More Finalists for Showtime's Tony Cox Screenplay Competition Announced!

Congratulations to the Short Screenplay and Episodic Screenplay (60 minute) Finalists!

SHORTS FINALISTS:

Koko Ni Inai (I'm Not Here), by Emel Saat
An imaginative, visually rich story in which two characters tackle themes of social media, isolation in a crowd, and the need to connect. 

The Yao of Tao, written by Rajiv Shah with Jesse Wang and Robert Berg
Tao, a Chinese caregiver for Isaac, a dying cancer patient, finds himself at odds with Isaac’s estranged daughter.

Unreliable Narrators, by Sara Alize Cross
A storyteller suffering from writer's block encounters a younger woman with a story eerily similar to her own.

From L to R: Emel Saat, Rajiv Shah, Sara Alize Cross

ONE WINNER RECEIVES:

• $500 cash prize from the Nantucket Film Festival;
• VIP week-­long Pass to Nantucket Film Festival;
• Attend Showtime ­sponsored reception during the Film Festival;
• Participation in Mentors Brunch with prominent screenwriter during the Film Festival;
• Name inclusion on Festival catalogue and website as Competition winner;
• Print and media coverage.

EPISODIC (60 MINUTE) FINALISTS:

The Line by Tesia J. Walker
In the era of civil rights, racial tensions run high in a small South Carolina town home to a historically black university.

The Rize by Bryan Parker
A teenage boy from the projects discovers he may be the key to saving his neighborhood from both a gentrifying developer and darker forces at work.

Rue Pigalle by Jessica Shields
In 1930s Paris, on the seedy streets of Montmartre, a group of musicians, mobsters and misfits desperately cling to their slice of utopia as they contend with the global depression and encroaching war.

From L to R: Tesia J. Walker, Bryan Parker, Jessica Shields

ONE WINNER RECEIVES:

• $1,000 cash prize from the Nantucket Film Festival;
• Private one-on-one consultation with Showtime executive;
• VIP week-­long Pass to Nantucket Film Festival;
• Attend Showtime ­sponsored reception during the Film Festival;
• Participation in Mentors Brunch with prominent screenwriter during the Film Festival;
• Custom leather bound copy of the winner’s script, courtesy of Showtime;
• Name inclusion on Festival catalogue and website as Competition winner;
• Print and media coverage.

Showtime's Tony Cox Feature Screenplay Finalists Announced!

Congratulations to our three finalists in Showtime's Tony Cox Feature Screenplay Competition:

Corporate Retreat, by Marty Johnson. Eliza, a single mom and would-be actress making ends meet as a property manager for second homeowners, takes on the role of a lifetime: one of her wealthy clients.

Johnny Ace, by Moon Molson. Christmas, 1954: Houston homicide detectives investigating the seemingly accidental death of popular R&B singer Johnny Ace discover that the case is far more complex than it first appears.

Lifers, by Amanda Peppe with Chris Peppe. An ex-con gets out of prison after 35 years and seeks redemption, standing up for a family of migrant farmworkers.

From L to R: Marty Johnson, Moon Molson and Amanda Peppe

Finalists Receive:

• VIP week-­long Pass to Nantucket Film Festival;
• Attend Showtime ­sponsored reception during the Film Festival;
• Participation in Mentors Brunch with prominent screenwriter during the Film Festival;
• Name inclusion on Festival catalogue and website as Competition winner;
• Print and media coverage.

And One Winner, to be announced during the Festival, will receive:

• $5,000 cash prize from the Nantucket Film Festival;
• All expenses paid, month­-long stay at exclusive Screenwriters Colony on Nantucket in October;
• VIP week-­long Pass to Nantucket Film Festival;
• Round­ trip from New York to Nantucket to attend Film Festival;
• Accommodations in Nantucket during the Film Festival;
• A Showtime­ sponsored reception during the Film Festival in the winner’s honor;
• Participation in Mentors Brunch with prominent screenwriter during the Film Festival;
• Custom leather bound copy of the winner’s script, courtesy of Showtime;
• Name inclusion on Festival catalogue and website as Competition winner;
• Print and media coverage.

Showtime's Tony Cox Episodic Screenplay (60 Min), and Shorts Writer Semifinalists Announced!

Congratulations to all of our writers - finalists will be announced soon!

Episodic 60 Min Pilot Screenplay Semifinalists:

The Line by Tesia J. Walker
In the era of civil rights, racial tensions run high in a small South Carolina town home to a historically black university.

Miburn by Matt Gossen and Bennett Viso
Assigned with the insurmountable task of bringing down the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan in segregated 1960s Mississippi, undercover FBI agents turn to unorthodox means.

North Country by Jeremy Craig
This layered, historical saga follows a man's transformation from ignominious prisoner to powerful timber baron during the Michigan lumber boom of Reconstruction Era America.

The Rize by Bryan Parker
A teenage boy from the projects discovers he may be the key to saving his neighborhood from both a gentrifying developer and darker forces at work.

Rue Pigalle by Jessica Shields
In 1930s Paris, on the seedy streets of Montmartre, a group of musicians, mobsters and misfits desperately cling to their slice of utopia as they contend with the global depression and encroaching war.

Short Screenplay Semifinalists:

Against the River by Dan Ritter
In this atmospheric suspense drama, three boys witness something unexpected in the woods.

Gemini I: Hold the Wind by Janae Green
Set during the historical Great Migration period of World War II, a newlywed Black couple seeks an escape from their lives in the Jim Crow South.

Koko Ni Inai (I'm Not Here) by Emel Saat
An imaginative, visually rich story in which two characters tackle themes of social media, isolation in a crowd, and the need to connect. 

Unreliable Narrators by Sara Alize Cross
A storyteller suffering from writer's block encounters a younger woman with a story eerily similar to her own.

The Yao of Tao by Rajiv Shah with Jesse Wang and Robert Berg
Tao, a Chinese caregiver for Isaac, a dying cancer patient, finds himself at odds with Isaac’s estranged daughter.

Showtime's Tony Cox Feature Screenplay SemiFinalists Announced!

Congratulations to our writers:

Any Given Week by Jen Richards
A week in the lives of three successful, but very different, transgender women, as they navigate career, love, and friendship.

Corporate Retreat by Marty Johnson
Eliza, a single mom and would-be actress making ends meet as a property manager for second homeowners, takes on the role of a lifetime: one of her wealthy clients.

The Esther Code by Esa Nurminen
An FBI agent must solve a ancient hidden code to stop a serial-killer vigilante.

Germ by Niki Sharirli
Inspired by true events. In the mid 1800s, Ignaz Semmelweis worked against the prejudices of his peers and his own self-doubt to pioneer one of the most important procedures in modern medicine - hand washing.

Henry County by Walker Kalan
While struggling to raise his preteen cousin, a young mechanic in rural Virginia falls for a journalist from New York.

The Interlude by Paul G. O'Connor
An idealistic young American woman running a soup kitchen near the front lines in World War I is confronted with the realities of war by a mysterious Belgian soldier.

Johnny Ace by Moon Molson
Christmas, 1954: Houston homicide detectives investigating the seemingly accidental death of popular R&B singer Johnny Ace discover that the case is far more complex than it first appears.

Lifers by  by Amanda Peppe with Chris Peppe
An ex-con gets out of prison after 35 years and seeks redemption, standing up for a family of migrant farmworkers.

Long Shot by by Tamar Halper with Stephen Wiesmore
A young biracial dancer from a broken home has big dreams that seem completely unattainable until she meets the most unlikely mentor.

Savage Beauty by Charles Lyons
The story of Edna St. Vincent Millay, the ultimate bohemian of 1920s Greenwich Village, and her struggle to find love while burning her candle at both ends.

All-Star Comedy Roundtable Returns!

Audience favorite All-Star Comedy Roundtable returns to #NFF17 with an all-female panel! We're excited to announce Whitney Cummings and Kristen Schaal, joined by additional female comedians TBA, and hosted by Pete Holmes. Read more about our guests below, and join us on Saturday, June 24!

Whitney Cummings is a Los Angeles based comedian, actor, writer, producer and director. Best known for creating and starring in the NBC series Whitney, Cummings has also co-created and co-wrote the Emmy nominated CBS comedy series 2 Broke Girls along with Michael Patrick King. She has also appeared in series such as Undateable, Workacholics, Maron and the Netflix series The Ridiculous Six, as well as E!’s Chelsea Lately and Comedy Central’s Roast series. In film, she can be seen in such hits as Maid of Honor, Strike, Just Like Us, 3,2,1…Frankie Go Boom, The Wedding Ringer, and Warner Bros. latest film Unforgettable. Her first one-hour stand up special, Money Shot, premiered on Comedy Central in August 2010 and was nominated for an American Comedy Award. Her second one-hour stand-up special, Whitney Cummings: I Love You, debuted on Comedy Central in June 2014. Her most recent stand-up special, I’m Your Girlfriend aired on HBO earlier last year. 

Kristen Schaal can currently be seen starring in the Fox series, The Last Man On Earth, opposite Will Forte. Kristen will next be seen opposite JK Simmons and Emile Hirsch in All Nighter, as well as Lost In Austin opposite Linda Cardellini and Patrick Warburton.  She can recently be seen in The Boss opposite Melissa McCarthy, and the film A Walk In The Woods, directed by Ken Kwapis, opposite Robert Redford and Nick Nolte, which premiered at Sundance 2015. Additionally, she voices the character Louise in the Fox animated series Bob's Burgers, the lead voice in Zodiac for Dreamworks, and recently won an Annie award for her voice in Gravity Falls. She also lent her voice to The Simpsons. Other film and television credits include Toy Story 3, Dinner For Schmucks, 30 Rock, the cult hit series, Flight Of The Conchords, Mad Men, Modern Family, and her Comedy Central half-hour special, Live At The Fillmore,  among others. Kristen appeared in The Coward at The Lincoln Center Theatre, and was awarded The Lucille Lortel Award for her performance.

Pete Holmes' latest project is his new television series, HBO’s Crashing, a single camera comedy he created and is executive producing with Judd Apatow. The series features cameos from comedy heavyweights such as Dave Attell, T.J. Miller, Hannibal Buress, Sarah Silverman, Artie Lange, Jim Norton and many more. It was recently announced the show has been renewed for a second season. In December 2016, Pete released Faces And Sounds, an hour-long special for HBO. He has performed stand-up on numerous late night variety shows such as Late Night With Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, and Conan. He has written and performed a multitude of stand-up specials and albums, including two hour-long specials on Comedy Central, Nice Try, The Devil and Impregnated With Wonder.

Finalists Announced for Showtime's Tony Cox Episodic Screenplay (30 Min) Competition

Congratulations to our three finalists in Showtime's Tony Cox Episodic Screenplay (30 Minute) Competition:

CASEY CAN'T by KAITLIN FONTANA
A dark comedy about a flawed writer who is blackmailed into managing a hipster music blog by its manchild owner, heir to a porn fortune. It's about being too old for this shit before you’re 40.

SUBSCRIBE NOW by CARRIE MCCROSSEN
Wharton grad Christine finds herself the newbie at a YouTube-like company, tasked with finding and developing new content makers.

WAKE by GREGORY BONSIGNORE
81-year-old Maggie moves from Arizona back to NYC to pick up the life she had left as a young woman. 

The winner receives:

• A $1,000 cash prize from the Nantucket Film Festival
• An all-inclusive two-weeks-long writer's retreat on Nantucket in June with the Screenwriter's Colony and NFF
• One-on-one consultation with a Showtime executive
• A VIP week-long Festival Pass to all events
• Participation in our Mentor Brunch during the Festival
• A Showtime-sponsored reception during the Festival in the winners’ honor
• A Custom leather bound copy of the script, courtesy of Showtime
• Print and media coverage
• Name inclusion on Festival program materials as a competition finalist and winner

Stay tuned for the winner, to be announced soon!

Nick Broomfield Will Receive Special Achievement In Documentary Storytelling Award

Acclaimed documentary filmmaker Nick Broomfield will be presented with the Special Achievement in Documentary Storytelling Award at #NFF17. The BAFTA-winning filmmaker is best known for his celebrated work spanning over forty years, including Kurt & Courtney, Biggie and Tupac, Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial Killer, Tales of the Grim Sleeper, and The Leader, His Driver and the Driver's Wife. His latest documentary Whitney: Can I Be Me, co-directed with Rudi Dolezal, tells the story of Whitney Houston's extraordinary life and tragic death.

Broomfield studied film at the National Film School, after discovering his love for photography on a foreign exchange visit in France at the age of 15.

He made his first film Who Cares about Slum Clearance in Liverpool, while at University, by borrowing a wind up Bolex camera, and shooting it on short ends. Professor Colin Young at the NFS had a great influence on his work encouraging participant observation, as well as introducing him to Joan Churchill. Together Joan and Nick made several films, Juvenille Liaison, Tattooed Tears, Soldier Girls, Lily Tomlin, and more recently Aileen: The Life and Death of a Serial Killer. They also have a son together.

Broomfield was originally influenced by the observational style of Fred Wiseman, and Robert Leacock and Pennebaker, before moving on largely by accident to the more idiosyncratic style for which he is better known. While making Driving me Crazy, Nick decided to place himself and the producer of the film in the story, as a way of making sense of the event.

This experiment led to a sense of greater freedom, from the confines of observational cinema, and led to a more investigative and experimental type of filmmaking. ie The Leader, the Driver and the Drivers Wife, Aileen Wuornos, Kurt and Courtney, and Biggie and Tupac.

He is the recipient of the following prestigious awards, among others: Sundance first prize, British Academy Award, Prix Italia, Dupont Peabody Award, Grierson Award, Hague Peace Prize, and the Amnesty International Doen Award.

Join us at the Screenwriters Tribute on June 23 to celebrate Nick Broomfield's extraordinary career!

#NFF17 Creative Impact in Television Writing Award Announced

This year's Creative Impact in Television Writing Award, presented at the Screenwriters Tribute, will go to partners Jeffrey Klarik and David Crane.

David Crane is the co-creator with Jeffrey Klarik of the four-time Emmy-nominated Showtime series Episodes, starring Matt LeBlanc, which is about to launch its fifth and final season. For their work on Episodes, Crane and Klarik have received four Emmy nominations for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series. They also shared two Writers Guild of America nominations for Episodes, as well as a BAFTA nomination for Best Situation Comedy and two Golden Globe nominations for Best Television Series — Musical or Comedy. David is best known as the co-creator of the long-running comedy series Friends, for which he won numerous awards including an Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series. David also co-created the Kirstie Alley comedy Veronica’s Closet, The Powers That Be starring John Forsythe, David Hyde Pierce and Holland Taylor, and the much-beloved HBO series, Dream On, for which he received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series. With Jeffrey Klarik, David also co-created the award-wining CBS comedy The Class, starring an ensemble that included Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Lizzy Kaplan and Jon Bernthal.

Jeffrey Klarik has been a writer and producer in television for over 25 years. Jeffrey directed all seven episodes of the final season of Episodes. He also created the series Half & Half which ran for four seasons. His work on the hit comedy Mad About You earned him a Golden Globe award as well as an Emmy nomination. He has also written and produced the comedies INK, The Naked Truth, and Dream On.

David and Jeffrey have been partners in life for 28 years.

Join us on June 23rd to celebrate!

#NFF17 Screenwriters Tribute Award Announced: Tom McCarthy

We're so pleased to announce that writer/director Tom McCarthy will receive the #NFF17 Screenwriters Tribute Award! 

Tom McCarthy has received critical acclaim for his films The Station Agent (2003), The Visitor (2007), Up (2009), Win Win (2011), and Spotlight (2015) - which won the Academy Award for Best Picture, the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director. Overall, Spotlight received six Academy Award nominations, three Golden Globe Awards nominations, two Screen Actors Guild Awards nominations, and eight Critics' Choice Award nominations, among many other critical accolades.

Beginning his career as a performer, McCarthy spent several years doing stand-up comedy and theater in Minneapolis and Chicago. He appeared in several films such as Good Night, and Good Luck, Syriana, The Lovely Bones, and Little Fockers and tv shows such as Boston Public and The Wire. He even appeared on Broadway in the 2001 revival of Noises Off!

McCarthy's directorial debut, The Station Agent, which he also wrote, won the Audience Award and the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival. The film, starring Peter Dinklage, Patricia Clarkson, Bobby Cannavale, also won the BAFTA Award for Best Original Screenplay and the Independent Spirit Award for Best First Screenplay and the Independent Spirit John Cassavetes Award. 

McCarthy's second feature film was The Visitor, which premiered at the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival, and won the 2008 Independent Spirit Award for Best Director. He also co-wrote and directed 2011's Win Win based on his experiences as a wrestler at New Providence High School.

Currently, you can see McCarthy's directing work on the new Netflix series, 13 Reasons Why.

Join us on Friday, June 23 for this incredible evening of celebration! Ticket packages go on sale April 25.

Semi-Finalists for Showtime's Tony Cox Episodic Screenplay (30 Min) Competition Announced

We're happy to announce the five Semi-Finalists of Showtime's Tony Cox Episodic Screenplay (30 Min) Competition: Gregory Bonsignore, Angelica Cheri, Kaitlin Fontana, Carrie McCrossen, and Ana Parsons. Congratulations to all! Read more about their screenplays below, and stay tuned for the Finalist announcement, coming soon!

THE ASIAN THAT DIDN'T by ANA PARSONS
Being half-asian, a lot is expected of Ana, but she seems to fail at everything she does in this raunchy comedy.

CASEY CAN'T by KAITLIN FONTANA
A dark comedy about a flawed writer who is blackmailed into managing a hipster music blog by its manchild owner, heir to a porn fortune. It's about being too old for this shit before you’re 40.

DERAILED by ANGELICA CHERI
Black female creative professional Desiree moves back home to be a success, but is stymied from day one.

SUBSCRIBE NOW by CARRIE MCCROSSEN
Wharton grad Christine finds herself the newbie at a YouTube-like company, tasked with finding and developing new content makers.

WAKE by GREGORY BONSIGNORE
81-year-old Maggie moves from Arizona back to NYC to pick up the life she had left as a young woman.