefuls — Erica Owens
I See You — Michael Corleone
In the Gutter — Christine Burright McGuigan
The Islamic Boys (TIB) — Asad Farooqui
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
The Maid — Nicola Pittam
Mia and Parmesan — Mia Volta
Moonflowers — Mary Albanese
Mother Tucker — Steve Holbert
Near Death — Carlo Carere & Erin Carere
No Good Deed: The Oliver Sipple Story — Heather Farlinger
Observer Effect — Paul Frank
The Odds — Wendy Hunt
Of God — Alex Williams
On the Verge — Yair Karlberger
The Paisley Witch Trial — Julia Campanelli
Pangea — T. C. Smith
Permutation — Marcus Russell
Pony Up — Caroline Mungo
Pound Foolish — Susan Feingold
The Process — Jordan Friedberg
Pure — Erika Hakmiller
re.Form(ed) — Johnny Gilligan
Red Flag — Suzanne Slack-Smith
The Sensualist — Suzanne Griffin
Sinnerman — Alexander Hooper
SMDH — Shauna Stanley & Travis Stanley
Soldiers & Bandits — Eduardo Soto-Falcon
Stayers — Teddy Gilmore & Mat Dann
Swim — Chantal Eyong
That Sister Thang — Lindiwe Mueller-Westernhagen & Dale Winton
Throw Like a Girl — Elfi Martinez
The Unvarnished Tales of the Green Fairy — Jacob Cullen
A Version — Asad Farooqui
Westphall — Keith St. Lawrence
The White Mouse — Heather Farlinger
Short Screenplay Quarterfinalists
33C — John Burdeaux
All Are Welcome — Ross Morin
All You Want to Know — Laurel Kulow
Bahar, Born at Night — Michael Amir Bina
Blank — Bernardo Duran
Borrowed Time — Geoff Murillo
Boundless — Ran Li
Business of Ferrets — Will Berry
Chemo — Marcus Julius
The Chocolate Kandinsky — Suzanne Griffin
Chualar — Ann Marie Pace
Conscience — Brandon Kelley
The Cricket — Gabe Berry
Deadsitting — Gabriel Meyers
Definitely Not a Monster — Brea Angelo
Discord — Helene Taylor & Jax Smith
Divinity — Nelson Downend
Downballot — John Goshorn
Dreamcatcher — Shaun Radecki
Duck — Hilary Burgoon
Dunked — John Bickerstaff
The Errant Signal — Nik Theorin
Evelyn in 7 — Kasia Kowalczyk
Everyday — Ryan Dellaquila
Fantasy Chat — Mindy Fay Parks
Finding Shelter — Mehrtash Mohit
Genie — Paul Frank
Glass Bottles — David González
Greg the Puddle — Shaun Radecki
Haint — Gabriela McNicoll
Hawk Bells — Kristian Mercado
Homunculus — Will Berry
How Hawaii Became a State — Marcus Julius
I-106 — Luis Bou
Kid Midnight — Mychal Sargent
Laika — Kate Balsley
The Last Game — Gina Screen
The Lesson — Kimberly Kalaja
Let Me Know — Adrian Maitra
Man of Style — Deirdre Brenner
Murphy's Law — Zachary Kotiadis
No Room at the Jim Crow Inn — Christina Cottles
Overdue — Shaun Radecki
Parishad — Peter Haig
Pigskin — Susan Polk
Pink & Blue — Nike Uche Kadri
Possum — Lyndal Simpson
Quarry — Nell Ovitt
Refugio — Ray Tezanos
Ringloom — Justin Solaiman
Say Yes — Gabe Berry
The Scarecrow — Gemma Paul
Sight — Mo Morgan
The Slow Death of an Unachievable Dream — Gabriel Jones & Daniel Massa
Squished — Shaun Radecki
Trixie — Stephanie Moore
Until the Last One Falls — Gabe Berry
What Ever Happened to Jonny Faith? — Benjamin Pollack
WP Black Sheep — Jaime Luna
Youth in a Casket — Hannah Aslesen