FEATURE SCREENPLAY COMPETITION
CALL FOR ENTRIES MARCH 2009!

SLAMDANCE SCREENPLAY COMPETITION
2008 TOP 10 FINALISTS & GRAND PRIZE WINNER

Hosted by The WGA-West, with Award Sponsor Upload Films

(L to R Joseph Yuan, Jeannette Manning, Keisha Poiro, Eric Weller, Marisa Jo Cerar, Neil McGowan, Aaron Granlund)

GRAND PRIZE WINNER OF INDEPENDENT SCREENPLAY AWARD

NUMBERED (Comedy/Thriller) by: Neil McGowan
Sid Janson, the most normal man on Earth, awakes one morning to find that everyone in the world has a number on their forehead that only he can see. Discovering their meaning leads Sid on a journey towards a better understanding of the world around him.

(L to R: Independent Screenplay Award Winner Neil McGowan, Slamdance Writing Director Joy Saez, John Portnoy of Upload Films)

TOP 9 FINALISTS FROM 2ND TO 10TH PLACE

GOODMAN'S GARDEN by: Douglas K. Miller (Drama)
He got away with murder. Now what?

WANT AND CURIOSITY by: Eric Weller (Drama)
Faced with eviction from his apartment, losing his only form of income, as well the introduction of a new possibility to his life he can’t help but feel different about, a decidedly indifferent young man for the first time finds ambition and meaning.

HUMAN RESOURCES by: Marissa Jo Cerar (Drama)
A biracial adopted woman leaves her lavish life in New York to return to the Midwest and help her blue-collar Caucasian parents save their house.

LUCAS DONOVAN by: Keisha Poiro (Comedy)
Single mother falls in love with "teen" heartthrob.

MOONBEAM FISHERMAN by: John Dummer (Coming of Age)
In the summer of the 1969 moon landing, a teenage boy and an old fisherman learn to deal with loss.

MENDELSSOHN by: Joseph Yuan, Jeannette Manning (Period, Drama)
Europe's greatest composer, Felix Mendelssohn, has a secret. His sister co-writes all of his music. The true story of a man whose willingness to sacrifice everything for fame, from his Jewish identity to his sister, comes back to destroy him.

HAIR TODAY by: Dennis Douda (Animation)
A lowly flea saves the earth. But, he has to get a balding scientist through a mid-life crisis to do it. Dude it's just hair, not the end of the world. Oh, maybe it is!

CZECHOSLOVAKIA by: Alvin Easter (Drama)
On the road with a serial killer.

TRUCKERS VS. BIKERS by: Aaron Granlund and Sean Huet (Action/Thriller)
A truck driver seeks revenge on a gang of bikers who left him for dead and stole his rig.

HONORABLE MENTIONS

FAUSTA by: Dalisia Mendoza (Drama)
Captain Janetta Morales suffers from recurring dreams after an IED detonates beside her vehicle in Iraq. Desperate for answers, she seeks the help of hypnotherapist Mitch Tenoria and discovers a life lived a hundred and fifty years in the past.

FIRE SEASON by: Tim D. Stickler (Drama)
Victims of a large forest fire realize what is truly important in life.

REPEAT AFTER ME by: Scott Honea and Josh Sitarz (Drama)
A teenage girl flees her dysfunctional family's slumping Las Vegas wedding chapel and sets out to become a venerable magician's assistant at a hotel scheduled for demolition.

SAPNA'S GIFT by: Anthony Dodd (Drama)
If Valedictorian Jaime plans to cheat death and attend his high school graduation, he'll need straight A's in his three worst subjects: philosophy, metaphysics, and... girls.

SOMEWHERE BETTER THAN HERE by: Vince Orlando (Drama)
Four lost souls trapped by poverty since childhood struggle to create better lives for themselves by any means necessary. 

(L to R: 2007 winner Anthony Meindl, Slamdance Writing Director Joy Saez, 2008 winner Neil McGowan)

"I went to the awards ceremony praying that I could place in the Top Ten, and after they announced the winners from 10th place through 2nd, I just thought, "Oh well, not this year." The next thing I knew, my name was announced, and I was dazedly walking to the front of the room, and shaking hands with people, and giving a speech, and somewhere in there, it hit me that I had won."  -Neil McGowan

"Being the Grand Prize Winner of the Slamdance Screenplay Competition in 2007 for THE WONDER GIRLS has totally changed my life. I now have representation as a writer/director, I have a production deal with a prominent European film company and being acknowledged for my first-ever screenplay has given me the confidence to write and produce other projects. It's as if the award in some way opened a flood gate of possibility that I wasn't even aware of -- or had access to -- before I wrote my first piece. Thank you Slamdance! Your support of artists everywhere is inspiring -- especially your celebrating independent artists doing true independent film work."  -Anthony Meindl