2023 ScreenCraft True Story & Public Domain Competition Quarterfinalists
by ScreenCraft - updated on November 29, 2023
Listed below are the Quarterfinalists of the 2023 ScreenCraft True Story & Public Domain Competition. These exceptional projects were selected from almost 900 submissions. Congratulations to the writers who have made it this far and thanks to all for submitting!
Stay tuned for the Semifinalist announcement on May 24th on our blog and on our Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram pages! And if you’d like to receive a notification when this contest re-opens for entries, you can subscribe for updates via Coverfly here.
Here are the Quarterfinalists:
| "The Shotgun Killer" | Ray Proya |
| "Werner's Turn" | Jim Amatulli, Brien Master |
| (P)ersona (N)on (G)rata | Jay Fjestad |
| 1962 | Dean Jaloudi |
| 26.2 | Joe Tyler Gold |
| 901 | Phillip Alan |
| A Blind Eye | Allison Kitaguchi |
| A brand new day | Lissette Mehl |
| A Largely Silent World | Nick Williams, Marty Abbe-Schneider |
| A Need to Kill | Mark Pettit, AJ Jones |
| A Romance Of Two Worlds | Kari Mote |
| Aaron | Yoav Litvin |
| Ada & Annabelle | Jennifer Dornbush |
| AMBERGRIS | Jacobo Fe Gismera |
| American Babylon | Yvan Iturriaga |
| American Blood: To the Shores of Tripoli | Chris Knauer |
| AMERICAN RED | David Marlett |
| Angel Eyes | Richard Mauro |
| As An Actress | maria hinterkoerner |
| Bardot | David George |
| Beat Me in St. Louis | Nick Clarke |
| Because It's There | Jon Tedman |
| Besha | Walker Hare, Christina Pastor |
| Birdmen | Daniel Fissmer, Dylan James Amick |
| BLACK CADILLAC | Beth Brickell |
| Black Jack | Selina Swann |
| Blight Pilot- The Blight Arrives | Julia Cavanaugh |
| Bonzo | Sean Vaccaro |
| Box Canyon | Mark Laing |
| Braddock | Gregory Caruso |
| BUT SOME OF US ARE BRAVE | Jainaba Seckan |
| Camelot | Kaleb Tuttle |
| Chasing Demons | Nicholas Deroo |
| Christopher Pan | James Yantko |
| Color & Light | Louis Reyes McWilliams |
| Columbine | Don Zorbas |
| Come Back King | N. Fituri Scown |
| Corrections | Brian Thompson |
| Cuba Libre: Pilot "The Golden Age of Hijacking" | Stephen Nolly |
| Deep East Texas | Rachel Liebling |
| Desire | Katherine Cronyn |
| DIVINE BEING | Sara Kiener |
| Don't Lose Your Head | Shruthi Nattanmai |
| DOWNFALL - The Teapot Dome Scandal | Marc Lallanilla |
| Eli's Coming | Louie Mandrapilias |
| Emery & Ellsworth Make a Picture | Madi Stine |
| ENSIGN | Stephanie Maura Sanchez |
| Eyes of Fate | Catherine Wright |
| Fadime | Therese Bringholm |
| Fairy Tale in Red | Ben Carter Olcott |
| Fastball On The Outside Corner: THE JOSH GIBSON STORY | Gregory Delso |
| Fortitude | Rich Gallagher, Anthony Guilianti |
| Fortune | Lisa Kröger |
| Freedom's Captives | Kareem Noori-Fox |
| From Christie to Christi: The Man in the Brown Suit | Christi Falk |
| GARBO | Elena Gallen |
| Giant Along the Plains | Daniel Duren |
| Girls' War | Nina Berry |
| GORBY AND RONNIE DO REYKJAVÍK | Patrick Connelly |
| Guardian of the Realm | Andrew Lubeck |
| HALSTED: BETWEEN PLEASURE & PAIN | Jacobo Fe Gismera |
| Head-On Bobby Rafferty | Larry Portzline |
| Heaven's Gate | DJ Burr |
| Her Majesty I AM Queen Romana | Mary Rose Colindres |
| Hidden Death: True Crime | Lady Khadi Madama |
| Hole In The Woods | Jennifer Dornbush |
| HOPING | Eric Yang |
| Hunter's Law | Marieke Randoy |
| Improbable Truths | Jennifer Ramsey |
| IN THE SHADOW OF A MONSTER | Russell Boston |
| Intern of the Year | Scott Wagner |
| Jeanie's Way | Linne Ha |
| Johanna Van Gogh | Patrick Griffith |
| John & Meryl (Pilot) | Jimmy Prosser |
| KEANU REEVES IS MY MUSE, MY SON IS A DRAGON | Phoenix Black |
| Kellyanne | David Allyn |
| KILL CASTRO | Adam Senior |
| KISS OF DARKNESS | MICHAEL MCCLUNG |
| knockin' on Heavens Door | Sallieann Brinton |
| Lady Driver | Stephanie Diaz, Rick Reilly |
| Lake George | Hamid Castro |
| Learning to Fail Successfully | Manda Blanchard |
| Liebe Lise | Luke Hart-Moynihan |
| Lion & Lamb | Jenny Kleiman |
| Lobo | Patrick Mahon |
| LOVETT | Luci Olivia |
| Mademoiselle Maupin | Brandon Gale |
| MANO NERA (BLACK HAND) | Samantha Caprio-Negret, Richard Price Sorin |
| MARILYN ON THE COUCH | Hans Galesloot |
| Mary Shelley's Frankenstein | Jordan Butcher, Jacob Chattman |
| Mary, Mary - “Genesis” (Pilot for A Limited Series) | Amira Richler |
| Mawson | Rhys Parsons |
| May The Force Be With You | Benjamin Fraser |
| Medgar Evers: Detective | KORSTIAAN VANDIVER |
| Menace | Ross Schneiderman, Nick Kendrick |
| MENDIETA | Erin Reinelt |
| Mesa Redonda | Kevin Hayward |
| Meurtre! | Jenna Lafferty |
| MIKE AND MAUD | Beth Brickell |
| Mrs. Siddons: Queen of the Theater | Reparata Mazzola |
| MURDER IN DALLAS | George Schwimmer |
| Murder in the Delta: The Emmett Till Story Part 1: Kidnapped | Michael Miller |
| My Fight For Justice | Robbi Bryant |
| Newley! | Graham Mulvein |
| NO GOOD DEED | Heather Farlinger |
| No Parole | Carlo D'Amore |
| Not Walter Jenkins! | AP Hello |
| OFFICER X - TV PILOT | Michael Joiner |
| Ona in America | John Barnett |
| Once and Future | Kylie Boersma |
| One Mad Apple | Tom Pratt |
| ONLY APPARENTLY REAL | Michael Richter |
| Operation Babylift | John Mccarney |
| PACIFIC OCEAN BLUE | Chris Phillips |
| Philip Glass, Philip Glass | Martin Barshai |
| Pig City | Jess Leslie |
| Pink Panthers | Sandra Draskovic |
| Polar Vortex | Robert Kraska |
| Prince of the Rich: Respect, Revenge, and Retaliation | Grant Gruber |
| Private | Brad Bong, Allison Winn |
| Privileged Deceit | Warren Hull, Annette Hull |
| Prohibition Man | Andrew Judge |
| Pullman | David Graham-Caso |
| Quiet Bodies | Sofia Drummond-Moore |
| Rails Run Parallel | Orso Vesperini |
| re.Form(ed) | Johnny Gilligan |
| Rebel | Susan Cameron |
| Red, White, & Juan | Ross Fischer |
| Return of the Sparrows: The Hanigan Trials | CARINA MONTOYA |
| Rhythm | Liz Lachman, Cynthia Greening |
| Rough Surface | Tim Brennan |
| Rumford | Nick Roth |
| Run! Run! Run! - The Lives of Abbie Hoffman | michael j. shapiro |
| RUNAWAY SHIP | Theodore Carl Soderberg |
| SEOUL '88 | Jennifer D'Angelo Kircher, Nancy Stearns Bercaw |
| SERENADE | Varta Torossian |
| She is Worthy | Rene Gutteridge |
| Sin of the Stormbird | Mike Streng |
| SINder | Danielle R Erlich |
| Sister | Alex Blumberg |
| Sketches of the Residence | Dan Roux |
| Skimming Down to Camelot | Rachel Coomes |
| Skyjackers | Josh Guffey |
| SPACE ODDITIES | Margaret Lazarus Dean |
| Special Effects | Michael Feinstein |
| St. Nazaire | A.J. Hamer |
| SUBURBAN JOHN | Joey Scavuzzo |
| Sutton Holler | Tennessee Martin |
| Swindled | Matt Sharp |
| TAPPED OUT | Melody Herr |
| Tasting Season | Tristan Barr |
| TENN | Robin Shushan |
| Terror and Virtue | Ernest Pysher |
| The Atomic Man | Ryan Cannon |
| The Bloody Benders | Will Jones |
| The Blue Castle | Kristina Zacharias |
| The Book of Raquel | Olga Holtz |
| The Boy Scout | Dan Williams |
| The Cannibal Poet | Michael Clifton |
| The Cavaliere | Matthew Habibeh |
| The Chevalier | Joe Beatty |
| The Children | Lauren Boyd |
| The Cleveland Strangler | Jay Johnson, David Jones |
| The Cline | Heidi-Marie Ferren, Dana Joiner |
| The Deviants | David Allyn |
| The Edge of Truth | Sydney Deeter |
| The Embassy | Christopher Datta |
| The Fairest of Them All | Patrick Bradley-Moore |
| The False One | Andrew Kevin Fawn |
| The First | Lindsay Kusiak |
| The Forgotten 6 of I-295 | Tasha McLemore |
| The Fruitlanders | Laurie Rivlin Heller |
| The Ghost | Lindsey Gudritz |
| THE GIRL FROM CHIRAQ | Tag Mendillo, Jeremy Phillips |
| THE GOLDEN CITY | Michael Yuen |
| The Hatter | Michael Haas |
| THE HOUSE OF TANG | Lisa Iannini |
| The James Bond Gang | Christopher Surrey |
| The James King Version | David Schroeder |
| The Keith Moon Show | Tom Harrison |
| The King of Uruk | Alexandre Michaël |
| The Last Act | Jenn Whittaker |
| The Last King of Detroit | Gabriel Santi |
| The Last Prizefighters | David Barba, Daniel Munso |
| The Last Witness | Liz Beall |
| The Late Great Race | Ben Lokey |
| THE LAVENDER PANTHERS | Heather Farlinger |
| THE MIAMI CONNECTION | Alice Charles |
| THE MISSIONARY'S IMPOSITION | Keith Hayasaka |
| The Night Letter | Annette Maxberry-Carrara |
| The Orchard | Sean Kael Williams, Zak Rizzo |
| The Park | Rojé Augustin |
| The Pepper | Christine Garver |
| The Place We Stand Together | Catherine Wright |
| The Prosecution | Vir Srinivas |
| The Righteous | Rahel Grunder |
| The Salamander Letter | Liz Lachman, Cynthia Greening |
| The Scorched Face | Pauline McAlonan |
| The Secret Life of Balthasar | Michael Burnet |
| The Son of Man: Joshua ben Joseph | Cheryl Boyles |
| The Story of Saint-Domingue | Shawn Boursiquot |
| The Transformation of Forrest Asa Carter | E.B. Boccuzzi |
| The Truly Monstrous: Show Bible | David Lopez |
| The W.T. Bell | Thomas Schrack |
| This Land | Ian Dalesky |
| Thrown from a Train | Olivia Kiryk-Clutterbuck |
| Tiananmen | David Ward |
| Tipping the Scales | Laura Kirk |
| Trahor Fatis | Autumn Cavender |
| Treemonisha | Hossein(Shahin) Karbalaeetaher |
| Trick Selfie | Chad Wellinger |
| Two Kgs of Marmalade | Megan Mazer |
| Unsettled | Courtney Weaver |
| Vampire Next Door | Brendan Gill |
| We Got Ponzied | Anna Wang |
| Whatever It Takes | Drew McInturff |
| White House Boys | Anthony Musella, Edward McDonald, Lucas Fraser |
| Who Killed William Desmond Taylor? | Nate Washburn |
| WIRING UTOPIA | David Barker, Jerónimo Rodriguez |
| Wrightsborough | Mahonri Stewart |
| You Should Never Tell | Tian Boothe |
| You Slay Me | Jack Filsinger |
| You're Fine | Veronica Cooper |
| Young Arthur and the Lady of the Lake | Barry Ambrose, Christopher Stapleton |
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