We are excited to announce the winners and finalists of the 2016 ScreenCraft Pilot Launch TV Script Contest! Culled from over 1,700 submissions, Trace by MW Cartozian Wilson has been named the Drama winner, 101 Ways To Be A Better Person by Megan Bacharach has been named the Comedy winner, and An Act Of God by Nicole Quinn has been named the Web Series winner.

In Trace, a rookie special agent shattered by the murder of his family has a new case dropped in his life by their killer, but in order to keep his position on a task force of highly-skilled misfits, this trans man must contend with his hyper-macho partner, who has known him since they were teens. It's a timely, exceptionally well-written drama pilot that both honors and subverts one of the quintessential television genres and formats.

101 Ways To Be A Better Person centers on a twenty-something woman with sociopathic tendencies who commits to blindly following a list of self-improvement initiatives as a promise to her late mother--the only person she ever cared about and the only person who believed her to be capable of good.  It’s a distinctive, tonally ambitious comedy pilot with a clear concept, inexhaustible sources of external and internal conflict, and offbeat, complex central characters.

 

An Act Of God is a character-driven thriller that tells the story of a woman who suffers a thrombotic ischemic stroke caused by blood clots. Physically comatose but able to step outside of her body with full consciousness, she must investigate her recent suspicions that her husband of twenty years has begun using the company they jointly operate to make chemical weapons. The dark and engaging web pilot employs an intricate narrative structure and fourth wall motif that plays exceptionally well to the online medium.

 

The following pilots were selected as the competition finalists:

DRAMA

Bog Walk by Dominique A. Holmes

Alt Alex by Danny Baram

Aeternum by Heidi Nyburg

Heaven 2.0 by Craig Soffer

Forever Flowers by Erin Granat

Wildcat by Sam Cooke & Hussain Pirani

The Divinity Cycle by Nelson Downend

Thee Bronx by Megan Doyle

Waterloo by Chuck Griffith

 

COMEDY

Next by Jason Director & Ayla Harrison

Intelligents by Scott C. Reynolds

Welcome To Heiding by RJ Buckley

Puritan Place by Peyton McDavitt

Classified by Elizabeth Stamp

U.N. Lovable by Andrea O'Malley

Georgie Girl by Ned Kissam

We're Not Together by Jordan Rane

The Slope by Eudie Pak

 

WEB SERIES

Between Us Girls by Courtney Hope Thérond & Emily Claire Utley

Not Just Another Day In Roach City by Monica Cote

White (Trash) Magic by Keatyn Lee

Global! by Nathan Alan Bunker

Black Girl Magic by Yolanda Brown

Herrings by Keith Chamberlain

Just Four Uncles by Paul Sprangers

Bombay Kitchen by Sharon Wasjwol

Who I Am by Jakob Austin Burgos

 

In addition to the ScreenCraft team, the judges included: Georgia Ranes, Executive Assistant to VP of Production at HBO; Ari Lubet, Manager at 3 Arts, the company behind such shows as ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK, BROOKLYN NINE-NINE, SILICON VALLEY, PARKS AND RECREATION, 30 ROCK, THE MINDY PROJECT, LOUIE, IT’S ALWAYS SUNNY IN PHILADELPHIA, SAINT GEORGE and more; Sam Forman, screenwriter, HOUSE OF CARDS on Netflix, THE BRINK on HBO, HAND OF GOD on Amazon; Elizabeth Phang, Screenwriter of 90210 on Fox, THE EX LIST on CBS, THE STRAIN on FX and HUNG on HBO; and Jen Grisanti, whose students have sold 40 pilots (5 have gone to series) and who has helped to staff over 75 writers on TV shows.

Grand prize winners Wilson, Bacharach and Quinn will receive cash prizes, consultations with the ScreenCraft team, personal introductions via phone to top managers, agents and producers who specialize in drama and comedy TV development and production, and passes to attend ITV Fest in Dover, Vermont October 5th-9th!

Congratulations to these winning writers and finalists, and thank you to our judges and to everyone who submitted projects; we read a number of remarkable pilots. View the quarter-finalists and semifinalists here.