Tony Cox Screenplay Competition Semi-Finalists and Jury Announced!

Congratulations to our Semi-Finalist screenwriters in each category: Feature Film, Short Film, Episodic 60 Minute, and Episodic 30 Minute. Read more about their scripts below, as well as our esteemed jury who will be selecting our winners soon!

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TV 30 SCREENPLAY SEMI-FINALISTS

GERTIE by David Crane and Nicole Evans
A half hour dramedy about an L.A. girl with a big dream, a complicated family and a little disability.

SLIGHTLY POWERFUL by Ethan Mermelstein
Back in college, four listless roommates were exposed to radioactive waste. Now they all have powers. Instead of fighting evil or helping others, they use their powers to make their lives slightly more convenient. Now in their mid-30s, they’re still roommates. And they’re still miserable.

DON’T  F*%K WITH ESTELLE by Ruth Sinanian
Recently widowed, suddenly broke, ex-showgirl, Estelle  Weissenstein, must deal prescription pills to make ends meet – while resurrecting her stage career before she meets her end. 

UNCLE SAM AND SONS by Kevin Talley
Eager to prove herself, a naive fireworks stand manager contends with a rogue fire marshal, plummeting sales, and massive fireworks mishap on her first day. 

EVERYTHING IS FINE by Alex Vance
Kaye, a 30-something year old sex addict, alcoholic millennial pansexual, who uses her vices to deal with (rather, not deal with) her trauma, wakes up one day to realize she can’t physically have sex.  

CURVED by Sagar Vasishtha
Med School flunky Ranbir makes an unexpected alliance as he enters the ping-pong tournament of his life in one final pursuit of life.

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TV 60 SCREENPLAY SEMI-FINALISTS

DANGER TO SOCIETY by Molly Clark
A self-doubting, rehab director, an unhinged celebrity chef, and a privileged, parentified twenty-something’s are forced to confront their demons at Canyon Peaks Women’s Rehab. 

CREAM CITY by Matt W. Cody and Jeffrey James Keyes
In 1982 Milwaukee, a closeted priest defies his faith and family when he collides with the openly gay owner of a beloved neighborhood gay bar.

BLOTTER by HF Crum
A martial-arts-obsessed teenager finds a library book checked out by several missing students, and believes she’ll be next unless she can locate the boy she’s had a crush on since the third grade.

MURDER PODCAST by GG Hawkins
Investigating a cold case homicide, a reporter's aspirations for journalistic integrity are threatened by obsessive podcast listeners — true crime junkies with a thirst for vengeance.

MURDER-IN-MARSH by Elisabeth Hayward
Relive the 1990 Moreton Murders, as Detective Asher secretly opens her old case files after receiving a mysterious confession from the killer, thirty years later.

HARPOON by Ria Tobaccowala
A taxi-driving bootlegger over her head in a murder cover-up must decide whether to escape her small Alaskan town or find and expose the truth.

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SHORT FILM SCREENPLAY SEMI-FINALISTS

DUTY DAY by Sara Albonesi
When 10-year-old Milo rebels against the strict confines imposed by his recluse mother, he discovers that she's been shielding him from a terrifying reality. 

PRUNING by Lola Blanc and Jeremy Radin
When a right-wing commentator discovers that her name has been cited in a mass shooter's manifesto, she must contend with the part of herself that still has a conscience.

WHITE LATINO by Nico Casavecchia
A blond latino man attends his low wage job at a garment factory dressed in a business suit. What looks like a humorous personality quirk, turns to be a dark survival strategy when the police raids the factory to crack down on illegal migrants.

ROOM SERVICE by Nieves Garcia Perchin
A romantic engagement celebration in a luxurious and eerie hotel takes a disturbing turn when a terrified fiancée kills her husband-to-be.

PANCAKE SKANK by Sav Rodgers
A mythical anti-heroine and her meek sidekick wreak havoc on a small town when they decide to rob every breakfast joint in this surrealist fantasy.

MOVIE MAGIC WITH CINEMA JOE by Mike Swift
Cinema Joe and his thespian partner Corey Michael Michaels run a movie tour in deep Brooklyn where all the classic films were shot... allegedly.

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FEATURE FILM SCREENPLAY SEMI-FINALISTS

HOLLY JOLLY by George Caine
While a mysterious arsonist endangers a sleepy New England town, four world-weary siblings reunite for one last family Christmas in their childhood home.

ELLA & MARILYN by Jon Davis
Ella Fitzgerald's stalled singing career is taken to sudden new heights when Marilyn Monroe campaigns for her to play a previously segregated jazz club, prompting both praise and backlash in pre-Civil Rights era America.

HANGING GARDENS OF THE SEA AND SKY by Zoë Greenbaum
A London therapist and his cosmetics executive wife, bound by their shared musical dreams, face their marriage’s greatest challenge: lies invading their private world.

TREADING THE BOARDS by Jordan Gustafson
An aging wannabe Broadway actor slowly descends into madness after accepting the role of a lifetime aboard a cruise ship.

BEYOND THE PALE by Brendan Hughes
When a successful academic discovers his wife is pregnant, he sneaks off to Ireland to win back the love of his long lost father, a legendary musician and a world class drunk.

SATURDAY NIGHT LESBIAN by Tracie Laymon
After excitedly committing to Mr. Right, a confused, conservative, closeted woman secretly spends Saturday Nights out at the gay bar in an attempt to have sex with a woman for the first time, aided by her new butch guru. But she must learn to speak her truth before she destroys multiple lives and loses the only love she's ever known.

THE RIFT by Michael Yuchen Lei
A smuggler and his estranged son, polarized by their political beliefs, are further divided by a mysterious force that is splintering the world into two competing realities: one where the sun never sets and the other eternally in the dark. To survive they must confront the differences that divide them before they are forever torn apart.

SPOILED ONES by Declan O’Connor
With her estranged mother in contention for a powerful executive position, a young woman's siblings arrive at her house to ensure she doesn't sabotage the family background check.

THE O'HAIRE FAMILY SHIT SHOW by Tim Plaehn
The loving and larger-than-life patriarch of an Irish American family summons all of his children and grandchildren to the Emerald Isle for a family reunion, but when his cynical and single daughter begins flirting with the local hurling star, he must prevent the romance and protect his thirty-three-year-old secret: that the handsome young man is his own bastard son! 

NEON KITES by Alan Sim
A man, haunted by guilt and regret, wants to die, but finds it hard to do so as things never seem to go his way. His only son, a boy with an obsession for dead things, is not helping matters. Together, somehow, they will learn to live.

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TONY COX SCREENPLAY COMPETITION JURY

CHRISTINA BAZDEKIS is an agent in the motion picture department at UTA, where her focus is on working with writers and directors in both film and television. Over the course of her career Ms. Bazdekis has been involved with bringing forward such work as: DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY, PRECIOUS, I AM LOVE, TINKER, TAILOR, SOLDIER SPY, THE BUTLER, ANOTHER ROUND and THE NIGHT OF.

CONSTANZA and DOMÉNICA CASTRO are sister filmmakers from Mexico City and founders of 271 Films, a creative production company based in Los Angeles. Collectively, their work has garnered over 2 billion views and they’ve produced numerous award-winning films and commercial content that have been featured on The New Yorker Screening Room, Nylon, Vice, HBO, BET Networks, MTV, and Adweek as well as film festivals including Sundance, AFI Fest, and Tribeca Film Festival. They teamed up with Lena Waithe’s Hillman Grad Productions and Indeed to produce 10 films by 10 BIPOC directors. The sisters were named the 2021 Nevada Women Filmmakers of the Year. They are drawn to stories that put a spotlight on marginalized communities, question the status quo, push boundaries and provoke, inspire and entertain the audience.

JOHN PATTON FORD earned an MFA from the American Film Institute (AFI). His thesis film, PATROL, premiered at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival, which led to an accidental career penning scripts for Disney, Universal, and Sony. His script ROTHCHILD topped the Hollywood Black List in 2014. EMILY THE CRIMINAL is his debut feature as writer/director.

TATIANA SIEGEL joined Rolling Stone earlier this year as a Senior Writer and has already made her mark with a news-breaking deep dive on the rise and fall of Jeff Zucker. Before that, she was the Executive Film Editor at The Hollywood Reporter, where she had covered the business of the entertainment industry since 2003. She has traveled the world on assignment, from small town Mississippi to the Cannes Film Festival.

COLIN WEST is an award-winning writer/director, his credits include LINOLEUM starring Jim Gaffigan, Rhea Seehorn, Michael Ian Black and Tony Shalhoub, which world premiered at SXSW Film Festival in 2022 and is closing NFF 2022, and DOUBLE WALKER co-written by and starring Sylvie Mix, which was released in 2021. He was an Annenberg Graduate MFA Fellow at USC’s School of Cinematic Arts.

Tony Cox Screenplay Finalists Announced!

Congratulations to all of our Tony Cox Screenplay Finalists! Stay tuned for the announcement of our winners during #NFF2021!

FEATURE SCREENPLAY:
THE 84 by Sonja Perryman
CALIFORNY by Danielle Krudy
GHOSTIES by Julie Sharbutt

EPISODIC SCREENPLAY (60 MINUTES):
MIGRANT MOTHERS by Ashley Rebecca Farley
RUBBERNECKER by Tom Hancock & Varun Raman
SECOND CROSSING by James Howells

SHORT SCREENPLAY:
BELATED by Leah Chen Baker
THE LITTLE MONSTER OF RAVENSWOOD MANOR by Katherine Sainte Marie
RECOVERY CHAIN by Quamé Hamlin

EPISODIC SCREENPLAY (30 MINUTES):
HEAD FIRST by Jade Edwards
SIDE QUEST by Louie Aronowitz & Michael Tannenbaum
VILLAGE W!TCH by Emma Gutt

#NFF2021 Tony Cox Feature Screenplay SEMI-FINALISTS Announced!

Congratulations are also in order for our Feature Screenplay Semi-Finalists!

THE 84 by Sonja Perryman
1968. South Central Los Angeles. Aretha Franklin’s “I Say A Little Prayer” blares on KGFG radio, as the Vietnam War explodes on the nightly news. A time of great upheaval. And progress. Fourteen-year-old Shay rides the #84 bus across town to school every day. And on the bus, she witnesses the changing cultural, social, and political landscape of the city. She also secretly admires other girls, but no one knows. Not even her best friend, Big Rita, and especially not her single mother, Loretta, who she often bumps heads with. Feeling unloved by her mom and unseen by her community, Shay runs away from home in search of her father. Along the way she meets Bernard, a fellow queer Black person who helps Shay realize she doesn’t need to search outside of herself for love and validation. She also reconnects with her alcoholic grandmother, which prompts Shay to recognize her mother’s trauma and understand that Loretta has always done the best she can for Shay. We also learn that Loretta has kept Shay's father a secret not out of spite, but protection. Shay returns home finally knowing that she’s loved by Loretta and Big Rita. And most importantly, she loves herself just as she is.

ALL-AMERICAN BOY by Nate Gualtieri
High school can be a challenging place to navigate for anyone, and as a closeted transgendered teen boy, Cam Taber has a bit more on his plate than most. A star runner on the girls track and field team, he wants nothing more than to race with the boys, and live as one. Working out and downing protein shakes only does so much, so he hatches a plan to steal testosterone for a popular boy on the team who is using it illegally, with his closeted gay friend Shaan as an accomplice. Unfortunately, drug testing for the sports teams reveals what he has done, and puts his potential college scholarship at Barnard women's college in jeopardy. While he is invited to practice with the boys team, he gets into a fight with jock Brooks, which leads to additional trouble. Ultimately, Cam finally admits to his parents that he is transgendered, and they accept him as he is while awkwardly navigating the change. He is also able to make amends to pals Shaan and Amber, whom he took for granted along the way. While college may not be in the cards immediately, Cam is ready to start his life as a man with eyes open, finally settling into who he was always meant to be.

ANGEL ISLAND by Kevin Shen
1924. Jefferson, a Chinese-American who works as a translator on Angel island (the Ellis Island of the American West), has always lived by the rules, believing that those immigrating to the US will be accepted if they are honest and truthful. However, when his Uncle Mou Zyu asks him to help get his daughter off of the island and into San Francisco, Jefferson begins to see the immigration system for what it really is: racist and rigged. Jefferson’s by-the-book world begins to crumble as he see the horrors of xenophobia and racism play out, both in his professional and personal lives.

BREAKAWAY by William Casey
Tracy is a shy accountant with low-self-esteem. After an eclipse, her childhood vision board suddenly becomes a reality. She becomes prettier, more confident, and able to flirt with her long time crush: her boss Ryan. She also gains the confidence to propose a new scheme, which earns her a promotion at her job. After many mishaps, she realizes some pictures disappearing from the board, and her new gained abilities gone with them. She finally understands that she could achieve those things by herself, and ends up together with Ryan (and also saves his business).

CALIFORNY by Danielle Krudy
In 1929, a girl torn between her familiar life in rural Oklahoma and the promise of burgeoning Los Angeles fights to realize her dreams.

DAYS IN THE WAKE by Dina Fiasconaro
After a young woman’s father abandons her six younger siblings at a Safe Haven facility and disappears, she embarks on a quest to find them, and get answers to his seemingly unconscionable actions.

GHOSTIES by Julie Sharbutt
When two best friends escape for a weekend to oversee a family rental property, they stumble on a weird and scary secret that changes the way they see each other.

KUDZU by Marisa Forrest
CHILDREN OF THE CORN meets SHERRYBABY – A recovering addict must rescue her estranged son from an “orphanage,” which is actually a front for a sinister evangelical cult that turns children into murderous criminals.

NEW HAMPSHIRE BOY by Patrick Clement
Kevin expertly panhandles, living on the streets. He's only 17 but he's been doing this for a while. When he and his best friend Bob, clean-cut and coming from money, decide to run away to San Francisco, the only bus tickets they can afford are for next week. So they spend their seven extra days with girls, until Kevin learns that Bob is not only gay, but in love with him. Kevin flippantly kisses Bob and then wrestles with him, accidentally hurting him. Bob leaves him, and Kevin spends this time visiting people from his life. But he's can never stay long, unable to accept affection. He has sex with a male police officer for money, when he runs into Bob. They make up and decide to resume their trip, but Bob lost the bus tickets. They steal from a water park, get caught, lose the cash, but find the kid who stole their bus tickets. Kevin beats him up and they end up in jail, but the police officer who had sex with Kevin lets them off. Bob realizes Kevin is always going to be distant and non-committal. He may love Bob back, but can never own his feelings. So they kiss and Bob leaves for good. Kevin takes the bus to San Francisco, wearing Bob's jacket.

ROADKILL by Martha Gregory & Drew Lewis
Deb, whose job is picking up roadkill, gets a new partner, rebellious Julie. They really butt heads at first, but eventually cometo really care about each other. There are some fights and a lot of animal deaths but in the end Julie finds that she might have some & aspirations after all, and Deb decides to leave her cheating husband and be with her old work partner Marv.

#NFF2021 Tony Cox Episodic Screenplay (60 Minute) SEMI-FINALISTS Announced!

Congratulations to our 60 minute Episodic Screenplay Semi-Finalists!

THE MAN PROJECT
by Steven Briggs

Dr. Karah runs the male reproduction section of the government while trying to become pregnant herself. The sperm samples saved and used for reproduction are largely white-male-sperm and she wants to preserve the dying black race. Meanwhile the black president wants results but harbors a secret love for neos. The head of fertility has her own neo child and two natural children and does not want to want to mandate a forced neo-fetus abortion ruling. Political complexity with gender rights.

MIGRANT MOTHERS
by Ashley Rebecca Farley

Jumping back and forward in time, we understand the hardships of the beginning and middle of the Dust Bowl period in Oklahoma. Annabelle's family are tenant farmers for Ginny's husband, Floyd. With the dust storms ravaging the land and the health of farmers, it's only a matter of time before they must leave.  Annabelle's African American family feels the weight of the racism of their elected officials during a roundup of Black Americans celebrating Juneteenth at a park. Ginny's husband, Floyd, watches as his land is threatened by bankers. When both Annabelle and Ginny's husbands are dead, under circumstances only yet foreshadowed, the women join their families together to move to California. This teleplay is about motherhood, Black history, and overcoming hardship-all set during this historical period.

DYING TO
by Joseph Gilberto

Arlene attends Debra's funeral during her stay at a retirement center. Young at heart, the daily activities of the center bore her. Her daughter Victoria resides out-of-state and can't visit frequently. And Arlene still thinks about her ex-husband, Bart, despite the fact, he has already moved on with a new lover. Arlene gains the attention of Mark, the right leader of a group of rowdy folks at the center. Mark and his friends encourage Arlene to take another chance at life. Eventually, they talk her into attending a nightclub when they participate in hard drugs. Arlene in the midst of a panic attack catches a cab but changes her mind and heads back to the club. Finally, they end their night after running into the police and head back to the facility. Arlene embraces her new friends, unaware of the consequences of last night's actions.

RUBBERNECKER
by Tom Hancock & Varun Raman

ADAM meets CHLOE in an unconventional way - after she's been hit by a car while biking. Obsession at first sight, he steals her camera and thus begins a year-long stalking of her. Time passes, Chloe recovers from her injuries, and Adam knows the ins and outs of her daily life in London. Meanwhile, he is passed over for a promotion at his office job while making friends with a guy named CAL. He also tries to please his annoying mother, PEG. Adam manages to get a copy of Chloe's house key while she's jogging. He also manages to sneak into her house and install a secret camera into her bedroom fire alarm, but nearly gets caught by Chloe and her sexual conquest, SPENCER, while doing so. All is well - he gets to watch Chloe while she sleeps. But while searching for clues about the disappearance of a girl named HOLLY PRESTON, things get dark. Adam encounters Chloe trying to save the life of a bleeding teenager. He is forced to help her save the kid's life, but he dies. Adam tries to get close to Chloe while doing so, but it creeps her out. Disheartened, Adam confides in Cal about Chloe (Cal thinks Adam is actually DATING Chloe), and he tells him to "not take 'no' for an answer". Determined, Adam shows up on Chloe's doorstep to profess his love, but notices she doesn't answer. He gets in with his copied key, and unfortunately, it seems like Chloe's committed suicide in the bathtub. However, Adam notices his camera in the fire alarm is gone. Was this planned? Adam takes her cat, HARRY, with him back home - his new objective to find out who killed Chloe.

SECOND CROSSING
by James Howells

A small snowy town has a new sheriff. There is a bizarre case of a man who plummeted from the sky and died on impact. Him and his assistant begin investigating, and struggle to understand what happened to this man. They discover (with help from scientists, and forensics) that this man seem to have dental work typical of the 1930's which is strange because he is in his 20's. They find out that this man was dropped from a parallel universe, and that the town's mayor is much more involved than they originally thought.

PARADISE VALLEY
by Danielle Autumn Stratton

Karolyn and Bobby Shaw were once Sarah and Michael Kaplan. As part of the witness protection program, they and their children Levi/Liam and Abigail/Ava have moved from New York City to Arizona. Each member of the family struggles greatly with adjusting to their new, mundane lives. Suspicion also grows around the family, as a nosey neighbor and New York mobster both search for the truth about them.

#NFF2021 Tony Cox Short Screenplay SEMI-FINALISTS Announced!

Congratulations to our six Tony Cox Short Screenplay Semi-Finalists!

PLUNGE
by Lance Roger Axt

Marshawn is ready to jump back into the world of dating... or he will be once he extricates himself from the narrator "telling" his story...

BELATED
by Leah Chen Baker

An absent mother desperately attempts to win her young daughter's affection during a belated birthday celebration but risks straining the relationship further.

RECOVERY CHAIN
by Quamé Hamlin

After being evicted by his mother, a rebellious pre-teen must adapt to life with his distant father and his father’s new family.

THE SPRING MIX
by Nesa Syedun Huda

When 11-year-old Jameela's best friend gets her period for the first time, she embarks on a quest to learn about womanhood, something her parents and Islamic school are scared to discuss.

THE LITTLE MONSTER OF RAVENSWOOD MANOR
by Katherine Sainte Marie

An insolent child torments her family in an old English manor, but soon discovers the family harbors a dark and dangerous secret about their ancestral home.

AS TIME GOES BY
by John Martins III

A married couple realizes the hopes and dreams of their past are shattered by the present.

#NFF2021 Tony Cox Episodic Screenplay (30 Minute) SEMI-FINALISTS Announced!

Congratulations to our six Episodic Screenplay (30 Minute) Semi-Finalists! Read more about their scripts below, and stay tuned for our Finalist announcement!

SIDE QUEST
by Louie Aronowitz &
Michael Tannenbaum

When his best friend is kidnapped in Murder Forest, Joma, a clumsy shopkeeper, must survive through a world of magic to save him.

FLAWLESS: A FEMINIST FAIRYTALE
by Catherine Eaton &
Deborah Rayne

When “Ever After, Inc.” hires a Latinx Millennial to become the new Fairy Godmother for NYC, she discovers that the shiny corporate behemoth is nothing more than a shill for The Patriarchy. Disillusioned, she goes rogue; and with the help of the City’s very modern Princesses, she sets out to dismantle the System and allow women to define "Happily Ever After” for themselves.

HEAD FIRST
by Jade Edwards

A workaholic's life gets upended when a forced maternity leave spirals into an unplanned reality of raising a baby conceived to save her marriage, alone.

VILLAGE W!TCH
by Emma Gutt

Two misfit peasant girls coming of age in the Middle Ages want to assume power over their lives by becoming witches.

30 MILES
by Alicia Kempin

Sisterhood, adventure and scandal abound, as the women of whaling-era Nantucket Island experience unobstructed freedom, while the men are away at sea.

CHOSEN PEOPLE
by David Rosenberg

CHOSEN PEOPLE is a comedy following four Rabbinical students trying to balance their spiritual growth with their normal, messy, indulgent lives as twentysomething New Yorkers.

For Science Lovers: Q&A with BABY GOD director Hannah Olson and LAPSIS writer/director Noah Hutton

Today we’re highlighting films at NFF NOW: AT HOME that explore the intersection of technology and ethics. These two thought-provoking films detail the far-reaching consequences of new technological developments.

BABY GOD: Hailed a miracle worker, Las Vegas fertility doctor Dr. Quincy Fortier practiced for decades. Now, with the advent of commercial DNA testing, his secret is out.

LAPSIS: In this sci-fi parable, deliveryman Ray Tincelli is struggling to support himself and his ailing younger brother. When he turns to a strange new corner of the gig economy, Ray faces a pivotal choice to either help his fellow workers or to get rich and get out.

Take a look at these two filmmaker Q&As, and catch these technologically-focused films through tomorrow, June 30, at NFF NOW: AT HOME!

#NFF2020 Showtime's Tony Cox Screenplay Competition Winners Announced!

Feature Screenplay Winner :  
Minor Modifications by Shia LaBeouf 

Based on the life of rapper Kevin Abstract; this biographical fiction follows a Texas teen as he struggles with identity, finding meaningful relationships, sexual fluidity, and his direction in life.

Shia LaBeouf is an American actor, artist, filmmaker, and writer. He most recently wrote and starred in HONEY BOY (2019), which Amazon Prime released to rave reviews. He also co-starred in the NFF2019 Spotlight film THE PEANUT BUTTER FALCON (2019), which was the highest-grossing independent film of 2019.  

Short Screenplay Winner :  
Martha by Sarah Smith 

The true story of the week Martha Mitchell (wife of Nixon’s former Attorney General John Mitchell) was held captive in a Southern California hotel room in the aftermath of the Watergate break-in.

Sarah Smith is an award-winning filmmaker and television producer. Her latest short film, Black Hat, was an official selection of the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival and won the 2019 Iris prize. She is the co-creator and director of the web series Tender Touches, which won 1st place at the 2018 AT&T create-a-thon. In 2015, Sarah debuted her short film, D.Asian, which went on to screen at over 35 festivals across the globe and was awarded the 2017 AT&T Underrepresented Filmmaker Award. She also won a WGA award as part of The Young & The Restless writing team. Sarah is a graduate of New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts.

60 MIN Episodic Screenplay Winner :  
BEING SEEN by Andi Delott

When a marketing exec ages out of the industry and becomes invisible in society, she reclaims her strength by starting a high-end male escort service.

Andi Delott writes grounded dramas with female leads. Much of her inspiration comes from her career in entertainment advertising. As ABC’s agency of record for almost two decades, she led that account and helped successfully brand, launch and sustain multi year marketing campaigns for classics including Lost, Desperate Housewives, Grey's Anatomy, Dancing with the Stars, and Modern Family to name a few. Now, in addition to ABC, her clients also include Apple, Netflix, Amazon and Disney Academy. Andi recently completed a fellowship with the 2019-2020 NBC Writers On The Verge program. Her writing accomplishments also include a 2018 PAGE Awards Fellowship/Stowe Story Labs; 2017 New York Women in Film and Television Writers Lab; 2019 Finalist in The Blacklist/Women in Film Episodic Lab and 2019 Semifinalist at the Austin Film Festival, among other contest placements. She graduated in 2019 from UCLA’s Professional Program for TV Screenwriting.

30 MIN Episodic Screenplay Winner:
DRYWALL by Rob Eckard

A deeply-closeted family man inherits his father’s construction company, only to discover that the business served as a cover for his father’s true passion: murder.

Rob Eckard is a Los Angeles-based screenwriter and educator, originally from the sweet tea-coated suburbs of Dallas, Texas. He holds degrees in theatre education and screenwriting from NYU and Emerson College, where he now teaches screenwriting as an affiliated faculty member. As a graduate student, he was selected for the Television Academy’s internship program and worked on the 20th Century Fox lot, including time at Modern Family and Fresh Off the Boat. His writing is heavily influenced by his Southern roots, queer identity, and unresolved daddy issues.

Short Film Lovers: Q&As with Short Narrative and Short Documentary Filmmakers

We have three fantastic short film programs at NFF NOW: AT HOME!

NARRATIVE SHORTS PROGRAM: FAMILY MATTERS
Values, love, and support are highlighted in this deep exploration of what a family looks like.
Films by Marco Baldonado & Walter Woodman, The Bragg Brothers, Rachel Harrison Gordon, Kantú Lentz, Chris Low, Will McCormack & Michael Govier

NARRATIVE SHORTS PROGRAM: HUMOR AND HONEY
Stories about the trials and potential of modern life, with a hint of sweetness.
Films by Cary Anderson, Chloé Atkas, Nira Burstein, Connor Hanney & Jamie Lewis, Sophie Kargman & Ryan Farhoudi, Eamonn Murphy, Deepak Sethi, Robert Summerlin & Tom Basis

DOCUMENTARY SHORTS PROGRAM: EXCELLENCE IN ACTION
Films that chronicle historic and contemporary commitments to breaking barriers.
Films by Chris Temple & Zach Ingrasci, Bill Nicoletti, Jenny Schweitzer Bell, Laurence Topham, & Charlie Tyrell

Take a look at these filmmaker interviews, and see their short films streaming online now through June 30 at NFF NOW: AT HOME! Sponsored by Eleish Van Breems.

#NFF2020 Showtime's Tony Cox Film Screenplay FINALISTS Announced!

Read more below about our short and feature screenplay finalists AND their scripts!

 Minor Modifications by Shia LaBeouf 
Based on the life of rapper Kevin Abstract; this biographical fiction follows a Texas teen as he struggles with identity, finding meaningful relationships, sexual fluidity, and his direction in life.

Shia LaBeouf is an American actor, artist, filmmaker, and writer. He most recently wrote and starred in HONEY BOY (2019), which Amazon Prime released to rave reviews. He also co-starred in the NFF2019 Spotlight film THE PEANUT BUTTER FALCON (2019), which was the highest-grossing independent film of 2019.  

Previous honors/recognition for screenwriting: 
MINOR MODIFICATIONS won the 2020 Sun Valley Festival's High Scribe Award. 

Hollywood Film Awards 2019 - Screenwriter of the Year for HONEY BOY (2019)

Misekakeru (Pretend) by Diana Ly 
A Japanese rental wife, along with her best friend, searches for true connection after her long-time fake husband “breaks up” with her.

Diana Ly is a Vietnamese-American screenwriter and playwright based in Los Angeles. Born in Oklahoma, where her parents settled as refugees, she grew up as an ex-pat in the Philippines. Ly moved to Silicon Valley to study at Stanford University, and after earning BS and MS degrees in Computer Science, worked at Google for eight years, including a stint at the YouTube Space LA. A drama and theatre student for much of her life, she attended UCLA’s Professional Programs in Screenwriting and TV Writing. She was a 2017 Project Involve Fellow at Film Independent, a writer on Season 2 of GodComplX, a web series funded by Google’s CS in Media initiative, and she’ll be a 2020 Ragdale Artist Resident. She recently worked as a features assistant to showrunner Karin Gist. Diana writes stories about immigrants, nerds, and women who defy stereotypes. 

Previous honors/recognition screenwriting: 

2020 Ragdale Artist Resident

2019 SeriesFest's Women Writing Competition - Finalist

2019 Innovasian's Screenplay Contest - Finalist

2019 Sundance Development Track - Misekakeru (Pretend) advanced to the second round

2017 Film Independent Project Involve Fellow

2017 SeriesFest's Featuring Women Initiative - Semi-Finalist

2016 CBS Writers Mentoring Program - Finalist

Sunny Los Angeles by Steve Young
In 1911, an enforcer, sent on a mission by Thomas Edison to stop his filmmaking competitors in Los Angeles, discovers a knack for directing.

For 25 years, Steve Young wrote for David Letterman's Late Night and Late Show programs. He has also written for The Simpsons and wrote the Matt Groening-produced animated Christmas special, Olive the Other Reindeer. Most recent credits: NBC's Maya & Marty variety show, Harry Connick Jr.'s show Harry, and HBO’s Night of Too Many Stars. He is the co-author of "Everything's Coming Up Profits: The Golden Age of Industrial Musicals,” and is the main subject of the award-winning comedy music feature documentary Bathtubs Over Broadway.

Previous honors/recognition screenwriting: 

2017 Writers Guild of America Award (TV) Comedy/Variety Sketch Series for Maya & Marty - Nominated

2009 - 1991 Primetime Emmy Awards Outstanding Writing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Series for Late Show with David Letterman - Nominated

2009, 2002, 2001, 2000 Writers Guild of America Award (TV) Comedy/Variety - (Including Talk) Series for Late Show with David Letterman - Nominated

2000 Annie Award Outstanding Individual Achievement for Writing in an Animated Television Production for Olive, the Other Reindeer - Won

1990 Writers Guild of America Award (TV) Variety - Musical for Not Necessarily the News - Won

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‘Night, Dad by Fausto Barrionuevo
Late at night, while driving through the streets of Miami, a father and son finally move past small talk.

Fausto Barrionuevo is a filmmaker and poet with MFA’s in both concentrations and is currently a lecturer at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. A native to Miami, Florida with over ten years of experience as a video editor and story consultant, his most recent collaboration was on a feature film documentary entitled Union Time: Fighting for Workers’ Rights. His creative work ranges from poems published in several journals, such as Off the Coast: Maine’s International Poetry Journal and decomP magazine, where he was nominated for a Pushcart prize in 2011 for his poem “Ground,” to his short film Weight, which premiered at RiverRun International Film Film Festival and was awarded the honor of being part of the top ten selected films for Carnegie Mellon International “Faces” Film Festival.

SLOTS: A Commuter's Fantasy by Anthony Povah
Two middle-aged, middle managers dreaming of teenage glories plot to escape their humdrum lives for a day.

Anthony Povah was born in Liverpool and is based in the North West of England, he describes his passion for writing as a ‘hobby that got out of control’ after he was selected for the New Writing North Significant Ink development programme, and reached the finals of the BBC Drama Room scheme in 2017. Anthony’s work has been selected by numerous screenwriting contests and film festivals across the globe. He made his playwriting debut at The Dukes theatre in Lancaster, the UK in February 2019. Anthony writes for TV, radio, and film, and co-produced his debut short film last year. He is currently script consulting on a film project and has a radio play and short film waiting to restart production once the world reopens. An economics graduate with twenty years of experience in aerospace manufacturing, he is currently working on a high concept conspiracy thriller.

MARTHA by Sarah Smith
The true story of the week Martha Mitchell (wife of Nixon’s former Attorney General John Mitchell) was held captive in a Southern California hotel room in the aftermath of the Watergate break-in.

Sarah Smith is an award-winning filmmaker and television producer. Her latest short film, Black Hat, was an official selection of the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival and won the 2019 Iris prize. She is the co-creator and director of the web series Tender Touches, which won 1st place at the 2018 AT&T create-a-thon. In 2015, Sarah debuted her short film, D.Asian, which went on to screen at over 35 festivals across the globe and was awarded the 2017 AT&T Underrepresented Filmmaker Award. She also won a WGA award as part of The Young & The Restless writing team. Sarah is a graduate of New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts.