Screenplay finalists traveled from all corners of the world for a very special awards ceremony
on Tuesday, October 29th at WGA West where over $18,000 in cash prizes were awarded.
Slamdance Founder and President, Peter Baxter kicked off the ceremony with a giving brief
background on Slamdance, our mission and thanking everyone for being there. The MC for the
evening was Film Festival and Screenplay Competition Manager, Anna Lee Lawson who
enforced what a huge accomplishment it is for these 13 winners to make it this far in a
competition with 4,000 entrants. Our 2020 Grand Prize winner Joyce Sherri (Head Writer and
Director for Disney’s Tiana series) was the Guest of Honor for the evening welcoming the
winners into the Slamdance family.
The first award presented was our Mentorship Award, which was won by Maaman Razaee for
her script “Ashes”. Unable to attend the ceremony Razaee had sent a friend to accept the
award on her behalf.
The 3rd place winner for shorts Oleg Condrea, writer of “Echoes of the Ringing Bells” had
traveled all the way from Moldova for the ceremony. The 2nd place shorts winner was ex-army
sergeant Charlene Fisk who won for her extremely moving script, “Call and Response”. The 1st
place winner for shorts (who traveled from all the way from Australia) was Jeremy Brull for “Self
Love”.
For the pilot category, 3rd place went to “Howl” by Zoe Kerr, with Kerr amazingly garnering
awards two years in a row. 2nd Place in pilots was awarded to “Welcome to Sunset” by Eric
John Meyer, a uniquely creative vampire story. 1st place was awarded to a completely
shocked Olivia Webb with “Waters of Hedeby” thanking Slamdance for recognizing her script
about “man-eating mermaids”.
In an extraordinary moving moment, Crystal Muma Rivers accepted the 3rd place feature
award for her script “The Match” in a room filled with so many of her friends celebrating this
first big win for her since becoming disabled. The 2nd Place for Features went to Kristen
McNaule with “Revolutionary Medicine” an incredibly unique script about a Vietnam veteran’s
return home. The 1st place winner went to Ardean Earnest with “Counterpoint” who thanked
her family for all their support.
The 3rd Place winner for horror was Pauline McAlonan for “Perception” (who was unable to
attend the ceremony) for her bone-chilling script script about facial blindness. The 2nd place
winner was Zach Rubin for his script “Brains” who dedicated his win to his family who majority
were in attendance that night. The 1st place went to Jorge Lucas with “Yokai” who thanked his
partner for inspiring the story.
The 2024 Grand Prize was awarded to Jorge Lucas for his script “Yokai”. Lucas was completely
speechless at his second win of the evening. “Although Yokai was inspired by my partner’s
Japanese upbringing, the screenplay’s themes could just as accurately describe my own. A
first-generation protagonist; a dysfunctional family history; a deeply superstitious grandmother.
Kazuko and Ayumi’s experiences are the experiences of more and more Americans, and they
deserve to be seen on screen.”
Slamdance wishes to thank everyone that made this awards ceremony possible, especially the
WGA. Additionally, we thank everyone that came out to celebrate for the night.
For further details of the evening a a full list of winners check out the Indiewire Exclusive:
https://www.indiewire.com/news/festivals/slamdance-2024-screenplay-competitionwinners-
1235060666/
