Congratulations to all our finalists, runner up and winner! See below for announcements and comments from the judges.
Really fine work, very impressed with the quality of these scripts. This was a difficult task, any one of these finalists could have emerged a winner. It went back and forth, we read them all at least three times and had great discussions. Alas we had to pick one. Here are some comments in no particular order:
THE HERO: Real characters, good dialogue, nice surprise reveal with regard to Mike’s wheelchair, great cinematic montage as Tim gets into shape, nice payoff at the end upon Janice’s return. Moving and tight.
CHAPEL MEETING: Nice pay off when Carmen’s disguise is revealed and great sense of place; love all the deceit within the holy place. Clever.
THE DEBT: Powerful, topical, hit me like a gut punch. Every moment builds to the tragic denouement, left me shattered. Disturbing commentary on society that I would dismiss as too overtly brutal if I didn’t read about it in the paper every day.
FED UP: Another dark allegory, beautifully structured with great visual symmetry. Eerie, sad, powerful.
PATIENCE: Delightful, love the visual time tracking via holiday decorations. good characters, nice O’Henry payoff, it will be great fun watching GRACE’S character slowly layer up. Delicious!
BEHIND CLOSED DOORS: Like the strain of humanity beneath the usual Hollywood stereotyping, subterfuge and back-stabbing. Surprising.
A PRETTY GOOD LIFE: Well constructed, the relationship between Charlie and Morgan is interesting and believable with nice twists and turns. Touching.
VIN D’ AMOUR: The most imaginative, I liked the resolution, a well-observed examination of wine, love and loneliness. Maudlin and quirky.
THE TIMER: I like how it thrills in real time, well structured, hits the ground running, packs drama into 10 pages. Intense.
And the winner is: PATIENCE by Tom McGovern
Runner up: THE HERO by Julie Meyer
