Novel Endings by Christine Bendorf has been selected as the grand prize winner of the 2019 ScreenCraft Public Domain & True Story Competition. The jury was thoroughly impressed by the unique premise, iconic characters, and subversive execution.

Stagecoach Mary by Taylor Hopkins been named the runner-up. In the western feature set in 1885 Montana, a hard-drinking, cigar-smoking black woman uses her six-shooter and tough-as nails-attitude to assist a convent of nuns from the perils of the wild west.

In addition to the ScreenCraft team, the judges included: David Fliegel, Director of Development for Mad Chance, Andrew Lazar’s company with such credits and projects as American Sniper, I Love You Phillip Morris and Confessions of a Dangerous Mind. They have a first-look production deal with Warner Bros.; Yasmin Hormozi, Creative Executive at Participant Media, the production company behind award-winning films like Roma, The Post, On the Basis of Sex, and Academy Award Best Picture winner, Green Book; Audrey Knox, Manager at Cartel, a production and management company whose clients have contributed to such films as Romeo & Juliet, The Simone Biles Story, Lucifer, Marco Polo, 11/22/63, and United 93; Nawful Faizullah, Develop Executive at Left Bank Pictures, a subsidiary of Sony Pictures Television, behind such projects as Netflix’s The Crown.

The following projects have also been selected to receive special mention:

Grand prize winner Bendorf will receive a $1,000 cash prize and hand-picked industry consultations and introductions, while Hopkins will receive a $500 cash prize and have his script circulated and recommended to ScreenCraft’s network of over 60 managers, agents, producers and development executives.

Congratulations to these winning writers, and thank you to our judges and to everyone who submitted projects; we read a number of remarkable screenplays.

View the quarterfinalists, semifinalists and finalists here.

And if you’d like to receive a notification when this contest re-opens for entries in 2020, you can subscribe for updates via Coverfly here.

Be sure to check out more of ScreenCraft’s recent success stories here.

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