After receiving nearly 4,000 scripts this season from writers across the globe, Slamdance is honored to recognize the following writers as the official winners of the 2025 Slamdance Screenplay Competition. These screenplays are divided into five submission categories: Feature, Horror/Thriller, Pilot, Short, and Mentorship Recipient.
WINNERS
GRAND PRIZE
FIRST PLACE
The Badlands Women’s Clinic by Brennan Cusack
@bcusack
Logline:
A young OBGYN must trade a promising career in Chicago for a year working in her rural hometown’s Women’s Clinic in order to regain custody of her daughter. There, she’ll find that knowing obstetrics isn’t the same as knowing how to be a mother.
Bio:
I grew up between two Americas: California’s tech-fueled future and rural Minnesota’s decaying industrial past. I cut my teeth as a political journalist overseas during the final years of America’s resource wars. But, the last time I used my gas mask was on the streets of D.C. while covering the 2020 election. I write stories about people who find themselves on the faultlines of our fracturing American communities.
MENTORSHIP AWARD
Yokai by Jorge Lucas
@thejeanlantern
Logline:
Bio:
FEATURES
FIRST PLACE
The Gift of Rain by Renn Tan
@ferdietherock
Logline:
In 1870s California, a Chinese washerwoman finds a rain-making dragon the same day her husband dies. To keep it – and the memory of her husband – alive, she must get the dragon across the desert to the sea while evading the long arm of the railroad company that wants to capitalize on the dragon’s powers.
Bio:
Renn Tan speaks six languages, but not their mother tongue. Before moving to LA, they ran a small indie bookstore. Growing up LGBTQ+ in predominantly-Muslim Malaysia means, of course, they write about conditional love. Across genres, their stories feature characters whose identities directly conflict with their environment. Renn recently graduated from USC’s Screenwriting MFA program. Their work has won the Dallas International Film Festival’s Screenwriting Competition and been selected for the ISA Diversity Initiative.
SECOND PLACE
Vital by Amir Zargara, Gabe Berry
@amirzargara
Logline:
In Iran, a desperate mother sells her own organs to pay for her daughter’s cancer treatment, while in the United States, a wealthy father risks everything to find a heart for his ailing child—setting both on a path where love demands the unthinkable.
Bio:
Amir Zargara is an award-winning Iranian-Canadian writer-director whose immigrant journey and stutter shape his storytelling. An alumnus of prestigious programs at Berlinale, TIFF, Busan, Zurich, and Reykjavik, he explores the moral complexities individuals face in his films. Amir’s screenplays have garnered praise from the Academy’s Nicholl Fellowship, The Black List, Austin and Slamdance. Gabe’s writing is rooted in real life, blending emotional depth with twists to create character-driven stories that resonate. His scripts have placed in the Academy’s Nicholl Fellowship, PAGE Awards, and Austin.
THIRD PLACE
Burn Her Slowly by Edith Storm
@stormwritings
Logline:
Before the witch hunts consumed Europe, one woman’s defiance against a papal inquisitor lit the fuse – unleashing a brutal reckoning of lust and vengeance that gave birth to the infamous Malleus Maleficarum, the witch hunters’ bible that sanctioned the persecution of women for centuries. As seven accused women fight for their lives, the trial twists into a battle of desire, betrayal, and survival.
Bio:
Edith Storm is a Swedish-Polish writer with a background in literature, psychology, and social work. Her work fuses gothic atmosphere with political urgency, centering on fierce, complex female characters. Burn Her Slowly is her debut screenplay, inspired by true events, reframed with visceral feminist urgency. She writes from the fault lines where trauma, survival, and power collide; lyrical, unflinching, and charged with psychological tension, always insisting that the personal is political.
HORROR/ THRILLER
FIRST PLACE
MESA by Pam Covington
@pam_pam_pam_
Logline:
In a remote, cult-like compound atop a mysterious mesa, a teenage girl discovers that her abusive father’s claims of divine power mask an even darker truth.
Bio:
Pam Covington is a film director and writer who creates stories where grounded characters navigate strange, imaginative worlds. Influenced by classic sci-fi and dark humor, her work blends the surreal with heart and wit. She holds an MFA from CalArts and a BA from USC. Her films premiered at Fantastic Fest, her pilot was an Austin Film Festival semi-finalist, and her screenplay MESA is a Black List “Featured Project.” She also writes and hosts The Parallel-O-Verse podcast.
SECOND PLACE
Scissor Mouth by Deborah Richards
@debbiinpink
Logline:
Scarred from the twisted abuse by her beauty obsessed mother, a teenage girl in rural Texas escapes her basement prison propelling a bloody rampage that threatens the lives of all those unlucky enough to cross her path.
Bio:
Las Vegas writer/director Deborah Richards is a four-time South West Emmy® winner and 2022 Nevada Woman Filmmaker of the Year. She launched her indy feature career with Move Me No Mountain (Amazon) and self distributed her 2025 sports documentary Shaken & Stirred. A co-founder of 1905 Films, Richards has helmed shorts, TV spots, and branded campaigns, freelancing as a director, editor and VFX artist. Currently she’s developing her third feature, the gothic horror Scissor Mouth.
THIRD PLACE
Frozen Lies by Eric R Lotter
@threeeseye
Logline:
When a young woman discovers her charming new boyfriend is transporting bodies in a cooler across state lines, she must outwit his manipulation and survive a nightmarish road trip that blurs love, lies, and lethal control, before she becomes his next victim.
Bio:
Eric Lotter is a screenwriter and storyteller whose work explores the intersection of technology, identity, and control. His scripts span elevated sci-fi thrillers, psychological true crime, and genre-bending adventures, often blending emotional intimacy with high-concept stakes. A multi-competition semifinalist and finalist, Eric’s writing has been recognized by Austin Film Festival, Slamdance, StoryPros, and the Hollywood Genre Awards. With a background in world-building and a focus on grounded character dynamics, he develops stories designed for both festival acclaim and commercial appeal.
SHORTS
FIRST PLACE
The Comfort Woman Statue by Kyung-Ja Lee
@kjlee_film
Logline:
At a senior apartment in Little Tokyo, an elderly Korean resident accuses her Japanese neighbor of vandalizing the Comfort Women Statue—a symbol of sex slavery during WWII.
Bio:
Lee, a Korean American woman writer and director and AFI graduate, has received numerous awards and fellowships, including the Rockefeller Foundation Asian Artist Fellowship (1993), the Sundance Screenwriters Lab (1994), Film Independent Project: Involve (2007), and the Producers Guild of America Diversity Project Fellowship (2010). She has written and directed five short films and is currently developing several feature and short projects. Her recent screenplays have been finalists and winners in various screenwriting contests.
SECOND PLACE
Inbetweening by James Newman
@thenewmancentipede
Logline:
After a workaholic cartoon voice actor falls into a coma before fulfilling his promise to read his mute daughter a bedtime story, he must outwit a sinister late-night host in his subconscious—or risk never waking up to reconnect with the family he’s been neglecting.
Bio:
James Newman is a comedy-focused, multi-award-winning writer and director from Reading, now based in London. Well established on the UK short film circuit, his films have screened widely and picked up a number of awards along the way. He also holds a development credit on the feature documentary Memory Box: Echoes of 9/11 and began his career in Soho’s busy production houses.
THIRD PLACE
Cervantes Sourdough (Masa Madre) by Gádor Camacho
@masamadrefilms
Logline:
When routine sets in, simple things take over your body.
Bio:
I have worked fifteen years plus in Production and Locations, with directors such as Pedro Almodóvar or Ridley Scott in Spain. I have recently founded Masa Madre Films with the aim of writing and producing new horror stories. Sourdough is my first project as a writer/director. It’s both an statement and a trial by fire. I am confident the amazing network of professionals and friends I have, will help me to achieve a fantastic film.
PILOTS
FIRST PLACE
The Badlands Women’s Clinic by Brennan Cusack
@bcusack
Logline:
A young OBGYN must trade a promising career in Chicago for a year working in her rural hometown’s Women’s Clinic in order to regain custody of her daughter. There, she’ll find that knowing obstetrics isn’t the same as knowing how to be a mother.
Bio:
I grew up between two Americas: California’s tech-fueled future and rural Minnesota’s decaying industrial past. I cut my teeth as a political journalist overseas during the final years of America’s resource wars. But, the last time I used my gas mask was on the streets of D.C. while covering the 2020 election. I write stories about people who find themselves on the faultlines of our fracturing American communities.
SECOND PLACE
Entre Nous by Christina Keach
@christinakeach09
Logline:
A young woman on the run becomes ensnared in the Demimonde, 18th century Paris’s world of elite prostitution, while also embarking on a complicated relationship with an inspector from the police unit devoted to tracking their every move.
Bio:
Christina Keach is a graduate of the Rita & Burton Goldberg Department of Dramatic Writing at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and hails from Scottsdale, Arizona. She’s a recipient of the Humanitas New Voices fellowship for her pilot, Sacrificial. She co-wrote the season 2 finale of Showtime’s The L Word: Generation Q and has worked on numerous other series including Starz’s Power, HBO’s Girls, and Showtime’s The Affair. She’s killed every plant she’s ever owned.
THIRD PLACE
Broker by Jas Kandola
@thejeanlantern
Logline:
When his father is given only months to live and the insurer denies his life-saving health claim, an autistic Oxford undergrad, from a poor family, masterminds a major insurance fraud that pays out to all who need it.
Bio:
Jas Kandola is a British-Punjabi writer and filmmaker from Birmingham, England. His crime TV series “NASHAA” (PAGE Awards Bronze Prize Winner – 2023) has Showrunner Christopher Hollier (“La Brea”) attached. Jas has a Master’s Degree in Computer Engineering and works as a Financial Crime Analytics expert in London, using his tech skills to prevent criminals from laundering money at big banks. “BROKER” was inspired from his time working in Claims Fraud Analytics at an insurance brokerage.
FINALISTS
FEATURES
Amir Zargara, Gabe Berry
Vital
Edith Storm
Burn Her Slowly
Renn Tan
The Gift of Rain
HORROR/ THRILLER
Deborah Richards
Scissor Mouth
Eric R Lotter
Frozen Lies
Pam Covington
MESA
SHORTS
Gádor Camacho Cervantes
Sourdough (Masa Madre)
James Newman
Inbetweening
Kyung-Ja Lee
The Comfort Woman Statue
PILOTS
Brennan Cusack
The Badlands Women’s Clinic
Christina Keach
Entre Nous
Jas Kandola
Broker
MENTORSHIP AWARD
Erick Torres
Cucuy
KiAnna Dorsey
UNHEARD
Michelle Somruthai D’Angelo
Speak Now
SEMIFINALISTS
FEATURES
Amir Zargara, Gabe Berry
Vital
Carole Ryavec
Tulare Basin
Dwayne Colbert
Who’s The Dummy?
Edith Storm
Burn Her Slowly
Renn Tan
The Gift of Rain
Serena Dykman
BABKA
Shiva Ramanathan
Demons
Tony Gandia
Backen
HORROR/ THRILLER
Angelo Pitsillis, Sebastian Ibarra del Castillo
The Monk
Byron Mason II
SOMETHING’S WRONG WITH GRANNY
Deborah Richards
Scissor Mouth
Eric R Lotter
Frozen Lies
Grant Chauncey
The Apartment
Pam Covington
MESA
Saurin Lakhia
Never Let Her In
Tijuana Ricks
Home Bound
SHORTS
Alex Mehta
The Inheritance of Purpose
Devi Bhaduri
Psychomanteum
Gádor Camacho Cervantes
Sourdough (Masa Madre)
James Newman
Inbetweening
Kyung-Ja Lee
The Comfort Woman Statue
Rob Watts
Until the Lemon Drops
Tate Wilde
Treehouse
Xin Liu
Fenghuang
PILOTS
Brennan Cusack
The Badlands Women’s Clinic
Christina Keach
Entre Nous
Dawn Kalani Cowle
Thumpers
Jas Kandola
Broker
Julianne Korogodon
The One Anothers
Kelsey Harper
The Mouse
Nick Jack Pappas
Haka
PJ Landry
Extraction
QUARTERFINALISTS
FEATURES
Amanda Holland
Dangerous Fruits
Amir Zargara, Gabe Berry
Vital
Benny Goldenhour, James Case
Tarrare
Brent Triff
Gooseneck Killer
Callie Marie Bloem, Christopher Jay Ewing
Bounce House
Carole Ryavec
Tulare Basin
Cody Ashford, Eric Vue
Exo
Dan Kim
Chairman
Dean Jaloudi
11:59
Dwayne Colbert
Who’s The Dummy?
Edith Storm
Burn Her Slowly
Jade Leo Yurich
ROADS
Jane Ballentyne
S p a c e
Jenna Dorian
Memory is a Fish
John Graney
The Van
Katherine Dudas, Giovannie Cruz, Elisabeth Ness, Carly Christopher, Kenneisha Thompson
Lady Kings of Texas
Parm Saini
The Gateway
Pavel Sanaev
HAFFKINE
Renn Tan
The Gift of Rain
Rose King
The Speechwriter
Rosie Nisanyan
The Taraz Heist
Serena Dykman
BABKA
Shiva Ramanathan
Demons
Tien Chi Fu
The Sheep
Tony Gandia
Backen
Vincent Essid
Maladh
Will Link
Delma
HORROR/ THRILLER
Aaron Warner
Cling
Adam Meridan
Whitewood
Alex Vlahov
Dark Rooms
Angelo Pitsillis, Sebastian Ibarra del Castillo
The Monk
Byron Mason II
SOMETHING’S WRONG WITH GRANNY
Clarissa Brandeis
Ezili
Deborah Richards
Scissor Mouth
Edson Jean
Sea Spirits (Lespri Lanmè)
Eric R Lotter
Frozen Lies
Grant Chauncey
The Apartment
Jared Piller
The Rabbi and the Golem
Jordan Tragash
Cinghiale
Joshua Labata
Many Dead, More Taken
Kristian Hager
Blood Hallows
Marcos Meconi
Muscle Memory
Matthew Troy
The Dark Room
Max Rissman
IMMOLATION
Mike Scherschel
The Dowry
Pam Covington
MESA
Pauline McAlonan
The Scorched Face
Saurin Lakhia
Never Let Her In
Shayna Weber
Sadie Hawkins
Tijuana Ricks
Home Bound
Tye Nelson
FORSAKEN
WIlliam Tyler Wiseman
Fear Not
Winnie Soldi
Night Father
SHORTS
Alex Mehta
The Inheritance of Purpose
Angelo Rocha
TICS AND STONES
Ben Hirschhorn
The Nose Whistler
Carmine Carpenito
Let Me Think For You
Cédric Friedli
Clouded Memory
Devi Bhaduri
Psychomanteum
Erick Torres
Cucuy
Gádor Camacho Cervantes
Sourdough (Masa Madre)
Haili Fransham, Roderick Fransham
The Snack Shack
Jameel Scott – Muhammad
The Right Way
James Newman
Inbetweening
Jason Stefaniak
Homewrecker
Jaz Moore
MY BELOVED MONSTER
John Gonzales
Calico
Jordan Troublefield
Stuffing
Keith Moore
The Confession Room
Kiril Shmidov
The Losing Game
Kyung-Ja Lee
The Comfort Woman Statue
Leon Masters
DEAD DAUGHTER
Matthew Brooks
Birdwatching
Ness Wilson
North
Rob Watts
Until the Lemon Drops
Sam Pinnelas
Shotgun
Steven McMichael
Signal
Tate Wilde
Treehouse
Xin Liu
Fenghuang
PILOTS
Adam Meridan
Frostbite
Alan Canode, Justin Rossbacher
Beware Miracles
Alison Whitney
The Heavy
Brennan Cusack
The Badlands Women’s Clinic
Chanel Downey
The Findings of Sunny & Rah
Christina Keach
Entre Nous
Cindy Lee
American Rhapsody
David DeGusta
PAST TENSE FUTURE PERFECT
David Herman
Gorilla
Dawn Kalani Cowle
Thumpers
Jas Kandola
Broker
Julianne Korogodon
The One Anothers
Kasi Brown, Brandon Walter
Sober Living
Kelsey Harper
The Mouse
KiAnna Dorsey
UNHEARD
Lindsay Carpenter
Imagining Practice
Lizzie Logan
Baker High
Matthew A Sprosty
Our Thing
Mehrnaz Mohammadi
Burned Secrets
Najy Kamal
The Haus of Mirth
Nick Jack Pappas
Haka
PJ Landry
Extraction
Robert Dewey
Labyrinthians
Ruth Trippitt
Siren
Steve Brown
The Age of the Empath
