Dallas International Film Festival opened yesterday naming the winners of the 2024 Screenwriting Competition, presented by Event Horizon Films.
Martyn Eaden and David McClellan won the Texas category for the feature script, “Olivia Mabel.” Ernest Pysher won the Drama category for the pilot script, “Terror and Virtue.” Jack Warner won the Comedy category for the feature script, “Adventures in Serial Killing.” The writers will be awarded trophies, artwork from their scripts, pitching opportunities and table reads performed by Sherrill Actors Studio during the festival.
The table reads are open to anyone with a reservation through DIFF’s schedule guide:
- Olivia Mabel will be performed on Saturday, April 27, 2024 at 11:30 a.m.
- Terror and Virtue will be performed on Monday, April 29, 2024 at 1:30 p.m.
- Adventures in Serial Killing will be performed on Tuesday, April 30, 2024 at 2:00 p.m.
Each script submitted into the DIFF Screenplay Competition was vetted by readers from the industry’s top talent agencies and management companies based on strength of characterization, dialogue, theme, concept and marketability. The winning scripts were selected by Emmy winner Michael Rowe, TV writer-producer Eric Haywood and a committee of professional filmmakers.
These high profile readers also credited the following scripts as finalists for the screenwriting competition:
Texas
- Homebrew by Straton Rushing
- Texoma Shrooms by Debi Yazbeck
- The Pickleball Killer by Jim Carroll
- Titanomachy by Michael Holcombe-Scali
Drama
- Blotter by HF Crum
- Questioning by Joshua Marc Allen
- The Ashen Veil by Polina Komissarova
- Ziva by Cecile Vernant
Comedy
- Mud Boot Ranch by Nora Wyman and Jeff Lorch
- Lemonlight by M. Rowan Meyer
- Shootout at the Hibachi Grill by James Parker Crumbly
- First Ex by Amy Sleper
Semifinalists and quarterfinalists can be viewed here. Images for can be found here:
The 2024 Dallas International Film Festival is April 25, 2024 through May 2, 2024 at Violet Crown Cinema in West Village Uptown. For more information on DIFF, visit dallasfilm.org or contact info@dallasfilm.org. Information can also be found on Facebook and Instagram. For more information about EHF, visit eventhorizonfilms.com. Information can also be found on: Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
About Event Horizon Films
Event Horizon Films (www.eventhorizonfilms.com) is an award-wining film production company and screenwriting service in Dallas, Los Angeles and New York. Founded in 2019, EHF’s network of film professionals include Academy Award-, Golden Globe- and Emmy Award-winning talent and partners at top talent agencies and literary management companies. EHF is also the official host of the nationally-recognized screenwriting competition for the Dallas International Film Festival. EHF is committed to supporting screenwriters, building networks and producing stories.
